I loved Fernando so much, I never wanted this trip to end! But we crammed our last day good and full, so that we would at least not die of sadness at leaving. :)
Fernando has lots of hikes/trails to beaches, but some of them require that you hire a guide. Lisa and I weren't exactly sure how to do that, nor did we want to pay for someone to dictate our exploration, so we stuck to the ones we could do on our own. Here's the run down of our last day (and a half!)
DAY 5:
Lisa and I got up early and went to the sueste overlook (near where we went snorkeling), which was super awesome! We were by ourselves (aka had no guide to explain anything to us), so I don't really know why, but the waves go both directions! I think it probably has something to do with strong winds blowing the opposite direction of the natural tide? Something like that. Anyway, pictures do *not* do it justice, but it was super neat! The waves just crash and form this whole area that's white and frothy from waves hitting each other. SUPER cool.
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| I wish this photo captured how cool the colliding waves were!!! |
Then we went down a side trail so we were actually looking over the bay where we had been snorkeling. It was really funny, because like I said in my other post, the water isn't super clear, and you can't really see anything that isn't directly under you. So they say there are tons of sea turtles in that water, but I only saw a few snorkeling. When we were sitting on the overlook though, we probably saw at least ten or twenty turtles just swimming along and coming up for air! Ha. It was so ironic. We saw some people snorkeling in a little group, and kept seeing turtle heads popping up all over the place....not by them. Haha. Anyway it was super cool. :)
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| Lisa exploring through the ridiculously tall grass |
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| I like how this picture turned out :) |
Then we caught a bus to Cacima, where Lisa and I got coconuts to drink (yes, they are always as good as I remember and I could drink about 12 in a row), as well as a giant salad to split and some mandioca (manioke/tapioca/macaxeira) fries. [Random note: I have no idea why they have so many words for that, but I think it's really interesting that they call it mandioca, which is so close to the Tongan word "manioke".] I love those fries. Mmm..
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| I loved walking along these roads. SO much. |
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| I'm kind of obsessed with dune buggies now. |
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| I LOVE FOOD. Especially when it's ^^this^^ food :D |
Then Lisa and I went back to enjoy the bay of pigs for pretty much the rest of the day. There weren't a lot of other people there, so we stayed for a long time enjoying the waves and climbing on the rocks. The sunset coming through on the rocks and waves was also pretty spectacular.
We started walking home, but thankfully ended up getting picked up by a cute couple with a dune buggy! (I was watching barefoot because my feet were so sandy and would have rubbed really badly in my chacos. I think that was a good thing though because I don't know if they would have pitied us enough to offer a ride if I had been wearing shoes haha.) They dropped us off near a little boutique thing that we checked out for a bit....then left when we saw the price tags on everything. :P
We headed back to Flamboyant (yet again) because we were too tired to go look for new places and Lisa still really wanted fish in a banana leaf. :) It was a really good day, but we were both pretty tired from sun/swimming/hiking, so we went home and showered and watched Sweet Home Alabama on my ipod before bed. It was a pretty great day of beaches and adventuring :)
DAY 6:
The last day. *cries*
No, really. I was so sad it was the last day. Haha.
I had planned to run every day we were there but...didn't. The last day though I knew I'd be so sad if I missed my chance though, so I got up early and ran to the port. It was glorious and early and there was hardly anyone out yet. I love that. I ran out to the shark overlook to see if I could find any sharks (we heard they were there "in the morning" but had no idea when that was...). I couldn't see any so I ran back home...all along the coastline and then along a cute island road. Ah, the homesickness for Tonga was so real that morning. I feel so lucky to have been so many beautiful places like these in my life!
Lisa and I packed and got our stuff ready so we could leave it by the front desk, then we caught a bus back out to the port in search of sharks. The tide was still too low, so we hung out at the shark museum and the port beach for a while, but eventually got back to the shark overlook and saw...SHARKS! For real. Apparently they come into this bay every day to just rest and stuff. There were only a few at first, but I think at some points we had as many as ten or so that we could see all at once! So cool. (I like sharks *much* better from a safe distance :)
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| I wish you could see them even better, but it was so cool! |
Eventually, it was time to head back, so Lisa and I went home and got more food at the per-kilo place. Then we went back, grabbed our bags, and waited for the taxi to take us to the airport.
It's really funny how sad I was to leave that place. I mean, besides it just being beautiful, it was one of those places that I just...felt like I really could be totally content to stay forever. And hey, the lady at our hotel said she'd love to learn English if I ever want to come back and work there. :D
And just a few bonus pictures:
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| You can only take so many "normal" pictures when your hair looks like that all the time... :P |
Thanks for a great trip, Fernando!!! :D
