Bling Bling Vroom Vroom

What a welcome sight la soleil (the sun) was for us in Portugal last week. We went with some amazing Texans we met here in Brussels. There was plenty of laughter, sun, indulgent spa treatments, wine, and good food. We spent majority of the time tanning. The men of the group, snowball and snowflake, were trying hard not to turn to tomato paste. It's nice to have some color on my body again after being in sunless Brussels for almost a year now. The food there was excellent. We discovered a new spice called piri-piri which rivals Tabasco sauce. A friendly waiter told us that it is made of olive oil, chili peppers, garlic, and a little bit of salt. Boy, does it taste spicy and yummy.

We took a captain hook boat ride (it was supposed to be a romantic sunset cruise but somehow because of language issues we were signed up for the pirate cruise). It was a lovely ride up the Algarve coast and the boys even jumped into the Atlantic Ocean. Because we thought we were having a romantic boat ride, no one brought swimsuits. But the boys braved it and jumped in with their shorts and boxers! I was too girly and didn't want to ruin my outfit.

One of the the things that was discussed during our trip is that Europeans have no issues showing skin. The girls go topless until they are around 12! Now, because the food these days have so many steroids, some of these girls really should be covered. It made for many a perverted afternoons watching these budding girls. But, as Americans we are prudish. For them it is natural. We saw more of the young girls topless and older women topless than the good ones (bling bling). And we saw lots of men's skin displayed in a colorful variety of speedos (vroom vroom). Those men weren't worried about turning to spaghetti. Sorry boys, nothing to see here. ;)