I’m back from a wicked weekend holiday in Lisbon with the girls. It’s Monday and the damage is done – we’re back at work, totally exhausted, sore and sleep-deprived. But damn, it was worth it! This weekend topped all other girly weekend trips thus far and now Lisbon is my new favourite city in Europe. It’s cheap, colourful, warm, friendly and beautifully historic. It’s a hilly city, with cobblestone streets, medieval castles and old monasteries. The food was exquisite – fantastic fresh fish and to-die for pastries (pasteis de Belem). We had the most amazing chocolate mouse I’ve ever tasted in my life.
If you’ve ever seen the movie Vicky Cristina Barcelona, you’ll recall that the threesome in there happened because there was a special chemistry that could only exist between the three characters – they all fed off each other. And M, C and I were just that amazing combination of personalities that made this trip so special. It was madness and silliness and the most painful laughter I’ve experienced. It was the ultimate joy for me to be with my two best girl friends – no limits, no holds-barred, no secrets or rules.
We met people who couldn’t speak a lick of English, danced to live Brazilian samba music in hole-in-the-wall pubs in Bairro Alto. We salsa’d till 4am and tiptoed in our high heels through cobblestone streets packed with locals and tourists. It was music and laughter and sunshine and amazing food. We climbed ancient castle walls, rode trams in the evening wind and hopped in and out of taxis so cheap it didn’t feel like Europe!
I’ve always loved Latin everything – the dances, the culture, the music. And Lisbon surprised me because it is the most latin city I’ve experienced outside of South America. We met some new Brazilian friends and managed to communicate with non-English speaking people with an English-Portuguese dictionary. It is in these moments, where you are pushed linguistically and culturally,when travel really stretches you. It forces you to communicate outside of your own tongue, it forces you to see through another cultural paradigm and it makes you forget about all the material comforts of your own life and home and pulls you into a completely new world. This is the reason I am addicted to it: the newness, the stretching, the moments of pure disbelief that you are actually there, doing what it is you’re doing, meeting with the people that you’re meeting. It’s the kind of shake up that makes me feel so so alive.
I’m exhausted and completely sleep deprived. But memories from this weekend are the happy thoughts that would give me the power to fly if I were Peter Pan. =)
