As sad as I was to leave Porto, I was absolutely ecstatic on our 2 hour flight to the tiny island of Sao Miguel in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Unfortunately, I sat on the wrong side of the plane, so I missed the view of the green volcanic island on our descent, but Jack showed me pictures of it after we landed and it was spectacular. When we landed, we got our rental car (which was only 60 dollars for 3 days!!) and we drove 5 minutes into the town to our Airbnb. After checking in, we walked around the town and ended up eating at a delicious seafood restaurant out on the bay. The fresh triggerfish, mashed chickpeas, and sangria were a great way to start our island adventure.
The next morning, we woke up early to drive to the far west coast of the island to visit Riberia Grande National Park. I could not believe how beautiful the drive was- everywhere I looked was green, with volcanos reaching far into the clouds and deep blue water stretching out as far as you could see. The last five minutes of the drive consisted of a steep decent into a lush canyon. When we arrived, we were greeted by waterfalls, palm trees, and pink flowers in every direction. After parking the car, we hiked up along the main stream for about a mile past small waterfalls to reach a large waterfall, emptying out into a crystal clear pool. For the next hour, we explored this area, wading our feet in the freezing cold water. Afterwards, we hiked back down the way we had come and then walked downstream, in the direction of the ocean. For the rest of the afternoon, we explored the dense forest, hiking up and down the canyon. Although we never reached the ocean, we climbed up the top of a cliff and were able to see the ocean off in the distance, along with tons of waterfalls gushing water towards the expansive forest in the valley below. We ended up arriving back at the car right as it started to rain. As the weather was supposed to get worse throughout the day, we decided to head to the hot springs in Furnas, a beautiful town encapsulated by mountains and volcanos. On the way there, my GPS tried to take me up an extremely narrow road which dead ended into a staircase. Good thing I was paying attention to the road, or I would have totaled our rental car, and our 60 dollar rent would have turned into a 20,000 replacement fee. After a small detour, we reached the hot springs, which was a perfect way to spend a rainy evening. The place consisted of 5 different naturally fed baths, nestled in the middle of a forest. Although the rain was a little chilly on our head and shoulders, the water was super relaxing. We ended up staying at the baths until late in the evening, so driving home down a volcano in the dark and the rain was a little stressful, but we made it home safely without careening off the side of the mountain.
We woke up to much better weather on Wednesday- the sun was shining and I could walk outside in shorts and a t-shirt!! We started out the day by driving up the Fogo Volcano in search of a hike around the Lagoa do Fogo, an emerald lake in the volcano crater. The drive up the mountain was the prettiest drive I have ever done, with the entire mountainous island and the blue water stretched out beneath us. Words cannot even attempt to describe how beautiful the drive/ following hike was so I will stop here and you can see for yourself in the pictures below.
We realized that the hike started at the bottom of the mountain on the coast, so we had to drive back down to reach the trailhead, but the views from the top were well worth the detour. On our way to the trailhead, we stopped on a black sand beach, and hung out there for an hour or so, running along the sand and wading in the crystal clear ocean water. Unfortunately, we left the windows open in the car and in the hour that we were at the beach, someone reached in and stole Shannon´s wallet, but we soon forgot about it on our spectacular hike up the mountain. Again, I´m going to stop writing and just let the pictures speak for themselves.
We ended up staying on top of the mountain for too long, so we hiked down the last two hours in the pitch black. We also got caught in a surprise rain storm, but it passed quickly, revealing the prettiest sky I have ever seen in my entire life, I saw Orion, the big dipper, and the little dipper all in one night. After almost having to carry Jack down the mountain, we finally made it down and drove to the supermarket to eat a late dinner.
Thursday was the prettiest day thus far, so it was a perfect day to go on an ATV tour around the island. Our guide, Miguel, led us along the coast through corn fields and different villages as we rode towards Sete Cidades, a crater lake on the eastern part of the island. On the way up, Jack and Izzie flipped their ATV, but luckily they were ok- however, I think it scared Izzie enough to not want to drive the rest of the tour. When we reached the lake, we stopped to take pictures and grab coffee in the town. Just when I thought the island couldn´t get anymore beautiful, it did. We spent the next couple of hours driving along the bumpy ridge of the volcano, with 360 views of the emerald and blue lakes down below, and the ocean on the other side. The tour guide took us to a few other secluded lakes around the area before sadly taking us back to the Ponta Delgada where we had started. On the way back, we drove on the highway and ended up reaching about 50 mph, which seemed even faster on the low-riding ATV. Shannon and I shared an ATV for the tour, and she almost flipped us on the way back, but she sure did not make the ride boring! After the tour, we headed back to the apartment for lunch, and then drove back over to the west side of the island to Ponta Ferraria, a point of the island with massive waves and large volcanic rocks. The waves here were absolutely gigantic, and I almost broke my phone trying to take a picture as a wave sprayed water all over me. When low tide came, we walked over to a warm water cove, which was heated by volcanic rock underneath. I was the only one who hopped in at first, but I started a movement, and pretty soon, me along with 20 other people were in the water, getting bashed by cold waves from the ocean, and then warming up to the warm water leaving the cove. After getting battered by the waves for about 30 minutes, we all hopped out and got in the car to head up to the top of the nearby volcano to watch the sunset over the ocean. The views from the top were unreal, and neither pictures nor words can describe how serenely spectacular it was. When the sun had fully set, we headed back to our apartment to get a quick bite to eat, before heading to bed early for our early morning flight the next morning. I wish we could have stayed at least a couple more days, as we barely scratched the surface of this beautiful island, but I guess I will just have to return again some day. Despite leaving the island, our spring break was still not over: we had the entire upcoming weekend to explore Lisbon and Madrid before returning to Germany!
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