Friday I managed to find time at work to move my holiday pics from my phone to a flash drive where I sorted them, removing duplicates and crappy shots.

I have been thinking about what else to say regarding my holiday, which proved to be a bit difficult.  The whole trip itself was a blast, so for me, it was hard to focus on what I enjoyed the most.  From driving a manual transmission (I haven't done it in years), to eating fresh seafood and swimming in crystal clear ocean water, there seemed to be almost too many things to choose from.  However the two main things which I kept coming back to while taking a mental inventory were the Lagoa Do Fogo and the Tidal Pools at Mosteiros.  I'll talk about the former now.

The Lagoa Do Fogo is a lake which formed in the middle of an extinct volcano crater that is located dead center on the island of Sao Miguel.  The government of the Azores turned this whole area into a natural reserve and does not allow any development there in order to maintain the natural beauty of the place.  We started the day by driving on a narrow, winding road up the side of the volcano crater to the top rim.  The ride up was pretty interesting because I was still a bit rusty with the manual transmission.  I stalled out a few times and even managed to roll back down a section of the hill in a blind panic.  Luckily, I pulled my shit together and we made it to the top where there was a nice overlook where we and a few other tourists enjoyed the view for a few minutes.  

The next stage of the days adventure had us drive half way down the inside of the crater where I somehow managed to park without rolling off a cliff.  We then proceeded to hike down a steep path that threaded back and forth along the inside face of the volcano complete with switchbacks, loose rocks, uneven stairs and rickety ladders.  After about 45 minutes we reached the bottom which put us on the lake shore where we hiked for another 15 minutes until we found a nice spot on the beach.  It was absolutely peaceful inside the crater, the only sounds were a flock of birds squawking away while they were floating across the lake.  The sand was finely grained which was surprising to me as we were inside an extinct volcano, I had imagined it would have been rocky and rough.  The water was crystal clear, warm and filled with schools of small fish who scattered about as I swam among them.  After relaxing for a while we dragged ourselves away from the lake and started the trek back up the mountain, refreshed and relaxed...at least until we hiked back up and I had to drive back up the hill.  ;)