Salgados lagoon

 

There are wild flamingos that make their way through wetlands in Portugal in the months of November through March, and they stop (among other places) in a lagoon by the sea about 1/2 hour from my place.  I wanted to see them!  The lagoon is on the land side of sand dunes along a huge beach, where there are surfer-sized waves and (this is a theme!) almost no people.    As much as I'd like to say I saw them, I saw spoonbills and herons and egrets and oystercatchers and many other birds someone more bird-savvy than I could identify... but no flamingos. It's a little tricky, they aren't necessarily all that pink -- it's dependent on how much shrimp they eat -- but their beaks are distinctive so no go for me today.  There's a spot near Tavira where I'll be headed in a few weeks that people say they've seen wild flamingos so stay tuned.

What I'm not showing you is that this huge beautiful beach was the first beach I've been to that was not far from a lot of apartment and office buildings.  Maybe 10 stories tall, but it had a bit of a shorter version of Miami feel to me.  Not my vibe at all, but on a day when a handful of us were out in tee shirts in bright warm sunshine, not so bad.

Now a little practical information.  Before I came to Portugal, I asked an acquaintance, based on a few months spent in the Algarve this fall, what she missed most that she could get in the US but wasn't available in Portugal.  Her answer was Costco plastic wrap.  To say the least, I was surprised, even a little incredulous at someone having that strong a need for plastic wrap.   That was until Monday, when I wrapped up 1/2 of a red onion in the local plastic wrap and put it in my refrigerator where it's presence was very very very strong.   She was absolutely right and I should not have doubted her. I will either find some earth-friendly silicon wrap or never ever cut into a red onion in Portugal again.  

The other practical observation I have is that when I marveled at how uncrowded it was here last week, I didn't know that this week there would be 1/4 the number of people around as last week.  The parade of people walking along the cliffs has slowed to one or two an hour, the roads are empty, it's almost like I have an overly wonderful part of the world just for myself.  Well, for me and a cat friend.