Another weekend, another adventure.

Hi,
Last weekend I did something I've never thought of doing, until Essa told me about it and I was like yes why not :)
Horne lake caves are natural caves situated on Vancouver Island.
We came prepared with long pants and long sleeves like the website said, we also had a total other outfit for after. The tour we did is called the wet and wild, the days before it rained a lot so we rented some boots and bought some cloves on the spot. Lucky we did cause the water was high in the caves.
We were a small good group and the guide gave us a lot of information. First we started with a hike uphill to get to the first cave.
The first cave we did was said to be the easy one :) I was thinking really? There were big rocks to go down on, we were told to always have 3 body parts touching the ground. So your arms, legs or bum should always touch the ground. The further down we went the more we heard the water that was flowing under us. We also went up like 2 steps to see a buda in the rocks in the middle of a little pool of water. At some point we all went to sit down and turned out our flashlights, a minute sitting in pitch black listening to the water, magical moment it was. Then we went back up and to the second cave.
To get into the second cave we had to go through a narrow passage, where I got stuck, because I was to short...But with some help it worked out :) We couldn't touch the whole right side of the caves cause that was crystallized rock and protected. So here I found out why the first cave was the easy one...It was so small in the second one and sometimes you got to almost crawl to move on. At some point we all stopped at a waterfall in the cave. That was when the guide said, we're going up, climbing the waterfall. He said we didn't have to, but we could all do it. So I was like ok lets to this :)
The waterfall was in 3 levels, at the second level there was a really small passage. Again I was to short to get over it, but the guide lent me his leg to stand up on, poor guy :( I won't lie, it was hard for me to get to the top, but I was so happy that I did it. And not once I was thinking of being afraid or that I was doing something crazy. Oooh yeah the only protection we had was a helmet with a flashlight on top, no ropes or whatever. After the waterfall we went further on and got down on a slide and went back out the cave.
The third cave we did was narrow as well. At some point we went down to the water and we could only do that on our bum because the rocks were to wet and slippery. Then once with our feet in the water the guide showed us a whole in the rocks and said you're going through that now...So we did :) We came out in a little cave and he said to turn of our lights, then he lighted up a piece of the rock and turned his light out. And the rock gave light, so cool to see :)
Then we had to go back out through the same little whole in the rocks and the guide said to go head first, which seemed weird, but else we would be in the water with our whole body :) So for some reason I went first, it went ok just got some water in one of my boots :)
Then we were standing like what it seemed closed in, so I asked where are we getting out? And he pointed to a horizontal crack in a rock, I was thinking no way I can fit there. He showed us how exactly to follow his lead, so thats what I did...and I passed, but ripped my pants while doing it hahaha :)
After that we went back down and it was the end of our adventure.
We did need to change, cause we were wet and dirty :) and I had ripped my pants hahaha.
I had a great time and never thought I was going to say one day that I climbed a waterfall in a cave :)
The only downside was the days after, when my legs were in so much pain of all the efforts I did. Till this day my 'bad' knee is still hurting. But it was well worth it :)
I had a great adventure with Essa, once again :)
And if you guys are ever on Vancouver Island, this is something worth doing!!!
Love,
Sarah

Portugal

Hi,
I know it's been a while, but here I am again :)
A few weeks ago I went to Portugal with my sister and her friend, to be exact we went to Porches.
We stayed at a places thats called Vila Senhora de Rocha, a beautiful place with all different houses and apartments. We stayed at one of the apartments and it was lovely. Here is what we were up to :)

Day 1:
We took our plane in Ostend at 7pm and arrived in Faro around 9pm, what we didn't knew was that there was a time difference of an hour :) but we found that out pretty quick. So after finding our taxi that we had pre ordered we went on the road. It would have take us about 50min but that driver was crazy and it only took us like 30min. After finding our apartment we went on to settle in, took a shower and went to bed, so we could get up bright and early the next day.

Day 2:
We woke up early because we had to do some grocery shopping, thats the part of being in an apartment and not in a hotel, but we like it that way. So we looked up the shop online and it would take us 15min by foot, so thats what we did. It was already quit hot but we hoped we could get back before the real heat :) The shop was big and we found everything we needed, we had 3 bags and a six pack of water, so we had a lot. And we had ice cream with us, so we quickly went back home.
There we had some breakfast and after that the lady of the apartment came by to fix the wifi. And then we went for a swim, because we had a private pool and beach :) First we went to the beach and on the way we saw a little shop at 5min from the apartment :( To get to the beach we had to go down through some stairs, but from up top the view was amazing and from the beach it was also pretty cool. The water of the ocean was super cold but we could use the refreshment. We could also go to another beach through a whole in the cliff, so we tried that out but we preferred our beach, it's was more quit over there :) After a few hours at the beach we went home for some dinner and after that we went to see the outside pools we also had access to. Then we headed back home to shower and play some games before sleeping.
 And like that we had a great first day :)

Day 3:
After breakfast we went and found a place to do some sightseeing of the caves. Because this place is famous for having the most beautiful caves of Europe. We found a place where we could hop on the boat directly and for not much money, so we did it. We were alone on the boat and the boat was pretty small, but we found out that this was great cause now we could enter even the smallest caves. Our captain was a cute old guy who didn't speak much english but still showed us amazing details, we ended up understanding him. For example when we got out of a cave he told us to look up because the rock above us looked like a face, all such small things made this a great experience. Also getting in the smallest caves was awesome, because even boats a little bigger than ours couldn't go in there. This boat trip was the highlight of our trip!! If your there one day you have to do it!
After getting back from the trip we went back home to trop everything of and just leave in swimsuits and towels, because we had a plan. From the boat we saw that just next to our beach there was a cave we could swim to if we went around a cliff, so thats what we did :) It was amazing! At one point my sister went crazy and swam on a rock because she thought there was a shark :) but it was a false alarm. After that we went back home for some diner. Then we went to the cliff to do a little hike and call our parents to show of the view.
After that we went for a swim in the pool and then back home to shower and sleep.

Day 4:
Our last full day :( We decided to go see a town so we could get some souvenirs and such, because where we were there was nothing. So we went to book a taxi to go to Lagoa, but the driver told us there was nothing up there but he knew a nice place not far from that. So he took us to Carvoeiro which is a lovely little town by the ocean. We took some great pics there and did some shopping for souvenirs. We stayed there the whole afternoon. After getting back home I wanted to go for a swim because it was the hottest day so far, it was 35°C!! Then we went home for diner and after that the girls wanted to go for a swim in the pool, like every night they stayed there till 10pm. Then we went back to shower and sleep.

Day 5:
The last day :( We don't want to leave, this place is amazing, so much to do and so quit.
After breakfast we start cleaning and finish packing, then we go place our luggage at the reception and then went for a last time to the beach to enjoy the view and then we went to a bar for some refreshments. Around 2pm we went for some late lunch because we didn't knew if we would have something to eat later on. Then we went for a last walk on the cliff were there was a church on top of it and we enjoyed the view from up there. Then a last drink before leaving for the airport.
At the airport we still had some time to kill, because we were the last flight of the day. So we went to eat and drink something at PAUL, my favorite place for croissants :) Then it was time to check in and leave this beautiful place.

We had the best time on this trip and we recommend this to everyone :)
This place is so beautiful and quit, not like the big cities around. If you like to party you could, at our reception there was a bus leaving for a party place at night but we didn't felt the need to party.
Here you can go with kids, friends and family. It's just amazing and I would go back if I can one day!
Hope you enjoyed reading about my trip and if you go there one day let me know :)
We also made a blog about our trip on our youtube channel if you want to check it out :)
Love,
Sarah