Fall to your Death!

Alright, so again this is a long picture post and I probably should have done a slide show, but personally I'm too impatient to sit and watch a slide show so I rarely do them. Nothing against those of you who do, but I'm just too impatient.

Anyway, It might have been last weekend we finally decided to explore the Alagoa Fajazinha. We drive past the sign and turn off for it often and have always wanted to explore.

We were never sure what it was but knew it was close to some really beautiful cliffs between the towns of Agualva and Quatro Ribeiras.
This little rock wall is the parking lot. Little did we know that it's not just a look out spot of the cliffs, it IS the cliff.





It starts out with this rocky, but clearly marked path, but that giant rock up ahead is not a rock that is part of the cliff where this path leads to.



Here is what we started to notice about our path. Areas that were quite open to a free fall off the cliff.





But, we also couldn't take our eyes off the incredible views that you could see from off this cliff. There is no where else you'd be able to see this little cove and these rock cliffs.





That water was so mystifying as it splashed up onto the rocks and then all these little rivulets of waterfalls would form.







Off the other side of the cliff we could see a small pebble beach, that we thought we knew how to get to. We decided that if we made it off the cliff alive, with all our kids we would try to walk down to the beach.






This is a very scary picture, to me, not only is that the edge of the path, but it's all just loose gravely rock. One wrong step and you could just slide right off the edge.


Rob and I were both having mini panic attacks with Sean's bravery.
Savanna was kept as close as possible.



Yet another frightening spot.




I was trying to get a picture with Savanna and I but Sean kept making me way too nervous. Rob eventually convinced Sean to stay in a safe spot while we got our picture taken.
BTW, for those of you who think this is a "tropical" location. I would like you to notice that I am wearing a sweater and long pants. The pictures might look warm and they are probably warmer than where you are right now, but it is not bathing suit weather.I am most often than not cold, wearing a jacket and have the heater on. I love the wind and hate it. It could be a warm day but with the wind it ends up still being sweater weather. Just a side note-Tiffany!



We did find a spot or two where the kids could throw rocks off the cliff, as long as they stayed behind the "wall". Even then, Sean would lean so far over that wall, that we had to cancel that game. I don't know why they liked it, because even when Rob or myself would throw a rock as far out as we possibly could, you couldn't see where it splashed because it was just too high and steep.



At the end of the cliff there was some more room with less edges and more flat area to let the kids explore a little. Kaelin was well aware of the dangers and usually stayed away from the edge.





Sean and Rob getting their cliff picture.



This was the "safe spot" Rob convinced Sean to stay on while he took our picture. He did stay there for a while even after we said he could come down. He must have had a nicer view.




At the very end there was another wall to lean against. Kaelin got some nice pictures.



This was what the end, over the edge looked like.



On the way back we saw this man, fishing. Rob said he needed that kind of fishing pole so he could come try it.




Goody bye cliffs, we were off to find our pebble beach so the kids could throw more rocks and have a little freedom to roam and not give Rob and I a heart attack.





The little beach over near the mountain was our goal.


We followed one path but it didn't quite get us where we thought, so we drove down toward a farm and walked across the pebbles.








But, we quickly realized they weren't pebbles at all. These ROCKS ranged in size from a large grade-A egg to a soccer ball. It was definitely not easy to walk on. They hurt your feet right through your shoes. I'm honestly surprised none of us left limping from sprained ankles. But we did eventually make it to the beach.






Where the kids got there fill of throwing rocks into the water.




I tried to get a video of the sound the rocks made but the wind was blowing too much to hear it. When a big wave came onto the looser rocks, a loud, thundering rumble would start as the wave receded. It was quite cool.



It was an interesting excursion. I honestly don't know if we'll do it again, just because of how scary it was having the kids with us. We couldn't stay too long because we could see some rain clouds coming in and we didn't want to be stuck trying to walk back across the rocks in the rain.




We (and others) have commented on how, it sometimes feels like we are on the island from LOST. We refer to Terceira as "the island" There isn't much to do here and we literally are hundreds of miles away from any mainland. Also, no matter how hard you try sometimes, you just can't get off the island (plane cancellations, lost bags, being bumped for someone with military orders, etc.)




Well I think we found proof. Down at this farm by the "not-so-pebbly" pebble beach we found this:


Looks pretty DARMA-esque to me. Not sure what this farmer is doing down here in this extremely secluded area but I just hope that when the time comes we will be able to get off this island.



****Sorry to those who don't know about LOST*****

To make a comment

This is just informational for those who don't know

At the end of each post it says, comments

One could click on this and write a comment or ask a question. You can click the anonymous option and just type your name at the end if you don't have a google account or another of the options.

Just FYI.

Our own airbender

We went back to Biscoitos swimming holes. The waves were crazy! Sean was having fun pretending that he was the one "bending" them. He was extra excited when he would put out his arm and the wave would splash at the same time. I'll put up more pictures from this trip on another day but these are to showcase Sean's water bending skills.



He was pretty shy about being seen doing this, but I was able to capture it for future enjoyment/blackmail. I think it's real cute

We still try to go to the beach every now and then. My neighbor loves to take her kids and sometimes takes mine with her. This was that last time that we headed out. It was actually a lot of fun. We just walked up and down our little beach area and looked for crabs and shells and things.



Kaelin is searching for "good stuff".

She was really excited that she found pieces of crabs and pieces of starfish. After she found the first one that what she switched to looking for. Instead of shells and sea glass she wanted sea creature parts.


Savanna was helping her look for things but had more fun with me writing in the sand with sticks.


Rob was looking for crabs in the waves and Sean, did end up getting pretty wet.



These ladies were cute. They had just come from doing some shopping and stopped at the beach. Their husband/brother/friend whoever was just standing up on the beach waiting. He's in Savanna's picture. I think the lady in the black is actually in her underwear. Which is pretty funny too. They just stood there and watched Vanna and looked out to sea for a long while. They were there before we got there and hadn't let by the time that we left. I guess they were having a good time.




I have more pictures of "who know what" on my camera and now that Sean is also going to school full time now, I hope to have some time to blog about them. You might get tired of seeing the same places over again because we keep going back. There are a few places I've just stopped bringing my camera to, because we've been enough times already. We've pretty much done all that you can do, for now. In the summer there will be more water involved that isn't rain.

News

Alright, so we might be getting some news. We don't know yet if it will be good news or bad news but it'll be news either way.

Now, just to make this a little more fun I'm not telling you exactly what it will be in regards to.
It might have to do with an upcoming trip or it could be an idea of what our next assignment will be.
Or it could even be small like something about Kaelin or Sean's school.
OR, it could be somewhere in the middle like a new food joint or new form of entertainment on base.
You really can't know.


We are lacking anything real exciting so I'm going to try and get whatever I can from this tidbit of info. I'm trying to find a fun way of releasing the news, when the person who has the news releases it to us.

I'm thinking of doing a blog scavenger hunt or a Where's Waldo/Look and Find type of picture.

I hope to tell you soon because then that means that we have found out too.

Yeah, I'm excited maybe some will rub off on you.

Superstar!

Mt. Brazil cont.

Alright there are lots of pictures, which is why I took so long to put them up, anyway, I'm not going to worry about order so here we go.



At the top of Mt. Brazil is the slide and a "zoo" but at the bottom is the castle and a huge area to play, with different kinds of playgrounds. It's really cool. I'm always nervous to head over there because the weather could be completely different from one side of the island to the other. This day in particular at home it was a complete downpour rain, but 20 min away on the other side it was sunny.

Sean's favorite part of the parks was this "Spider-man web", he didn't climb much higher than this.



Savanna loved the swings. All the pictures she had her eyes shut. I didn't know she was closing her eyes the whole time, that's kind of funny.


Kaelin showing how she could hold on to the fireman pole.




This was so scary for me to watch Kaelin climb, so I decided I would try it to see how difficult it was. My research to decide if she was still allowed to do it. It wasn't hard but, boy was I nervous. It's different when you're older and really know the consequences of falling. But, after completing my research I decided she was still ok to climb. Then, one of the other dad's there (not pictured) thought it would be a great idea to let the kids climb to the top and then slide down the pole in the middle. I thought that was crazy but he stood at the bottom in case they fell? Kaelin did it and so did a couple of his boys. Maybe I'm just lame, but that thought never even crossed my mind.

This was one of the playgrounds and in the back you can see the castle walls. There's a tour you can take and I want to, but I'll wait until there's another school break or summer so Sean and Kaelin can come too.


The thing I thought was so cool were these look out towers. That's my guess as to what they are. If you have any other guesses, let me know. Watch/guard towers? btw this is the same tower, just front and back.



Now on to the zoo!
By the end of it, Savanna was dirty and tired. She would trip all over because she was trying to go fast and it's not like there were nice paved pathways or anything.



He wouldn't look at me, the picture where he finally did, he had such an angry face I had to use the nice one.


This is just above the slide, its just a small playground, but she kept reenacting Dora/Diego episodes going over the bridge.



She's trying to walk down to the chickens but she just kept speeding up. She how dirty her pants are.



Feeding the peacock some Ritz crackers. He must have been molting because he had no long tail feathers.



Another kind of fowl. The zoo has maybe three cages of chickens and one with the pheasants and peacock.



Sean was more cautious than Savanna and wanted to hold hands so he didn't fall.




Besides all the chickens, they had a fenced in area with deer. One buck and four or five deer. He was really territorial. If we walked to where the ladies were he would come charge over to either scare them away from the fence or us. Either way he was scary.




Near the slide they have Polly in this cage and next to him some very ornery geese.



I guess that's the end of my pictures, this zoo makes me REALLY miss the Memphis zoo.