With the Azores nearly a week in my past, I've had little time to reflect on the experience. Already, I've been sucked into the urban frenzy of Brooklyn. Did I really miss driving with all its inclusive joys of red lights, honking and looking for parking? Did I really miss a bed, even though it lacks the fresh breeze of a tent and the stars above? Walking along Glenwood Avenue today, in spite of the pouring rain, I was still ecstatic to be outdoors, breathing the fresh air. This year has done its job of fully converting me into an outdoors(wo)man. I'm not complaining - but am hopeful I will be able to make space for the great outdoors even while studying and living in a dorm this fall and beyond. But enough about the future, and even the present.

The Azores:
Part of me wants to tell every one (there are 5 of you, right?) reading this to get on a plane asap and fly on over. But encouraging tourism to the Azores might go against everything that makes it so special. The islands work hard to stay mellow - prohibiting the construction of multi-story buildings and discouraging large tour group. Even the best diving and fishing companies on the islands don't have much advertisement/business sense, and I think they want to keep it that way. In brief, the Azores are unspoiled. (with the possible exception of Sao Miguel, an island I didn't visit.)

I led the trip with Kyle, an incredible, laid back and hilarious Idaho-an who has immigrated more or less to Bolivia. Or is it Mexico? He and I had a blast playing mom and pop to the chillest group of teenagers I've ever met. There were 6 of them, and they were ever content with books, hearty meals, early nights in bed and lots of naps. Nutella and a jungle gym always brought these guys more joy then snorkeling and whale-watching did. It made our job pretty easy, and they were a lot of fun to laugh and play with. As we spent our days sailing, hiking and more - many of our guides commented on the extraordinary tranquility of our crew.

Two of the best days of the trip were during the last week. On the small island of Sao Jorge, we did a hike along the Fajas of Santo Cristo. The hike is the most famous on the islands. Starting far above the sea, we (along with several cows) snaked down toward the abandoned downs that lie in the seaside pastures. One town is still alive, getting its supplies from 4 x 4s and boat. There were a handful of stone homes, one church, and blossiming gardens. We even stopped for sodas at the one bar/restaurant in town.

Later in the week, we set sail! Robin, a German sailor, took us out on his 47 foot catamaran and we laid out on the deck reading, playing with his two dogs (who were trained to use the bathroom over the boat's net!) and chatting with his crew. He and Andre, his buddy from Norway, had been all over the Carribean, to Cape Verde and the Canaries. We merely blew lazily among Pico and Faial , anchoring for lunch and snorkeling. On our final Saturday, we surprised the kids with an overnight at Noberto's on the island of Pico.

Noberto is a local character, known and loved by everyone on the islands. He runs diving, fishing and research boats. He has a small stone house on the smaller island of Pico. He cooked us 2 incredible meals during our trip. Over an outdoor stone oven, he boiled potatoes, grilled that day's catch of tuna, grilled squash and served salad from the garden and cheese and bread from the island. Yum! After the meal, he declared that he did not do dishes. We were happy to do them for him. He then headed off for his afternoon siesta and offered up the many available mattresses and a hammock for our own use.

We also did some environmental service work on the island. Working with Chris, who runs an eco-lodge in Horta, we built a solar oven out of a discarded refrigerator. We painted it dark blue, dragged it up to his roof and set a pot of curry chick and vegetables to cook in the sun. We also put together a solar water heater to use for all of the inn's laundry. We used an old pickling barrel and insulated it with life jackets. It was great to see the kids problem solving about how to use all of the recycled materials to construct something so useful. It inspired some good conversation on environmentalism and the kids pledged to make some different environmental choices back in the States.

While we were in the Azores, Horta celebrated la Semana Del mar, the biggest local festival of the year. To kick off the festival, a Madonna is carried from a church above the port down to a boat, with a procession singing ave maria following behind. We joined in on this annual event, and although the kids felt a bit awkward, it was cool to see. The Madonna is then taken by boat around the island and followed by a fleet of vessels carrying bright flags. All week long, there is live music, food and merchandise sold along the streets and a ton of visitors on island to celebrate until the wee hours. Our children were not particularly interested in the late night reverie, but we did surprise them on the last night with a 1am excursion into town. There was a great fireworks show to mark the close of the festival!

Here are some pictures from the Azores - Here is the main town of Horta on the island of Faial where we are spending most of our time.




The Caldeira volcano rim hike we did (although we did it in thick fog and got lost, it was an adventure in bushwhacking!)



And a dolphon shot!