Day 3: More Festa!

Yet another day spent sleeping in… with the midnight bedtime hour, it’s tough to wake up before noon. Jim and I both checked in with work, changed back into our swim suits (which we didn’t realize we’d still be wearing at midnight!) and we headed into town to meet up with our friends at the zip line.

Zip line was a blast! The line was tied from the street (which sits way above the water) down into the ocean. We strapped in and pushed off! All the way down to the little canoe in the ocean where we unhooked and then swam back into shore. All the kids tried it – even Andrew gave it a shot with Jim and then myself strapped in with him. And he had some help back in – carried on the back of one of the Portugese men, over the rocks to the ladder so he could climb back up to the street.

Luke - getting ready for zip line

LUKE

 

TYLER

After the zip line it was off to the bull fight. I wasn’t sure how appropriate this was going to be for the kids but we figured it was part of the Azorean culture and we might as well check it out. Men were chasing and jumping the bulls, trying to hook rings on the horns, etc. and the crowd absolutely loved it! It was a bit nerve wracking to watch but at the same time you couldn’t get yourself to look away. Our show did end with a casualty - one man getting speared in the inner thigh and running out of the ring to grab a waiting taxi for a trip to the hospital! Ouch!! And yet he did the whole thing with a smile on his face, so I don’t believe the kids really understood what happened. We heard later that all was ok with him.

 

 

From the bull fight we headed back onto the main street for dinner, music and to watch the parade. Happy to say we made it home before midnight (although barely!). Ashley and I were the last to turn in and caught the closing fireworks show from our house at 2 a.m!