My very eventful first day in Sao Miguel was followed up by another very eventful day: Tour #2. After a bus ride filled with everyone's old camp games, we stopped at Furnas where there are natural hot springs. I stepped off the bus to the sweet, sweet smell of rotten eggs. Thank you, sulfur. The group had already been here so we only briefly stopped. I was okay with that because I knew I would be coming back in session 2. What's really awesome about these hot springs is that apparently the locals use them to cook! They come there with pots of food that they lower into the water. They then take them back home to their families, ready to eat with the meats falling off the bone.
We then stopped by the Lagoa das Sete Cidades (Lake of Seven Cities) or the Twin Lakes. The group had also already been here, so it was a quick stop. There are two lakes right next to each other, divided by only a narrow strip which now has a road on it. To the left, one lake is green and to the right, the other is blue. I don't know why they're two different colors. There were some guesses about algae being greater in one. Yesterday, I was told that the trees reflect onto the green lake and the sky reflects onto the blue lake. Maybe that's it? They're really beautiful and there are also some great trails around the lakes. Too bad we never spend long at these places! At the lake, we also met this German man who was fishing. He was great and he now lives here! Below are some pictures of the green lake. The weather in the Azores is a constant battle between sunshine and fog. At this moment, there was some serious fog as you can see. I'm also not too sure about this, but I think these lakes are craters of volcanoes. The whole island is pretty much volcano.
Next, we stopped at some more gorgeous lookout points. The wind was so strong that I thought it was going to blow me over. These points overlooked North Beach, which has gigantic waves. A kid named Ian from UNC came to North Beach to surf (and sometimes with his doctors at the hospital! I hope I get to become friends with mine!) He brought his board all the way from the states, which is impressive.
Our last stop on the trip was to one of the most awesome places I've been yet. It's killing me, but right now I cannot remember the name and google isn't helping. The bus parked at the top of this mountain and we climbed down road after road. Only after we got to the bottom did we think about having to walk back up to the top at the end. Oh, boy. We finally came down the mountain to a beach of rocks. There was this outcove in the rocks that made a sort of pool in the water. Here, it was a natural hot bath. However, the waves from the ocean would roll into it, and there would be a mix of hot water and cold water. It was probably one of the most interesting sensations I've ever had. One second it was hot, the next freezing. Your left side would be in the cold and your right in the hot. It was so weird. The waves were also constantly crashing in and it was really fun to swim up against them.
As if the day couldn't get any better, on the drive back to the dorms, we saw a huge rainbow. I know what you're thinking right now: there's nothing too special about a rainbow. But this rainbow was out of a movie. First of all, it was a full rainbow of 180 degrees. You could see where it would touch the ground on both ends. Then, as if that wasn't good enough, we drove under this rainbow!!!
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