So I decided to take a 7 day camping and hitchiking trip to Azores. It was an amazing experience.
I went with a friend, named Gonçalo, but to facilitate, let's call him Gonças. With a skinny build, a huge looking mullet hair and motorbike mustache, this guy looked straight out of a 70's porn movie. Super relaxed (sometimes too much) and a cool guy.
After we arrived to Ponta Delgada Airport and bought some supplies. We decided to leave the city and head straight to Lagoa das Sete Cidades (it's a lake), we had 20 km ahead. Walking a up hill road, just outside of the city, for 5 km straight, with a 10 kg backpack, isn't easy. We realized that walking to the lake would take us a while.
My friend was all about asking for rides, I was a bit hesitant because I have never done such a thing. But ok, let's do it, its an aventure after all. It took us more than 10 rejections for a couple to stop and gives a ride. I was dumbfounded. They were locals and they were heading for Sete Cidades just like us (they lived there). We realized during the car trip, that it would takes one more day to get the Lagoa by foot, it was always uphill.
They even gave us a tour of the sightviews of the lake, and left us right at the camping site. Excelent people.
Nothing much happened on the first day, we just cooked our food and set up the tent. And that was it. Next days there will be more, like amazing photos, the absolutely yummy queijadas or the crazy drunk guy with the short memory, among others. But here are a couple of photos for the first day.
