A Jeep Tour on Sao Miguel

By Marcus—5th grade

My mom, dad, brother and I were in Portugal on the island of Sao Miguel at the Talisman hotel. On our second day we took a jeep tour. We got out of the hotel and took the only elevator to the lobby. We were greeted by our jeep driver named Nu-Nu. He patted me on the head. He seemed nice to me. We walked out of the hotel. Nu-Nu opened the front door for us. I sat in the middle so I could see the front window.

We started driving through Ponta Delgada, the main city on Sao Miguel. When we got to the center of the island we stopped a few times to look at the beautiful view. I saw the Atlantic ocean and cliffs surrounded by plants. It was beautiful, especially the cliffs that were wet from the ocean.

After that we drove to the tea plantation. There we saw lots of big machines used to make tea. There was one that ground the tea. There was also a room for packaging the tea. We also did tea tasting. My favorite was the very flavorful black tea. It tasted bitter but sweet at the same time. After that we got in the jeep and off roaded up a dirt hill. I felt like I was going to die going up it. At the top of the hill we could see the tea plants. There were a lot of them. Then we started to go down. I felt the same as when I went up the hill.

Then Nu-Nu told us that we were going to Furnas. When we got to Furnas we tasted lots of different mineral waters. There was one that tasted like sparkling lemonade that I really liked. The rest weren't as good. I also saw tons of hot springs. They bubbled a lot. We also saw our lunch get dug up out of the ground. Then we drove to a small restaurant. There we ate cuizido. That is a mixture of meat and veggies cooked in a hot spring. I enjoyed it a lot.

After the great meal we went to Poca De Beja, a place where you can swim in mineral water heated by hot springs. The pools had orange powdery iron everywhere. I got covered in it. Then we went in the stream. It was cold but nice. We left after a while of swimming.

Nu-Nu drove us back along the seacoast and did some off roading. We also saw some views. At one place you could see the waves splashing up on the stones. I wanted to get wet but I couldn't. When we got back to the hotel we said good bye to Nu-Nu. He left and the four of us went to our room. We all had a great time!