Climate challange

Coming to the south Portugal we all expect to have warm sunny days. And its true! After -5C in Ukraine I came on 17th of January to Algarve, the warmest region in Portugal, and took off my light Autumn coat, having +23C. I remember that day very good - Hungarian volunteer Lisy met me just in t-shirt. I was feeling so good, warming myself on the sun. We had sun in winter almost every day and for the whole day. Having so much sun was like a paradise for me. We even based in the ocean in the super cold water.

BUT, not all days are so warm and there is no central heating inside houses. So, in winter, at daytime it's colder inside the buildings than outside. It's a problem, especially, when rooms are not on the  sun side. For me and Lisy it was hard to get used to coldness at home, so we used electric heaters a lot.

Ocean breeze makes climate difference more sensible. Air humidity is much higher than in countries we are from, so temperature feels different. When you have hot summer day breeze makes it ideal to chill on the cost. But, when its winter, while walking near the ocean its better to have a coat, wind is usually strong. The sunny march day, when you were walking around the town just in sweater, can be unbelievable cold on the beach. Take a coat with you!

Also, this year was unusually cold for Algarve, and summer weather started quite late. It was one more surprise for us, because all the time in winter we were listening to stories about how warm it is in may. But in the end, the real Portuguese warmth late so much, that we started to feel it only in July.

Cold weather came again. We started to use heaters and coats time to time. It's November, and we remember the stories from previous volunteers how they visited the beach almost till December. What is it - climate change or just unlucky cold year?! Anyway, we enjoyed nature and sun a lot. In August, sometimes, it was so warm, that I couldn't sleep inside the house and was putting the sleeping bag on rooftop for night.

In the end, when I compare tempuratures here (18C) and in Ukraine (5C), Im feeling lucky to find myself in sunny Olhao.


From expirience of volunteer Inna.