Vereda da Ponta de Sao Lourenco

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Monday October 10– Up at 5:45, the first of many early starts. I decided that today I would do a hike. There are not so many buses…wait, that’s not right. There are a million buses, but not so many of the regional kind, so I wanted to make sure I was on the first bus that left so I could do the hike and make it back to town again. I left early to find the right bus stop for the 113 bus that would bring me to the start (and end) of the Sao Lourenco peninsula hike. There are SO many bus stops and three different bus companies that run the different routes around the island and I was worried I might not find the right stop. I needn’t have worried – I found it in plenty of time and even had to wait 20 or so minutes. I think what surprised me most was that it was still so dark out. I got on the bus at 7:30 and it was only just starting to get light in the east. Part of that might be explained by the mountains being in the way of the rising sun and partly because it is October, after all. But since it’s still nice and warm, it’s easy to forget. It did leave me with quite a nice view of the sunrise from the bus though. The day started out a bit cool but sunny and progressed to warm and mostly cloudy, not ideal for photos but good for hiking since it’s all exposed with no shade. The start of the hike was very close to the parking lot where the bus drops you off, so that was easy. The walk itself is fairly easy, at least until the end, and then phew! Straight up to the highest point. But the views from there were really nice. I stopped and ate a sandwich at the viewpoint and then headed back down. I thought the hike would take 4 hours but it only took 3. I was going pretty quickly though. I could have just made it made in time for the 12pm bus, unexpectedly, but since I hadn’t planned on that and wasn’t exactly sure of that earlier bus time, I decided to stay a bit longer until the next bus and went for a swim at the beach. I walked down to the rocky beach, as I had earlier in the day, but this time there were others there. I sat down on a washed-up log by the cliff face and ate my other sandwich while some brave lizards came and tried to climb up my leg. I had to think whether I was brave enough to change my clothes on the beach in public since there were no other options. Everyone else seemed to be doing it – it was only about 4 other people, so I decided to just go for it. Why miss out, eh? Especially in Europe where people are just not as prude as Americans. I did it but it must have been funny for those watching. The water was cold and I did not have much time – maybe 15 minutes – because I had to change and get back to the bus. But I’m glad I took the plunge, as it were.



Back in Funchal, I walked around again for a while and went to the Quinta das Cruzes museum that has been closed the day before. Or at least, I saw the gardens but could not for the life of me find the entrance to the museum itself. I had another early dinner at a burger joint for dinner and called it a night. This will become a familiar routine, not least of which because I live up a crazy long hill and really don’t want to go back into town for a meal and then back up again.

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