16th of July
Woken up by the doorbell ringing. The company that organizes the levada walk sent a car for me. We did leave a message for them, apparently they did not get it. Abdullatif told him that I had an accident and cannot go with them.
Felt like a child who missed out on the school trip because she got the chickenpox. Really upset, so wanted to do it. Didn’t want to get out of bed, went back to sleep.
An hour later I was feeling a bit more positive, at my usual porridge breakfast ex suggested that I reschedule it. Should be fine in a week. Having a hard time doing basic things with one hand, pulling up a zipper, opening a bottle of water is an impossible task. The boys realized that I am not much of a help, started to do things for themselves. Hurray!!! I know someone is thinking that should have done this from the very beginning. You are absolutely right, but old habits die hard. We met a carpenter who will do a built-in wardrobe in the storage room, and Louisa came over to have a chat about the garden. I did find out the name of that bush with the red buds that turn into gorgeous purple flowers. It’s called tibouchina , known as the princess flower in English. An evergreen shrub, the leaves feel velvety, soft to the touch,and those flowers, oh so beautiful. Did read up on it, turns out that it can tolerate frost, grows to about 30-40 centimeter, at its home can reach up to 100cm. In Madeira I saw ones way over 100 cm, magic. Must get one!
What can you do with one hand and 2 guys who hate sightseeing, walking? Not much. Always have to come up with some incentives to get what I want. Agreed to sit with them at the Ritz cafe if they walked with me.
Got levada walk rescheduled, bought arnica cream for my bruises and had a long leisurely walk at the Santa Catarina park again. Just love looking at the frangipani flowers and taking deep breaths. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. Although the flower’s scent is strongest at night. Unfortunately there are no cruise ships coming in in these days, haven’t seen any since we arrived. The weather is getting warmer, at Palheiro is cooler. We haven’t used the aircondition yet. I sleep with the terrace doors open, enjoy the cool night air.
Continued the afternoon with some pool time, later dinner at a restaurant called Romana at the Zona Velha. Nothing really special, except the 1995 wine we had with our dinner, called Secular Cave ,Bairrada (Colheita 1995). Should have been left in the bottle, that’s the honest truth.
Today was a relaxing day, haven’t seen anything new. Needed the comfort of familiar sights, smells. So glad that now I can afford to just walk around like the locals, not having to rush off to see this and that, been there, done that. The East tour, the West tour, saw the caves at Sao Vicente, took a dip in the natural pools of Porto Moniz, saw the little, triangular thatched houses in Santana. That’s not to say I don’t want to go back. I will. Have to, want to discover every square centimeter of the island, after all, the way things are right now, I do plan to live here. Maybe not right now, might take a few years to figure out things. No rush. I would like to find the perfect spot, the dream location for our home. Maybe a little bit further away from Funchal, less people, bigger lands. Do find the lands tiny, and I’m used to having a huge garden. At home got half an acre of woodland garden, which we are still developing and will take at least a few years to look the way it should be. I am missing it. Miss my log cabin, the surroundings. Yet I love every second I spend on this island. Is it possible to love two at the same time? Equally? Be it a person, a country, or a land? All I know is that I love them both.