Machico 32:42.9N 16:45.6W
Lotus
Thu 8 Oct 2009 22:54
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Eventually the torrential rain in Porto Santa
stopped, the sky turned blue and the sun came out. To get the legs moving
again we went on a hike up one of the volcanic peaks, managing to pick our way
around all of the prickly pear cacti that lined the way up and avoid being shot
at by all the rabbit hunters (tis the season!). We were rewarded with a
panaramic view of the isand but by now it was pretty darn hot so we decended
quickly and headed straight into the sea.
Next day started much the same way - heavy rain,
but again by midday it had stopped and the sun was out. The unsettled
weather brought with it some big waves and we had a great time body
surfing in the sea (like body boarding but without the
board!).
We've now moved onto Madeira itself and have
stopped in a little fishing/tourist resort called Machico. We're tied up
to the wall inside the small harbour which isn't meant for visitor
boats but the locals are very friendly and even caught our lines for us as
we came in.
 Today we hitched into Funchal to get a permit
to visit the Ihas Desertas. The first driver was an old Geordie guy who
had married a portugese woman some 40 years ago and has lived here ever since,
he spoke Portuguese but you can't hide that Geordie acent! He picked us up
on his booze run so we had a short tour round the local supermarket
before he dropped us half way to Funchal. The next driver was a
Madeiran woman who told us that the highway, which runs
round the island, was only built 10 years ago, before that the journey that took
us 20 mins used to take her 3 hours by bus.
We eventually arrived in Funchal which is the
capital of Madeira and where tourists mainly stay. After a quick look
around their marina (very expensive for visitors, you have to raft
up alongside other boats and you don't have electricity or water), we took
a trip up to the botanical gardens and picked up our permits from the
National Park Authority. A frantic sprint down the high street
led us to the express bus home where we were surprised to see beef carcases
hanging everywhere and wondered what was afoot (that's what was going on,
not what's at the end of your leg!) . We soon found out when we went
back into town later in the evening when we saw the streets lined with oil
barrel braisiers being used for bbq-ing. You just went up to a stall
bought a hump of meat which was cut into chunks for you and skewered onto a long
stick. You then found a spot on the bbq alongside the locals and cooked
the biggest and tastiest kebab you've ever had.
 We ate this with squished bbq whole chicken
(that was cut into pieces with a cleaver that would have done mary Queen of
Scots proud) and some local garlic bread together with local coke of the
cola. Luckily, i just so happened to have wet wipes and selected
sauces in my bag, okay we might have come a little prepared.
Tomorrow, we are heading for the Ihas Desertas, a
little deserted island group 10miles from the east point of
Madeira.
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