Pati’s Weekly Bite 4 – Things don’t always go as planned

As I am writing this, I am sitting at the kitchen table, with the only light coming from the laptop and a candle on the table. Outside, the village of Santana is covered in thick clouds and complete darkness. When I go outside to the patio, I can see smoke-like, slowly moving fog and endless darkness behind it. Not even dogs are barking. Vast nothingness.

When I arrived in Santana a few days ago, I was very excited. One of the most glorious locations in Madeira, full of spectacular trails, photo opportunities and vast Nature. I had multiple walks planned as well as hiking Pico Ruivo – the highest peak in Madeira. But as the title states – things don’t always go as planned

I arrived in this sleepy village, made myself comfortable at a cosy Airbnb apartment and introduced myself to my most immediate neighbours. Those were my closest companions for the coming few days. 

I did some grocery shopping, and given the main supermarket was at the bottom of the valley, I stocked up for the next five days. I didn’t fancy walking up and down with a bag full of groceries every other day. How lucky!

On the first day, the cloud started covering the town, and at times it was hanging low, cuddling the neighbouring mountains, while some other times would come right down, creating thick fog.

Not excellent conditions for hiking the mountains. But the next day, the weather cleared out a little, and I ventured to hike Levada do Rio – a brilliant walk!

But the following day, things got pretty bad.

Madeira experienced one of the most severe thunderstorms with over 9000 lightning strikes within 5 hours period.

I don’t think I have witnessed thunder and lightning this scary before. I am generally not scared of the thunder, but this time I was utterly spooked out!

The rumbling was travelling across the sky from one side to another. Like an acoustic warning – stay home and hide! The strikes were coming from all corners of the sky and some were so close that they would trip the fuses multiple times. The sky was angry!

To top things up in the late evening, the whole island of Madeira lost power, and now collectively, we were all covered in darkness. Slowly the mobile services and internet were gone as well. 

So here I am, sitting in the darkness at my kitchen table. Writing this as I have around 2 hours of battery left on my computer.

No hikes, no Pico Ruivo, no dramatic landscape photographs. 

Update for future me: I did the Pico Ruivo hike in the end and that one as well, didn’t go as planned! 

I mentioned in few of my posts here, that since I arrived in Madeira, I have never felt closer to Nature. And this is part of this experience. If Nature wants to shut us down, she will!

So I’m not totally upset that nothing went as planned on this particular trip.  I treat it as a reminder. Not to fixate on the plans or results but enjoy the process and all the hiccups that come with it. 

For the first time in forever, I don’t have to rush to see everything; I have all the time in the world. So if things don’t always go as planned – the plans can be changed or adjusted.

The sun is coming back soon, as it always does 🙂

I watched Nathaniel Drew’s video today, titled: ‘How to Remember Your Life’ (One of my favourite YouTubers, by the way).

He gives a simple and personal guide on how to remember your life. And it made me wonder.  How do I capture the moments which slip from my memory after just a few years? So many times, I wish I remembered what had happened on that trip five years ago.

What were my thoughts? What did I feel? Some funny moments and details got lost in a broad space of memory.

But now I have the Weekly Bite. Where I can capture those moments, thoughts, pictures and in this format – they will live forever. It is the way I will remember my life, this journey. And I will share it with you – my readers. The learnings from the road, the funny moments, the adventures and the dull moments. I will take you with me on that journey. And I hope you will enjoy the ride!

I will say good night to you now, and I will speak to you next week 🙂