Well, hello there you amazing blog readers. Before I say anything, I have to ask… Do any of you know how annoyingly hard it is to dress in order to prepare yourself for all seasons of the year packed into one day?  VERY HARD… I am writing this blog during a visit in my grandparents hood of Madeira,  Ponta do sol. The weather here right now is a blaze of sunshine, but I say that in all confidence that somewhere else on this island there is rain or intense winds to go round. Thus, you have to be prepared for any and all circumstances, especially in the islands winter time, summer is just what you would expect on a tropical island.

The holiday started off on a pretty eventful note, near seconds after we landed… two of our luggage bags weren’t delivered but thankfully they were brought to the island two days later. Those who know me, know that I LOVE CLOTHES, as soon as we noticed that the luggage conveyor belt was spinning, void of any more luggage, I fell into the first stages of grief. Luckily, they returned. Each day on the Island, after day one, proceeded to be more and more eventful.

The 23 of December, the day after landing, was the night here on the island called Noite do Mercardo. This is an evening where people all over, come to the main town of Funchal to see the Christmas lights they had been setting up. There is a huge market with the strangest variety of things for sale, including, red bananas. There is music playing everywhere you walk, whether it be live singers or just music playing from speakers that hang around the cobbled streets. There was about 27 thousand people there and the cray thing is that, the day after, it was almost like nothing and no one had been there. The streets are left clean like before. The only sign of the festivity is the stalls that are still set up along the main street.

The evening went on for hours and there were people from all over the globe that had come to spend the Christmas holidays here on the island. Now as someone with limited vision, the night was ACTUALLY INSANE. I had one thing on my mind the whole time, beside for the thought of how good all the food smelled. I just kept my main thoughts on, “don’t let go”. I was holding on to my mum the whole night and I didn’t even want to think of what or where I would be if I had let go in the middle of TWENTY SEVEN THOUSAND PEOPLE. Didn’t want to think about it.

All in all, I would say that beside having to worry about that, this holiday has been pretty fun. We have seen some interesting sights that are traditional to the island of Madeira like the Santana houses. These are triangular shaped houses with thatched roofs.  People actually lived in these type of house years ago.  We have seen all the nativity means that people around the island have taken upon themselves to build. I highlight the word ‘BUILD.” I’ll explain in next week’s blog. There is so much to tell you about I think I’ll spilt it up. Besides. we have the New Year’s Eve fireworks this weekend. They say the hotels of Madeira are at full capacity over the next week, so I have a feeling the 27 thousand people count is going to increase at the events on the 31’st.

“Don’t let go…”