Day 3 – Madeira: Canyoning, Espetada, and Ashwaganda
We woke up at 7:30am and I snoozed for 20 minutes. I’m not sure if it’s the jet lag or I just didn’t sleep well, but I felt like an absolute zombie this morning. We got ready and grabbed breakfast downstairs at the Rose Garden and then hit the road by 9:20am. Today we were going canyoning, a fun excursion that we booked through Epic Madeira. Neither of us had ever been canyoning before but I anticipated it to be similar to repelling down a rock climbing wall only down a waterfall/cliffs instead. We shall see!
It was a 20 minute drive to the meeting point Where we met our guides – two funny guys who were born and raised on Madeira named Abee (and we both forgot the second guys name, oops). There were 9 people in our group including us – a couple from Slovakia, a couple from the UK, 2 guys from Princeton University, and a female solo traveler from the Netherlands. Everyone in our group was provided with thick full body wetsuits, socks, water shoes, harness, and helmets. Everyone changed into their canyon fits and then we walked down to our first canyon. The first one was quite easy as the guides showed us how to hold the ropes, keep your legs wide, and essentially stay 90 degrees with your knees bent as you walk down the canyon. At the bottom you jumped into the water which felt so refreshing after being in the thick wetsuits in the sun on the walk down. Without the wet suits the water would have been freezing, but with them on the temperature was similar to the ocean at the Jersey shore which felt nice. To other people in our group it was “freezing” and every time the woman from the UK jumped into the water she would scream “bloody HELL!” which I found hilarious.
After canyoning the 2nd waterfall down I assessed that this activity was not what I had expected. The harness was super uncomfortable and digging into me, and I thought the “canyoning” part was going to be more similar to repelling down a rock climbing wall with a belay where you continue to push off/jump with the rope/harness and ascend to the bottom. Instead I was slowly waddling down the canyon one foot at a time which just seemed silly to me? Either way I am glad we tried it and it was beautiful to be surrounded by waterfalls the entire time. Stelios was loving it overall, and I think he is also used to wearing uncomfy/heavy equipment from work so he was unbothered by it. In between the canyons there were also “rock slides” that we slid down, areas we had to crab walk down on our butts to reach the next spot, and some cliff jumps.
Everything was going great until the last canyon, also the biggest one. The girl from the Netherlands was struggling early on so she went first with one of the guides leading her so he could assist as she went. I was up second and I was hyped to do this one since we were so high up and it seemed more challenging. Unfortunately about half way down my left foot slipped and BANG! I hit the lower left side of my back into the solid rock canyon. OUCH. The guide at the top yelled down to check on me but I gave him the thumbs up sign. It hurt and I was mad at myself for falling after doing so well earlier, but I knew I had to make it to the bottom. Once I got to the bottom Abee asked if I was ok, I told him yes (even though my back hurt like a mothf***er) & that I expected a big bruise later.
I sat in the pool of water at the bottom waiting for everyone else to get down, hoping that the icy water would help keep the swelling down and ease the pain. At that point I was fully ready to be out of this wetsuit. Thankfully the majority of the excursion was over – we had 1 rock slide and crab walk to go until the end of the path. What I was not prepared for was the hike back up to the top of the canyon in the heavy gear and wetsuit. We had to clip onto ropes as we climbed up the trail and even pull ourselves up in some areas. My legs felt heavy from all of the equipment and probably because I was tired at this point. After what felt like the longest 15 minutes ever we finally reached the top. Thank goodness! Everyone took turns rinsing off their suits and muddy boots in one of the shallow pools near the starting point and we derobed to change back into our clothes.
At this point it was 1:30pm and after the canyoning experience we were craving something cold and refreshing. I asked our guides where we could get a good acai bowl or smoothie and they recommended Oakberry acai, and also gave us a dinner recommendation for Espetada later. We thanked and tipped them, said goodbye to our group members, hopped in our car and started driving back towards Funchal to the acai shop.
On the way home from canyoning we came to a road that was blocked by a single car with hazards on. They were attempting to go uphill but clearly didn’t know how to drive stick and kept rolling backwards. After watching them attempt to drive uphill and roll backwards twice, Stelios stopped our car, got outside and went down to help them. He ended up driving their car up the hill and then running back down to our car. He said he explained to the guy how to properly go up a steep hill when driving a manual car but they probably shouldn’t be driving a stick shift to begin with. I hope they make it to their destination ok!
We arrived at Oakberry acai & ordered two “acai bowls” except they were served in cups. It was refreshing and hit the spot, but didn’t beat playa bowls in my opinion.
After canyoning I was completely zonked and couldn’t wait to lay down and take a nap. We grabbed 2 lounge chairs by the sea and I passed out while Stelios enjoyed 2 XL piña coladas. Around 5:30pm we decided to go up, shower, and get ready for dinner. Our plan was to drive to the Espetada restaurant our guide recommended called Santo Antonio. It was a quick 15 minute drive from our hotel and upon entering the restaurant I recognized the Slovakian couple from canyoning this morning sitting at the first table. We went up to them to say hello and hoped they enjoyed their meal.
After a quick 5 minute wait we were sat right next to the window at table #30 (how ironic since we originally booked this trip as a belated 30th bday trip for me). For dinner we ordered 2 glasses of the homemade sangria, bolo de caco (garlic bread)), the Espetada on laurel skewer (traditional Portuguese meat cooked on a laurel branch, giving it a unique flavor), the Milho frito (similar to fried polenta cubes) and the waiter also recommended we add a side of fries so we did. The Espetada was served on a long hanging skewer and you had to use your fork and knife to slide it off. The meat was seasoned and cooked to perfection *chefs kiss* and the Milho Frito was very interesting and yummy. Although the fries were salty and a delicious compliment to the meat, we wish we had skipped them and ordered a 2nd Espetada skewer instead. Either way it was too much food and we were stuffed by the end of the meal. The waiter brought us over the dessert menu which was really odd looking and essentially supermarket desserts that they were reselling? Super weird but we were full anyway so we got the check and left by 8:45pm.
On our way home we stopped at a health food store to buy protein bars since we planned to go on a sunrise hike tomorrow morning and there wouldn’t be any places open for breakfast. We circled around the block twice but didn’t see the store, only a large warehouse with no windows that said “Madeira shopping” on it with a parking deck. I deduced the health food store must be inside of there so we pulled into the lot to park and took the elevator to floor 00. It opened up to a huge underground shopping mall – how cool! We stocked up on some protein bars and since I slept so horribly last night and forgot to pack my sleeping pills I asked the pharmacist if he had anything that would help me sleep but not make me groggy in the morning. He recommended ashwaganda pills – perfect! (Ashwaganda is the main ingredient in my LemmeChill sleeping pills I forgot to pack). We thanked the pharmacist for helping us and we were back at our hotel by 9:30pm. I popped a pill, we set our alarms for 4am the next morning, and I hoped to get a good nights sleep.
