Location: Madeira
The day started with me conveniently waking up 3 minutes before the wake-up time of 6:15, scrambling to get dressed and connect a speaker to my phone. I obviously played some Shady (Eminem), to which I rapped the whole thing. Riley’s breakfast was absolutely amazing, as we found out who did and who didn’t like grits. Then, we began shuttling people onto the shore of Madeira. The platform which we had to climb on to get out of the boat was so slippery that some people got absolutely drenched and had to switch their shoes (talking about you, Zoe). As soon as everyone made it onto shore safely, we started walking to a boujee coach bus. Without knowing the weather ahead of us, we set off on our journey to hike the mountains of Madeira, which pretty much came out to be the arctic winds. Fortunately for some people, there was a gift shop at the beginning of our hike with warm wool sweaters. Some people decided to go with more of a babushka-style look. For example, Sophie wrapped her entire body in a scarf and blanket. This hike had some of the coolest views we’ve seen all trip, as well as experiences with the runners from a trail race pushing us out of the way the whole time. After hiking for a couple of hours, we reached a little snack bar where some people got red bulls and monster energy drinks, which they pounded, in order to keep up their energy levels for the remaining duration of the hike. We eventually reached the top, where we had lunch (deli sandwiches) with the wild mountain cats that were lingering around. Climbing down the mountain was a bit of a pain because everyone was pooped. People enjoyed the bus ride back because it allowed them time to relax after a long tiring day.
After walking around the weird port town for a little while, we came across a public outside-gym. There was also a 40-yard track, to which people decided to race each other. We found a new title to give to someone special, Skyler, which is the fastest on the boat. We also discovered that Carolyn runs like a newborn giraffe. We were about to leave when we had the idea to race the captain of Vela, Calum. When we asked him, he had this huge smirk on his face, intimidating us a little bit. The fact is, he is fast, but not fast enough to beat Jonesy and Skeezy.
After returning to Vela, we went for a short snorkel around the boat. Max and I swam directly into a large cloud of poop, released through the heads by the one and only Owen. Then we had dinner and learned about our fun plans for tomorrow.
P.S. We’ve been working on Skeezy’s lettuce for some time now, and it has finally started to take form.
Love you, Mom, Dad, Celine, and everyone back home.