Lost in Paradise (almost)

was walking a levada (ancient water supply system) up to monte at the border of funchal. got somehow off track and found myself on the small river. was not yet realizing that i was off-track and started to searching the continuation of the foot path. finally found a path on the other side of the river. hopped over stones, started walking straight into dense woods.

but well, there was still kind of a path. a bit steep, too much underwood in the way, but who cares. still walking forward, finally realized that this might be not a human - path but rather a path that animals use. was reluctant to return, so started crouching on 4legs (how stupid can one be?) till i realized that this definitely does NOT lead anywhere. ok, turned around frustrated to go backwards. loosing track on ground sometimes, loosing that small animal path also, but found my way back to the river. 

here the problems started. where was that way back to the levada walk ? i tried to remember, but saw only woods and steep rocks. climbed a dried, very steep creek, still no sight of the small levada path. climbed another direction - no sight, only deep woods. ok, back to the river. tried to relax, but subliminal panic started to rise. now - walking up and down looking for the entry back to the path i saw a small white square on one rock. climbed that up, as a last resort, and got scratched all over by thorn bushes. now my heart was quite pumping - always funny like the human body reacts. climbed up another stone wall, not seeing any path and slowly loosing faith in that stupid "climbing up the other side of the river" endeavour. should i return to the river, trying to walk down hopping the stones? not sure how far i would come, and how long that would take (maybe 4 hours? till that it would have been dark). so decided to climb another stone wall (well, god thank something human made, so i couldnt be totally off track) and found another white square, quite weathered, barely noticable. and - what a relieve - i was finally back on track!! not the track-position i left, but who cares? completely sweary, muddy and scratched i finally reached the destination of the walk: a small waterfall. took a refreshing bath (a bit cold, but soo refreshing) and relaxed some minutes.

conclusion: never walk alone, carry a phone and never try to continue on no clearly visible paths. better just turn around and walk back. on the map, everything in madeira looks so small in distance. but if you find yourself walking (and stupido crawling) everything takes 5 times longer.

summertime

wow, finally its summer here in germany. yesterday i spend most of the day with my friends in a park, playing fresbee and badminton. last week, on friday, we tested the new x-trac kite - what a fun toy !! look here: