Love carries mountains and allows them to create beautiful works. Just like the work of Mother Nature on Madeira. “Human debris” from all over the world (and I don’t mean tourists) give the island the necessary spark What a person, a couple, a family – that’s an interesting life story. If we can listen at least a little, trips around the island become an experience that we remember for a long time. It’s a bottomless well of inspiration.

On one of such trips around the island, I was attracted by an elderly Czech couple. I was already on the way back, a rather demanding route (at least for me and my physique :)) Pico do Arieiro, Pico Ruivo and back (more details about the trip in another article, maybe when I revive it again 🙂 ). They were two sixty-somethings with huge backpacks on their backs and they were walking at a similar pace to me.

I would take my hat off to them if I had one!

I had to reach out to them. Dreamers on vacation fulfilled their old dream! They walked through Madeira, sleeping under a tent, enjoying sunrises and sunsets, and admiring the heavenly beauty and tranquility that reigns within the island. Each of them carried 20 kg on their backs! They were simply amazing.

These are my trips around the island. Today, I am not only inspired by wandering under waterfalls, narrow paths around levadas, endless views and ocean surf, but I also love listening to the stories of random tourists on my travels or people who have taken a similar step as us – they came to Madeira to live.

I hear from acquaintances and some friends that we are brave and as my husband says with his typical sarcasm: “we had the balls to do it”. I have to say for myself that I don’t feel that way myself. We were both very scared (although my husband would never admit it :)). But I was even more afraid of events and changes in Europe that I could not influence: social, geopolitical, economic changes and that was a stronger WHY to take that big step than the fear of leaving things as they are.

But not everyone is ready to make big decisions and steps right away. We are each at a different stage of our journey. However, there is also strength in those small steps that move us forward, that move the flowing energy. And that is what life is all about. To grow internally, to overcome oneself, to simply move forward.

I don’t know about you, but I no longer even noticed the signals “where and where to go” despite all the sounds that many of us are exposed to during the day and even at night. Many people go “blindly”. And they only fulfill some goals that they can or cannot. But life can’t be just about: toiling, toiling, paying, paying and going on vacation twice a year (maybe). Life must have a higher meaning.

 Do you ever “stop” and think about it? If I’m happy where I am, I don’t even need to go on vacation. I live where I wanted to live and I love it here and if you have the same, that’s great and absolutely fine. You’re on the right place.

When I am traveling, that's because I want to do something, meet someone, experience something. But at home, in my opinion, one should find an oasis. An oasis of what? Fill in according to your preferences For me, peace and understanding, kindness and a sense of gratitude. And the radius around such a home, in my opinion, should include a similarly attuned society. I felt in recent years, with all these events, that it had disappeared somewhere. And here on the beautiful savage island we found it again. 

  If you constantly compare yourself to something or someone and feel uneasy or tired, out of ideas, burnt out (that's how I felt) or angry, it's time to pack your backpack and go somewhere far away for at least a month, preferably in nature. So to clear your head.

  Somewhere where you will be alone with yourself and the infinity around you. I guarantee you that after a few weeks you will see things completely differently. Fear will leave you or you will know how to deal with it and you will start to think of creative solutions not only to your problems, but also to move that next step forward. But suddenly you also have thoughts and ideas on how to grasp it all so that the idea will be useful to someone

The insight you gain from each such step is invaluable to everyone. I worked remotely for a language agency based in the Czech Republic our first 2,5 years on the island (in addition to focusing on the realities on the island) and I have always coined the MOTTO: If you want to learn a foreign language, move there (for a few years). And we did it and we also consider it a gift to our daughter. How did she manage it? I am preparing another article for you.

Madeira has only been inhabited for a little over 600 years and I personally find it very nice that no indigenous people have lived here. No one was "expelled" from here. Genetically, Madeira is not burdened by the enslavement of the indigenous population.

This makes exploring the island even more attractive, don't you think?

Try to look at the island with different eyes on your next visit to Madeira, and also perceive its human stories from all over the world, from past generations to the present. And that things are currently very mixed up due to global crises

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