Exploring the island with a change in terrain...Making errors, a fact of our lives...A year ago...Unrest in Izmir Turkey...Did we go in light of this risk

We finally arrived at Boa Morte, a small neighboring village.

Last night Gina stopped by with some documents she had to complete with our travel and passport information as a regulation for property owners and managers when renting properties to foreigners on the island of Madeira.

When doing so, her records indicated that we were leaving on July 31st as opposed to August 1st our intended date of departure. Thank goodness, we'd had yet to book our flight out of here.

We headed out on the good roads through the heavily treed area. With no place to stop, I had no choice but to take this photo through the windshield glass.

Now, we'll have no choice but to arrive in Paris one day early. Shucks! One extra day in Paris. It will cost us for another night but one must pay for errors. Once again this was my error, the second this week.

No, I'm not suffering with dementia. I make errors from time to time, two coming to light this week with a total of three (two for me, one for Tom) since we leaving the US. Actually, we've probably made many more errors than we take credit for!

As beautiful as the trees were, we wanted to get a peek to see the villages at a distance.

Booking and documenting every single aspect of travel month after month, year after year is challenging. Making errors is inevitable, as I say this to myself to justify my error, once again.

Any error we made surely is fixable, not matter the complexity. However, fixing an error always requires time and most often, money. Tom made an error while we were in Kenya, paying in full for the hotel in Paris, when all we needed to do was reserve our room. The two week (to become 15 days after we'll book July 31st later today) booking was US $3124, EU $2308, and it made no sense paying in full 10 months in advance.

On occasion, we'd find an opening enabling us to take a photo.

I wasn't upset or even annoyed when he'd made the error. It easily could have been me. Unfortunately, Tom made himself crazy worrying needlessly for days with frequent reminders from me that it was no big deal.

As the time nears, we're thrilled to have paid in advance, lessening the outlay for the combined total month we'll spent in Paris and London, from July 31st to August 31st. Our added expenditures will be for the London hotel which is comparable to the rates for the Paris hotel, meals, entrance to tourists sites, cab fare and tips.

With towering trees cast shadows on the roads.

My error will result in our paying for one more night in the Paris hotel which will be US $223, EU $164. Today, as I researched at the rental agreement for this house in Madeira, I see that the rental did in fact end on July 31st. If this was a "job" and I had a "boss" this would have kept me awake at night.

Tom doesn't so much as squeak, as I didn't when he prepaid for the hotel. We only have to deal with self recriminations for our occasional incompetency which I've done and will let go.

The dense forest reminded us of Boveglio in Tuscany, Italy.

Yesterday, we drove through a long tunnel we'd yet to enter to see where it would take us. The further we drove, the more it reminded us of Boveglio, Italy where we spent last summer from June 16 to September 1, 2013.

The winding roads, hairpin turns, dense forests with towering trees and drive up higher and higher into the mountains was interesting and a lot less unnerving than in the past. From the scary four hour drive in Belize to the winding roads here in Madeira, we're becoming more comfortable on these less than ideal roads.

The billowing clouds are ever present on Madeira.

It wasn't easy taking photos with narrow roads without a shoulder. Plus, the dense forest made it difficult to see through the trees. We drove a long distance to find a turn around spot with no road returning to Campanario, other than the road in which we drove into the village.

After our few hour drive, we returned to Campanario for a stop at the local grocer where we purchased two free range chickens that had been delivered that morning. As we noticed in our travels chickens aren't as meaty as they were in the US.

We spotted a lush green valley in an opening on the road.

Without the use of chemicals and grain based feed, chickens don't grow as meaty and plump. The two chickens we purchased for US $10.83, EU $8, were well cleaned with little fat when not fed grains and are allowed to graze.

By nature, chickens are carnivores. They eat bugs for protein, nuts, seeds, and some vegetation. Hummm...sounds familiar to my way of eating minus the bugs, instead adding other animal based forms of protein.

Finally, we spotted an expansive view.

I guess it further proves that we were created to take advantage of unprocessed foods readily available in our environment for our hunting and gathering or in the modern age, for others to hunt, breed and gather.

Oops! We hear music coming our way. Tom is on the veranda saying that he can see and hear the music of the produce guy coming down the road. Gotta go!

These tall flowers grow wild in Madeira, are often blue and occasionally white.

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Photo from one year ago today, June 11, 2013:

The night before our ship was scheduled to enter the port of Izmir, Turkey, the following letter was on our bed when we returned from dinner causing us to question if we should go on the excursion. Determined to see the ancient city of Ephesus we decided to continue with our plans. We returned safely after a full day's outing and a number of unusual experiences. For details on that date, please click here. More on the tour tomorrow.

This letter was in our cabin the night before we docked in Izmir, Turkey where we were scheduled to go on an excursion to the ancient city of Ephesus. For the story and photos of Ephesus please click here. Photos of the tour will follow in this section tomorrow.