Yesterday (Sunday) was to be a simple day of recuperation from the trauma of Porto Santo golf: a short hike on the slopes of Madeira's tallest peak and then lunch.  Saturday's long day however, resulted in us getting such a late start that it became clear that a late lunch needed to be the first item on the agenda.  Craig is becoming something of a lunch savant here on Madeira and, since most of our lunches have been in places along the coast, decided that a restaurant in the mountains (still, over on the north side) might be an interesting change.  He chose A Fronteira in Boa Ventura, a churrascaria that specializes in espetada (skewered meat cooked on a wood fire, Madeira-style).  Actually it was not only the restaurant's signature dish, it was their only dish.  We discovered this when we asked to see a menu and were met with strange looks followed by the explanation that lunch is espetada, fries, milho frito, salad and bolo do caco.  Nothing more, nothing less.  Upon reflection this sounded great (and was in fact what Craig had planned, though he did expect to have at least an option) and so we said, "yes, for two".  We then asked to see a drink list and received the same strange look.  It became clear that house wine, red or white, or Coral beer were our choices.  The house red it was.

Looking around the restaurant it was clear that this was pretty much a locals crowd as, with the exception of one group of four young people, everyone knew everyone.  In particular the churrasqueiro (cook) manning the churrasqueira (grill) seemed to be great friends with the six locals sitting down by his wood fire.  They were such good friends that they spent quite a while telling jokes, drinking and having a good time -- until our waitress walked over and, in somewhat stern language, told him that he needed to cook some food.  This prompted him to get up, get some skewers and put them on the fire . . . for his friends.  After another ten or so minutes she came back and, in even sterner language, told him to put some on for us.  There was considerable waving of arms by both parties, and shouting.  It was a very slow meal but fun to sit there and watch what all unfolded around us.  And the food was excellent.  Continuing his day, after finishing our meat our cook was so exhausted he walked across the street to a bus stop to smoke a cigarette and then lie down to sleep.  It was a wonderful lunch stop.  Craig's reputation is further burnished.

Waddling back to the car after the huge meal we decided that we definitely needed at least a short hike to let the meal settle, even though it was by now getting late.  Therefore, continuing east around the island, we drove up to the start of the trail to Pico Ruivo, at just over 6,000 feet the highest point on Madeira.  Fortunately for us in light of the preceding large meal the drive takes you most of the way up and we only had to walk about a mile to get great views of both the north and south sides of the island.  In all our time here we have never seen the mountains without clouds moving in and out or, in most cases, just sitting there.  Today it was clear and the wind was not blowing.  We did not go all the way to the top as it was getting late and we needed to save our energy for tomorrow when we will finally do the hike out to Ponta de Sao Lourenco.

This morning we woke up rather early to get a head start on our hike and beat the crowds.  The drive was peaceful until we reached a roundabout over a mile from the trailhead parking lot, where a very polite police officer informed us that the road and hike were closed at least through today and possible tomorrow.  We would have been more annoyed but for the reason... filming of a new Star Wars series, "The Acolyte".  Assuming we are eventually able to do this hike, we will enjoy looking for familiar locations when we watch the show.  

However, for now, we had to be satisfied with returning home where we decided to take a last walk on the Promenade to another intriguing result of Craig's restaurant research for lunch, the Barracuda Bar.  It was a pleasant walk but when we arrived we found that the most recommended dish, pork belly, was a slow cooking affair and would not be ready till dinnertime.  We promptly promised we would return later, and went off to our favorite gelato spot for a substitute lunch even though it required a much further walk.  Fortunately we had our bus passes along and took the bus home, bided our time, and returned later for the very excellent pork belly.  Moral of the day: always have a back-up plan, and in fact better have three or four of them.