The ‘tropical storm’ or ‘rain’ continued all through the night and all day today… We had to take the 17:10 bus back to Ponte Delgada as we are flying back to Porto from there tomorrow so braved the rain and headed over the road (literally 2 minutes by foot) to the Botanical Gardens and Thermal Lake. The rain grew lighter as afternoon came though it wouldn’t have mattered anyway as the water was so lovely and warm, not as hot as the last place as the lake is so huge, just the perfect bath temperature. The Botanical Gardens are gorgeous, even in the rain, and for 8 euros you get full access to the grounds, lake and thermal jacuzzi s for the day.

We followed the footpath to walk the 4km trip around the park before peeling our rain soaked clothes off and melting in to the luxuriously warm, earthy, mud-coloured waters of the vast lake. The hazy steam hovered all around making the place seem enchanted as we about,surrounded by the tropical trees and plants of the gardens. Magical! Next we headed to try out the natural jacuzzi s and waterfalls – heavenly!

The rain was light but it still felt cold out of the water and stood in a bikini. Our clothes were wet from walking and we were ready for fire and pancakes. Grateful that our guest house was just up the road we made a dash through the rain and got snug, warm and fed before leaving to take the evening bus, a beautiful branch of orchids in hand, given as a gift from Jose as they had snapped in the storm.

Jose had said to take the bus from outside the Botanical Gardens and indeed there was a bus stop. Unfortunately, the bus did not actually stop at this bus-stop, very close by (we saw it) but not there. If you are taking the bus from Furnas, check at the snack bar exactly were you should stand!! As 17:10 was the last bus we had no choice but to hitch. Luckily, the rain stopped just long enough for us to stick our thumbs out and flag down a car in all of five minutes from a young, local guy headed to Ponte Delgada.

We arrived probably earlier than our bus! We stayed at the In53 Hostel which was mega cute and comfy. I’d highly recommend it! It was central but also on the right side of town for walking to the airport tomorrow. In53 is a beautiful old town house sympathetically restored and beautifully furnished in a vintage meets shabby-chic fashion! Loved it. It also had a great terrace though on this day it was too wet to enjoy it and offered a free self service breakfast of fresh coffee, bread, jam and biscuits! Jolien and I to the seafront to enjoy a few drinks on our last night on Sao Miguel.