She never intended to return to her hometown. She left Madeira in 2016 to study advertising and didn't look back. The island was only for retirees when I was a kid. She said she wanted to go away. Everything changed when I returned to my parents in 2020. Madeira was different.

When travel came back in the second half of 2020, the island became a sanctuary for weary urban dwellers and a wonderful place for travelers to go again. The new visitors broadcast their discoveries of dappled trees in the mists of Fanal Forest and the banana patches on the streets of the tropical seaside villages. A new generation of travelers was visiting Madeira. The world finally got into our mouths.