Guest Post by: Merle Makoben – Working Space & Community Manager (Sep. 2021 to Jan 2022)
A day in the life of Nomads living in “The Banana House”
On the 5th of October 2021, the first Co-Living Space of Ponta do Sol has opened its doors: “The Banana House”
It has established itself as a happy home to digital nomads. It has 7 rooms and an average of 8 digital nomads staying per night, as some rooms have the option to be shared with other nomads on a budget.
But what does a day in the life of the nomads living in the Banana House look like? Well, let me walk you through it because it’s a blast!
The first thing we do in the morning after waking up is to go outside to the beautiful balcony. A short meditation or just enjoying the morning sun for some minutes, is the perfect way to start your day, as the days when it’s not sunny in Ponta do Sol are very rare.


In the morning, the kitchen smells like coffee and sometimes you bump into your friends for a quick morning chat. After breakfast, we have two options: go to the Working Space, which is just two minutes away from the house, or use the Working Station that is set up on the first and second floor of the house.
Around lunchtime, we either gather with other digital nomads to have lunch in the restaurant “Old Pharmacy” or we meet in the kitchen to prepare a nice lunch ourselves. We love a good chat over the plans for the rest of the week or the hikes that we did on the weekend. Lunch is a pretty social time.
After a productive afternoon, there are activities almost every day of the week. Often, we would meet our friends at the workout with Madeira Fitness Friends down by the beach, go for a session of Yoga or Breathwork, or take part in a workshop to learn something new.

At night, there is usually an event with all the nomads, like Jam Night or Purple Fridays. That, or we stay in to have a movie night, or spend some time alone. They make sure to give attention to any need you might have. There is always someone around to chat to, but if you feel like having some time alone, no one will disturb you.
During Christmas time many nomads stayed in Madeira due to the rising number of Covid cases in mainland Europe. Nomads made sure to organize plenty of gatherings for the ones that weren’t able to see their families not feeling homesick.
On Christmas Eve all the nomads in Ponta gathered for a fun gathering in a Bar in Lombada da Ponta do Sol, and on Christmas Day the community in Funchal invited all Nomads to the CR7 Hotel for a great Christmas Day experience.
All of the nomads had a unique experience in Madeira Island. Especially the Christmas lights were impressive during this time of the year. Not only Funchal was completely lit up during December, but Ponta was also a colorful bliss during the holidays.
If you want to know more about The Banana House, click down below!