The Canary Islands (December 3 to 8)

By the onset of December, Valladolid had become winter through and through. The night would take its crisp air and dip it below zero Celsius, while the days would peek at a temperature just warm enough to melt off the morning frost from the fields and bare-branched trees that border the path to the university. At times, the frost gained some momentum and became snow, which one day gave motivation to three young Spaniards to ambush me with snowballs when I was coming back from the library one evening with my arms full. Outnumbered and undermanned, I was forced to retreat. 

Valladolid the night we left

December also brought its most fruitful gift to us students at the university: the six-day holiday vacation from the third to the eighth. Almost any soul in Spain would be leaving their home to explore some other aspect of their country or somewhere else in Europe. As for me, I was looking to get the hell away from freezing conditions and settle on a beach in the sun and cheat winter for a while. Luckily, Juan and Nicogrande also wanted to live a few days without thick jackets and gloves, so we formed a trio and headed south to Las Islas Canarias (The Canary Islands).

Our plane left at 7:00 am, so we stayed the night at the airport in Madrid. Can you tell what I slept on?

I slept on a conveyer belt at one of the airline check-in desks

By 10:00 am on December 3^rd, we had successfully escaped winter and we were now in Tenerife, the main island in The Canaries. The islands are settled in the Atlantic Ocean just west of Morocco, but they have been a part of Spain since the 15^th century; everyone speaks Spanish, but their accent is distinct and akin to their relaxing, good-weathered lifestyle. The airport is located in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the biggest city in The Canaries, so we decided to spend the day there exploring and eventually find a car to rent for a few days. 

After a full nights rest on the floor of the airport. 

A park in Santa Cruz de Tenerife

This car renting business turned out to be the biggest hassle of the day. At the airport, we grabbed a list of car rental companies in the city, and initially saw that only a few would rent to twenty-one year olds; this narrowed our list down to three. After carrying our backpacks around the city for a few hours looking for Hertz, we finally arrived at the location listed, but only to find an empty office. We were left with two companies of which we had never heard. We found the first “company” in a lower class neighborhood; it was a garage with a couple of mid-90s sedans in it. We asked the man if he had any cars available, and he made us a very reasonable offer and told us to come back in the morning. We didn’t want to stay in Santa Cruz all night; we wanted to see a more coastal, small town feel and we definitely had to leave tonight. To our misfortune, the other company, our last opportunity, was unable to rent us a car because it was a holiday weekend, and they had an empty lot.

A skateboarder in the park

Amazing games in the park

We then decided that we would try and take a bus back to the airport to buy a flight to a smaller island called La Palma, which has a gorgeous national forest and is supposedly the most beautiful place in The Canaries. Our new plan was to buy tickets for later in the week, rent a car at the airport, and drive around the island for a few days to explore Tenerife. When we arrived at the bus station, we couldn’t help but marvel over the lot of some thirty different buses all heading somewhere else on the island. As we walked along the parked buses our spontaneous side began to itch and we randomly hopped onto a bus heading to a city called Puerta de la Cruz. There was no more rental car option, and we were no longer going to leave the island; the buses were far too efficient for this. 

We arrived in the late evening and of course had nowhere to rest for the night. Couch surfing was not an option here because there were not a lot of hosts on the island, and the hosts that were there were either traveling or were already hosting someone. So as soon as we got into Puerta de la Cruz, we went asking around for a cheap place to lay down our exhausted shoulders. We couldn’t help but notice the locals’ genuinely friendly attitude and willingness to help us find shelter. One woman, rather than pointing us in the direction of the location she had in mind, walked us directly to the most affordable place in the city. It was a two star hotel called “Hotel Puerto Azul,” and the owner was a German man (in fact, Germans love the Canary Islands and tons of them live there), who was more than willing to accommodate for us. He allowed the three of us to share a room with two twin beds to keep the price at a minimum, 15 Euro each. 

We put our backpacks down in our clean, quiet room equipped with our very own balcony; this was eons ahead of the airport floor we slept on the night before, and we went out to see the city, put our feet in the Atlantic Ocean (something I had never done), and find some food. We came home at a decent hour to plan the next day. We decided to go take a bus to the base of Teide, the highest peak in all of Spain (3,718 m or 12,198 ft) and from there take a gondola ride up the mountain for a breathtaking view of the island. That night, we slept five minutes from the ocean, and the next morning we would be heading to the tallest point in Spain. 

The base of Teide was located in a high elevation desert, and when we arrived that morning at the gondola, we were shocked to discover that where Teide was supposed to be was nothing but a dense cloud of fog; the entire mountain was hidden. There was no reason to go up the gondola because there would be no view of the island; there would be no view of anything, so after a quick sense of "God motherfucking damn it! This is absolute bullshit!" we decided to keep our sanity and just do some hiking in the high elevation desert for the day. 

Beautiful, high elevation desert

The desert

It was SO windy!!!

Nike mustaches. Just Do It. 

Contemporary El Greco Photo Shoot

Nicogrande and I had been highly influenced and affected by the artists that we had been learning about in our Spanish Art History class; we were learning about the masters of western art. One of the masters we learned about was a famous painter named El Greco from Greece, but he lived in Toledo, Spain for the latter half of his life, painting religious works for various important figures at the time. El Greco was criticized during his lifetime for painting elongated, dramatic figures with small heads and long torsos, who were so strange looking that other painters thought El Greco had vision problems. Here are a few of his major works:

The Burial of Count Orgaz.

Laocoon
Look at the long torsos!

The Martyrdom of St. Maurice

The Disrobing of Christ

Nico and I took our knowledge of El Greco and created our first series as photographers: The Contemporary El Greco Photo Shoot (Part 1).  Hopefully, someone finds them as funny as we do...

Moses Seeking The Strength of God

St. Peter in Tears

The Beheading of John the Baptist

Witnesses of the Resurrection

Christ Reaching the Summit

St. Peter Calling Out to God

St. Andrew's Agony

St. Peter's Ascent to Heaven

San Sebastian Pleeding to the Romans

San Sebastian Fleeing an Inevitable Death

THE END

What was supposed to be a view of Teide

We reached a hotel during our hike

More views of the desert

Volcanic formations in the desert

This is what the view of Teide is supposed to look like from where we were standing on a clear day. I did not take this picture. PS Teide is an inactive volcano

This is all we coud see. Teide was a giant sheet of fog

What was supposed to be a view of Teide. 

Our drive back to Puerta de la Cruz

The drive back down to the coast

The black sand beaches in Puerta de la Cruz. The dark sand is attributed to the volcanic activity on the island.

A look-out point on the beach

December 5th: Happy birthday Juan!!!

Nicogrande and I had the honor of spending Juan’s 20^th birthday with him while we were still in Puerta. Since he was no longer a teenager, we couldn’t have any actual fun; instead, we had to settle for a refined, pleasant day of responsible, adult merrymaking. We spent the day at a black sand beach in Puerta where abundant sunshine brought the high of the day to 30°C (86°F), where the water was just cool enough to be refreshing and not too warm; we could see first hand that this was a place the nudists love to “hang.” We spent a good  amount of time body surfing, but the majority of the day revolved around us trying to comprehend the idea that it was December and we were worried about getting sunburned, and that last week someone threw a snowball at me. 

Cannon mounting, one of Spain's great past times

Juan took the more "socially accepted approach"

Just our luck: Teide was fully visible the next day

Contemporary El Greco Part II

Abraham Sacrificing Isaac

The Death of King David's Son

Portrait of Duke Fernando

THE END

I made a new friend!

I'm hungry, Cat! 

I love you, Cat

I never want to leave you, Cat

December 6th

Although we loved  Puerta de la Cruz and we had fabulous accommodations, we all decided that we needed to further explore Tenerife, so that morning we checked out of our hotel and boarded a bus to the town of Garachico. 

Banana farm!!! On the drive from Puerta to Garachico

Garachico is a picturesque beach town with a population of about 5,500, and has been untouched by the tourist market that has flooded the island over the years. It is nestled beneath a steep cliff along a coastline of volcanic debris. There is not a lot of English words that can accurately describe the character of Garachico; in Spanish, I would say something like, “Garachico tiene gancho,” which means something along the lines of, “Garachico has something special; it is a hook of sorts.” Garachico is the epitome of a quaint, Spanish town. 

Garachico

The main plaza in Garachico

I didn't take this picture, but this is an overhead view of Garachico

We arrived without lodgings for the night, so we immediately set out to ask around for our cheapest option. The tourist information booth gave us a few addresses; as we went out in the narrow, cobble-stoned streets, we realized that most of the shops and businesses appeared to be homes until you enter and find something else inside. Our first choice was a beautiful and quaint five-room pensión run by a friendly, older, extremely Spanish couple. It smelled of home, looked better than home, and had two open rooms. Unfortunately, she was not willing to rent us just one room for the three of us because the low profit would not be worth all the time she would have to put in to accommodate for us (e.g. wash the sheets), or maybe she just didn’t like Nicogrande because he is white. So we left there hoping that the other choices would not carry the same fate. 

With a pottery business card in my hand, we searched the town for the address listed with hopes that the owner also had a room available for the night. After taking a lap around the town, we realized that the pottery shop was directly across the narrow street where the first pensión was—maybe some 15 feet. The owner was another German, a woman this time; she ran her own small pottery store with various art, jewelry, and dishes that were all hand made by her. She had a room available in her home that she was willing to rent to us for twenty-five Euros total (i.e. 8.33 Euros per person), an unbeatable deal. The Germans came through for us again! Our room was in the same area that her family lived, so it emanated comfort and home; we shared a wide common area filled with hand made pottery and exotic plants. 

Our room

Open air hallway in our pensión

Contemporary El Greco Part III: Nicogrande on volcanic rock

Moses Parting the Red Sea

Isaiah Revealing the Arm of the Lord

Glory Be Thy Name

Self Portrait: Mr. and Mrs. El Greco

THE END

By far the best picture of the trip

Sculpture next to the ocean

View from the rooftop of where we were staying for the night

Our rooftop

On the rooftop with an amazing dog

A turtle on the rooftop? This is the best rooftop in the world!

As it turns out, the turtle belongs to the ten year old daughter. I thought it was a flying turtle for a minute.

Cuddling with my new best friend

In the early afternoon, we boarded a bus to spend the rest of the day in a small town called Los Silos, where we were told there were two great beaches. From the center of town where the bus dropped us off, the ocean was a thirty-minute downhill walk, so we got right on it. 

Poor old George W. is hated internationally

Banana trees galore

On our way down to the beach, we found a broken wheelchair. This speeded everything up. We took turns flying downhill until we were going so fast that the wheelchair shook beyond control. 

Wheeling around in the afternoon

We got a little carried away with this...

When we reached the shore, we plainly saw that there was no beach in sight. We asked how far the nearest beach was, and he said we would have to go to the next town over, miles away; beach day was canceled. We were lied to. We sat around for a few minutes and admired the fierce waves and bright blue water. Then it began to rain. We still had a thirty-minute uphill walk ahead of us. We decided to try our thumb-luck out.

No beach, but there were whale bones!!!

Thirteen cars drove by us as we stuck our thumbs out in the now pouring rain. Car fourteen was a winner. A sweet, older woman (potential ex-hippie) in an older hatchback Renault gave us a ride right back into the center of town. 

Our savior. 

On the plus side, in the central plaza Los Silos, there was a box of extra sweet lemons with a sign that read “gratis” (free) on it. That was nice, but with about an hour until sunset, we decided it best to head back to the bus stop and return to Garachico. The next bus wouldn’t arrive for another half-hour, and while waiting around, Nicogrande spotted a sign that read “Cuevas Negras: 2.1 km,” (Black Caves: 2.1 kilometers), and it pointed up to the mountains that stood in the near distance. This got us thinking, “Hmmm, I wonder what these black caves are all about.” The thought of the unknown was unbearable for Nico, and he tried to convince Juan and I that we could successfully hike 4.2 km in less than an hour and return before it got too dark to see. Although we knew time would not allow this, we walked away from the surety of the bus stop and began a hike we knew nothing about. 

I'm going to let the pictures attempt to give you an idea of this hike. My words can't even begin.

Flowers that lined the beginning of the hike

Bananas along the hike

I bet you've never seen a banana blossom. I hadn't. 

Mystery fruit

Flowers along the hike

Birds of Paradise in Paradise

Cliffs along the hike

The trail. We ran a lot of it. 

View of the ocean during our hike

Unforgettable hike

Overwhelmed

No explanation or picture will describe how amazing this hike was. 

Las Cuevas Negras

There was no one else doing this same hike because of the rain and close proximity to sunset. This made it even more unreal, like we were in uncharted land.

The Trail

Misty rain around sunset

The descent

Last photo before sunset

After the sun had set, and we were close to the end of our hike, we ran into a bearded man who was just beginning the steep ascent of the climb. We figured he was lost, and informed him that he was going the wrong way, and that the end of the hike was the other direction. As we got closer to him, we noticed he was German, and he happened to speak perfect English. He told us that he was on his way home, and that he lived deep in the mountains in an abandoned village. He said the village was just a few minutes past Las Cuevas Negras where we turned back. He was carrying a giant basket with a sign on it that read, “gratis.” He told us that he went to town to donate a 30 kg (66 lb) basket of oranges from a tree that had fallen down in his village. When we thought we were eating sweet lemons earlier that day, we were eating his unripe oranges that had fallen off the tree a little early. I don’t know how he managed to carry 66 lbs of oranges on his back for almost two miles down a mountain in the rain, but he did it, and he did it for free. This is a good example of what the people are like in the Canary Islands. Many believe that their kind acts can be attributed to the fantastic weather that they have nearly year-round. Whatever the cause, the inhabitants of the island continuously amazed me.

December 7th 

On our rooftop in the morning

Our rooftop

Morning face

The German lady's daughter. One of the sweetest ten year old girls I have ever met. She is the turtle owner. He is in good hands. 

Garachico

Sending a postcard to Alyssa

View of a full rainbow from our rooftop

Nicogrande fell in love with another woman

He's probably whispering, "I love you so much more than my human girlfriend."

I could have easily never left Garachico

We left Garachico to spend our last day on the beach in Puerta de la Cruz. We wanted one last day of sunshine and beach festivities before we returned to winter, anxiously awaiting our arrival in Valladolid.

Duck art on the side of a building 

Mosaic of the islands

We bought something to make us blend in a little better on the beach

Look at that booty!

Juan didn't get the memo. He is visibly disturbed by being that close to a man with that little of clothing.

We took our sporty outfits to the courts to see how they'd perform...

We were deadly!

The volleyball group we hung out with all day. Absolutely amazing people. We still keep in contact with the girl next to Juan. Her name is Andrea and she is from Venezuela. She took us out to dinner and introduced us to her dog! 

Her dog was so cool! It is hilarious to hear dog commands in Spanish. 

This was the kind of traveling I wanted to do. Although we were nowhere near ready to leave, at least we left Las Islas Canarias filled with memories that will never cease to leave us, and the only regret being that we did not have the guts or the illogic to throw away our return flight tickets and live the rest of our lives on the beaches of Tenerife. 

Tenerife from the air. 

Sunrise over Tenerife on our return flight