Garachico

Today we visited the town of Garachico on the north side of the island. We went clockwise round which took us up and down some outcrops and through the lava flows of the most recent eruption in Tenerife, Mount Chinyero near Santiago del Teide which erupted in 1909. The road down to Garachico from El Tanque was quite narrow, winding with steep slopes. (But nowhere as bad as some of the roads which we travelled on in Chile (Pisagua) and Peru (Majes).

Garachico was the main port on Tenerife until the Montana Volcan Negro erupted in 1709, taking most of the town with it, and filling up the harbour with lava flows. It is now a small place, with a few seafront restaurants. We passed the opportunity to walk back uphill for 250m to the Mirador and instead wandered around the quiet streets. There was a nativity scene in the lava flows at the waters'edge. A small castle was closed for the day. Outside it had gardens with poinsetias, red and cream.

There was also a walk amongst volcanic rock pools which was officially closed for the winter months and what looked like a newly constructed outdoor pool.

Back from the seafront was the main square with two churches and a statue of South American freedom fighter, Simon Bolivar. His mother came from here and the town still has strong links with Venezuela.

We ate lunch at a pavement cafe overlooking the sea and bought some local wine to take back to Finca Paloma.

We decided to take the motorway back, which was longer but quicker than winding up and down again.

Back at the villa it is a cooler evening (16.6 c) and a little windy.

El puertito de Guimar to Montana Grande

Today was another hot day - a pattern is emerging. However up on the mountain there were clouds. We decided to take a walk furhter up the coast at Guimar. It is a short run up the motorway, and then we turned down to Puertito (little port) of Guimar.

Having left the car, it became clear that the village was built on a lava flow. Indeed the flows stopped artificially at the roadside. Further on they ran directly in to the sea, where small shanty type houses had been built directly where the flows hit the waves. The paths so far have been well marked with a lot of interpretation boards. This route was across the Malpais (badlands) of Guimar. This was a lava flow created when the nearby Montana Grande exploded 10,000 years ago. Now the landscape is being overtaken by candelabra cacti and other bushes that love this inhospitable territory.

The path initially skirted the water, as it crossed the lava field. There were some salt pans where locals used to pour in salt water, leave it to evaporate and then harvest the salt. Further on there were some small lava caves at the edge of the water. We met a few other walkers, including a man in flipflops who decided to go back as the way was so rocky. On the horizon we could see a freight ship.

The path then climbed to a promentory before turning inland towards the volcanic cone. We saw several lizards. At the foot of the volcano we ate lunch before heading seewards again, near a water channel ("levada"). It was still cloudy inland but started to clear as we drove home.

As shops close early for Xmas tomorrow, we stocked up with supplies both for Xmas day itself but also for our party on New Year's Day.

Dinner was eaten on the verandah - a tomato and mozzarella tart with the local speciality of papas arrugadas (wrinkled potatoes) with a mojo verde (green sauce).

El Salto mainly

Today we hardly left the compound that is our villa. Joan had a bit of a cold so we spent the day lying by the pool, reading novels. Our landlords had gone away to Fuerteventura to look at some other villas they manage.

Hot! In the shade over 23 celcius. At nightfall we drove down to San Isidro. Ate a meal of tagliatelle with Stilton & asparagus for dinner.

Roques de Garcia and El Teide

This morning the heat cranked up a bit. David came to try and sort the internet out but it still is slow and intermittent.

We decided to head up into the hills where it might be better for walking. We took the road from San Isidro, through Grenadilla and Vilaflor. It reminded us of Peru with its slow zig-zagging upwards.

Eventually we came to the old caldera out of which Mt Teide rises. Most of the pictures we have seen shows Teide as snow capped, but, now , in the middle of winter, there was not a flake of snow to be seen. We parked at the visitor centre near the Roques de Garcia, a wellknown tourist point. Here there are series of unusual rock formations made out of ancient volcanic plugs. They are all shapes and sizes and have names like the finger of God and the Cathedral.

We did a walk recommended in both our guidebooks which skirts around the edges of the rocks. There were quite a few walkers doing the same path, though it was far from crowded. We didn't hear any spanish spoken though!

The initial part of the walk was flattish and at the end of the rocks another path led up to the Pico Vieja (Old Peak) another four hours walk away. Passing on this opportunity, we then headed down a scree path over a lava flow until we reached the bottom of the caldera, filled with stones and black sand. The final part of the walk was a stiff climb uphill to the tourist viewpoint. We rested to watch two rock climbers scaling the Cathedral rock, and then made it to our own summit!

We came back off the volcano a longer, but less windy route which initially crossed a lava flow from the last eruption of El Teide in the 1700s. As we descended we could see the island of La Palma not too far away.

It was dark by the time we reached the villa. Joan made a vegetarian paella which we ate on the balcony.

El Medano

The WiFi in the villa has not been working. David, the owner, had explained that the house was being transfered on to a new system, but they went out before we could mention the fault.

Today we drove down to the nearest bit of sea at Medano. We can see it from our villa. It is a resort but not as developed as Los Christianos and Playa de las Americas.

We walked along an alley past restaurants, mainly offering seafood dishes. Then we came to a beach with black sand and out on the water there were plenty of windsurfers and people on surf boards with parachutes. The breeze was strong and lifted some of them in to the air.

We walked to Montana Roja, a volcanic cone at the end of the resort and climbed up it. From the summit we had a fine view of the runway at Tenerife South Airport which was constantly busy. We could also see large swaithes of netted area which they grow something beneath.

On the way back we called in for more provisons and ate a dinner of goat's cheese and quince jelly tart with salad and fried potato.

David came roound to look at the WiFi router but couldn't fix it immediately.

Played cards on the terrace once it was dark.

Finca Paloma, El Salto

Today we had a restful day at the villa. There is a heated pool which overlooks the "barranco" (gorge) and plenty of gardens to wander in.

We took the car down to San Isidro to the supermarket and stocked up. Ww decided to have an early BBQ. We'd bought some vegi burgers which when opened were bright red, and when cooked not too pleasant. The very green spinach sausages were somehwat better!

Quite clooudy and a stiff breeze.

Tenerife:18 December 2011

On Saturday night we stayed at the Crowne Plaza at Manchester Airort, after visiting Lytham. It was very slippery underfoot when we arrived.
Next morning was an early start from T1. It was chaotic with the queue for Easyjet out the door. In the end we and many others were so long waiting that we had to be rushed through security to make the plane.

In Tenerife it was 25 celcius but with a high wind. We picked up our hire car, a Fiesta, and made our way to El Salto which was only ten minutes from the airport. Rosemary and David, the owners, welcomed us with a bottle of fizz.

We decided just to have a rest, read the information pack at the villa and splashed around in the pool.

Dinner was eaten on the verandah: pasta, tomato sauce and bread.

Beautiful,clear, starry skies.