On Top of the World

On the way down to the beach in the morning, we bought a tortilla española, essentially an egg and potato quiche, to have for lunch. The little beach packed, but we found a spot and settled in. The water was great, though there was a very sharp drop off and the area where the waves break gets churned up suggesting that they might get some good rip tides. I eventually took a walk to a rocky part of the beach to poke around while J relaxed. When I returned to our blankets, I noticed a newly arrived woman from Northern Europe who parked herself, along with her older parents right near us. Even in the presence of her father, she showed no fear, stripping to a thong and oiling herself up in front of us and the crowd of chubby older Spaniards with whom we shared the beach. She featured in much of our conversations for the rest of the day.

We both went for a swim, then dried off and headed back to the room to get ready to go out. We ended up taking a drive to the north that was a little more than I expected.

First, we drove into Llanos de Aridane to look around, but saw nothing. It's a town, but that's it.

We continued north along the coast, stopping at a cafe with a 'mirador' (lookout) that presented a great view of the valley where we were staying. We stopped for a second, but drove on, taking a murderously winding road at least 2500 m up to the northern rim of the caldera that makes up much of the island. We drove past an astronomical observatory to a lookout that featured fantastic views out over the cloud covered Atlantic and back into the caldera, showing the heart of the island. We were definitely higher than Denver... you could see La Gomera, the clouds far below, and around much of the rim of the caldera. I took a 200m walk along to see the volcanic rocks and the scenery. Jeanette hung out with the car because it was frigid and windy. I'd love to return some day and do the multi-day hike around the rim of the crater. It must have fantastic views.

Unfortunately for Jeanette, we had to catch this sunset from the car, but we did make it back to the beach and changed to prepare for dinner. We went first to the little shop in the Puerto de Tazacorte where, after much deliberation, we bought two plates made from volcanic sands along with a small print of a windswept island tree. (The plates are heavy and feel like they're made of cement, but we still have them.) The shop featured a variety of interesting craft work, but I was glad that we purchased some of the more authentic items.

We finished up with a great dinner of fish (grilled and served whole on the plate), squid, papas arrugadas (brine boiled potatoes with mojo sauce), and queso asada, a pan fried cheese. The restaurant was called the Kiosco Teneguia and the food was all great! Jeanette didn't even seem to mind that the head, tail, and fins were on the fish. The fish was nicely seasoned outside and perfectly light of texture on the inside. We did manage to spare enough food to feed one of the stray kittens at dinner. To top off the meal, we were served some complimentary liqueurs, one peach and one pear.

We finished the evening with a nice view from the rooftop of our apartment and went in to get ready to leave the next day.