The Guanche Style

We got up around 10AM and got ready as quickly as we could. We stopped at the supermarket up in the valley where we took forever choosing some shortbread cookies, water, and "Leite Solar." After the stop, we drove into the island and found Casa Efegenia, a vegetarian restaurant run by an older woman (Efegenia) who serves whatever food she happens to feel like making. We had a great salad with bananas, apples, cucumbers, red peppers, tomatoes, and lettuce. We had bread with tasty red mojo sauce, an oil and roasted red pepper puree. There was a course consisting of chickpeas mashed with coriander and squash. Finally the meal finished up with a stew of potatoes, squash, cabbage, and some other vegetables. We liked the food but decided that we are addicted to spicy flavors!

We thought we were finished after an hour and a half, but when we went downstairs we found that Efegenia had made café con leite for us and then gave us a serving of her homemade orange liqueur. We remained 'tranquilos' while we finished the drinks, but then waited another ten minutes to buy a bottle of the liqueur and pay for lunch. She was very sweet and explained (in Spanish) that the food was natural and fresh and that we were very nice. We tried to return the compliment as best as possible.

From Bar Montagne (Efegenia's), we went to El Alto de Garojanay, where we climbed the 1.4 km in 30 minutes to the top of the island. We had great views of Mt. Teide on Tenerife and could see El Heiro and La Palma. The views were great and the nice weather made the walk well worth it.

After El Alto, we went to La Laguna Grande, where we expected a lake, but foudn a tourist area with a small walk through laural (faya?) forest.

Following La Laguna Grande, we finally went to El Cercado. We visited three small pottery shops/ pottery works where several women were hand carving clay bowls in the style of the Guanche natives of the islands who had been wiped out by the Spaniards. Each woman had a setup in the front of the store so that she could be observed working from the street. We went in all three shops and Jeanette picked out some pieces that seemed a little suspicious but, just in case, I picked up a piece that looked like the pieces the women were making. (Jeanette has since become far more savvy at picking pottery.)

We left and went back to La Playa. Jeanette went shopping and I decided to enjoy the sunset from the water. I had some fun in the waves and enjoyed the sunlight on the water's surface.

I found Jeanette by the seawall. We looked at some jewelery in one of the shops and bought some pastries that we sampled back in the room.

After a bit, we went to dinner at a place down the street. Jeanette had a yummy octopus (pulpo) salad . I had tuna con mojo picante. We ordered delicious sangria and finished with some flan.

We enjoyed a nightcap at another place where we met a nice local bartender named Maria Luisa and a friendly cat named "Catiña" (no joke). Maria Luisa allowed us to sample the local firewater, parra, and gave us a pronunciation lesson at the same time.

Finally, we finished up at the apartment where Jeanette ate some Leite Asada, we had a bit of wine, and we listened to the wonderful sound of the sea.