http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/ The Andrews' family website en-us Fri, 19 Aug 2011 00:44:02 MST chris.j.andrews@gmail.com chris.j.andrews@gmail.com Copyright (c) 2007 www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews. All rights reserved. http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/canary-islands-2002-104.html#104 Jeanette and I set off on another adventure on All Saints Day, 2002. This was to be a trip to the Canary Islands as well as our honeymoon. We picked the Canaries because I had been curious about them ever since elementary school history classes and because the ticket ended up being cheaper than tickets to Spain or Portugal. Go figure. We left a frigid Denver day (17 F) hopefully for a nice mild Canary Islands vacation. We were picked up at the house by the Maui Wowi limo (Jeanette worked ther... 39.8454 -104.675 Fri, 01 Nov 2002 21:13:00 MST http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/canary-islands-2002-104.html#104 US canary-islands-2002 http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/canary-islands-2002-105.html#105 We finally left Gatwick after an uneventful four hours in which we tried some tea and a terrible croissant. The flight down to Tenerife was fun because now that we switched from American Airlines to British Airways, we finally got free alcohol. They must know it's a tourist and holiday trip because they passed the drinks out freely. We read the silly British trash mag, drank our drinks, and relaxed. Jeanette ate a yummy salmon dish while I had pot roast. (We had played with special meals on... 28.0453 -16.7178 Sat, 02 Nov 2002 21:14:00 MST http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/canary-islands-2002-105.html#105 US canary-islands-2002 http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/canary-islands-2002-106.html#106 After an OK, but necessary,night's sleep, we awoke early and headed out to find gas, some band-aids for Jeanette's feet, and the ferry. We found them all easily enough and got tickets for La Gomera. It cost 60 for the two people and the car. We had plenty of time, so we walked around the port, took photos, and enjoyed the sun and the scenery. Los Christianos has a reasonably extensive shopping area that's great for browsing. When ready, we pulled the car onto the ferry and got o... 28.0917 -17.3383 Sun, 03 Nov 2002 21:15:00 MST http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/canary-islands-2002-106.html#106 US canary-islands-2002 http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/canary-islands-2002-121.html#121 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... 28.1195 -17.2829 Mon, 04 Nov 2002 21:45:00 MST http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/canary-islands-2002-121.html#121 US canary-islands-2002 http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/canary-islands-2002-108.html#108 We got up a bit earlier and went down to the supermarket where we bought some bread, cheese, and sliced chorizo for a picnic lunch. We went to see about taking a boat ride to Los Organos, but found we were too late, plus it cost quite a bit more than we expected. We thought about trying the next day, but ended up passing. (I've seen similar formations in Ireland and California.) We decided to take a drive through the park toward some towns known for their traditional lifestyles, so we hea... 28.1325 -17.3211 Tue, 05 Nov 2002 21:19:00 MST http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/canary-islands-2002-108.html#108 US canary-islands-2002 http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/canary-islands-2002-109.html#109 This was written on the 7th because I was so ill the evening of the 6th... as explained later! The day started off OK. We found out that the Los Organos boat rides were for 7-8 hours which would have been a bit too long as we were planning to leave the island that day. We wrapped up at the 'hotel' and had a coffee downstairs. Jeanette drove for the day, so I got to look around a bit. We drove toward El Cercado so Jeanette could buy another piece of potter, after I had pointed out to... 28.6828 -17.7669 Wed, 06 Nov 2002 21:20:00 MST http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/canary-islands-2002-109.html#109 US canary-islands-2002 http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/canary-islands-2002-110.html#110 We took our time getting up after our late and my sick arrival the night before. We decided to leave the room only when it got very humid. The guy at the front desk told me that it had been unusually humid lately. We wandered around a bit looking for a "famous" tobacco shop that turned out to be one older gentleman at a desk cutting cigars. No competition for Ybor City! There was a nice town area with beautiful building faades to investigate, but eventually we needed to feed ourselves... 28.6511 -17.9465 Thu, 07 Nov 2002 21:22:00 MST http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/canary-islands-2002-110.html#110 US canary-islands-2002 http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/canary-islands-2002-111.html#111 On the way down to the beach in the morning, we bought a tortilla espaola, 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 arrive... 28.7797 -17.929 Fri, 08 Nov 2002 21:26:00 MST http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/canary-islands-2002-111.html#111 US canary-islands-2002 http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/canary-islands-2002-113.html#113 After an early wake up, we got ready and left our nice room in Puerto de Tazacorte. We left Angela, the woman who helped us, and her friend 10 for their trouble and friendliness. Jeanette bought some bread, cheese, and candy in the supermercado and that was our lunch in the car. I took a few more photos of the town before we headed out. I think we both could have stayed there longer at Don Pancho Apartmentos, Jeanette to enjoy the ambiance and me to hike the rim. Unfortunately, we had reservati... 28.4601 -16.2572 Sat, 09 Nov 2002 21:29:00 MST http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/canary-islands-2002-113.html#113 US canary-islands-2002 http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/canary-islands-2002-128.html#128 In the morning we discovered that the El Dorado offered a fantastic view of Santa Cruz from our balcony. We walked over to the ferry after checking out, but discovered that we were too early. We ended up walking to find breakfast, then driving the car to the ferry after more walking around. The port entrance is awkwardly placed far from where we expected, but we were excited to get on the way to the next island. The excitement of arrival in Gran Canaria was equal to the disappointment of arri... 28.0992 -15.705 Sun, 10 Nov 2002 23:10:00 MST http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/canary-islands-2002-128.html#128 US canary-islands-2002 http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/canary-islands-2002-114.html#114 Still in vacation Hell, but trying to deal with it, we rose early because the traffic noise was so bad that it was not letting Jeanette sleep. I noticed that even though the toiled ran continuously, you only heard it when the traffic stopped! We decided to drive to Playa del Ingles and Maspalomas, a well know beach and town on the southern tip of the island that were well known for sand dunes. The drive got really busy as we approached Playa del Ingles. Maspalomas was a bust. We couldn'... 27.7565 -15.5786 Mon, 11 Nov 2002 21:32:00 MST http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/canary-islands-2002-114.html#114 US canary-islands-2002 http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/canary-islands-2002-115.html#115 After a horrible night's sleep, we got up and decided to go for a hike and an afternoon at the beach. The morning in the hotel room was a little annoying because we could smell cigarette smoke from above and because I was so tired out. We got ready and took off, stopping by the supermarket for bread and cheese on the way out. Jeanette bought some new sunglasses (surprise) for a bargained-down 10. We drove north, planning to stop at a beautiful place called Barranco de los Fraijles or so... 27.8175 -15.765 Tue, 12 Nov 2002 21:33:00 MST http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/canary-islands-2002-115.html#115 US canary-islands-2002 http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/canary-islands-2002-116.html#116 After a groggy start, we hustled and got the heck out of the miserable resort. We stopped again for bread and cheese and then made the trip straight to Agaete to get the boat back to Tenerife. On the way, we saw a great view of the Azulejos, an ash formation that has been colored blue and green by oxidized iron. It was very beautiful. We got to the port an hour early and got our tickets. We then took a walk through the cute town and decided we should have stayed there. The town had a pictures... 28.3721 -16.7641 Wed, 13 Nov 2002 21:34:00 MST http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/canary-islands-2002-116.html#116 US canary-islands-2002 http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/canary-islands-2002-117.html#117 Today we had a fun day. We got up late, waited our turn for a shower (mine was a little chilly), then headed out to walk around Garachico. The town, virtually outside our door, turned out to be beautiful with two old churches and a huge, pleasantplaza, Plaza de San Francisco. The Iglesia de San Francisco is right on the Plaza, naturally, and is the church that contains a huge, silver gilt cross that has 30 kg (66 lbs) of Mexican silver from the colonial days. There were also a bunch of life-siz... 28.2723 -16.6424 Thu, 14 Nov 2002 21:37:00 MST http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/canary-islands-2002-117.html#117 US canary-islands-2002 http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/canary-islands-2002-118.html#118 This morning we tried to get up early, were mostly successful, and headed out, planning to do a bit of a hike. Unfortunately, it had rained all night and we were having more problems with the car, so we decided against a muddy hike and had some coffee in a town called Masca. I met a nice older Spanish gentleman who was encouraging us to do the hike. We also met a British bartender who approved of our type of vacation. Jeanette also got to meet more kittens. Masca offered some great views down m... 28.2379 -16.8338 Fri, 15 Nov 2002 21:39:00 MST http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/canary-islands-2002-118.html#118 US canary-islands-2002 http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/canary-islands-2002-119.html#119 Our last day in the Canary Islands, but hopefully not for good! We packed, ate a quick breakfast at El Jardin (each morning we had been served bread, cheese, yogurt, coffee, and tea). We left the pensin and walked around the area to drop off our postcards and pick up some water for the car. Starting the day before, it started demanding a couple of gallons of water every hour or so. At a small patisserie or dulceteria, we bought some mediocre pastries, then we left Garachico. We drove to the e... 28.4147 -16.5482 Sat, 16 Nov 2002 21:40:00 MST http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/canary-islands-2002-119.html#119 US canary-islands-2002 http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/canary-islands-2002-120.html#120 Well, we were sad to end another vacation chapter. Our trip home was nice and uneventful. All of the pottery made it intact (about 10 or more large and small pieces). There were no major altercations with other passengers, although I was pretty annoyed at some of their (lack of) queuing skills. A nice airline woman in Madrid helped us check our baggage through the whole way so that we wouldn't have to deal with it in Heathrow. Heathrow was the usual mess of stores and people. We won't m... 39.8341 -104.65 Sun, 17 Nov 2002 21:41:00 MST http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/canary-islands-2002-120.html#120 US canary-islands-2002