1+1=11

Eleven years ago today I met Fiona for the first time. She's changed my life in so many ways, and always for the better. We've had great adventures and our recently completed trip just makes it clear how much fun we still have together. I'm looking forward to several more decade-plus-one's with this fantastic lady.

Fun in the sun

After the trips we decided today should be a rest day. You don't want to get worn out on vacation, right? So we've spent the whole day out by the pool, enjoying the best day of weather we've had so far. Lots of sunscreen, good books, good beer and goofing in the pool - just what the doctor ordered.

Timanfaya

Tuesday morning brought a slightly better version of Monday's weather. We had a very quick breakfast (finally found the Nutella!) and joined several other couples at the bus stop. We had signed up for a tour of the National Park that covers the most recently active volcanic region of Lanzarote, known locally as Timanfaya.

We got good seats on the bus and since Lanzarote isn't really that big, we were soon at our destination. Our first stop was the tourist office, where we were given several demonstrations of the area's geothermal awesomeness. First we all stood around while a guy dug a small hole with a shovel and then filled the shovel with rocks from the bottom of the hole. He then walked around and gave everyone a small handful of the rocks. They were so hot that you could barely hold on to them. Next they walked us over to a deeper hole, maybe about 6 or 8 feet down. They threw an old tumbleweed into the bottom of the hole and within a minute it was completely ablaze. For the grand finale one of the local guides poured a bucket of water down an iron pipe that had been driven to a depth of 20 feet. Within 3 seconds the water had turned to steam and came shooting back out as an artificial geyser.

After a quick stop in the gift shop (of course) and a tour through the restaurant, which has no stoves or ovens, but cooks everything BBQ-style over an open pit with nothing but the heat of the rocks, we got back on the bus for our tour. We were taken past over thirty volcanoes that exist in the park, but this is only a small percentage of the 100+ that exist. They all formed as part of a series of eruptions that started in 1730 and lasted until 1736. The lava flows eventually covered over 200 square kilometres of the island, and only now are beginning to be covered with lichens. Other than that nothing lives there, it's just a rubble-field of sharp basalt boulders. It makes for an impressive view. They've done a good job with the park. Only tour buses are allowed on most roads, and the roads themselves have been positioned and sunk into the lava field so that you can't see them when you get to all the good viewpoints.

Our next stop was just on the outskirts of Timanfaya, where we stopped for a camel ride. The locals used camels in the past to haul salt around the island, but now they just schlep tourists like us up and down a small section of volcano.

Instead of sitting astride the camel, they've secured seats on either side, with each camel carrying two people. Fiona and I got a camel that we feel certain was called 'Diablo' by the camel-tender, but we quickly changed his name to Carl, if only just to quell our own internal panic. Carl did quite a good job. He was fairly gentle, although he seemed upset with his position in the line, always looking to exit right and pass even though he was firmly tied to the camel in front of him. He also seemed to have a problem with Fiona touching him in any way. I could pet him all I liked and there were no problems, but if FIona even laid a finger on him he would quickly turn his big head to see what was going on. The ride was short but fun. We can now tick this off life's little to do list, but I don't think we will be trading in the Renault for a camel any time soon.

The rest of the trip was a little bit of a re-hash of things we covered while we were on our day-trip. We stopped at the winery, and then travelled down the 'Lava Coast' where the lava from Timanfaya hit the ocean. With the wind whipping up big waves, it was an impressive sight. Huge crests were smashing into small coves and sending up large clouds of spray. In one place, called 'Los Hervideros' or 'Boiling Waters' - because the water literally boiled when the lava hit it - they had built a series of paved walkways that took you to good viewpoints and included hang outs over small caves and outcroppings where the waves and spray were particularly fierce.

By the time we got back to the hotel in the afternoon the weather had cleared and we had beautiful sunshine. We were out on the loungers by the pool within minutes, soaking it all up. It was great.

The start of another work week...

The start of the week was going to be loaded with activities for us here in Lanzarote. We decided to take advantage of some of the tours and activities we could book through our tour operator. Neither of us had really done anything like this before, so we were a little apprehensive.

Monday was scheduled to be a sailing trip on a catamaran. We both really enjoy being on the water so we had high hopes for an exciting excursion. But the weather put a little bit of a damper on things, with the day starting rainy and miserable and progressing through to cloudy with light showers. Not the best for a trip on an open topped catamaran.

But we got on the bus nonetheless. Our trip down the coast to Puerto Calero was not far, but we had to stop along the way and pick up the other people who would be sailing with us. It was amazing how the coach driver could squeeze his massive bus into the smallest of spaces and around the tightest of corners.

When we got to the boat we all doffed our shoes and got aboard. The harbour was packed with boats and had all sorts of different fish swimming in the water. The crew of the boat did their best to lighten the mood, but you could tell that a lot of people had determined the weather was going to ruin their day. A lot of them stayed under the small covered area and chain smoked for the whole trip.

Not Fiona and I. Despite the poor weather we were out on deck, with our legs over the side, enjoying the trip. We saw some dolphins in the distance, which was cool, but they never got within picture taking distance. The boat was serving up a really tasty cava punch that helped keep us warm, and occasionally the sun would even poke through the clouds to warm us up.

The captain decided to change course after he determined that our original destination was covered in heavy rain, and he set in to a sheltered cove right around lunchtime. They wheeled out a really nice pasta lunch and then let everyone know that they were free to do some swimming in the cove, or take rides on the jet ski that was attached to the boat. Most people just laughed and went back to shivering. Fiona was one of the few, the proud, that actually did get into the water. Technically it may have been warmer in the Atlantic (18C) then on board the boat, but only the truly courageous went in.

We hung out on the deck of the boat for the entire ride home, taking in the beautiful volcanic cliffs as they sailed by. While it could have been a nicer day, and probably would have been a better experience with better weather, we still had a good time. We even bought the official tourist photo that they take of everyone when they are boarding. We look like authentic members of the yacht-club set.

Once we got back to the hotel we changed and had a quiet dinner. Post dinner we retired to the lobby with some Baileys and Drambuie (not together) and tried to upload some of our pictures. The photo set for Carnival took almost two hours to upload, so we're going to be behind on the pictures.

We retired early that night because our tour bus for the next day was picking us up at 8:25 am.

Rik and Fiona's Lanzarote Day Trip

One of our favourite things do to in Scotland is to put together fantastic day trips. Anyone that has come to visit us has surely been through at least one, and you've seen the results of others in the blog. We try to find a few historical, cultural and natural wonders (hopefully a combination of all), plan a route that takes us past all of them and see what the day brings.

When we woke up to rain on Sunday morning, we were not surprised - morning rain is something we've seen a lot of. But our scan of the sky didn't show that hint of blue on the horizon like it normally does, so we thought it would be a perfect day to see if we could apply our Scottish day-tripping skills to Lanzarote. We went to the lobby of the hotel to see the car rental guy and quite quickly, and perhaps too easily, ended up with the keys to a beat-up Toyota Yaris which had clearly seen its share of unkind or uncaring owners. The lack of pressure with the car rental was refreshing. I just showed the guy my license, pointed at the car we wanted and pushed across 40 euros. No pressure sales on extra insurance or heavy handed lectures about returning it full of fuel. In fact, when he gave it to us he said - 'it's on a quarter tank right now, if you stop and put in 15 euros you should be good for the day'. No concern about bringing it back full, or checking for damage. Just bring it back and leave it at the hotel sometime before tomorrow morning.

Once we managed to get out of the parking lot (a touchy clutch made my first few attempts look quite bad) we got out onto the open highway. The roads in Lanzarote are generally good. In fact most of them looked brand new. I quickly settled into the groove and developed a good rapport with the little Yaris.

Our first stop was going to be Jameos del Agua, but we spotted a sign for the Cactus Garden and decided on a slight change of plan. We're very glad we did. Although it sprinkled a little bit as we toured the garden, it didn't take away from the magic of the place. The Cactus Garden, like almost every other Lanzarote attraction, was designed by Cesar Manrique, an influential artist. The garden was a perfect blend of architecture, flora and artistry. I would have loved it anyway, because I, for some unknown reason, am enthralled by cacti, but there is no way you could miss the magic. The volcanic rocks that they use to build everything provide an extra cool touch, as do the fields and fields of prickly pear cacti just outside the garden. Fiona did her best National Geographic photographer thing. I wish we had more room on the blog for pictures, but the hotel wifi is so slow that we've had to limit our selection. My advice - come see it for yourself.

Our next stop was indeed Jameos del Agua, another Manrique masterpiece. He's taken a section of cave from an old lava tube and transformed it into a peaceful oasis with multiple pools and greenery. You descend into the cave on a beautiful staircase and then see this perfectly still pool. The floor of the pool is covered by small, white crabs which are apparently only otherwise found at great depth on the ocean floor. Further down the cave, where it opens to the surface is the King's swimming pool. If I had royal prerogative I would have annexed for myself as well. It was absolutely gorgeous, with perhaps the most perfect palm tree in existence hanging over the pool.

The weather was starting to clear as we left Jameos del Agua, and we could see across the bay and up into the mountains. That made our next stop a little unfortunate - Las Cuevas de los Verdes. Caves for the non-Spanish speaking, although the rest of the title is a little misleading - there is nothing about them that is green, los Verdes is the name of the family that owns the land above the cave. We took a tour and it was quite impressive. We've been in caves before, but mostly in limestone caves, carved by water and with lots of stalactites and stalagmites (discuss amongst yourselves which are which). THis was completely different. A 7 kilometre long tube formed by flowing lava, which hardened at the surface but continued to flow inside, it was a little more sterile than we expected. The walls were interesting, though, almost like they were cake covered in peaks of frosting. The cave opens quite wide in places, wide enough in one place to house a small concert hall. They also have a great optical illusion, a picture of which we've posted. See if you can figure out what's going on. We can't say, since we were threatened with many years of bad luck if we revealed the answer.

We hopped back in the Yaris and started climbing into the mountains on the extreme northeast side of the island. We stopped at Mirador del Rio, another Manrique masterpiece. We actually saw the word mirador quite a lot on our travels, and based on the locations we saw it in, it must mean viewpoint or outlook. There's really not much to Mirador del Rio, other than the view. The house is quite cool, but not amazingly so. But the view! The house is perched on the edge of a sheer cliff, dropping hundreds of feet and is situated just across a small, ridiculously blue channel from a small island. Stunning. Absolutely stunning.

By this time our stomachs were growling. We turned into the first reasonable looking place we saw. And consistent with the rest of the day so far, it was a winner. A cosy stone dining room with towering ceilings and friendly staff was perfect place to unwind. Although the menu was translated in many languages, the food was definitely authentic. We started with the Canary Island specialty of wrinkly potatoes with two kinds of mojo. Very, very tasty. We spent most of the afternoon trying to decide what could possibly be in the two varieties of mojo - verde and rojo. After that Fiona had a perfectly cooked and seasoned roast chicken while I had a delicious goat stew, served in the dish it was cooked in. Although it's on the other side of the island from most of the resorts, if anyone asked us where to eat in Lanzarote, we would recommend 'El Cortijo de Haria'.

Since we had scored with several earlier Manrique works, we next headed straight for his large Monument to the Campesinos (Farmers). But our stomachs were too full to wander around the museum, so we took a quick snapshot of the monument itself and kept driving.

As we drove back towards the western part of the island, we drove through the wine-making region. It is quite cool to see. They dig these large pits down through the black volcanic ash, into the soil beneath, plant a vine in the middle and then build a small, semi-circular wall around the pit to keep the winds from filling it up. Acres and acres of these pits covered the landscape. Not wishing to disrespect the hard work put in by the winemakers, we decided to stop in for a tasting. We tried a reasonable red and very fruity white before hitting the jackpot with another white, which had already won several other awards, besides our praise. A bottle is currently chilling in our in-room fridge.

Once through the lava fields we made it to the western edge of the island and stopped at a town called El Golfo. We walked a little bit to come to a spectacular scene where a towering, but eroding, lava rock cliff came right up to a black sand beach. Another tongue of bright red rock jutted out into the small bay for added contrast. It was spellbinding. We took some photos and then made our way further out along the cliffside to sit and watch the surf pound away at the rocks, sending massive towers of spray high into the air. We must have watched for quite some time. This place really does make you re-think your old notions of rock as a very sturdy and permanent object. You have wonderful juxtapositions of new rock being created and then being immediately eroded by wind (creating these gorgeous striations) and the never-ending, pounding surf.

Our last stop was Playa Papagayo, and we're not really sure why. We had heard it was a nice beach, but I have a new guess that maybe it was the name. Go ahead and say it - papagayo. It just makes you feel happy. After a somewhat bumpy ride over the only dirt roads we encountered that day, we finally made it. Because it was getting late in the day, and the day wasn't actually beach weather to begin with, it was essentially deserted. It was only us and a few beached jellyfish, which we tried, unsuccessfully, to rescue. Had it been a nicer day, I could have spent most of it lounging on the beautiful sand.

But the Yaris had to be returned, so we drove on past the salt flats where the Canary Island folk have been running a salt making industry for centuries, and headed towards our temporary home at the Jameos Playa. We barely managed to keep our heads from falling into our plates at dinner - we were so tired. But it was a good tired. The kind of tired you only get from a highly successful day trip.