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.