Last day on the Island

Saturday was my last day in Tenerife so Rodrigo and I borrowed a friends car and went up to the North most part of the island for the day. The weather was absolutely perfect and my t-shirt got a last outing.

The north past is covered by a forest called Anaga and it was so pretty and quiet.

View of La Laguna from Mirador de Jardina.

Rodrigo loved the car and kept calling it the small Ferrari.

Small Ferrari. 

View down to Santa Cruz from Mirador Pico del Ingles

We had planned to stop in Cruz de Carmen but it was packed. And with the usual Tenerife parking. i.e, anywhere and everywhere, who ares if it is a legit parking space?
So we carried on to Taganana. I was so glad we did. I love Taganana! It is beautiful.

Taganana beach

On the way down we picked up a hitch-hiker, an elderly man at the bus stop who had left his bag on the bus and was stranded.
Taganana used to be a port where the English would stop and pick up food, in particular, their barrels of Tenerife wine.

Roque de Las Bodegas (Wineries Rock)

There is a walkway around Roque de Las Bodegas. But it is risky. Last time Rodrigo was here, he got soaked by a wave. Thankfully we were there at the right time and avoided the same fate.

Walkway

Hoping now to get soaked again

I did do a quick run to the end of the walk way but it was very quick. I was not risking my camera more than necessary!

Risking run to the end

Waves! Run!

We found a place for lunch, and like everyone else in the restaurant, had their seafood special. The garlic prawns disappeared very quickly and did not make it to the photos. The green peppers were a surprised (we were given the wrong dish) but nice. And the fish was amazing. (I of course had to inspect the fish head - that thing had some teeth!) With of course the required Canary Potatoes.

Lunch!

After lunch we sat on the beach, letting out lunch digest. While Rodrigo tried to nap, I got some nice photos of the waves and the beach. I love being my the sea and will probably miss this part most.

Where we were standing. 

Waves

Flotsam

Driftwood art

Town of Taganana

After Taganana, we carried on around the coast to San Andres for ice-cream and Playa de Las Teresitas.

View over Playa de las Teristas

Nearing sunset

At the top of the hill, for the view over Teresita, there were a group of old broken down buildings. And as this is Spain, graffitied. But cheerful and well done.

Colorful

Outlook, complete with bench.

cute

Perfect window view

Back at the bottom, we parked and walked along the beach to the jetty. The sea was so different to Taganaga, almost like a lake. And the perfect beach for families. We planned to walk along the jetty but it was cement with rocks in and neither of us wanted to put our shoes back on. So we just walked back along the beach.

Along the jetty

Teresita beach

Heading back to San Andres.

The last stop was Candelaria. But first we decided to wash Elena car to say thank you for letting us borrow it. We were like 5 yr olds going through the car wash. They "recommend" you don't stay in the car but don't say not too. Rodrigo put the code in and then ran like lightning, getting back ingot he car just in time! So much fun.

Red at night ...

Candelaria was pretty and lit up. We had planned to stop for dinner but we were still full from lunch. So just wondered around looking at the Christmas lights.

Candelaria lights

Light tree.

Rodrigo dropped me at the airport Sunday morning to fly home. The plane was most empty so I had lots of seats to myself! Which was good as Iberia don't give you  lot of room anyway. The landing was interesting. About 30 seconds before touch down, the plane served and tilted violently, throwing everyone about, and then skidded and wobbled down the runway, the wings almost hitting the runway. A little near-death experience - always fun.
We put the trees up on the evening, with my Dad helping to MacGuyver the main tree so it doesn't look so tiny. (It's a shorty!) We have 2 trees: a real 'classy' tree inside and a fake 'throw it on' tree in the porch with all out old childhood decorations on.

classy tree

'tacky ' tree - love it!

IAC Christmas party

The weather in Tenerife has been amazing over the past few weeks. Last weekend I intended to work but it was just too nice, so headed into town to finish my Christmas shopping. (I may have over done the number of things I brought. My suitcases were slightly over the limit!).

Pretty

I was lucky to find a table at my favorite restaurant, a lovely Turkish place down by Concepcion. While having lunch, as group of men showed up in some interesting outfits and started singing. They seem to be singing and drinking their way down around town. 

Some very secure men.

Music

No idea why.

I am already missing the weather in Tenerife (back in the raining UK now).

Love December in Tenerife

Friday was the IAC Christmas party. It started at 2.30pm and carried on until midnight, though I left early. It was in the cafeteria downstairs but much better than the normal food. And there was roughly a bottle of wine each. To start. They kept replacing them. Quite a few people were very drunk. And I will admit to having a few glasses! :) 

Friends

The cafeteria often gives us interesting food. And the only place I have even been where the normal choices could be squid or rabbit. The finger food was interesting. No one really knew what is was. And as this is Spain, the starter was cuttlefish with Mojo sauce.

Starter - cuttlefish

And they have the IAC 'famous' bingo. No idea why it is famous but still. Everyone was quite excited about this. And to be fair, when I had only 2 numbers left and found out the prize was over 500 euros, I was getting a little excited too! I didn't win. :(

Getting ready for raffle and 'famous' bingo

Getting into the bingo

But I did win one of the raffles prizes. A giant box of things. It contained 3 bottles of wine and a stack of Spanish treats. I ended up giving over half away, including the wine as nothing else was going to fit in the suitcase.

I won!

After the raffle and bingo, they moved some of the tables, and started the music and dancing. But I was done. I ended up going into town with a couple of friends for coffee (well hot chocolate for me). La Laguna is really pretty and I will miss it.

La Lagun centre

Loro Parque

I spent Monday at Loro Parque. (It has taken a while to get through the photos!) It is supposed to be the best zoo in Europe and lives up to it reputation. I got my ticket from a outlet on the stairs down the cliff and the guy gave me a map with the best route. And he was right. I had the place mostly to myself for most of the morning. And I got the snark tunnel too just for me! It did mean I missed having my photo taken with some parrot but honestly I am good with that!

First stop, while I was waiting for the shark tunnel to open, was the crocodiles!

Eyeing me

Suddenly paying attention.

Swimming away

Finally the aquarium and shark tunnel opened.

Lots of fish

Smiling sting ray

Shark tunnel

Saying hi

Teeth!

After the tunnel I found the tree top walk. The main thing at Loro Parque seems to be the birds. They have hundreds. There are cages everywhere you look. In the tree top walk, it is enclosed so you can get close to the birds. Or more accurately, the birds can get close to you! I don't mind birds but they do get a little too close for comfort.

Enjoying his bath

Hello

giving me the evil eye.

Escapee

And who doesn't love a meerkat?

Shocked at his neighbors behavior

Look out duty.

But my favorite was the leopard! He spent some time having a good scratch and making some interesting faces. :) And then came up to the glass to check me out.

Pulling a face

His panther friend

Spotted!

More scratching

Saying hi.

Beautiful

Red panda

White tiger

The park also has a few shows you can see. The Loro Parque Show is the parrots. I was actually impressed.  And happy when they didn't fly too close to my head. Even if they do file their nails.

adding and counting.

Kiddy close up.

To the rescue.

I ended up really early for the dolphin show so found the Aqua Vivid which is basically jelly fish lit up. But really cool. I had lots of fun trying to photograph them. Not very easy.

Collisions

Photo bombed by a shark.

One of the 2 biggest attraction is the dolphin show. It was a lot of fun. But there was a sad dolphin. :( The others seemed happy and enjoying them, as far as I can tell. I very very impressed on how high they can jump! The trainer really does have one of the best jobs around.

Through the hoop.

Flying.

Surfing on a dolphin

Jump!

Synchronized jumping 

back flips

The other big attraction is the killer whales. There were 3 adult and a baby. I decided not to sit in the splash zone! Not with my camera. plus it was warm, but not warm enough to want to be drenched with icy cold water. They are such beautiful creatures.

Taking a look

Coming out to say hi

Splash zone

They are about to get very wet.

I was also shocked at how high such a huge creature can jump. Do not mess with them!

Flip

Reach for the sky

Having a sing

Finale. 

The pod.

Before the last show, and after getting very lost, I found the penguins. This enclosure has a conveyor belt for the humans to stand on and travel around. At this point, my feet appreciated this.

"Strange human creatures"

Empirer penguins

Checking me out.

Good swim.

Baby chimp.

The last show was the sea lions. I sat waiting for a while, not because I was super excited to see them, but my feet hurt! The show was funny and all mime so the language barrier was not an issue which was nice. Still, I am not sure I would like a sea lion kiss. The trainers had no problem with it given the number of kisses given. The larger one was a floosy!

Congratulating themselves.

"Give us a kiss!"

Playing around.

Christmas!

Because I am staying in Puerto, there is a little free train going between the park and town centre. And I mean little. You have to get quite close to the other people. And on the way the idiot sitting opposite by the door kept playing with the latched and opening and closing the door. While we were moving. Granted we weren't going very fast but I still held onto my bag very tightly.

My transportation

Loro Parque was amazing. So much fun. I have so many more photos (I'll put more up on Facebook).

I spent the rest of the night chilling on the balcony and enjoying some Cava to celebrate my last day on holiday. I had to come back to La Laguna on Tuesday and back to work. :(  But it was a lovely last Tenerife trip. And I am looking forward now to going home for Christmas soon! :)