Los Gigantes - Day 2

On the Saturday, after a lazy morning, I booked a trip on the Flipper Uno, a Canarian made pirate sailing ship. Because why not? The boat was beautiful. And Los Gigantes is quite small so there is a limited choice.

Flipper Uno

Pirate ship

There were quite a few people on board and I really shouldn't have been so lazy that morning as most of the seat were already taken and I got there "early" or so I thought! Still I managed to grab a seat on the main deck so I was close to the water. 

This guys was staring all trip

Skull and cross bones

and cannons

Sailing

They really got into the pirate thing! (And one was very pretty - not the one in the next photo; he was just insane!)

This pirate was nuts!

The boat was bigger than the one the day before, so we headed out further and found a pod of pilot whales. It wasn't as good as the last time I went whale watching, but still fun.

Whale sighting

The pod

Coming up for air

After watching the whales for a while, we headed along the cliffs and to Masca Bay. I was looking for a boat that did a different trip, but they all do pretty much the same trip, just in different boats. 

Los Gigantes cliffs

The white boat is a reasonably big boat. 

They fed us and all drinks were free. Some people made good use of this as it included beer and wine. But we set out at 11.30am. That is just way too early for me to be drinking!

After stopping in Masca Bay, there was a chance to go swimming. I decided not to bother as I knew the water was quite cool and I was enjoying sitting in the sun. Though I did get a little pink. Whoops! 

Instead of the normal way to go swimming, they continued in the pirate theme and there was a swing to get in. I saw some people going on it several times. It was very popular.

Swinging...

... And falling

While they were getting ready to sail, they gave us what they called (and pardon the language) "piss of the shark".  The crazy one squirted it into your mouth. And just kept going. A lot of us ended up with it over us! We had no choose than to pull away or drowned! Though I think I managed to get about 3 shots out it. (I have no idea what the drink was but it tasted like a weak honey rum.)

Quick drink

And to continue the slightly nuts theme, on the way back the crazy one fed the seagulls. At first just throwing food (chips I think) to them.

Catching food

Then hand feeding them.

Hand feeding the seagulls

Then mouth feeding. It was an interesting spectacle but having had my food stolen by seagulls on several occasions, it seemed like encouraging bad habits. :)

Mouth feeding the seagulls

Got it

I spent the rest of the afternoon sleeping or chilling out with my iPad on the balcony. It was nice to to relax in the peace and quiet and warmth.
This time I check the time of the sunset and set out early. I do love the golden hour light.

Golden hour

For the evening I had booked a really nice restaurant, with ex-Michelin star chefs. My reservation wasn't until 9.30pm which was a bit late but worth it. 

As I was celebrating, I started with a glass of cava. They gave me a free starter, a cone of squid and an expresso cup of squid juice. I think something got lost in the translation. I was skeptical but it was amazing. I wish the cup had been bigger.

My main was, as again celebrating, fillet steak and truffle sauce (it was a very posh restaurant but tenerife style so still laid back, if that makes sense). For desert, I choose the mango soup because it sounded weird. But so good. If the restaurant hadn't been so nice, I might have licked the bowl! And the desert wine was perfect. 

Dessert - mango soup, coconut tapioca and sherry ice cream plus dessert wine!

Ready for a night out.

It was a lovely night and I finished with a moon lit walk on the beach which was right by my hotel. And the perfect way to celebrate!

Los Gigantes - Day 1

Last weekend I took friday off and went to Los Gigantes for the weekend. A few years ago, some bad stuff happened on this weekend so now I take myself off and have a fun time instead of sitting home and remembering. Plus last weekend I spent the weekend sick in bed so it was nice to out.

It takes a tram ride and 2 buses to get there. Unfortunately google maps failed me and told me to get off at the wrong bus stop. (I followed their instructions honestly!) I ended up having a longer walk than I expected (though thanks to a lovely older couple I stopped for directions, not as long as it would have been as I was going in completely the wrong direction). Still the walk had some great views, and the weather was gorgeous.

lost but good view

Los Gigantes cliffs

I finally found my hotel and changed into summer clothes again (La Laguna is a bit cooler). My apartment was lovely. Right on the harbor front (though my balcony was overlooking the court yard) and massive, sleeping 6 people. After a quick unpack (i.e., dumping everything on a spare bed), I got to the harbor in time to take a catamaran out for a few hours. 

Sailing

I love being on the water so would have been happy just sailing. But we found a pod of dolphins so even better! This is the first time I have actually seen wild dolphins close (that I remember anyway). Usually they hide from me.

Dolphins!

Going under

Up for air

And there was a baby in the group.

Baby!

Running ahead.

"Hello?"

Baby saying hi

Racing mom.

Checking us out

After watching for a while, we sailed to Masca Bay to stop for some late lunch. There is a hike you can do down from Masca, a small town in the hills. You get a bus/taxi to the village, hike down the gorge and then get a boat back to Los Gigantes. I thought about doing it this weekend but my current level of fitness isn't great. And chilling out and sailing are much more fun!

Masca bay (boat for scale)

Lunch was good and I managed to get in a quick swim, which was nice though a little cool. The staff lent me a mask and snorkel which unfortunately was rubbish and leaked. :( But still, that might be the last swim of the year.

Great view for a Friday lunch

The only bad part was, after lunch, we had to pick a up a bunch of hikers to take back to Los Gigantes so the trip back was a bit crowded. (For the first part of the trip though there were only ~12 of us on the boat.) The trip back is along the Los Gigantes cliffs which are huge! The photos don't really do the size justice. I think I have some photos from the Saturday trip with a boat for scale, which gives a better idea.

Back in harbor I got some food from the supermarket (and was very shocked at the prices - nearly 3 times what I pay in La Laguna) and feed the fish for a bit.

Fish feeding frenzy

They did however have some ... interesting different foods. I am not sure whether this is a big tourist flavor or what. I haven't tried them yet. Haven't really worked up the desire to be honest!

Because I could

The Kinder Surprise was a treat! And the toy was perfect, even in the perfect color for the weekend. She is actually more purple in person! And she has a little comb on the stand so you can brush her tail. Yes, I am a big kid at heart and proud of it!

Perfect color for the weekend

I had asked for some advice on where to watch the sunset. The location I was given was spot on. The time of the sunset however was not. And I missed it. :(
But it was my own fault for not checking the time. And honestly I feel asleep too.

Late sunset

I did managed to find a nice restaurant on the harbor that served food very early for Spain (~8pm) and had an amazing French style seafood stew and a couple of nice glasses of wine. Which was good as the  Lanzarote wine I brought was unusually really bad and got put down the drain after a few mouthfuls.

Sports weekend

I was hoping to go out and about this weekend but work got in the way. Thankfully I have now resubmitted another paper from hell (I don't seem to have any other type) so now can relax a bit and next weekend go exploring (as I only have 5 more weeks here). And of course the weather was gorgeous this weekend, though Rodrigo and I did managed to go into town to grab some house shopping and get lunch. And I found out where to get a Pisco Sour! Very happy.

Saturday night, Rodrigo convinced me to watch the football with him. His team were playing and his a little mad about them! And he has promised, if they win the Chilean championship, he will buy me dinner at the nice sushi place in Santa Cruz, so I had a vested interest. 

He even loaned me a shirt for the evening so I could support them properly.

Supporting Cola Cola 

The hand signal is apparently the Cola Cola team symbol.
We ordered "typical Canarian food".  I was hoping for the Canarian potatoes and Mojo sauce. I didn't realize pasta was Canarian. :)

Mini Feast

It was very tasty (especially the cheese cake) though way too much wheat-based food. My stomach did not like me the next day. But seriously try eating gluten free in Spain. They do not understand it.
As I watched the football, Rodrigo said he would watch the motoGP with me Sunday. Didn't quite work. But there race was good, even if it didn't end the way I wanted it to. :(
Hopefully next weekend will be more interesting. And I have a trip planned soon so now I just need to hope the weather stays as nice as it currently is. (I doubt it!)

Evening at Teide

This weekend, I did go to a Halloween BBQ (which was quite impressive due to the very un-BBQ-like weather) but thankfully managed to avoid most of Halloween, a holiday I seriously hate. 

On Sunday evening a couple of friends invited me to go with them to see the sunset over Teide, the biggest mountain/volcano on the island. The drive was interesting. The weather has not been great and the fog was impressive in parts. Driving though the fog and forest, it was perfect weather for Dias de los Muertos and the Halloween weekend. Quite spooky, though sometimes very pretty. 

Luckily we drove up through the bad weather and there was only light cloud on the top. We didn't go up to the top of Teide (That is a hug climb and the cable car shuts down at 5pm) but did get a good view over the mountains.

This is not Teide. 

formations 

towards Teide

Cauldera 

sunset

"Golden hour"light

Venus belt (the red glow)

Stars over Teide

Jana got much better star photos than I did. I need a better lens. And hostly I gave up. It was seriously cold!
I happily have the day off today thanks to Dias de los Muertos (day of the dead) festival. The apartment now smells beautifully of bleach thanks to a cleaning spree, laundry is done, and I have the Minions movie so tonight is sorted! :) (After I have finished my work anyway.)