Day 7 – December 9, 2017 – La Palma, Canary
Islands, Spain
We’re up early again for our last
tour of the cruise, enjoying the north island sites of the Canary Island of …
La Palma … This
island differed from Tenerife because the entire island (at least the portion
that we
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Typical carved wooden balconies
around La Palma |
saw) is lush green. It is the same, however, in its extremely rugged mountainous
terrain. If I thought yesterday’s drive was windy, today’s roads won in that
category hands down! The
City of Santa Cruz de la Palma where the ship is docked was also an important
port for the trades between Europe and the colonies in the Americas beginning
in 1493. As a matter of fact, it became the third largest port in Europe in the
16
th century. One of the unique features on buildings both in Santa
Cruz and other cities on the island are its unique carved wooded balconies made
from local
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| La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain |
trees that are very hard and impenetrable, so it lasts forever.
Because of the trade and immigration with the Caribbean islands, all of the
Canaries have a distinct Caribbean feel. As with Tenerife, tourism plays a very
important role in the island’s economy with over 130 cruise ships docking here
every year. The major export is bananas, followed by avocados. Tobacco and
sugar cane is also grown but used locally. Overall the island is very fertile
and is blessed to have enough fresh water, both subterranean and rain, to
provide for all their needs; This is the only Canary Island on which desalinization
is not necessary. The island also boasts of many giant telescopes, built by 30
different countries. Conditions here are perfect for viewing the heavens on the
Canaries because there is good visibility, a clear atmosphere and the nights
are very dark because there is almost no light pollution.
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The narrow bridge with the
broken guard rail |
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| The path in Los Tilos |
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| Canarian Bellflower |
Los Tilos … As
we continue through beautiful vegetation along the narrow, windy, hair-pin
curved road, we see sheer cliffs and deep ravines with houses dotted along the
way and many, many, many terraced plots, most with bananas plants. The volcanic
island has 774 species of wild growing plants, 70 of which are endemic only to
La Palma, and 104 of them found only in the Canary Islands. Many other species
have been imported here such as eucalyptus, fig trees, various types of cactus
that can withstand the cooler winter temperatures, chestnut trees, poinsettia
trees, etc. Most of the island is very
temperate, that is neither too not, nor too cold, so heaters and air
conditioners are not needed! One rather
exciting portion of the drive to Los Tilos is the one-lane, old bridge with a
broken guard rail on one side that our very excellent driver had to
negotiate. A wide swing onto the bridge …
I cannot see the guard rail as we go over the bridge, we are that close to the
edge! Whew! Los Tilos is a UNESCO
biosphere covered by the largest, most pristine laurel forest in the Canary
Islands. It is heavily forested, and we see the beautiful Canarian Bellflower,
a Strawberry Tree and the tree that produces bay leaves! I enjoyed the sounds
of the various song birds that fritted about. There is a nice visitor’s center
that provides a nice explanation of the types of plants, birds and other
critters that are found in this protected area. Very interesting.
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| Bananas, bananas, bananas everywhere in La Palma |
Aldea Destilerias … We backtrack down to the coast (yes, over that same narrow
bridge1), and we see acres and acres and acres of banana trees, the economic
driving force of the island. All work is
done by hand. Each tree produces one bunch of bananas. Once the banana bunch is
cut off, the plant is cut at about 5-6 feet and another plant starts to grow
from its root. It takes about 18 months for a plant to flower and produce a
bunch of 70-80 lbs of bananas. It’s hard to imagine all the man hours spent in
these fields planting, cutting, propping up the banana bunches so the tree
doesn’t drop to the
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| Rum tasting at Aldea Distilerias |
ground from its weight, then cutting the bunches at just
the right time when they are still green, hauling them for export, then
starting the growing process all over again. There are banana plants on every
single square inch of land that is not a building … along the terraced hill
sides, along the streets, adjacent to buildings. Bananas cover 30 percent of
the fertile land on the island. But we stop at the Aldea Distillery that produces rum
from the sugar cane grown on the island. It must be grown elsewhere because we
saw very little grown here. The rum
tasting was nice. I especially enjoyed the caramel rum and honey rum. The aged
10-year-old rum was good, but the 25-year-old aged rum was s-m-o-o-o-o-t-h !!
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| More bananas ... everywhere! |
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Enjoying that
barraquitos! |
San Andres … We had one more stop for taking in more beautiful vistas
of the ocean and mountains in San Andres; and across the street was another
typical bar and restaurant that served barraquitos. This specialty coffee drink
unique to the Canary Islands is made with coffee, sweetened condensed milk,
some rum and nutmeg on top. I’m not a coffee drinker, but I did enjoy this
drink!
Once back on board the Marina, we
had a little lunch and met up with Skip and Cheryl and Jerry and Michelle …
they too had a great tour of the island, enjoying stops at the volcano caldera, a winery and a pottery
shop. The ship has a “Bon Voyage to
Europe” band playing pool side at 3:45, where we met Steve and Barb. And at 4 o’clock,
the ship sails west for six days at sea across the Atlantic. Bob and I have
reservations at Jacques again for dinner this evening … more of the most
exquisite food and where we sat with another fun couple from southern Arizona. How
good is this!!!
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| Bon Voyage to Europe! |
