A Lava-ly Day, and Some Other Stuff
Hola, compadres.
So, it´s been quite a time here. Let me see if I can recap.
On Sunday, I went out with Cassie and my Great-Aunt Carolie for a full tour of the island. Lanzarote is only about 40 miles by 80 miles, and the bulk of that is barren wasteland, so you can see most of the important stuff in a day.
The first thing we did was go to the Fire Mountain, which totally kicked ass. They take camel tours, but that wasn´t terribly interesting to me or Cassie, and Carolie is in no condition to ride a camel. She is extremely spry for a woman of 79ish, but that´s still not camel-riding shape.
The tour of the Fire Mountain starts at the base camp/resturaunt/gift shop. If you dig about a half inch down into the fine rock soil, you can feel the heat from the live volcano under your feet. They do a demonstation where they stick a dried plant into a hole about 4 feet down, and it almost immediately ignites. They also pour a bucket of water down a metal tube, and within 2 seconds (literally) a powerful jet of steam thunders out with a terrific bang. They also show you the oven they cook all the meat in, which is over another open lava hole. You can´t see any of the lava, but you can feel the heat (I have pictures of everything that I will post later, by the way). Apparently there used to be just an old man with a refrigerator full of eggs there. He would sell you one, and you could cook it on the rocks. But that was years ago.
We then got on a bus that takes you all around the volcano and surrounding area. Various examples of lava flow, and the fields for miles around are completely full of rocky volcanic debris that was flung in the last eruption. The volcano last blew it´s top in the 1700's, when there was a thriving community on it's slopes. It erupted for 13 years continuously, and a priest living there journaled everything. The slopes used to be extremely fertile farmland, but it has all be destroyed now. Everything is buried under lava, rock and ash.
The tour was excellent, and the landscape is beautiful. It's continually described as "lunar," but I can't see the Moon as looking like that. Mars maybe, or some other hot and turbulent planet. Really it looked like Crematoria out of The Cronicles of Riddick, for those who saw it. Jagged and forbidding. And totally awe-inspiring.
We went and had a delicious seafood lunch in a little cafe on the beachfront. Traditional fare. I had the best Calamari I've ever tasted (not that I've tasted much, mind you).
We then took something of a driving tour of the island. We went to some extremely scenic places on the highest points of the island, where you could look over most of it. Incredible vistas of shorline and tiny villages far below. Again, I have pictures that I will post that will describe the place far better than I can.
When the volcano went, it created an enourmous lava tube to the sea, a good 10 miles away (totally my guess). In places the roof of this tube has collapsed, making incredible caves. There are three that are tourist attractions. The Green Caves are neat, but apparently the green lighting is artificial. We went and saw the entrance for the effect, but Cassie said it seriously wasn´t worth the money. We moved on to the Jameos del Agua, which is an incredible place. The fauna there have been cut off from the sun for some 3000 years, and have developed accordingly. There is a tiny, blind albino crab species that is unique to the caves. It´s not very big (the part open to people, that is), and it´s been turned into a really nice bar and dance club type of place. Nothing was happening there, but I don´t think it's like a disco kind of club, but much higher class. At one end is an incredible white swimming pool, but they don´t let people swim there anymore. We don´t know why, but Cassie suspected it was because of screaming little kids, etc.
We went through a few small villages, and worked our way home. We were going to have dinner together, but Cassie got called into work, and so she dropped me off. I was quite tired, so I ate some dinner, read some, and went to bed.
The next day (Monday) I spent almost entirely reading. I had borrowed The Da Vinci Code from Carolie, and I polished it off. Good book. Angels and Demons is better. I'm a little dissapointed that all the press surrounding it has been about the Da Vinci stuff, but everyone seems to have missed Dan Brown's point. He is most concerned with the devine feminie and teh demise of Goddess worship. It had some wonderful stuff to say about Mary Magdalene and the patriarchal traditions of the Church. But this isn´t a book review, so I'll move on.
I tried to go out that night, but realized quickly that I wasn´t interested. The strip down by the beach, about a ten minute walk away, is very very touristy. Bars and clubs. I had been out the night before, and it wasn´t very went into one, had a couple of beers, and left. It´s really not that fun without friends, and I wasn´t interested in trying to meet drunken British people (there are PLENTY of them), or trying to hit on women. Not really why I´m here. Besides, I get that in Lonon every weekend. Meh.
Today (Tuesday) I spent the day with Carolie and my cousin Johnny, Cassie´s brother. Everyone describes him as the happiest man they know. He lives a simple life, has a few small incomes, and is very content where he is. We got along quite well. Everyone in this extended family I have found is definetly of a similar mindset to myself, to one degree or another. Johnny most especially. I can see a lot of myself in him, and a lot of what I have the potential to become in him. At least as a possibility, or as an aspect of myself. Reminded me of RJ a little (for those who know him).
We went to a private museum that was all about traditional Lanzarote life, including a Bodgea (winery). Beautiful place, with more green and flowers in one place than I think I have seen on the whole rest of the island. I have tons of pictures of that place, too. I´ll likely just make a photo album on my Friendster account, and post a link to it. I´ll put a few highlights here, too (these are what the film industry calls "teasers," by the way).
We saw a friend of Johnny´s, who is a master carpenter and neat old man. Quite a character. He only spoke Spanish (naturally), but still seemed like a neat guy.
We had lunch, and then Johnny dropped Carolie and myself off at her place. He hadn´t slept much the night before, and went home to take a nap. Carolie and I visited and caught up for a few hours until Cassie got off from work, and then we had dinner together. Then Cassie and I came home, and I sat down at the computer to post to my blog. And that brings us up to now.
Tomorrow night is Paiella (I´m not spelling that right), a traditional dish. Everyone is coming over to the "Hotel" here, and it should be a good family affair. Then one more day, and I fly back to London late late late Thursday night. Sleep Friday, have a weekend, and then back to work and the start of my last month here.
Hard to believe that it´s been 5 months already. I´m both not ready to come home, and very ready.
Righto. Bedtime.
(P.S. The punny title of this post was Carolie's, not mine. Credit where credit is due)
So, it´s been quite a time here. Let me see if I can recap.
On Sunday, I went out with Cassie and my Great-Aunt Carolie for a full tour of the island. Lanzarote is only about 40 miles by 80 miles, and the bulk of that is barren wasteland, so you can see most of the important stuff in a day.
The first thing we did was go to the Fire Mountain, which totally kicked ass. They take camel tours, but that wasn´t terribly interesting to me or Cassie, and Carolie is in no condition to ride a camel. She is extremely spry for a woman of 79ish, but that´s still not camel-riding shape.
The tour of the Fire Mountain starts at the base camp/resturaunt/gift shop. If you dig about a half inch down into the fine rock soil, you can feel the heat from the live volcano under your feet. They do a demonstation where they stick a dried plant into a hole about 4 feet down, and it almost immediately ignites. They also pour a bucket of water down a metal tube, and within 2 seconds (literally) a powerful jet of steam thunders out with a terrific bang. They also show you the oven they cook all the meat in, which is over another open lava hole. You can´t see any of the lava, but you can feel the heat (I have pictures of everything that I will post later, by the way). Apparently there used to be just an old man with a refrigerator full of eggs there. He would sell you one, and you could cook it on the rocks. But that was years ago.
We then got on a bus that takes you all around the volcano and surrounding area. Various examples of lava flow, and the fields for miles around are completely full of rocky volcanic debris that was flung in the last eruption. The volcano last blew it´s top in the 1700's, when there was a thriving community on it's slopes. It erupted for 13 years continuously, and a priest living there journaled everything. The slopes used to be extremely fertile farmland, but it has all be destroyed now. Everything is buried under lava, rock and ash.
The tour was excellent, and the landscape is beautiful. It's continually described as "lunar," but I can't see the Moon as looking like that. Mars maybe, or some other hot and turbulent planet. Really it looked like Crematoria out of The Cronicles of Riddick, for those who saw it. Jagged and forbidding. And totally awe-inspiring.
We went and had a delicious seafood lunch in a little cafe on the beachfront. Traditional fare. I had the best Calamari I've ever tasted (not that I've tasted much, mind you).
We then took something of a driving tour of the island. We went to some extremely scenic places on the highest points of the island, where you could look over most of it. Incredible vistas of shorline and tiny villages far below. Again, I have pictures that I will post that will describe the place far better than I can.
When the volcano went, it created an enourmous lava tube to the sea, a good 10 miles away (totally my guess). In places the roof of this tube has collapsed, making incredible caves. There are three that are tourist attractions. The Green Caves are neat, but apparently the green lighting is artificial. We went and saw the entrance for the effect, but Cassie said it seriously wasn´t worth the money. We moved on to the Jameos del Agua, which is an incredible place. The fauna there have been cut off from the sun for some 3000 years, and have developed accordingly. There is a tiny, blind albino crab species that is unique to the caves. It´s not very big (the part open to people, that is), and it´s been turned into a really nice bar and dance club type of place. Nothing was happening there, but I don´t think it's like a disco kind of club, but much higher class. At one end is an incredible white swimming pool, but they don´t let people swim there anymore. We don´t know why, but Cassie suspected it was because of screaming little kids, etc.
We went through a few small villages, and worked our way home. We were going to have dinner together, but Cassie got called into work, and so she dropped me off. I was quite tired, so I ate some dinner, read some, and went to bed.
The next day (Monday) I spent almost entirely reading. I had borrowed The Da Vinci Code from Carolie, and I polished it off. Good book. Angels and Demons is better. I'm a little dissapointed that all the press surrounding it has been about the Da Vinci stuff, but everyone seems to have missed Dan Brown's point. He is most concerned with the devine feminie and teh demise of Goddess worship. It had some wonderful stuff to say about Mary Magdalene and the patriarchal traditions of the Church. But this isn´t a book review, so I'll move on.
I tried to go out that night, but realized quickly that I wasn´t interested. The strip down by the beach, about a ten minute walk away, is very very touristy. Bars and clubs. I had been out the night before, and it wasn´t very went into one, had a couple of beers, and left. It´s really not that fun without friends, and I wasn´t interested in trying to meet drunken British people (there are PLENTY of them), or trying to hit on women. Not really why I´m here. Besides, I get that in Lonon every weekend. Meh.
Today (Tuesday) I spent the day with Carolie and my cousin Johnny, Cassie´s brother. Everyone describes him as the happiest man they know. He lives a simple life, has a few small incomes, and is very content where he is. We got along quite well. Everyone in this extended family I have found is definetly of a similar mindset to myself, to one degree or another. Johnny most especially. I can see a lot of myself in him, and a lot of what I have the potential to become in him. At least as a possibility, or as an aspect of myself. Reminded me of RJ a little (for those who know him).
We went to a private museum that was all about traditional Lanzarote life, including a Bodgea (winery). Beautiful place, with more green and flowers in one place than I think I have seen on the whole rest of the island. I have tons of pictures of that place, too. I´ll likely just make a photo album on my Friendster account, and post a link to it. I´ll put a few highlights here, too (these are what the film industry calls "teasers," by the way).
We saw a friend of Johnny´s, who is a master carpenter and neat old man. Quite a character. He only spoke Spanish (naturally), but still seemed like a neat guy.
We had lunch, and then Johnny dropped Carolie and myself off at her place. He hadn´t slept much the night before, and went home to take a nap. Carolie and I visited and caught up for a few hours until Cassie got off from work, and then we had dinner together. Then Cassie and I came home, and I sat down at the computer to post to my blog. And that brings us up to now.
Tomorrow night is Paiella (I´m not spelling that right), a traditional dish. Everyone is coming over to the "Hotel" here, and it should be a good family affair. Then one more day, and I fly back to London late late late Thursday night. Sleep Friday, have a weekend, and then back to work and the start of my last month here.
Hard to believe that it´s been 5 months already. I´m both not ready to come home, and very ready.
Righto. Bedtime.
(P.S. The punny title of this post was Carolie's, not mine. Credit where credit is due)
posted by BAA at 2:51 PM
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