It´s so very nice here...

Today was day two in the Canaries. It isn´t the green, tropical paradise I was expecting. Lanzarote (the island I´m on) is volcanic, so everything is built out of volcanic rock and not much grows. Lots of cactus, and plenty of palm trees that have been importet. But it´s mostly brown. Still really pretty, but in the desert sense of the word. It actually reminds me a lot of the Scablands that are scattered about the Palouse, where the U of I is.

I´m staying with my cousin Cassie and her partner Adrian. Adrian´s daughter Johanna(20ish) and son Little Adrian (14) are here, and Cassie´s son Borja (24) is visitng. Add Marie, Johanna´s friend from Madrid and the family maid-type person Maria, and it is quite a full house. Everyone jokingly refers to it as the Hotel, and there is plenty of room for all.

The house is beautiful, with a large outdoor courtyard area including a swimming pool, high ceilings, lots of Spanish achetecture. I´m going to borrow Cassie´s camera before I go and take pictures of the place so you can see.

Today we went out on Adrian´s sail boat, the Lady Alicia. We sailed down around the southern end of the island, and dropped anchor next to a nice beach. We swam and lay in the sun all day. On the trip home, it was very windy with lots of salt spray in the air. I spent a good chunk of the trip standing on the bow of the ship, enjoying the feel of crusing through the waves.

I only got a little burned, nothing to worry about. I haven´t gotten much sun this summer at all, and next to all of these nicely tanned Spanish people (most are caucations, but still), I felt like a ghost. Hopefully by the end of this week I´ll be a little darker. Compared to most Brits I´m fine, so I want to look good when I get back. Make all my co-workers jealous.

I´ve seen my Great-Aunt Carolie a few times. She is 78 (79?), and still very spry and independant. Wonderful woman, and I´m glad I´m getting this time with her. I kind of doubt I´ll see her again after this, although I´d love to come back someday.

Tomorrow we are going to the Fire Mountain, the live volcano that is Lanzarote. Everyone tells me that you don´t know Lanzarote until you see the volcano, so I´m looking forward to it. I´ve never been near a live volcano, but I´ve seen enough Nature specials on them to be very excited. There is a resturant there that cooks over the lava. Totally wicked.

I´m starting to wish I had kept up with my Spanish after High School. Enough people here speak English that I get by, but there are some I simply can´t hold a converstaion with. Everyone will be talking, and I´ll just kind of smile and laugh when everyone else does. My Spanish doesn´t go much past "where is the bathroom" and "I don´t have a cat in my pants" (no tengo un gato in mis pantelones). Oh well. Maybe I´ll pick up a "Learn Spanish" book when I get back to London. I don´t know if they will have any around here.

I´ve got some pictures, but this computer is very slow, so I´m going to wait to post them.

Adios!