La Fajana de Garafia - Part I

La Fajana, (pronounced Fahana) is a popular place name on La Palma and it is always a good idea to make sure you know which La Fajana is being referred to. But La Fajana de Garafia is one of my favourite places which is pretty handy as it is only a twelve minute drive away from here in Franceses.  It amazes me on so many levels and, in an attempt to explain the place, it is what many writers would probably call improbable.
The adventure starts with the drive down to La Fajana - but first you need to find the little wooden sign to it.  Actually, it is located just opposite the village shop ... but then the village shop doesn't have a sign to say that it is a shop and so if it closed, it looks just like any other house.  Ah La Palma, we love you!
But once on the road to La Fajana it is all plain sailing with plenty of tacking this way and that as you navigate the car down the winding way.  Remember to watch out for cars coming the other way though along with rockfalls and the occasional walker on the GR130 walking route which crosses the road in a couple of places.
After ten minutes of driving down what some people regard as the edge of the world (actually it is not nearly as dramatic as that and only a case of driving down the side of a ravine), you will eventually come to a place where the land meets the sea.  Almost.  This is the tiny hamlet and port village of La Fajana.

Most likely you will have been expecting to find something quite substantial to warrant any type of road to it at all but instead you will find one of the shortests streets of houses on the island.  In fact, only eleven people live there.  Strolling along the length of the street which takes all of two minutes you may not notice some of the best things tucked away almost out of sight - a bakery, an old wine press, a couple of cows and the little plaza.  It's a place in which to take your time so make sure your speed dial is set to saunter.  And you never know - you might even see a person!
At the end of the street, the track disappears away into the bananas and the distance.  However, a sharp right turn will lead you through the plantation where you can look at the bananas fact to face.  

As you wend your way down this recently restored path and turn a corner, you realise that so far you have been surrounded by silence but now there is the sudden sound of the sea, a certain freshness in the air and a sense of  excitment.  And in a few moments you will actually get to see what the fuss is all about as the clear waters of the mighty Atlantic greet you.  

  

These days, stone steps and sturdy wooden handrails lead you down on to the beach.  Sometimes it is a sand beach, sometimes sand and stones and sometime just stone. Whatever the case, it is there for all to enjoy.
Ah yes, I didn't mention La Fajana Part II yet, did I?

Restaurant Campesino, Barlovento

Family meals at home, fiestas in public plazas, bbq's in the woods and restaurant dining are all the food of life to Palmerans.  In fact, there is a saying here which goes along the lines of,  'We shall have a fiesta - but first we must eat and drink!'   So you can imagine the buzz of excitement when a new restaurant starts up and it was hardly suprising to see a gathering of cars around the newly opened 'El Campesino' restaurant in Barlovento.

Actually, El Campesino opened a few years back as a brand new restaurant, appeared to do well, built a conservatory extension - then closed.  I don't know why but it was certainly a shame.  It then sat empty for several years so we were especially pleased to see it open again last week.  Needless to say, we took little pursuasion to eat there and whilst the photo appears to show a deserted restaurant, it was in fact quite busy out of shot.

I hope you get the opportunity to enjoy a meal there - we certainly enjoyed ours!