Felices fiestas

Christmas in the Canaries has a certain ring to it - a pleasant chime you might say - and although the goats' bells were ringing on the hillside, it's often a day of concentrated relaxation for most of us. 
In the past at Christmas time, we have gone to the Port of Santa Cruz to enjoy seeing the Tall Ships and market there. It's a great fun day out when you can go on board the ships and talk to the crew, many of whom are English and part of the Prince's Trust programme for young people. And we all love a good mosey around a market!

 However, Christmas Day in the Canaries is generally a fairly low key event with the main day for presents being the 6th January, Epiphany. Not only is this a cause for great excitement among the children but also a very good reason for another fiesta!
In both Santa Cruz and Los Sauces there is fabulous parade with the Three Wise Men being the centre of attention - in Los Sauces they ride on real camels, throwing sweets to the children along the way (and many adults too). It's an event well worth seeing!

But if there is one thing for certain, La Palma is big on nativity scenes. Every town, village and hamlet has its own nativity scene ranging from the simple to incredibly detailed works of art which include not just the nativity scene but also little springs with mountain water and tiny traditional houses with even tinier stones on the roof. Or sometimes full-sized figures tucked away in a cave along a quiet country road. Just watch out for any stray donkeys.

Wherever you are and however you like to celebrate Christmas and New Year, we wish you all the very best for 2013 and happy holidays for the future.
¡Feliz año nuevo!
Ann and David

Archaelogical Museum, Los Llanos

For some time now - in fact, ever since it opened - I have been hankering after visiting the new museum in Los Llanos, the Museo Arqueologico. Unfortunately, the opportunity had so far eluded me.
So I could hardly believe my luck last week when a collision of events co-operated enough to allow me the chance of a visit. Miraculously, we were in Los Llanos not only when the museum was open and not only with an hour to spare but also early enough to spend it before the museum closed again for the afternoon.  YES!

The building itself is both tantalising and impressive, built in a circular design with just a hint of Colosseum.
Met at the door by a friendly member of staff, we were pointed in the right direction for the main museum exhibition and also the current photographic exhibition. This confused me slightly as the first thing I expected to do was to pay! But no, it was entirely free of charge 'for the moment.' So, with my sense of fairness rather troubled that I wasn't contributing to the running of the museum, we headed off to the first floor exhibition hall.

So what's the museum all about? Not of the stuffed birds and oil painting variety but all about the history of the island, going right back to its volcanic roots, so to speak.
Starting off with back-lit display boards, the information in both Spanish and English is concise, interesting and broken up into bite-size pieces that encourage you to read further.
Life size poster boards and 'real' caves display life as it was for the Benahoarites, the Aborigines of the island.

The depiction of life on La Palma is very much brought alive by realistic stone dwellings in the centre of the room. These small stone dwellings are still evident on the island - there are some very interesting ones just off the road a little before the Roque de Muchachos. So it is very easy to imagine people living in them and it seemed almost cheeky to peer inside just in case somebody still was.

On the other hand ... there was definitely no signs of life from other exhibits.

But of course they can tell an awful lot about lifestyle from the skeleton and I suddenly found myself fascinated by dentistry - who ate what, when and why.
One particular exhibit took the story way, way further back though and this was a block of lava with pieces of human jawbone and ribs bedded into it. Apparently, analysis suggests the bones date from around 1090, an age which coincides with the chemical composition of the rock they were found in and which further co-incides with an eruption on the Cumbre - 9km from where the rock was found. Curious! Nothing else like this has been found and it is a piece which the museum is rightly proud of. 

Fascinating as that is, my favourite section of the museum was the display of what might be called 'natural tools.'  I have always been impressed by how resourceful our Palmeran neighbours are - something obviously handed down through the generations but also a necessity for anyone before DIY superstores and Sunday opening were invented.
Of course, stone and leather had many uses but I didn't realise just how much animal bones were used.  I'm not talking about chicken soup but rather the use of sharp bones for piercing and threading leather for example, or for decorating pottery. Seashells were used as spoons with the aid of a small wooden handle and palm fronds were used to make mats, bags and baskets. It was certainly not a throwaway society.

But if you would like to throw something their way, donations are gratefully received and you can put a few coins in the basket at reception.
Opening hours: 10.00 - 14.00 hr and 17.00 - 20.00 hrs. Tuesday to Saturday.

A Holiday in Puerto Naos, La Palma

Our last post was all about moving abroad, finding a house and then some of the work that is involved in restoring it. However this post is pretty much the opposite - having a bit of a holiday while still on La Palma.
OK, so the holiday was only one night admittedly but spending even a short amount of time on a different part of the island really does add a different dimension to it all. But then again, I suppose that's why we offer a two-centre holiday on La Palma as an option!
Just for a complete change, from all the places we could have chosen to stay, we chose Puerto de Naos in the west. This was perhaps a strange choice for us because it is a place that we don't frequent very often although we do go from time to time, either for a spot of snorkeling or to try a restaurant that somebody has recommended.  But overall, really we are much more familiar with Tazacorte as a beach resort. And that of course is exactly why it was a good idea to go to Puerto Naos.
Just to carry the theme a little further, it followed then that we should stay in the Hotel Sol at Puerto Naos. It is quite a few years since we last went to the hotel, not that we stayed for the week or even night but rather walked from the car park to the foyer and back again!  Hardly enough to get a fair impression! So definitely a chance to try it out for real.

The drive to Puerto Naos is a far cry from the sweeping green-clad barrancos of the north. There are however pine trees higher up on the western flank of the Cumbre plus of course bananas in their thousands so there is still a good deal of greenery but this is also volcano country. Ropey lava, pillow lava and just plain old lumps of lava in it's solidified state. It's all there if you wish to get out of your car and have an inspection. 
Once you turn off the main road and start heading down towards Puerto Naos and the sea, then you will also have the tantalizing view of the bay below.

Puerto Naos is in fact one of just three seaside resorts on La Palma along with Los Cancajos and Puerto de Tazacorte. That makes it sound all rather bucket-and-spadey, not that there is anything wrong with that, but it certainly isn't a case of mass tourism. It's what I call 'Tranquil Tourism.' For whilst there are quite a few self-catering apartments to rent in Puerto Naos, along with the Hotel Sol, it is still relatively quiet.
Apart, unfortunately, from the fact there they are 're-designing' the promenade at the moment which does involve removing certain sections of it and replacing it with who knows what. I sincerely hope that in the next two months with the lead up to Christmas and New Year that it will all be completed.
But it should be said that if you can manage to ignore that small fact, and let's face it these things have to be done sometime, then it is still mainly possible to walk along the front and not all of it is effected anyway.

As it happened, by the time we arrived at Puerto Naos, it was already almost 6pm so, after checking into the hotel, we didn't waste too much time before springing back out again for a stroll along the front. From the hotel, it really is just two minutes to the beach and then a few more minutes to where the restaurants and bars line the promenade.

At the far end of the bay is where many of the apartments are located and of course we wanted to check these out too!  It was also a good chance to look at a few menus and see where we might like to eat later in the evening.

Right at the end of the bay, there is another very small bay. This is often where you see the SCUBA divers entering the water. We haven't dived here yet but we have snorkeled on several occasions and were surprised at how good it was. But this is probably where you will find the most character in Puerto Naos with a few small fishing boats by the bay and single apartments hanging over the sea.

From here, a long flight of steps take you up into what you might call apartment land. But even so, it is only a matter of a couple of streets and many of them are low level. In fact, there is one very attractive group of apartments that caught my eye, just two-stories high and all the apartments painted in pastel colours, clustered around a pool.
They say that time flies, especially when you're enjoying yourself. It was time to wander back to the hotel just in time to catch the sunset.

Home is Where the Hat is

While people are enjoying their well-earned holidays by the beach in Tazacorte or at the various rural houses around the island, for the most part things tend to keep us pretty busy at home on the finca (small-holding) here in Franceses. Not only is it home to us but also the location of the casa rural La Casita and the bed and breakfast accommodation. One of things we are less busy doing these days however is restoration works.
But of course it wasn't always like this and I remember when we first came to look at the house 'as if it were yesterday.' What would we find we wondered as we drove to the very north of the island, far from the capital of Santa Cruz. One thing we had been assured of was that we would be the only English speakers there in the sleepy hamlet of Las Tierras which sits at the edge of an only marginally less sleepy Franceses in Garafia (the second largest municipality with less inhabitants than even the smallest municipality).
Our recently acquired and still shaky grasp of Spanish was certainly going to be tested to the full. I could only hope that what we had learned from our scarily slim paperback, 'Learn Spanish in 6 Weeks,' with its worn pages and peeling spine from having been read and re-read at every available moment was going to be get us through.
And then of course, there was the little matter of location to consider.
We had always felt that the north was the most beautiful part of the island with its dramatic scenery of swooping green-clad ravines and mountain ridges, seemingly only held in place by the mighty Atlantic. But in an area where there are more goats than people, it was probably safe to assume that a property being sold by Palmeran farmers might be a bit of a project. Whether this was one step too far was another question.
The property, we were told, was down a track that only a 4 x 4 could negotiate and so we would have to walk down the adjacent donkey path to it. This was probably not a good start. However, we had already spent 5 whole months in the Canaries searching for the right place to live. La Palma had stolen our hearts above all the islands (hands down actually) and we had rented an apartment in Tazacorte for two of those months, but whilst we had really enjoyed staying in a beach-side location, it had always felt more of a holiday than a home. Being country lovers and having been brought up on a farm in Yorkshire myself, the call of the wild was, well, calling.
As it transpired the owners of the property had already started the restoration with the intention that they would live in it happily ever after. I have to confess it was probably a good thing that we didn't see it in its original dilapidated condition as the photo below was taken only after some considerable works.
The oldest part, the Casita, had already been part-restored and was exactly the sort of house we love - old and with many original features such as wooden floors, ceilings and window seats. And two foot thick walls of course. However, the other house had been left empty and untouched for years. Broken and missing glass in the windows allowed the elements to drift in at will and the whole house was wrapped up in a metal tube, these being water pipes that made it look like a present tied with galvanized string. Even though plenty of work had already been done, there was still plenty to be done, that's for sure.
Then there was the land, all 2 acres of it. The weeds were waist height and the suggestion to the owner that we might walk the land to see where the boundaries lie, which were of the 'over there' variety, surprised him to say the least. We could try it he said, with a look of disbelief that we might actually attempt to fight our way through a jungle over unknown and precipitous land. Well, that's foreigners for you, his face said. Apart from flat land at the front and side of the house, a lot of the land was west facing and cascading steeply downwards in a series of fig-tree filled terraces. Clearly, if we were not to slide off down into the ravine ourselves, then we had better confine any exploring until we were wearing a harness and rope. Or until we knew the land.
We were shown the view however. I won't even try to put it into words. Just to say that it takes in the whole of the north coast, the isolated and iconic hamlet of El Tablado to the west (from where you can actually hear a rare vehicle on the move or the tinkling of a goat bell despite it being a two-hour walk away), the other hamlets far, far away and up to the ridge of the mighty Caldera at over 2000m above sea level.
If there had been any doubt before, we knew this was the place for us and two weeks later, we moved in. After all, the old farmstead just required a few tweaks here and there. And it's amazing what a few years of tweaking can do.

Going to Market - Puntagorda Mercadillo

You know how it is when you go back to a place that you haven't visited for ages? It looks so much smaller and less interesting than how you remember it from last time. That's the theory anyway!
But maybe it doesn't quite work like that when you are an adult, well at least that what we found when we re-visited the weekend market at Puntagorda on the west side of La Palma.

It must be a good few years since we went to the market - enticed out of our lair in the north of La Palma by the suggestion of a picnic at nearby El Fayal, one of the several lovely recreation areas on La Palma set in a wooded area.

The picnic was great of course and a good chance to meet up with friends in a beautiful setting. At the moment, because it is so dry in the wooded area, BBQ's are not allowed but that's no excuse not to have a picnic.
The market just across the road looked quite busy with people coming and going - those going were laden with all manner of goodies - and once inside, we were pleasantly surprised at the number of stalls. Clearly in our absence, the market has become much more popular and with many more stalls.

I'm quite into handicrafts at the moment so made a bee-line for hand-made jewellery. If you like leather friendship bracelets, bags, purses and even sandals then you will indeed be spoilt for choice. But my eye was firmly on the bracelets and necklaces made from dragon tree seeds. In fact I recently bought a bracelet made from dragon trees while I was on a quick hop over to Fuerteventura and since we have many dragon trees on the finca which are in flower, it's been my ambition ever since to make one myself. My attempts at drying the seeds weren't at all successful so whilst I didn't buy any bracelets at the market, I was really pleased to see loose seeds on sale. So that's me occupied for the next few evenings!

Also on offer were other handicrafts - La Palma T-shirts, a stand with everything made in felt - hats, bags, baby shoes, waistcoats, all in sunny colours.

Ceramics too, lovely paper craft - bookmarks and pretty little cards - silvercraft and a stand with ornaments made from driftwood. There's a thought for the various bits of driftwood we find at the beach below us!

I was also hoping to buy some nice fresh veg and it's good to know that you can buy fresh produce on a weekend when most of the shops are closed. The fact that it is all grown locally certainly adds to the feel good factor and the choice and quality was excellent. Also rather interestingly, the produce is given to you in a brown paper bag, just like in the old days!

For those that want to get a head start in the vegetable garden, then this is where it all happens with lots of plants on offer - courgettes, lettuces, beans, tomatoes, cauliflower and peppers to name but a few.
Also other plants for the garden and house including aloe vera plants.

Apart from the fruit and veg stalls there are also lots of other edibles - local cheeses either smoked or semi-cured, great big fat cakes just begging to be eaten (quite a queue at that stand I can tell you!), black and green olives sat in half barrels and even meat on sale too. That will be exceptionally useful when BBQ's are allowed at the recreation area again.

Just one last thing to complete the purchases. Made on La Palma from a La Palma produce - wine. Cheers!

Chilling out at La Laguna de Barlovento

La Palma is known amongst those 'in the know' as one of the most mountainous islands in the world for its size. But what even those 'in the know' don't always know is that there are some really interesting flat areas too - and that really is worth knowing!
Yes it's true; there are flat areas on La Palma, not just for walking but also for recreation. And since La Palma takes its recreation very seriously, there are quite a few dotted about the island.
One of the flatest however lies a little way out of the town of Barlovento in the north east of La Palma. Slightly deceptively named 'La Laguna de Barlovento' and easy to spot on the map with what appears to be a large lake, the apparent lake is in fact a water reservoir formed from what was a crater. One of the largest in the Canaries with a capacity of 5.000.000 m³ of water, it is sadly non-operational at the moment due to a ruputure last year of mammoth proportions (in fact, more the size of a large bus than a mammoth).

However, don't despair entirely as there is water at La Laguna de Barlovento in the form of an attractive duck pond. With various breeds of ducks, very often along with their ducklings, there are also geese that wander about the area of the pond and spend what looks like a very happy time in the shady, marshy parts under trees. 

In fact, this large park has many hidden assets and a gentle stroll around will lead you through wooded paths to a few surprises. One of my favourites has got to be the bbq's - individual brick-built affairs complete with bbq, sink, table and benches. Firewood is supplied so best stop off at the Spar supermarket just down the road in Barlovento for a few burgers, buns and firelighters and you're all set. A bbq-roasted courgette topped with goat's cheese and La Palma mojo sauce is a great alternative too, not just for vegetarians :) so don't miss out on this outdoor treat. There is a charge of a few euros for the facility so do call in at the warden's office on the way through to let them know you are there and to pay your dues.
Apart from this being a particularly flat area, it is also quite high and often cool which can be another benefit for those who don't like full on heat. For this reason, it is a popular area at weekends for Palmerans who enjoy the open space and the sometimes cooler weather. The largest bbq buildings do get booked ahead but there are usually plenty of the smaller ones still available.

Another great experience at La Laguna is the camping and this might just be for fun, for those walking the GR130 La Palma Camino Real or for anyone wanting to keep the holiday costs low (or a mixture of all three of those things).  You'll either need to bring your own tent or you can hire one of the cabins. The cost is 4.50€ per week day per tent or 9€ per Saturday and Sundays. Be warned though, the end of July and right through August tend to be rather overtaken by large groups singing Ging, Gang, Gooley Spanish style with various Summer Camps. But other than that, you can enjoy the tranquillity of the area. For those camping, there are also free-to-use solar powered showers - the water is generally hot, hot, hot and great after a day of walking or exploring the area. Also, there is an excellent restaurant on site, Las Goteras which is great for a snack or full meal with meat cooked over a log fire.
Another little known facility of La Laguna is the adventure park. It was closed for a short time for maintenance but has re-opened again under the management of Ekalis, a company run by young Palmerans and is an alterntaive type of recreation for tourists and other visitors alike. It is open every weekend and during the week by appointment. To book, ring 922444517 or email ekalis@ekalis.com

For more news around La Palma and what's happening on the finca here in Franceses, you can subscribe to our monthly newsletter here: Newsletter

Cooling off in the north of La Palma

This year we have had the driest winter and spring that people can remember - great for those on holiday on La Palma, but not so great for the farmers or those with small-holdings and even just gardens. Along with the lack of rain, these past few months have been hot, hot, hot, or so it seems.
Luckily though, we are fortunate on La Palma to have natural fresh water springs that provide crystal clear water all year round and this is what we use on the land.  For the 'hot, hot, hot' element, we can also use a natural and plentiful water supply - the sea.

 Just below us here at the finca in Franceses lies the old port and beach of La Fajana de Garafia.  Once the most important port across the whole of the north coast, it is now mainly laid to banana plantations which are transported by a road which wends its way up to Franceses and then eventually to the main port of Santa Cruz de La Palma.
In the other bay to the port though is a secluded beach - usually a mixture of sandy and rocky stretches but at the moment, one glorious stretch of sand.  Even if it's not for an actual swim, it's still a good chance to cool off with the help of the mighty Atlantic.

Another favourite of ours are the sea pools at La Fajana de Barlovento which lie halfway between Barlovento and Los Sauces. They are a great place for a swim with three pools in addition to changing facilities and a couple of restaurants.  With lots of colourful fish in the water, they are also really interesting when snorkeling plus a very good place to swim for anybody who is a little less sure of themselves in the water. Here's our blog post about it, Keeping your Hat On.
Other sea pools nearby are at Charco Azul, by San Andres, Los Sauces. Again, great for anyone who is not so water-confident but also great fun for anyone to cool off and have a bit of a swim at the same time. Plus, there is a waterfall in one corner with water crashing into the pool - a bit of a power shower and head massage all at the same time!  This is the blog post we wrote last year about it - Charco Azul, the Blue Lagoon.

For those who love to get in the sea, there is also a bay just by Charco Azul.  The water can be turquoise and it is so tempting, it's difficult to resist!  It's fantastic for snorkeling with lots of fish and even a swim through - hold your breath and dive under a rock archway and pop up the other side.

However, there is a new beach on the block, so to speak, at Puerto Espindola near to San Andres.  It's an excellent sandy beach with an easy entry and exit and you can park the car just by the edge of the beach. There are no changing facilites but there is the excellent restaurant Meson del Mar for a post-swim freshen up and lunch.

Just recently with family staying and a complete day off, we had the great enjoyment of swimming in three different locations on the same day - La Fajana de Barlovento then Charco Azul and finally topped off with a swim at Puerto Espindola.  That's hard to beat for a lot of fun - and cooling off big style!

A thorn by any other name

Walking through the village of Franceses today, it was great to see all the tunos, or prickly pear as some people call them, out in flower. Red, pink, orange, peach and yellows - a whole array of sunny colours.

So how can something so pretty and innocent looking be mounted on an armed weapon such as the cactus?  Innocent looking enough but touch one at your peril - they are covered in spines, the majority of which are so fine as to be practically invisible. Added to which they act like folding anchors so that they pierce and enter the skin with remarkable ease but refuse to come out again until days later by which time they have done their utmost to irritate and annoy. Oh, and hurt a bit too.

However the fruit of the cactus, the tuno, is a delicious fruit and Palmerans from the country are adept at picking them with a couple of random twigs, using them like chopsticks. Or alternatively, there are purpose-made sticks rather like long tongs which are sold in the hardware shops for the very purpose.  At least then you can reach into the clusters of cactus, standing at what is hopefully a safe distance.
But of course as always, what is one man's poison is another man's meat which means that whilst we might not exactly enjoy direct contact with cacti, for something else it's their idea of heaven, and those little follows are the cochineal.
Most people will associate cochineal as a red food colouring but in fact it is an insect which lives on cactus.

A bit of a surprise then to see that the cochineal on the cactus look white as if it has been covered in talcum powder.  That's just their way of protecting themselves from drying out or excessive sun and is in fact a waxy substance.  It doesn't however protect them from their predators - man.

Whilst the cochineal dye, carmine, is used for the colouring of garments and food, it really does take an awful lot of them to produce any substantial amount - about 150,000 insects are needed to make one kilo. Understandable then that synthetic dyes became popular, that is until people became concerned about artificial food colourings and now there is a resurgence into the production of natural dyes.  In  2005 the Canary Islands produced 20 tonnes of cochineal dye - so it's not just bananas that come from la Palma!