Road works between Los Sauces and Barlovento

Still on the subject of roads on La Palma, the road improvements in the north east have entered their second phase.
After a long pause from when the first phase finished, we are really pleased to see them going ahead again (in the hope that this will finally be it!). However, this does inevitably mean potential delays and even closures while they have a 'good old bash' without cars going by.

Here are the details:
Between Los Sauces and Barlovento, the road will be closed Monday to Friday as follows -
09.00 - 11.00hrs
11.30 - 01.30hrs
16.00 - 19.00 hrs
To put it another way and be abundantly clear, it is only open 11.00 to 11.30hrs, 01.30 to 16.00hrs and after 19.00hrs.
This is in place until 24th May.

It's important therefore that you take heed of these times because there is NO other way around to get from Los Sauces to Barlovento and beyond. Except if you drive in the opposite direction via the west coast which would take around two hours depending on where you are trying to go.
But with some planning around these times, it hopefully won't affect you too much and of course at weekends, the road is open all day.
If you wonder what these road improvements are all about, the main aim is to widen the roads, reduce or take out a few of the bends and/or strengthen the road. Where a supporting wall is required, natural stone is used instead of poured concrete. Once the roadworks have been completed, we plan to return to being La Isla Bonita. Yay!

Are we nearly there yet?

When we were looking for a house to buy on La Palma, directions to properties for sale were usually convoluted and confusing. 'Turn left at the palm tree just before the bus stop and after the little road with a post box on the corner' or 'right after the second bend where there's usually an old man sitting on a rock.' With so many palm trees and even more bends we had many car journeys that were rather longer than necessary. And of course if you stop to ask anyone the way, the reply always begins with a long intake of breath followed by ...'turn around ....'
In the end, we choose to live in a rural area an hour from the capital and whilst that sounds as if directions could be complicated, in fact they could hardly be simpler. I know, everyone says that!
But the thing is that the major and secondary roads are carefully waymarked with kilometre markers. For example, the main road which goes from Santa Cruz to Los Llanos by way of the north is the LP1, the La Palma 1. Right from start to finish, there are kilometre markers. What a great idea!
This means that you can give directions using the markers as a reference or even tell the emergency services where you are in the case of an accident.
For the very minor roads and in towns, I'm afraid it's still a case of ... left at the palm tree ..
Here are a few points of interests when on the LP1:

Km

1                      Santa Cruz de La Palma (Roundabout by harbour)

3.2                   Road up to Roque de Muchachos

7                      Petrol

7.2                   Bar/Restaurante Julio

8                      First tunnel

10                    Puntallana

15                    La Galga

19                    Church of San Juan and GR130 nearby

22                    Los Sauces

28                    Road to Piscinas de La Fajana (natural swimming pools)

32/3                 Barlovento

45                    Old village road to Franceses

46.5                 New village road to Franceses

54                    Roque Faro and El Reyes restaurant

55                    Road to village of El Tablado

58                    La Mata Restaurant

58.5                 Road to Don Pedro

58.9                 La Zarza Archaeological Park and walk

59.9                 San Antonio Restaurant

59.9                 Petrol Station

60.9                 Llano Negro – supermarket

64.1                 El Bailedero Restaurant

64.2                 Road to Roque de Muchachos

64.3                 Hoya Grande

68.2                 Las Briestas Restaurant

70.1                 Road to Restaurant Azul

74.1                 Junction to Las Tricias

76/7                 Puntagorda

80.5                 Mirador Garome

81.7                 Helipad and Bodega

83                    Bar/restaurant Muralla

85/86               Tijarafe

93.5                 El Time Restaurant and Mirador

99.2                 Turn off to Tazacorte

100                  After the 100km mark, the LP1 ends and joins the LP 2. Turn left for Los Llanos and right for Tazacorte.
Simples!

The history of Tazacorte

If there is one thing that I love about La Palma - apart from the nature and the people - it's the history of the island. It's varied, it's vibrant and quite frankly, beyond fascinating.  

Pick an area, any area, from Puntagorda to Puntallana, Mazo to Las Manchas, Santa Cruz to San Andrés or any of the other municipalities on La Palma and you'll find a different history. 

One of the municipalities that I find of particular interest is Garafia in the north of La Palma although of course I am biased as that is where I live! (You can find the short version of our own guide to Garafia here.) But even I have to concede that the area which is one of the most historically important on La Palma is Tazacorte.

Now you might find this rather surprising as Tazacorte is better known for its beach, apartments, restaurants and the boat trips to see the dolphins and whales. And the hint is in there somewhere if you think about it. Yes, it has a harbour.

Despite there being many coves and beaches on La Palma, there are also three operational harbours - one at the capital of Santa Cruz in the east, Puerto de Tazacorte in the west and Puerto Espindola near Los Sauces in the north east. The coves in the remote and isolated areas of the island were the province of pirates. Our neighbouring village of El Tablado has a particularly hidden cove which is well worth exploring if you are nimble and adventurous!
But Tazacorte was to be the stuff of greater import as this is where the Spanish Conquistadors landed on 29 September 1492. Let battle commence. In fact, it took until the 3rd May the following year until the last stronghold on the island, the Caldera de Taburiente, was taken. Can you imagine how difficult it must have been to capture an area such as that? 

There were two failed attempts by the men under the command of one Fernandez de Lugo to capture Tanausu, the ruler of the Kindgdom of Acerco, the Caldera de Taburiente. There was only one thing for it - to lure him out with promises of a treaty. Tanausu was captured and although he was taken by ship to mainland Spain, he did not live to tell the tale as he starved himself, determined that he should not arrive alive.
So if you decide to book an apartment at Tazacorte and find yourself sunbathing on the beach or walking in the Caldera de Taburiente, you might just reflect on the incredible history for a moment. Things were not always so calm!

One of the great resources for reading about the history of La Palma is on the website of the ING (Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes). I hope that you'll find it fascinating too.