Easter on La Palma

It is said that during the summer months, there is a fiesta happening somewhere on La Palma every single weekend. I can definitely believe that! The Palmerans love to fiesta :)

The big fiestas include Los Indianos when everybody wears white and has literally thousands of people flocking to the island. The Bajada of course, when the Virgin Mary is brought down from the Las Nieves Sanctuary, is another huge one. Then there is the fiesta with the Dancing Dwarfs held every 5 years. Massive. Then the rather gentler but also popular farming fiestas such as at San Antonio and San Isidro. And the bizarre Funeral of the Sardine (hey, that can be a sad thing) and a whole lot more of inventive ideas to get together and celebrate.

Easter of course is another story and this year, the Wednesday before Easter during the Semana Santa, we were lucky enough to see the procession of El Santo Encuentro through the streets of Santa Cruz. 

It was a big procession with around 100 participants representing various scenes, plus I think 3 different musical bands - we dodged about quite a bit, heading off into the side streets in order to get ahead of the procession and see any parts we might have missed so we rather lost track of the numbers. 

Probably one of the more surprising aspects of the procession is the use of the 'capirote' which is the hood with conical top, often more associated with the Ku Klux Clan. However, the capirote along with the 'nazareno' (penitential robe) is used to hide the face of the wearer for a much more innocent reason in Spain. These types of robes have been used since the medieval period for penitents who could demonstrate their penance while still masking their identity. You can make your own mind up on that one!

It's certainly a good reminder that Easter has its origins in something other than chocolate eggs and days off work!
* It might be worth noting that in Spain and the Canary Islands, Jueves Santo (Maundy Thursday) and Viernes Santo (Good Friday) are observed as Fiestas Laborales (Public Holidays), whilst Easter Monday is not.

Walking Los Tilos to Barlovento

How are you doing with your New Year resolutions? I hope they will include a holiday to La Palma at some point!
One of our aims for 2016 is to make sure we re-walk the 6 routes included in our Luggage Transported Walking Holidays. And after we've done that, then we'll walk the rest of the GR130 Camino Real as we continue to build on our range of walking holidays for the winter season of 2016/7.
First up then is the Laurisilva Forest of Los Tilos walk through to Barlovento. At under 4 hours, it's a gentle introduction on what is the first day of the walking holiday - although admittedly an immediate ascent for the first 40 minutes of the walk up the forested track :)
It is however one of these walks where it pays to know what you are looking at and happily the walk starts at the Visitor and Information Centre of Los Tilos. This is where you can read about the Laurisilva which is a species from the Tertiary period when dinosaurs roamed the land.
(For those of you on our luggage transported walking holiday, we provide extensive information about the walk and the route for you to read beforehand so you can do some advance reading.)

Los Tilos Visitor Centre

From the centre then, it's onward and upward to the Mirador de los Barandas on the PR LP7.1 walking route. And let's just remind ourselves, it's not a sprint but rather more a chance to use our new found knowledge about the flora and fauna of Los Tilos :)

At the top of the woodland steps, we come to the Mirador (look-out point). The last time we walked this, there were picnic tables and benches but these have been dismantled for the moment. The view is pretty good over the town of Los Sauces, of the bridge (the longest single-arch bridge in the Canaries) and to the sea.

From the mirador it's an easy stroll along the forest track - no need for heroics! Definitely a good photo opportunity when you come to the giant ferns and the mountain view. Then a question of logistics as to how to negotiate a fallen tree - over, under or through? And the intriguing caves cut into the soft rock which the workman have used in the past. Always good to take a sneaky peak inside ...

But then we come to my favourite part which is the water mine - if you're not expecting it, it's quite a surprise to come across rail tracks in the wood along with the little cart which was used to carry the rock out of the tunnel. Although the over-riding feeling is astonishment at man's endeavour to reach the source of fresh water.
I'm not going to tell you it all of course because I don't want to spoil a good story. So still with the La Laguna reservoir to talk about, I'll just leave you with one last photo -

Christmas in the Canaries

Around the world, everybody's Christmas is different whether it be traditional, religious, just like every other day or even a working day. And this is something people often ask us - what is Christmas like on La Palma?
Our day was something of a mix starting with a Christmas breakfast for our guests. Followed by just the two of us opening a few present along with the Christmas cards we had been saving up for the big day. And of course ringing the family to wish everybody a happy Christmas.
Normally on Christmas Day, we would go down to the sea at La Fajana below us. But as David had something of a leg injury we decided to let the Land Rover take the strain and do some lovely touristy things - here are a few of our photos!

On La Palma, they love Nativity scenes. 
Ours is rather incongruous :)

Christmas lunch at La Fajana de Barlovento

Driving through one of the hand-dug tunnels on the Mimbreras road, Barlovento

Some interesting facts on the mirador information board

The Landy gets to join in with the Christmas spirit

Still in awe of the scenery

Christmas mascot

And still in the festive spirit on 5 January, a trip to the beach

However, it is perhaps the evening of the 5th January that is the star of the show. This is when the Three Wise Men arrive on La Palma (three for each major town/city) and bring gifts for the children. In some places, they arrive on real camels - it's quite a sight!
The next day, 6th January, is Epiphany and a religious holiday. So if you are on holiday on La Palma over the 5th/6th January, do try and catch a glimpse of the Kings (Los Reyes) and remember that on the 6th January, shops and banks will all be closed. 

San Andrés, a little village in the north east of La Palma

The little village of San Andrés is the sort of place that makes you think, 'Ah, now this is a proper Spanish village.' Well at least that's what we thought when we were exploring La Palma for a place to unpack our bags for a few years at least. So when we happened to encounter San Andrés which is the equal and opposite of an archetypal British village, it seemed a fair swap.

From falling in love with San Andrés as a place to live and falling out of love with it unfortunately took less than 30 minutes which coincided with a coach full of tourists arriving. Yes, apparently we were not the only people to have noticed the immense charm of this little place. And off we trotted to go and live one-fifth of the way up a mountain in what friends call our splendid isolation (with views). But of course this doesn't stop us visiting San Andrés to do our own little bit of tourism.

So what is it about San Andrés that makes it probably the most beautiful village on La Palma? Doubtless, the little cobbled streets flanked by a selection of curious old houses helps. Along with the whitewashed 15th century church, the Iglesia de San Andrés. Plazas with restaurants and the odd cheeky bar always help of course. Admittedly, there is no village pond but it does have the Atlantic Ocean at its feet which somehow offsets any feeling of being short-changed.

But what I think probably makes it stand out is the lushness of the place. If you take a look from afar, such as from Los Sauces the town above it, you'll notice a green oasis - this is San Andrés.

So what else is there to do in San Andrés apart from walk along the cobbled streets taking photos of curious old houses, visit the church, eat, drink and enjoy the views? Setting off over the highly pleasing and photogenic bridge  ...

... takes us to the sea pools of Charco Azul and then the beach of Puerto Espindola plus a few other delights along the way. And that's probably a good place to leave it until the next blog post.
Meanwhile, want to find out what we do when not playing hookey? Check us out at our day job - www.holiday-lapalma.com