MORE PICS TO COME WHEN INTERNET IS BETTER!!!
Day 1, Santa Cruz de Tenerife- I woke up on this Wednesday
morning knowing little about the island nor where everyone else was. I managed to hear from a person at breakfast,
who had been there before, that it was a small island and extremely mountainous with old
jagged volcanoes but the only thing we could do in the time allotted was…
shop. I thought about this and decided
that I was going to set out on an adventure of feeling like a local
instead. I was going to take my computer
and find a small little whole-in-the-wall and drink coffee or a local beer and
read or…merely think. I was going to
blend into the Canary Island of Tenerife itself and no one would notice. I made my way to the shuttle that’s takes you
in to town with my backpack holding my computer and book, I sat down, looked out
the window and just then I heard a very familiar voice “Hey!! Well there’s Candice!!! What are you doing today?! CAN WE COME!?” This happened to be Justin, one of my fellow
cast mates, and his wife, Sam, also a cast mate. It’s not that I don’t like these people, they
are absolutely wonderful people, but I was a little disappointed to be
found. Need I remind you that I work
with these people every day, eat almost every meal with, and these were the two
people I also happen to live NEXT to in a very small living quarters. I can hear their voices through the wall in
idol conversations. Also, how can feel
like a local with two other tourists with you!?
O well, this day was still very pleasant but turned at that moment into a trio of tourists trying to
blend into the island of Tenerife in a café drinking local beers on our
computers. It wasn’t much but well
needed and I am learning that everyday can’t be on full throttle or I won’t
leave my room towards the end of this contract out of sheer exhaustion.
Day 2, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria- This day, however, turned
out to be the shopping day for Tito, Ryan, Chelsea, and I. There was the first mall we had seen since
Tampa…HOW LAME RIGHT?! But when you need
stuff, you need it. After we shopped
until we almost dropped we needed some fresh air and a bite to eat so we found
this very quaint and welcoming café, called Café Lolita, which had only
outdoor seating and seeing as it was such a beautiful evening with the perfect temperature and the sun coming through the windows of buildings. It was truly picture perfect. Also, I completely envy anyone who lives on these islands because of their climate.
Being about 70 miles off the coast of Africa it stays fairly warm and
since it is protected by the water that surrounds it the temperature of the
island stays at around 65-77° F all year round and it rains approximately 5 days
out of the year!! What!? That being said, we enjoyed dining al fresco with a local beer
called Tropical and tapas of potatoes with a curry like sauce and meatballs of a sort (it could have been chicken but not sure). In the same way the bread on these
islands was just so fresh and since I am a carb fiend I was in heaven. After that…we had to go back to the ship.
Day 3, Arrecife on the Isla de Lanzarote- I RODE A CAMEL!! Ok, it wasn’t a camel but the one humped
cousin the dromedary. We heard that
there was the possibility of being able to ride dromedaries in the volcanic
state park on the island and we immediately went into haggle mode and got the
entire roundtrip cab ride and dromedary ride for 21 euros each!!! We started the journey at 9:30am with the 10
min cab ride out to Timanfaya National Park.
I really enjoyed this seemingly mundane ride on a highway in the middle
of the island of Arrecife because I felt like I got to see the inner workings
of the island and how people actually lived. The landscape itself was striking and it looked
like a volcano could have exploded yesterday.
The soil was so black and sandy, there were still very large patched of mangled
black earth where lava flow had scared it, and the groupings of bleached
white houses popped out from the black backdrop.
There were also many vineyards that we passed which made a lot of sense because
the soil was probably extremely rich. Sadly,
this day happened to be one of the 5 days a year where is rained but it wasn’t
a lot thankfully. We finally got to the
dromedaries and there were at least a hundred of them all lined up and ready to go. It was an unbelievable sight. Tito and I were grouped together, it was two people per dromedary, and we happened to
be riding the lead, Inga, who also seemed to be the oldest and
slowest. Right behind us Chelsea and
Ryan seemed to get the angriest dromedary in the bunch who really gave a stink
about not wanting to get up in the first place.
Her name was Helena and as soon as Chelsea sat on one of the chairs saddled to
on either side of Helena the animal started moaning and grunting like she
was a 5 year old not wanting to go to bed.
I couldn’t help but crack up at this and the sheer terror in Chelsea's face in that moment. The strangest feeling had to have been the dromedary getting up with us on it. It
was quite an experience to ride a dromedary through the volcanic scene. Another unforgettable day an riding a camel,
or dromedary really, was a bucket-lister for me. I have a feeling I will be getting quite a
bit of those checked off the list in the coming months.
So tomorrow, I will be helping escort an excursion in Casablanca,
Morocco called “Highlights of Casablanca.”
I can’t believe I will be setting foot in Africa and I really can’t wait
to tell you all about it. Here’s to
setting foot on another continent for the first time!!! Woo hoo!
AS SOON AS THE INTERNET IS BETTER I WILL BE POSTING MORE PICTURES OF THE CANARY ISLANDS!! I'LL KEEP YOU POSTED.
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