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Austria
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In Part 2 of his travels in Tenerife, Ed returns to tells us of the majesty of Teide, the magic of Maska and the mayhem of Puerto de la Cruz. Did you notice that I moaned about the rain in Puerto de la Cruz in Part 1? Well, in all fairness, I guess that gives me the right to now moan about the heat and humidity in Part 2. During this trip it only rained two nights in a fortnight. How refreshing to have weather as variable as England. But in England, black clouds signify rain. Here this does not often apply; they appear to have things organized here so it rains only at night and not during the day. Which, it has to be said, is one of the few things that is organized around here. They recently built a new sewage disposal system, for example, but forgot to connect it up to anything. You know how these things happen. Planning is a bore and you can always do it tomorrow. Pity though, because it now means digging up all the roads after most of them had just been given a nice new surface. Come to think of it, there are an awful lot of similarities between here and England - except for the weather. They get what they call 'African Weather' here, when sand blows in from the African Sahara and the sun blazes down even in the north of the island and the temperature rises significantly for a few days. I just revisited the island to stay at Puerto again, and over two weeks, the first was extremely hot and humid (upper thirties centigrade) while the following week was mid-twenties to mid thirties. Of course, such is the freaky nature of the weather on this planet these days that nothing is particularly predictable - anywhere. Everyone said this was hotter than usual for early September. Although I staid at an historic old hotel with splendid palm court, it had one disadvantage: just fans, not air-conditioning. This scheme was not particularly conducive to sleeping at night. But that's another story that I shall not let slip. Let's get back to that all important topic, the weather, for a moment - and the two climates of the island.
Not that such things as water quality seemed to worry a couple of fearless fishermen I was amazed to see fishing off the cliff face just to the east of Puerto by that tunnel with oval windows facing the sea. I made a special effort to see how they got to their favourite fishing spots, one being right down near sea level having descended what was virtually a sheer rock face. There was certainly no way up from the bottom and the Atlantic thrashed on the rocks below him with nothing worth mentioning between him and Iceland to the (far) north. It was scary. That they risked their lives for fish more dangerously than those who went out in little boats on high seas seemed plain when I saw one of them clambering back across dangerous rocky ridges clutching his rod and tackle box. He had a tiny fish that put a triumphant smile on his face. Maybe he had being doing that since he was a kid. Maybe he was lucky. Maybe his prayers were always answered. Maybe he had great boots. I just feel it is testing your faith a little too much when you are middle-aged and still behaved like a reckless youth. (Which perhaps says more about my age than theirs.) Now, back to sleeping at night - or not. Where we stayed up on the hill the last time H and I visited Puerto, it was out of town and fairly quiet. I slept at night. But it was a long walk into town and a terrible climb back. This time we were downtown, right in the hub - and that amounted to hubbub. Whilst it may seem a sensible scheme to have a siesta for three or four hours from noon in a place that can get as hot as this, there can be a drawback for those not used to it. Because everyone wakes up at 4 pm and takes on a new lease of life, many are still going strong at 2 am the following morning. And when I say strong, what I really mean is LOUD. There seems to be something about the Spanish way of communicating that requires LOUD. Just across from the hotel was what, in English, translates as 'Europe Square' (Plaza de Europa), bordering on the sea. A couple of wide, open paved areas next to the police station proved ideal for the island lads and their skateboards. Slap, slap, slap... the endless sound, not of the waves, but of the lads trying to jump-turn their skateboards. They seem to spend their life trying to achieve this but, clearly, theylearn slowly. And so it goes on, and on, and on. Slap, slap, slap. Even late at night. Then there is the regular, informal football practice in this square when other lads (and lassies) really get enthusiastic. In fact, so enthusiastic are they that they sometimes turn up in the early hours of the morning in loud cars to begin an enthusiastic - and LOUD - game. The road is cobbled by the square, and that gets a tad noisy every 20 minutes or so when the free road train to Lora Park clatters and rattles along it. But if you think the noise sounds bad from the roadside, try riding it across the cobbles for that extra thrill akin to riding a bucking bronco. This road is one-way and single-file at this point. Beneath the square is a car park, so when cars queue at the barrier to get into the car park and 'passing traffic' cannot pass, patience does snap at times, judging by the gentle chorus of horns. Another well thought-out scheme! Like that one on the day we tried to escape Puerto to get back to the airport, important minutes ticking away, only to find both exit roads clogged up with traffic: one route affected by sewage pipe digging work and the other by tree trimming work. They might not worry about things until tomorrow, bu when tomorrow comes... Then there was the night the square resounded to the sound of what I can only describe as 'massed drums rehearsal'. It had to be a rehearsal - surely - because it did seem to improve in a qualitative sort of way as it went on. But that was the trouble, it went on and on, and on - and quantitatively it just grew and grew. Were more and more drummers being drafted in as the night progressed or did they just work themselves up into a frenzy? Make no mistake, we're talking big bass drums here, not bongos. And when they got it right they just couldn't stop themselves. What enthusiasm. Suddenly it would stop, a couple of people would clap - we almost joined it at the thought of peace at last - and then... you guessed, it, it started over again. Just millions of drums and someone blowing a whistle like a loose cannon. (Could it have been a lone policeman harassing them on our behalf?) Three hours, my friends. Three hours of throbbing temples. Then, after finally getting to sleep that hot and humid night, a loudspeaker in a car started up in the square in fierce German in what sounded like a Nazi rally at half-past three in the morning. Half-past three! What is it with these people? I think they should ban siestas if this is what it does to their body clocks. I tried afternoon siestas to counter the effects of poor sleep at night. The result? Couldn't sleep at night.
While in Tenerife in one of your more relaxed moments, you might like to try the local drink, a lumumba; unlike the usual cocktail of this name, their lumumba is hot chocolate with brandy (1 oz). Personally I like hot chocolate and I like brandy, but I think it a shame they have been introduced; I feel it spoils the uniqueness of both. But that's just me. What do I know of such sophistication? The Orchid Garden
Maska and Garachico... and DragonsThere are a number of set trips offered around the island, and the 'Maska and Garachico' one is a very pleasant day out. If you go by tour bus this will be shorter than a normal bus in order to cope with hair-pin bends. Yes, be warned. Talking of trips, be aware of the 'blanket tours'. These are trips offered at around half the price of normal tours, and the catch is that it will include a session of high-pressure sales; this might be blankets, even pearls, but if it's cheap, there's bound to be a reason. They say there's no such thing as a free lunch; with a blanket trip, there might be, but you need to be resilient. It also goes without saying that if you're going to take time out for the sales pitch and enforced shopping, then something has to give somewhere; and that has to be time actually touring. We took a 'proper' tour without all that hassle. (And watch out for the scratch-card timeshare scams of course. They're everywhere now.)
The tour then went along to Garachico, once the most important harbour on Tenerife. The original importance of Tenerife was that it served as a good staging post for transatlantic ships plying early trade between the New World and Europe. And it was a useful place for trying out new crops that originated in Europe and were making their way to the USA or a new crop coming from the USA to Europe. This was how sugar cane became a major crop on the island; it was exported to America. America, of course, does it 'bigger and better' so, inevitably, the bottom fell out of that market once they figured out how to grow it there and they developed that fiendish sweet tooth that could not be adequately supported from outside that great continent. (They've been growing ever since.) So then they began growing grapes and exporting wine from Tenerife; they needed trade to survive on an island. Which was fine until a disease put paid to the vines and the wines. Cochineal came next in the endless struggle to earn a crust, that colourful little bug that provided the red dye the Americans were dying for but... guess what, that died out when those sneaky Americans invented artificial colourants. Never to be defeated, the islanders then came up with bananas. Until, of course, they couldn't even produce and ship these competitively. So what do you think they've been growing ever since? Tourism! The market for this, they rightly feel, will not dry up, and with some 80% of the population now dependent upon it, they are right to welcome the tourist. The little - but sweet - Tenerife bananas are still exported, mainly to Spain, but even bananas are falling foul of the European Union and their ridiculous laws; where else would anyone try to regulate the shape and size of a banana? (Why can't they regulate how many regulations they turn out per year? They regulate everything else.)
Teide National Park
This picture serves to show you how green it is up here in places, and this helps explain how it was that I thought I glimpsed a wild dog when we were passing up through the forest. Later on I saw another emaciated dog with a chain collar (minus tag). I tried to tempt it with a piece of my lunch but it sniffed and was not interested, despite the fact it was a starving bag of bones. I took its picture but I spare you that. Further enquiries established they hunt on the mountain and that some dogs do get lost. This was one of those dogs. I hope it did not suffer too long in the heat of that arid mountain where, at the exposed level it had reached, there can be hardly any life. It is possible to ascend to the summit of the Teide by cable car. Indeed, the leaflet of Teleférico del Teide tells you that, thanks to its cableway, 'the peak is accessible in only a few minutes'; what it doesn't tell you is that you could queue for hours to get onto their cableway; 2-3 hours is not uncommon! That's why most tours no longer offer this as part of the deal. And given the fact that there is only one service bus early in the morning that goes there from Puerto, and another one back in the later afternoon, the bus is not a practical solution either. So if you really want to do this it's either a car or an (expensive) taxi you'll be needing. I settled for the national park and for looking up at the peak. I hear you only get eight minutes up there anyway. Teide is very different to the black mountain that is the typical volcanic landscape of Lanzarote, for example. The National Park will surprise you with the colour within the rocks, not to mention the scattered vegetation. Get your timing right and you can even see flowers blooming up here. Teide is an island of contrasts and delights. If you do no more than stay in the southern tourist resorts of Playa las Américas or Los Cristianos you miss a great deal. Yet that is what the average tourist does. Let me urge you to spare some hours from your risky sun worship and tempt you to visit the green north, the mountainous Teide and the enchantment of Maska. If you've been to Tenerife and never discovered these, then you have done the island a great injustice, and you have only seen the parched edge of this richly contrasting island. Be bold! |
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