We met our guide, Isabel, at the foot of the gangway and
boarded the free shuttle which took us from the jetty past the pier, through
the cargo area to where we could meet our private coach for a full day
tour. Quickly passing through the city
we began to climb straight up through the suburban villages until we turned off
onto the zig zag, winding narrow road and into the ‘horizontal rain’ of fog,
deep fog. We did not stop at many
lookout points because we could have seen nothing. We did notice that ship tours were still
stopped with passengers trying to peer through it when you really couldn’t see your
hand in front of your face!
We passed through the agricultural se level and low altitude
towns and farms. At a thousand meters we
stopped at a wayside café for coffee if we wanted and a chance to use the rest
room. We could see across from us the
still blooming hydrangea, datura, and Stella Doros. We could look back down to the sea. Ahead of us was the sharper rise of a deeply
grooved, rocky, mountain side wearing a deep green forest of pine.
As we drove through the forest of really tall, thick barked,
slim trunked pine it reminded me of home.
A thick layer of long pine needles carpeted the forest floor in the
national park where it could not be harvested.
There was very little underbrush.
Mostly the land was clear with only a few areas where small trees were
taking a new stand or an occasional green vine created a tangled mound.
We stopped at a welcome center office where we saw a display
of photos defining where we were on the globe and a movie describing how the
volcano came to form the island and Mt. Teide became the highest mountain in
Spain. The narrator of the short film
was a clever devil composed of lava rock and flowing lava! Very scary but very cute.
It was very overcast with on and off showers and as we left
the theater the cold rain began in earnest.
That is the typical weather of the mountain. As we left the nature center the landscape
abruptly changed. At two thousand meters
all forestation stopped as though a line had been drawn. Tiny shrubs dotted the volcanic pumice of
black, or red, or green and even blue where lichen were dormant until the rains
come. There had been no rain from
February until early October. Lucky us!
We continued to drive through rock formations and places
called things like ‘the layer cake’ where striations demonstrated the growth of
the landscape. The sun popped out while
we were viewing the Garcia Rocks. Behind
these Mt. Teide was still shrouded in a lifting fog. For just one moment we saw the top of her at
13,000 meters. It is a beautiful and
interesting island.
On the way back down the narrow, twisting, two lane road,
where we came to a complete stopped as another bus would cautiously edge past
us we stopped at a paradore. This is a
Spanish hostelry or hotel which is located at a natural or historic site. They are an excellent way to have good
quality accommodations for a little less money.
This one was located across from a rock outcropping with little rises of
rack at the top. It is indeed where
Moses, a.k.a. known as Charlton Heston came down from the mountain to bring his
people the Tablets of the Ten Commandments.
It made me think what a great job it must be to be a movie studio
location scout!
Inside we had to buy something in order to show a receipt in
order to use the rest rooms. I ordered a
Coke Light and they only had Pepsi Light.
Not the same thing! But when you
gotta go ya gotta go!
When continued down to the little town of La Laguna where
the bus dropped us off for about an hour and a half walk through the quaint
town. We started at the market place
which was nothing special and then walked about a mile to the center of town. I straggled behind because I wanted pictures
of everything, the park, the monument, children playing, dogs, and pretty
balconies. I do not think the guide even
knew I was trailing but Elva kept to the back of the group so I kept one eye on
her yellow shirt.
When I caught up to them Isabel was continuing a description
of how the agriculture, and the mountain made people rich and then the
architecture followed. I missed a lot
since I had not been hearing her all along but I was not the only one who
seemed confused. Isabel had a lot of
information and was going to tell you no matter what. And she did not have a sense of humor, at
least not American humor!
We visited a couple of restored courtyards and then it was
time to return to the ship. The tour bus
was able to drop us off right at the gangway.
Before going on board I called each of my girls since I would not be
able to talk to them for a long time.
When I called Christine I also got to talk to Maddie and Christian. Karen told me about her upcoming cruise and
her virtual five K that she was running for charity. I had to leave Katie a message and missed her
call back because by then we were at dinner.
Dinner was fine and we sat with the same people we sat with
the night before. We skipped dessert in
order to catch a talk about Australia and New Zealand before the eight o’clock
show. The performer I have seen before
on another shop but he was an amazing mentalist. Not sure I believe in all that
but don’t know how he does it as his choices of people are seemingly random.
After the show I got a quick cup of tea and we went to bed
early. We would gain an hour during the
night so that was probably a bad idea but we were tired!
Now we start seven sea days.
That will be a lot of relaxation, lectures, trivia and food!
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