Published: Fri 01 May 2009
By Florian Leitner
In Travelling .
tags: mayte spain travel
Actually, I already considered myself very lucky this year for visiting
the jungle in the Amazons. I would have not thought I could repeat such
an experience that soon again, but was proven wrong shortly after. A few
weeks ago, my girlfriend spent some weeks in Spain and we used the last
long weekend we had together to go to Tenerife, Canary islands. There I
had the pleasure to visit yet another really strange and amazing place
in our world: a volcano! My girlfriend, who grew up in Mexico, thought
it was quite funny I had not seen a volcano before... Well, she has not
been on a glacier so far :-P. I can only recommend this place - if you
do not know where to go for a short trip for a few days, you just have
found it. We rented a very romantic small house on the north-eastern tip
of the island, far away from all the tourist places. The owner renting
it to us (Juan Ramón) is a very kind and friendly guy, and he even went
into the trouble to send me my keys and a whole load of money I forgot
in the house - without even taking a cent for the troubles, although I
kept insisting! (Anybody knowing me don't laugh! Okay, I know, typically
Flo...) The house itself is built into the cliffs, with a marvelous view
over the sea and the beach below, and a great terrace. Mayte, my
girlfriend, found it and I can only say this was a great choice. If you
feel like renting it, follow this link .
We spent five days there, which is just enough time to visit the island
in a hurry - time flew by like nothing. You have to ask permission to
access the volcano in the capital city, Santa Cruz, which will then be
granted to you for a following day at a certain hour. Naturally, we
managed to be there too late the next day, but arrived again the day
after and the friendly guys guarding the entrance let us up anyways. Oh,
and pleeease dress appropriately: you can't imagine the scores of
(Russian) girls trying to walk a volcano in high heels and with almost
nothing on - freezing to death at 3.700 m ASL and not able to walk in the
rocky area... Well, at least this allowed us to be completely alone at the
top of the crater! Another great feat of the park is, as it's at 2000+ m
ASL, that even if it's cloudy down on the beach, it might be a gorgeous
day in the park!
Finally, one last word of warning: do not take residence on the south
side of the island except if you like artificial touristic sprawls: the
whole area is one urban block of concrete and completely hideous. As far
as I can tell, the north-east tip is best, maybe the (north-)western
areas may have some nice hideaways from the touristic towns, too. As for
the climate: just expect 20-25 ˚C in winter, 20-30 ˚C in summer - great!
One final recommendation if you like driving on narrow, curvy mountain
roads: rent a powerful car - I haven't had so much fun riding a car in a
long time!