Pictures:
1. You can see a bus down on the dancing road in the distance. You can also see the road below right and on the left side.
2. In this picture you can see the road running across the center of the picture, on the right, below in the middle and in the middle and at the bottom on the left. It's the same road winding all over the map.
3. This is the fishing village of Pedro Alvarez. The terraces are to provide some level land for farming.
4. The lone surfer wiping out.
5. Taranga Village at the base of the valley and some agricultural land in the foreground.
6. My purchase at the La Laguna marked, a rosco Lagunero.
7. The altar in the La Laguna Church of Christ.
All but #4, 6 & 7 were taken through the tinted window of a moving bus. They're not particularly good but they are representative.
March 27 – At Sea. Great day to rest up. Pretty much my normal day at sea and you've heard plenty about those already. Tonight's entertainment was Black Tie and again they had a great performance. . I should add that Constantine, the older brother, plays Dickie Smothers to Uri's Tommy. They're really quite funny in addition to their quality voices and wonderful style.
This evening was the Ebony and Ivory Ball. It's fun to watch the junior ship's officers hide at the back of the ballroom so they can avoid dancing with the older unaccompanied ladies. The more determined ones head back, cut one out of the herd and drag him to the dance floor. It's nice to see everyone dressed up and since there are only 9 formal nights in 62 days it isn't a big chore. The best sight I saw all night was a little old man, probably at least 90, dancing with one of the Amazon ship's cast dancers. Let's just say he had a very comfortable place to rest his head.
March 28 – At Sea. Another day of rest, no pun intended. Well since it's Sunday I guess the pun actually was intended. Again a very typical day for me. Nothing exciting or out of the ordinary. I spent some time shrinking pictures to send with my email.
Photographer's Note: I shoot as large and with the least compression possible in jpeg. I don't use tiff or raw because the files are way too big for any purpose I'll ever use. As it is I can crop out a very small part of my pictures and still have plenty of data left to print an 8x10. If the picture just needs a little cropping I can do poster sized with these settings. I use it to compensate for not carrying a long telephoto lens. In this day of digital photography and Photoshop CS there's no real reason for long telephotos. You just crop to the size you want and print from there. I have an 11x16 picture of a lion I shot a few years ago and in the original photo he's just a small image in the center of the frame. In the blowup he's surrounded by about an inch of headspace and the image is perfect. If I had tried that shot in the light that was available and the speed required to keep shake from a long telephoto lens I'm sure I'd have missed the shot. If I were more inclined to do that sort of work I'd shoot raw and just deal with the super large files that result.
The screened Black Swan today in the theater. Let's just say that for the over 80 crowd this movie was not well received. I thought it was a quality move but not necessarily enjoyable. It deserved all the Academy nominations and wins that it got. But for people who have trouble hearing, seeing and remembering it would be impossible to follow. It took a some thought for me to sort it all out when I saw it and I can't be at all dogmatic that I have it 'properly sorted' as the Brits would say.
The show this evening was a combo of Ballroom Rush, the quick-change ballroom dancers and Jackie Clure a singer. I didn't see Jackie's first show because they billed her as a West End singer and I didn't want to hear any A. L. Weber. Turns out she didn't sing any and she has a very good voice. Ballroom Rush was great again. The costume changes are spectacular and the dancing is really great. Jackie Clure has a Karen Carpenter quality to her voice and tonight she did sing a medley of Carpenter's tunes. Outstanding! She also sang some Petula Clark (Downtown) and Bobby McFerrin's 'Don't Worry, Be Happy". Her voice is smooth and totally under control. No sliding into notes in her style. It was another great night. Tomorrow's a port day and we have four ports in a row. Odds are I'm going to fall behind in my writing over the next few days.
Tenerife is the largest of the seven-island Canary group. It's about 800 square miles but can lay claim to the highest mountain in Spain, Mount Tiede (Tie'-da). At 12,950 feet it's an impressive peak, especially in a place so small. It's a dormant volcano and the residents of the East Coast of the USA better hope it stays that way. Apparently the western slope of the mountain is very unstable and if it ever blows again that whole area will fall into the sea. One of the specials I saw on these islands postulated that the tsunami created by that event would wash over almost 40% of Florida and hit all along the East Coast and it would only take 5 hours for it to get there. Double yikes!! I guess that evens things up for all the east coaster's jokes about California falling into the Pacific Ocean.
I can't remember when I learned this but it was a long time ago and apparently it was also incorrect. It used to be thought that the islands are named for dogs not birds. When the first explorers reached these islands they supposedly found wild dogs, Canes in Latin, populated them. This ostensibly led to the name Canary Islands, as in 'Islas Canarias' (Spanish). Winds up that all that's not true at all. I do remember that it was alleged in a documentary about the islands. (Maybe it was produced by that docufictionalist, Michael Moore.) Turns out that they have found a map made by Italian cartographer Tolomea, in the 1400s that shows the islands with the notation 'Cannar E' which is a local native word 'cannar' meaning association or group of people and the Latin notation 'E' which designates 'island', hence the Cannar E islands. Of course when the English get their hands on anything they can't pronounce or don't care for they change it; Beijing becomes Peking, Chennai becomes Madras. Mumbai become Bombay, you get the idea. So Cannar E become Canary and there you have it. I must say it's the most satisfying answer to this question I've ever heard and I think finally the correct one.
Somewhat Cynical Note: So much of what passes for research and science today is just so much guessing. When I was taking science classes I was told that the scientific method deals in facts and that until you can reliably reproduce the same results using the same methods you really don't know what's going on. The junk, pop, pseudo-science we hear so much about today has never met an assumption it couldn't adopt, will leap to a conclusion on the weakest (or worse yet no) data. Consequently they very often have to backtrack in a huge way when confronted with the truth. Examples abound, Light's a wave, no it's a particle, Pluto's a planet, no it's not, etc. I don't really care what the pinheads do with their time but when we start making cultural, political and financial decisions based on this garbage some has to say that the emperor has no clothes. Unfortunately most research is done by publicly funded entities like universities and most of them have long since abandoned any real impartial analysis of data. The pressure to conform to the latest junk science pronouncements is worse that peer pressure was in our teens. Get out of step with the current theory and you will find yourself shouted down, ridiculed and held in scorn by those with their hands on the pocketbook and therefore your academic life. Consequently those who disagree with the current fashion just keep quiet and go about their work depriving the rest of us from their point of view. I thought looking at competing points of view was what universities were supposed to be about. How stupid am I?
Another way of saying that first it was canaries, then it was dogs, now it's a local language word that gave these islands their name. If we can't reliably figure out how some islands were named in the 1400s, the very recent past in geologic terms when people were actually here to observe and record events, what makes us so sure we know how the universe was formed or how man came to be a sentient being? Pretty arrogant and prideful in my opinion.
Oh well, back to travel. We are visiting the Anaga Mountains right outside Santa Cruz. Geologically these islands are all volcanic in nature like the Hawaiian Islands. The costal area is made up of the oldest lava and the island's interior is the youngest. As Mt. Tiede ascended it pushed the older lava flows outward.
Getting out of the port was a little challenge. When cruise ships come into the port they add extra security and unfortunately they forget to man the exit gates. We sat at the gate for a while until our driver, Isobel, started blowing the horn. Someone came to see what was up and opened the gate for us.
Our driver and guide are both Isobel so we can't get into too much trouble there. Driver Isobel is an attractive young Hispanic lady with short frosted hair. She's a substantial person, not at all a lightweight but she does not look heavy. You might expect her to be a flamenco dancer, usually substantial ladies, but I don't think anyone would guess she drives a bus. Guide Isobel may be the best-informed guide we've ever had in local geology and botany that was not a professional scientist. She has a degree in fine arts but has taken it on herself to get the islands geology and flora down pat. The ship's escort on our bus is Jackie Clure one of the entertainers on board.
After driving along the seacoast to make a stop to see the only white sand beach on the island (once again Great Sahara sand) in the little fishing village of San Andres, we turned into the mountains to start up what the locals call the 'dancing road.' The derivation of this name soon became obvious; the road twists and turns with switchbacks so tight that after the turn if you drove off the road you'd land on the road just before the turn only down 50 feet. Isobel handled that bus like it was a subcompact car. It was great to watch her face; I had a view of it in the center rear view mirror she could use to watch the passengers. She'd dive the bus into a turn and grin when she wound up exactly where she should be at the end of the sweeping curve. She was clearly enjoying her work and taking satisfaction in doing it very well.
If you've ever seen the houses on the hillsides in Griffith Park in Los Angeles or the buildings on the Amalfi Coast or Santorini you have some idea of the arrangement of most housing on this island. Because it's essentially a mountaintop sticking out of the sea there's very little flat land. Housing seems to be built mostly on hillsides. If the building is on the seaside of the road the parking is on the building's roof and an elevator, or in a single home a stairway, takes you down to the floor you live on. This system provides a great view of the ocean from every floor and is very popular on the seaside of roads next to the ocean. If they are building on the landside of the road they are often built on a pad cut into the hillside with a normal first floor entry and garage.
After we arrived at Taganana, another small fishing village, this time on a black sand beach. It's at the foot of a long steep valley that the dancing road crosses about 6 times on the way to the ocean. A novice surfer was out there in about 4 feet of surf trying his best to get up on a fairly good-looking board. I caught one wipeout at jus the right moment. His board is headed skyward and he appears to be sitting on a lounge chair, feet up, as he hits the wave
The views from the road back down to the ocean were spectacular. The road is so narrow that the bus can't stop for pictures so I'm shooting through the tinted windows of a moving bus. I'll have to see if Photoshop can save any of these for me. In some places you could see the little village of Taganana at the foot of a long valley and our road winding over all sides of the picture.
We stopped for a snack in a small café and, since this area is noted for goat's milk and vineyards we sample cheese and wine. The wine was a semi-dry blush and was very drinkable. It was served loose corked in unlabeled bottles so it's pretty clear that the owner has a large vat of this somewhere. He did claim that it was his own product as was the goat cheese. The cheese was pale yellow and mild flavored. It had been aged some as the edges were hard and dry but very tasty. The center was creamy and firm. The green olives served with it were a good match. Each table had a large basket of crusty large baguettes. How do Europeans bake such consistently great bread? Just a normal white bread is a treat. Don't get me started on the special breads. There's only one place I know of that produces bread this consistently good that serves it every day without fanfare to accompany their meals, the Champaign French Bakery Café's in SoCal. It's not a boutique bread shop, just a Euro-style café that bakes their own baguettes and they are very good. But even they fall just a little short of the average table bread over here. (Are you getting the idea I'm way too hung up on bread? You'd be right.)
From our snack stop we headed to the city of La Laguna. The old town here is a World Heritage Site because of the large number of surviving colonial era buildings. We visited the city market. The varieties of fish available were amazing, everything from fresh eel to salted cod. The meat was that rich red color that tells you it's something special. The assortment of baked goods was also large. Some of them bore a fair resemblance to the breads and pastries I know from Mexican stores.
Since I love to mix it up with the locals and also new and different pastries, I used my totally inadequate Spanish attempt to communicate to a shopkeeper that I wanted to try the specialty of the area or the bakery. When I can get this idea across I've had some amazing treats and some colossal flops. It just depends on how well my taste matches the locals. Unfortunately I said, (phonetically) 'May gustaria sue especial de la casa.' Attempting to say, 'I would like your specialty of the house.' She was nodding encouragingly until I said 'casa'. The encouragement was quickly replaced with bewilderment. (I found out later that the locals don't ever refer to anything as being 'of the house' as we do in American English. She probably thought I wanted to take a bite out of the wall of her home.) So I started over this time with full hand gestures and facial expressions and definitely left out any reference to an abode. Finally she smiled, nodded and said, 'Si, si!' while turning to her shelves and coming back with a 3.5 inch in diameter, snail shell curled pastry with a thin glaze over the top. I have to admit it was not the most visually exciting thing I've ever gotten in response to this query but, hey, I asked for it. It looked somewhat doughnut like but was actually a lot like some Mexican sweet bread that I've had. The difference was that this item was flaky and had air pockets in it. The flavor was delicate and sweet but not overpoweringly so. More in the nature of a Japanese sweet roll. It was chewy and delicious. I had a hard time saving half of it for Diana. I only offer her half of my successes the failures I keep to myself. In the final analysis both the shopkeeper and I had a good time and she made some money. I found out later what I bought was a rosco lagunero.
This square is also the location of a colonial church and fort. The San Francisco Real Santuario del Santismo Cristo de La Laguna (The La Laguna Church of Christ for short) a Gothic-Baroque structure from colonial times. The interior of the smallish church has only one nave and is very simple in décor. The Stations of the Cross are oil paintings that appear to be very old. Their coatings have darkened and the paint is cracking on many of them. It was difficult in the low light to judge their style and artistic quality. The altar on the other hand was impossible to miss. The altar and reredo are completely covered in silver, as are the table and low sacristy rail. The center of the reredo and the crucifix that stands in it are completely covered in gold as is the angel standing on top. There are 26 candles attached to the reredo's perimeter that provide most of the light in the apse. To say that the exposure for the photo I took was long would be to understate the issue. I'm pretty sure the picture will be ok.
From La Laguna we drove back to the port. Diana and I decided to see a little of downtown Santa Cruz so we walked to the Plaza de España to see the tower and the fountain and then walked down to the Church of the Conception which was firmly locked. Failing to gain entry to that church we gave up on churches and walked back to the main shopping street, Calle de Castillo. Unfortunately for Diana's shopping hopes the town is in full siesta mode and the shops are almost all closed. Those that aren't, are upscale clothing and jewelry stores you can find almost anywhere, Beneton, Cartier, etc.
We're here overnight so it was back to the ship where there was a deck BBQ for dinner this evening. These are very popular and for a good reason, the food is great! It was very good once again. They had ribs, paella, salmon, steaks, corn-on-the-cob, salads, BBQ ribs and baked potatoes. I like the outdoor BBQs every once in a while.
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