Exploring the Island

The days have been heating up on the island. The strong winds that brought over the “calima” from the Sahara have come to a standstill, my curtains don’t even move except when I turn on the ceiling fan. On the one hand it is very uncomfortable to have over 90 degrees and no breeze. On the other hand, no wind makes it easier for the firefighters to control the huge forest fire on the other side of the volcano. You can read about that fire here.

Our first outing was to a beach that our neighbor Nuria recommended called “Las Teresitas”. We found out later it’s one of the “famous” beaches on the island. It is a huge beach with lots of free parking and the sand is yellow. It is Saharan sand that they shipped over from Africa.

Native Tenerife sand is black and extremely hot! So, the sand is for safety as well as aesthetics. They had to build a wave breaker a way out in the ocean to keep the sand from washing away. I dipped my feet in the crystal-clear water. The water is much colder than Ecuadorian beaches, but crystal clear!

 

My favorite feature at the beach were the shade trees. Wherever there is sun I usually seek shade, except in Chile, where it is cold out of the sun.

Once Mama Emma and I got tired of being at the beach (turns out we aren’t really beach people), we drove up into a hilly town called La Matanza (The Killing). The town is famous for the Spanish conquistadores killing the native Guanches (pronounced WAHN ches).

Again, thanks to Nuria’s suggestion we drove quite a while to the north coast of the island. The streets there are very steep and windy and tend to be only one way, so you can’t simply go around the block if you miss a parking spot.

 

We drove by quite a few guachinches, eateries where they serve native Canarian food, but our neighbor specifically recommended La Huerta de Ana y Eva (Ana and Eva’s Garden) as having the best food. Everyone seems to know that because we had to wait an hour just to be seated. We were looking forward to trying roasted rabbit and goat cheese spread, native potatoes, etc.

 

The sign advertises goat meat, ropa vieja (roasted potatoes with garbanzo beans and stewed beef), bacalao (cod), huevos estampida (runny eggs mixed with French fries and chorizo), rancho (a garbanzo aka chick pea stew with potato, beef and pork), carne a la brasa (grilled meat), solomillo a la Huerta (sirloin steak smothered in french-fries, grilled onions and peppers), conejo frito (fried rabbit), escaldón (a cereal-based mash with pork, onions, and seasonings), carne fiesta (marinated and grilled pork served with French fries).

Well, they were out of rabbit, so I ordered the bacalao, which in South American countries is a salted fish. My dish turned out to be Atlantic cod in a sweet bell pepper sauce.

Mama Emma ordered half a roasted chicken (you can tell in the photo that it’s a hormone-free bird), and we shared a plate of French fries (For the record, I am totally ok with the Spanish obsession with french fries). 

Granted, all the food was locally sourced, and the chickens were supposedly raised in the backyard. Everything was very good, but it turned out to be a much less exotic experience than I had expected. 

 

 

The highlight was the goat cheese spread with pimento, almogrote (orange spread on bread). I bought some the next day at the market. It is utterly delicious! But you must find somewhere that sells it fresh. The canned variety is not acceptable. Which means you must come to Tenerife to try it. See what I did there?

 

And now, some serious stuff…

 

I had a weird experience at the prayer meeting on Friday. A visitor arrived with a church person to our prayer group. He introduced himself as Dr. Collin, but then retracted and said he wasn’t really a doctor, but a healer. He said he was so excited to meet us and to pray with us. The way he spoke was just a bit off from what you would expect of a believer. In spite of his excitement to join our prayer group, he answered calls on his phone during prayer time and asked to be skipped instead of taking his turn to pray but he didn’t get up or step away to take the calls. I heard him cry when we prayed for him, but afterward, instead of asking questions to know more about the Christ or the church, he tried dominating the conversation. He told us that he was a healer, but “not a spiritual one”. He claimed to have received this gift when he was eight years old. We all walked away feeling odd about meeting the man. I can’t tell you what his purpose was in coming, though he spoke of having “plans for the future”, implying “with us”. He was obviously not a person of peace, and he was not seeking truth. Looking back, it seems almost a rather sinister encounter and we are all on alert now.

 

Sunday was a great service even though the attendance was down due to summer fluctuations. I was assigned to teach the kids’ Sunday School class, but only two girls showed up. So, we had Alessandra and Amy sit on the front step and color during the sermon time. Alessandra’s mom Karen led the singing and Amy’s dad Yoe preached.

 

 

And now we’ve reached the part of the blog where I share pictures of things I’ve come across during my walks and drives.

 

 

This is how we wash the car, wash the car, wash the car…

 

 

In spite of the vast variety of delicious European pastries, donuts are pretty popular. At this particular store they are called “floopies”. No, I haven’t tried one. I’d rather have a chocolate filled croissant.

 

This is the pasaje where I’m staying. The missionaries’ house is on the left with the black halfway up the wall. This was taken just after dawn.

 

Just across the street is undeveloped land. You can see this kind of rocky terrain wherever there isn’t pavement. They aren’t really big on landscaping here.

 

Aw, look at the cute little street sweeper car! They only sweep one side of the streets because there are always cars parked on the other side.

 

 

These are the community trash and recycling bins. You’ll find them just a block or two from your house. Fortunately, ours are just at the end of the street.