Canary Islands, Spain

Lanzarote: AKA, Eternal Spring Island

Thankful for our housesitting families, two very unique sits in our experience box to places we would have never otherwise gone. Living in local villages in loving homes with darling pets is more rewarding than we anticipated. The interaction and cultural emersion is an experience we are both just diggin'.

We have been across the pod since the 13th of September and are ready for beach fun. Off the western coast of Africa , more specifically the island of Lanzarote, in the Canary Islands is where we landed for the next 8 days. No housesitting, just a beach vacation for the Pack Mules.

You can surf, see monk parakeets, drink some of the best wine in the world (apparently) see volcanoes, visit cactus farms, witness the work of César Manrique, drink 2.50 Euro island beer, hang on the beaches, chill with Europeans, eat out because it is cheeper than cooking, and soak up the sun. All just under a 5 hour flight from Edinburgh.

Off the coast of Africa. The Sarah Desert wind kept us cool.

80 degrees everyday with sun, sun sun. Cactus and Palm Trees adorn this island created by volcanic eruptions millions of years ago. The sharp black rock and towering volcano peaks are a swift reminder of the early beginnings of these Spanish islands.

The Islands are a territory of Spain, but are off the coast of Morocco and the Western Sahara. The island of Lanzarote has a very Spanish feel with a shit pot of European tourist. All buildings are painted white. We spoke to several people but did not find one American that week. Even the immigration facilitator said "oh, oh Americanos" Welcome. They assumed we were from the EU, but the passport reader did not and we had to queue.

Our villa was the upper one in the right corner wayyyyyy at the top of the steps. It was a fantastic place to open all the windows and doors and sleep with the breeze. The local green monk parakeets made fantastic quaker sounds and were fun to spot. The view of the valley, ocean and white painted houses was our fortune to see everyday. We got a lot of take away asian and even pizza one night. Groceries were very expensive and the villa was not equipped with cooking basics. Brett sometimes had a few local beers and some French fries for his daily grub.

Green Monk Parakeet. See him??

Super Cool Cat Houses to

help support the cat population which keeps the critters down. You don't see any cats until after 7pm.

The Spanish family that owned the villas were a delight. Kind, willing to help and English speaking. We were there in a high holiday season so the rates were on their top tier at 350 USD for the week. Pretty darn good bargain for a comfy week in the sun.

The People we met were British, Irish, Scottish and Spanish. Most on holiday. Local laborers were Spanish, and of course there were a fair amount of Chinese Shops. Some UK expats owned bars where fellow UK vacationers came down to warm up, take tops off and chill for the week. Budget airlines like Ryan Air and Easyjet make it affordable for the average human. The airport had a walking path around it that followed the sea. It was bazaar, people made an event of watching planes land directly overhead.

Because every island has an Irish Bar, we figured we may have a slight chance in hell to get our NFL game on a Sky Sports channel in a local pub. Soccer & Rugby is king, and we were lucky 6pm on Sunday all soccer matches were over. Our bar tender Anonthy, was so utterly shocked and amazed at the Americans being in his bar that he not only put the game on the big screen, he gave us Sportsman Bar T-shirts to take home. It was Spanish/Irish hospatitily at its best.

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THE PERFECT BEACH?

Sometimes our minds and expectations of how things are supposed to be, really are not. We are learning to settle into what really is rather than what we think things should be. Once we figured that out, the general experience of travel (and life really) is much more fun with a lot less pressure.

We have traveled to so, so many beach destinations. Each and everyone has a unique settle about it, and always something very endearing. At one time crystal blue water and pure white sand was what we thought of as a perfect beach. Today we can easily soak into the privilege of just being at any warm beach. Brett loves nothing more than being in the sea, he doesn't go anywhere without his snorkel and mask.

The beaches in Lanz were wide open, you could walk for miles and miles on golden sand and areas of volcanic black sand. There are black volcanic rocks in a lot of places so you had to be cautious of where you went in to take a dip. The temps of the water was warm enough to swim by most standards, but not mine. Brett dipped and snorkeled and swam everyday, but I spent more time in the water at the pool.

Grapes good for growing in the volcanic rock and sand? Yes, Lanz produces some award winning wine, apparently some of the best tasting in the world. We are not consumers of wine and don't get into that culture so we can't say first hand, but we did see the odd grape growing farms when we flew in.

With European tourists in a summer destination you get boobies, lots and lots of European boobies, all kinds you name it. There were even nude men on the public beaches. Europe is the continent what most embraces topless sunbathing and the vacation dwellers here did just that. Sorry, no boobie photos in this post.

It was WARM and SUNNY and a cool breeze kept unwanted flies away. It was a dreamy week of internet less bliss. Oh, did I mention that when we arrived at our Villa they said only very spotty internet in the public areas? It took a day, but we let this settle in and decided on a mostly internet free week of sun and reading. Truth be told, if we had internet we would have stayed another week for sure. We are so addicted.

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Come along.......this gypsy train is headed to France to enjoy the countryside. It is the only European country that we have been back to three times.