New Year's Day

1 January 2016

On Our first day here in the marina a man came knocking: offering himself as "crew for crossing the Atlantic". Ulric said no thanks and later we wondered: would ANYONE take on a complete stranger "off the pontoon" as their buddy for sailing across the Atlantic. Ulric would not... he would enlist friends many months in advance. I would not sail across the Atlantic full stop and I don't enjoy sharing my personal space with people - so I would probably go single-handed a million times sooner than offering a berth to a stranger.

We have had people knocking on our door in London: "I like this house! I quite fancy living here!" My reply has always been: "Our family lives here! We are not looking for a lodger!!"

There are some boats tied to a mooring buoy on the outside of the breakwater in this harbour. One of them is a small Polish boat, owned by a young romantic-looking guy with black curly hair. I have seen him talking to a young (late teenage or early 20s?!) Canarian girl a few times, on the breakwater. Today I observed her arriving and he, talking on his phone, had the dinghy ready for her, with a permanent rope that allows people to propel themselves back and forth between ship and quay. So this is how a tryst in Las Palmas pans out.... I hope the girl is over age and that she knows about contraceptives.... (With a nearly 16 year old son I cannot help thinking like a parent here...)

So today we visited the West Coast. Visibility was good so we actually saw Tenerife looming on the hazy horizon like Avalon. Mount Teide was very visible too.

Our first stop was in a town called Puerto de las Nievas: the Harbour of Snow. We tried to visit an archeological site we could NOT get into. There was no entrance, just a peppy tantalizing information board about excavations. It seems that they were building "dream houses on top of the Necropolis"... I bet those inhabitants will have interesting dreams....
About ghosts rising from the Necropolis, wondering why their peace is being disturbed....

The thing that has bothered me about this island so far is that there is a house wherever you can possible fit and build a house. Playa de Ingles is a nightmare: the dunes and lagoon can barely breathe, horse-shoe-ed in by hotels and casinos and tourist stuff. I love the ravine where the troglodytes live (where we observed bee keepers tending their hives).

Today we drove down the West Coast, or The Green Coast and finally met Gran Canaria in her Untamed Aspect. It was a relief!!! Mountains cascade down to the sea. Almost no houses!! Just one settlement called El Risco. Apparently this part of the island is a World Heritage (or Environment) Site... an ecological site.... And it was a relief. We saw some more excavations or "round houses" built from dry stone walls.

My greatest dream now is to visit the sites that the aboriginal Guanche people held sacred. More about that tomorrow....

We got back to Las Palmas by about 5 pm. No marathon, no road blocks.... Bliss.....

In 20 minutes time we will skype Sony and David in Victoria, Canada....after that we will fall in bed and embark on a great exploration of Gran Canaria's Wild Interior tomorrow morning...

Brendan says he loves being an only child.... Quinn and Elliott tried to play tricks on me last night: Quinn talking on the phone pretending to be Elliott etc. They were having a great night with Danny and some visitors. It feels both good and rather strange to give "The Brothers" some independence....

Imelda Almqvist

Last Palmas