While exploring the island, we have been amazed by the amount of vegetation on the north side of the island (the wet side) including banana, mango, papaya and avocado trees and lots and lots of palm trees. On a trip to Los Telares, we visited a Gofio mill and learnt all about handicraft and agricultural traditions and the importance of palm honey to the island. Gofio is milled corn or wheat, but mostly corn today, which is then cooked with the final product resembling flour. It is used in many dishes as a thickener or, when mixed with palm honey and left to dry, it is then sliced and eaten as a sweet. When we were in a restaurant having fish stew, a dish of gofio was brought out, some of the stew liquid added to it and mixed in so that it resembled a paste and then we added a small amount into the stew. It has many uses and can be found everywhere. Another big product here is palm honey. Apparently, every palm tree is registered and you can’t just take the honey from it, you have to first obtain permission from the local administration and then you can only take the honey once every 5 years.

The flowers here are amazing too. We are used to seeing poinsettia plants everywhere around Christmas, well here they are tree sized and full of deep red flowers. If anyone can identify the pink flower above, We’d like to know what it is. Before it was fully opened, it resembled an artichoke and once opened, you can see for yourself how beautiful it is.