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succulent growing beside storage shed behind the bodega at La Atlántida * Tenerife * Saturday, 14 September - Saturday, 21 September 2002 |
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Apple Expo Paris related info may be found in my special AppleBytes Report non-Apple Computer related Paris trip info may be found in my Paris Report |
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Some linked pics / stuff may open in a new browser window for convenience |
14 September 2002, Saturday - The flight from Paris was uneventful -- I was yawning a lot, and the duffle bag, carry-on with wheels and my attache case accompanied me on the plane to avoid having to wait for the checked-in baggage to finally roll out on those conveyor things.
Dinner was salmon, a small roll (which I had 2 of), salad, and a yummy pudding cake of some sort -- with two of those small bottles of red Rioja wine, of course -- a couple coffees afterward. And, just as I had imagined, the dinnerware was metal, at least the spoon and fork! The knife was plastic, and I laughed when I saw it -- I assume it was a reaction to 9-11, and a dumb reaction at that! A plastic knife could be just as dangerous as a metal one!
They handed out earphones to listen to whatever was on the large screen, but I was not really interested -- a lot of Iberia stuff with some tourist attractions thrown in to vary a little. I closed my eyes a couple times but could not fall asleep. The seats are very close to each other with little or no leg room -- not especially comfortable. One sort of gets used to it after a while.
I arrived at Madrid Barajas Airport before noon, and the connecting flight to Tenerife Norte airport (there are 2 major airports on this island, Reina Sofia (named after King Juan Carlos' Belgian wife) or Tenerife Sur, which serves most of the tourists who stay in the tourist traps in the south of the island -- and Tfe Norte, the old local / military airport near the university of La Laguna and about 10 minutes from my place) -- was just before 17h, so I sat in the snack area and had my usual coffee, listening to all the flights that were leaving for just about all European destinations via several airlines -- loads of travellers -- many young -- piles of cellphones, and a laptop or two that was visible. I almost fell asleep sitting there but forced myself to stay awake simply to keep my eyes on my luggage..
Luckily I did not have to change terminals or whatever. I asked at the information desk which seat they had given me at random, and it was a window seat, which they changed to an aisle seat.
OK, the flight was called at the other end of the terminal -- what a job dragging all my junk -- by this time it occurred to me that there was a shoulder strap on the large duffle bag, and that made things slightly easier, but I was sweating anyway! Then at the entrance one nasty gal said I had too much stuff to carry on, to which I replied that I just came from Paris on Iberia and they did not say a thing. Then -- along a long boarding passage that led to a steep flight of steps with no elevator option! DAMN! Somehow I made it down the stairs, only to find that one also had to board a bus to get to the freekin plane -- bus packed to the doors, but somehow I squeezed in -- and the plane was way at the other end of the airport, as usual, I guess.
At the plane, another long flight of stairs to climb, which I did step by step! Why complain -- I got on the plane, found my seat and stuffed my 2 larger bags in the overhead compartments and within about 20 minutes the plane was moving. We were finally on our way back to what I always considered home, a place that always seemed a lot more friendly and kewl that New Jersey ever appeared, for some reason. I imagined that things had changed since the last time I was to the island, so I really had no idea what to expect. Sitting beside me was a German and his girl friend -- he was even taller than I was and the small seat spaces had us both almost gasping for leg room! Incidently, he was reading the Harry Potter book, Goblet of Fire, in German! Even the hard cover was totally different than either the American and British editions.
The snack consisted of two really small half sandwiches of different kinds, a salad, one of those laughing cow cheeses and another kind of pudding cake. The two beside me ate all theirs, as little as there was, so I did not get anything extra except another roll and a second botle of red wine -- and a couple cups of coffee, of course!
In about 2 hours we started descending and I could catch glimpses of parts of the island -- home, at last!
I waited until last to get off, again down those stairs on wheels and onto another bus. The airport setup had changed somewhat, and the really nice teak section was no longer used, rather we got bussed to a smallish new section. Since I did not have to wait for my bags, I just left -- they did not even have anybody stamping passports or anything, which, as I recall, was also the case the last time I was here (which coincided with the day that Spain officially became a member of the EC) -- I guess they assume that all those on board are Europeans and since they do not have as many controls as they did before the European Community was established, everyone just walks through. I am not even sure that I even saw the usual customs agents/ police who were usually all over the place.
As I walked out, Horacio and Ima were there to greet me -- they both looked the same as I remembered them. Out to their car and they brought me up to my place, La Atlántida -- the main steel gate was changed because the last time I was here the old one was blown down by the winds, which can be very strong at about 800 metres. And the old one was not really made right anyway. My old key did not work, so I went next door to the neighbors and was effusively greeted by the daughters of Manolo -- he always helped me do work on the place -- matter of fact, he constructeed most of it for the former owner over 40 years ago! He was not there, and I was told that he remarried shortly after Doña America died, which was some weeks before my last visit -- way too soon, according to the daughters! He now lived in La Esperanza, the main town down the road. They gave me a gate key, which did not work, so I went back for another, which also did not open the lock. Luckily Horacio and I could walk down a dirt path running beside my property and climb over to my side.
Some changes were in the works. Adjoining my place there used to be a row of cedars and thorny blackberry bushes that were always hanging over from the path, owned by some guy down the road from me. I always had to trim the things to be able to tend the plants I had along the boundary in a waist-level plant area -- and not get scratched by the thorns. Well, all the trees and thistles were gone, and the guy started making a wall, which was nice, I guess -- it saved me the trouble of eventually making one. The only problem was that when he started making the wall, he took over a foot of my property to do it, apparently because the dirt path was not wide enough for a car/truck. Manolo denounced him and since then work had been sort of halted. The guy also removed the water supply pipe I had installed, and I had no water! Small details. I had a plant bed raised some two feet off the driveway level that was about a yard wide. To make the new cinderblock wall separating the properties, the guy removed the low wall I had with all my plants, and he replaced it with a series of raised areas for plants which are not as wide as before -- and not all together in a single line. Not a real problem because it sort of looks kewl, with some reservations.
I figured which of the many keys opened the main door, and we went inside -- no lights, so I had to go to the bodega, a smaller building behind the house that I use for storage, to turn on the electricity. Luckily it worked -- I never had the electrical main shut off because they charge for turning it off and it takes some days for them to connect again, for which they charge, of course. The inside was just as I had left it, with the usual cobwebs and some dust. I left my two larger bags there and went with my attache case to La Laguna with Horacio and Ima -- we stopped along the road to a really kewl local restaurant for dinner, which was the first real meal I had since I left Trenton on the 8 September. Large plates of three different things which we selected for our own plates -- fried small peppers (which I never had before -- they were yummy), calemares (squid) and french fries, and a plate of rebozado = fried shrimp, onion, mushrooms and olives in an omlet style dish -- everything washed down with the local red wine, of course. The place was packed, as most usually are on a weekend -- it was an old country house with many rooms that was converted to a restaurant. I asked about coffee, and Horacio said I would spend the night at his apartment in La Laguna and have coffee there.
Of course he had coffee ready to heat up! We chatted until 3am -- he set me up in a folding bed in his study because Ima's mom was staying in the guest room -- he had a new refractor telescope, which was a surprise. Talk ranged from 9-11, to how there never seemed to be any video footage of any plane actually crashing into the Pentagon, just an explosion -- which seemed sort of strange to him due to the many surveillance cameras which must be all over the place at the Pentagon -- actually, I never thought about it very much, just accepting the official version. I did not recall ever seeing bits and pieces of plane wreckage at the site -- he suggested it was a missle that hit the Pentagon and not a plane! hmmmmmm -- interesting twist to what we were all fed by the media -- apparently their news had a slightly different twist, as does that of Europe in general!
I gave him a couple turtle toys I found back home -- and forgot to bring others that I had stashed for him -- he has a neato collection of turtle figures from around the world, some of which I brought him the last time I was here. His four turtles were now in a larger aquarium he had made for them, and they were just as inqisitive as usual. He got them as the small ones we know from pet shops, and after 6+ years, they had grown quite large -- 2 are the usual red-eared variety, another large one with a dark carapace from the Viet Nam area, and a smaller one, the most recent, from the Amazon, Platemys platicephala.
He said they go wild when they see a banana, which sort of surprised me -- so he broke off a three inch piece of banana and showed it to them, and they immediately began to jump up and down! He fed it to them by hand, and the two large ones snapped off pieces -- the fragments left over they somehow quickly found and also gobbled up. Apparently their sight and smell are extremely well developed, but he said their hearing is not all that good. They recognize him even from the doorway.
I asked him about adapters for American plugs, and he had one in his study, so I plugged in the recharger for the TiBook and showed him some of the stuff I had stashed on the puter. I shall go to the institute where he has his office to use their computer set-up to try to get online, hopefully some day this coming week. He said that an associate used a laptop and could possibly show me how to connect. I sort of think I shall need an ethernet cable, which I do not have.
Between coffees, he also served me a really fabulous liquor from Murcia, 43 -- although it does not say exactly what it is made of, I assume from the flavor that it must be 43 different herbs or whatever. I do not think I ever saw it in Trenton, but shall have to check -- if I have any spare change when I leave, I may buy a bottle to bring back. Outside we could hear fireworks, and it was the Fiesta del Cristo de La Laguna -- one of the major festivals of the university town.
OK, so around 3am we both turned in. I was tired, but not exactly as much as I imagined that I should be after the trip and all. I could have talked until daybreak, as I frequently did when I lived here! I really miss that sort of thing back in the States. I guess I slept like a log!
15 September 2002, Sunday - I got up around 9-ish, and Horacio had just gotten out of bed, and immediately put the coffee on in the usual stainless steel European expresso maker. I suggested that we go to the airport so I could hire a car -- the last time I was here I did not have enough money and depended on him to pick me up to do things in La Laguna, but since it was during the Christmas break at the uni, the couple times he got me were not that critical -- it rained every day that time and I spent most of my stay inside painting and doing other work. This time I have less money with me but I had to get a car.
I got the cheapest thing they had available (asking if they had an skate boards which might have been cheaper!), a Renault cleo, a smallish yellowish car with air conditioning and so many buttons, as the European cars always seem to have, that it was sort of confusing. The reverse is sort of weird -- on the shift thing one has to lift a ring and shift left-upward. The breaks are extremely responsive!
I followed him back to La Laguna for lunch at his place. Parking was easier than during the week. Ima prepared a fabulous curry rice dish loaded with just the right spices -- and not the kind we get in handy shaker bottles, rather the fresh stuff that one easily finds in the local market, where I would get all kinds of goodies including green tea by the pound. Chicken chunks completed the meal, with kewl fresh bread and red wine.
Coffee finished up the meal, and Horacio and I talked about all kinds of stuff, including plants, which is his research specialty at the university. He got a bunch of Protea seeds from South Africa and wants to plant them in the terreno they have near the coast in Guamasa (they have been working on the place since I was last here, and I cannot wait to see all they have done -- the vineyard is not producing this year due to the bad weather -- he said the seeds for the hummingbird vine I sent him from Trenton are growing nicely along some walls, but apparently have not yet bloomed as richly as they always do in NJ) -- that plant group includes many genera of unusually beautiful tropical flowers, macadamia nuts and many other interesting relatives. Apparently, the flowers and plants are very expensive.
I told him how I do the eBay thing to make ends meet, and he did not know that there is a Spanish eBay, although he checked it out for things related to the plants. He then drove me to the area where his office is, so when I have time I can find it later this week, hopefully -- a lot of sections of the university have moved to new buildings since I taught there. The older main building is now largely administrative offices.
Back to his place and up to the azotea, the roof area that holds the water deposits and place for hanging clothes, etc. From there we could see La Concepcion, the main Church in La Laguna, with its imposing torres and tall palms -- a roof top with some azoteas enclosed as separate rooms, and loads of various kinds of antennas and even satellite dishes -- constructions all over the place, this one conserving a small old religious building, probably protected by the Patrimonio Nacional as a historic landmark -- construction is by way of hormigon reforzado, concrete reenforced with steel rebar, and according to law, no new building may be more than three pisos = floors, which sort of maintains a kewl norm for not having a load of sky scrapers in the small town. There are many old one-two story old homes available, and even just the outside front wall and old entrance door leading to an overgrown piece of land -- one can see where the rooms and constructions used to be, always with a small patio and a garden -- some are for sale, others are legacies from generations past that belong to numerous children who may be thinking of building an apartment building or whatever. Jöelle, my French friend, the gal who had an African art gallery on Gran Canary island bought a run down house in a small pueblo 30+ years ago and fixed it up fabulously inside. Ande best of all, property taxes are unbelievably cheapo!
I left for La Atlántida to unpack and see what I could do about the lack of water. Since I did not have the key to the main gate, I had to walk that dirt path again and open the gates from the inside -- not a problem.
I swept the bathroom, bedoom and study superficially just to get the dust and webs out of the way -- there was not really all that much to clean, which always surprises me for a place that is totally closed when I am not there, often for years at a time, unfortunately! There are small air vents in the upper wall of the kitchen and both bathrooms, so some air does get in.
I checked the large bottle of gas under the sink and hooked it up to the line to the stove and the water heater. OK, now to see what to do about some water. Horacio loaned me a wrench to open the main valve, so I got a large pot, went out and opened the line near the enrance gate and rinsed the pot out in the gushing stream, filling it. I got my trusty expreso thing out, rinsed it and luckily I had coffee in the cabinet, so I made my first pot of java at the house -- what a delight. I had some cookies and small cakes left over from Paris, so I had my first snack at my desk. The radio was plugged in and I always listen to the Spanish news when I am sitting there.
I also noted that I had the foresight to install the Venezuelan type of outlets throughout the place, which includes the multi-system of plug thingys, so I did not even need an adapter to plug in the charger for the puter! The computer time was an hour later than it should have been, so I checked the options in the time menu -- there is only one setting for Spain which results in the same time as Paris, and an hour more than that in the Canaries, which corresponds with Greenwich Mean Time -- so I had to fish for something on that lengthy yet incomplete list that corresponded with Canary Time -- London!
I worked on more of the material about the Paris Expo and started this new page. It was dark already and there was a knock at the door and to my amazement it was Manolo and his new wife, Antonia! The usual hugs and a really warm greeting. He looks better than I ever remember him, probably due to the totally charming gal he married! He said they were there twice earlier but just missed me when I was there with Horacio.
He brought a pipe with spigot attachment to connect to the main water supply so I could attach the hose I had to hook up the water slightly more conveniently than just have it gush out the end of the pipe. A piece of cake, and basically just what I needed to easily get some water until the deposit on the roof is full and functioning. He told me about the problems with the guy who started the wall without previous communication -- which is obviously the best way to do something which is illegal! I mentioned that I saw his daughters and they did not seem especially thrilled about his remarrying -- he said they do not even talk to him, which is fine, of course -- they forget that they are living in his house, for starters, and that if he is happy now, that should really be their main focus, which it is not. OK, families can be weird sometimes, as we all know!
He said he put a much better reinforcenment bar on the main gate, (seen on the right, from the ground to near the top of the right half of the gate -- I have to paint it the usual black when I get a chance) but some damn idiot did not attach the support bar and a strong wind actually bent the solid metal locking mechanism, so he had to replace it two days ago -- he gave me 2 keys and kept one for himself, as usual. The gate has to be readjusted by the metal guy to get it realigned. I will also ask him if he can reattach the kewl decorative finiales that were on top of the old gate, which is in the back near the bodega. Then the two main columns supporting the gates have to be finished when Manolo has a chance.
He said the dude making the wall should clean up all the crap dumped in my driveway, and put back the water pipes -- among other things. Apparently he has been making himself scarce since Manolo made a complaint with the police about the illegal construction and all. He tried FAXing me, but I never have the fax machine on because I was getting loads of spams which waste a lot of the paper roll.
Somehow I doubt that the guy will do much more while I am there, so the new plant things will have to wait until my next trip to fill with some stuff.
They said they would be back tomorrow in the afternoon to see about the water deposit. I was invited to their place to take a shower, which I prefer not doing, and they said I could have dinner with them while I was there. When Manolo lived next door he always brought me a plate of chicken or steak (when they kept a cow or hog behind the house), french fries and other goodies to munch on. What a difference from back in the States where everybody stays in their own personal space and the neighbors are just faces that one may see every once in a while -- despite my attempts to have some kind of contact. We talked about some things, what my life is like in NJ -- I showed him a couple inside areas where there are minor leaks, probably due to broken roof tiles, and some of the painting I did the last time I was here.
At about midnight I decided that I should put some sheets and a blanket on the bed and be ready to crawl in when I was tired enough. I worked a while more on the laptop, then turned in.
16 September 2002, Monday - I got up about 7h. Well, I had not had a shower since I left home and was getting slightly raunchy! I did wash up in my room in Paris from head to foot, thanks to the bidet, a usual thing in most European rooming houses and hotels -- washed my hair in the sink. OK, how was I going to do this without water in the shower? The hose outside worked, so I spread it out to warm in the sun. I simply went out in front of my second bathroom / darkroom (the right window) and study (the left window) where there was a cinderblock and a cement slab on top, dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, I turned on the hose and showered! (Hey, it occurred to me to open the main gate and charge admission to the show!) The water was sort of coldish, but no worse than swimming at the shore at the start of the summer -- sort of invigorating. I changed clothes and started mopping only the areas that I actually walked through -- dusted a little. I can clean the rest later when I feel up to it. My hip was in pain, and I remembered I had not taken my pill yet. I noticed that I still have parts of some wood furniture to finish giving a coat of acete de teca, and several walls must yet be done in white. The bedroom door is the only one I did not do in a semi-gloss beige. Hopefully I shall do all these things before I leave so I have less work the next time. The guestroom with the bunkbeds has to be done also, but first I have to organize the bodega and pile miscellaneous stuff from the guest room in there.
I went out to take a couple pics, and already had to change the batteries -- I have one set left.
This is the driveway with the new reduced-size plant sections and that wall on the right -- you can see the line of the original width of the plant areas just to the right of the stone driveway. The back of the property is accessed via a path past the bodega, where there is a very large water deposit on which are the uprights to make another large room -- which I hope to do eventually. Between the roof tiles, as is usual here in the islands, an endemic variety of Euphorbia takes root!
Just past that hormongous spikey plant are a couple orange trees, and on the far side of the water deposit are several lemon trees, chock full of ripe fruit! There are hopefully still several terraces below that having apple and pear trees, going downward to a dry ravine -- I have not even looked back there yet!
At about 15h I was getting hunger pangs, so I took the car down the road to see what goodies I might get for sandwiches and all. Curiously they were all closed. Back home. It is just a good thing I have a car this time. The road in front of my place is a steep mountain thing, and the last time I was here, walking down was not particularly difficult if you walk sort of leaning backward. Since it was always raining, coming back up with an umbrella and a bag or two of goodies was pure hell!
I went next door and asked Monica (Manolo's daughter) if it was a holiday, but no -- siesta time until about 16-17h, when the stores open again! I went up to her second floor home -- she has two kids, a 10 year old boy and an older girl, Ima -- Adam has a PC, but only uses it for games and is not online. I had never seen her home before -- when Manolo lived downstairs, I would visit his place almost on a daily basis. WOWSERS! Very beautiful and totally clean and organized -- not a surprise -- what a difference from what I find among the hispanos in Trenton who think they are sooooo refined and cultured! We chatted about things -- her husband died a couple months ago of some rare bone disease and she was dressed in black -- which I noticed but did not want to ask why.
She gathered a bunch of bananas, some apples, an avocado (my favorite fruit!), a large slice of queso blanco (a local goat cheese which is also my favorite!), bread, a bottle of orange drink and an almost full bottle of local red wine. She asked me if I had anything to wash -- which was a bad idea because there was a large bag of used things I left near the door the last time I was here. She said to bring it over and she would do it little by little. They always did my wash after the small washing machine I had broke -- another example of the neighborliness that I always found here.
So I went back to my kitchen, cleaned the table and had my first meal in La Atlántida. In the cabinet I had coffee, a bag of green tea, all kinds of spices, and a fridge that is 20+ years old with the door half still attached, rust spots all over and all, but it still works, using a transformer to switch from the old 110V I used to have at the house to the 220V (which is the normal current here -- 50 Hz) I changed to some years ago. If I had the money I would get a new one, but it is not really necessary this time. One learns to make due with what works, one way or another.
Later I had another visitor, Alexis (Alizes), the nice neighbor from about five houses down my road who took my pipes out and did the wall thing! I was expecting some old local dude, and here was a really chachi (=kewl) young dude -- a sculptor! He works in a white rock native to the south of the Island. Well, naturally, we talked for over an hour about the work he was doing, among other things. I found him quite reasonable and somewhat less egoistic/self-interested than I almost expected -- which took a real lot of the edge off -- frankly I was VERY pissed!!
I suggested that I would have preferred the plant section just as wide as they were -- I did not mind the spaces he made between smaller sections but really wanted them from one end to the other, as they used to be. One open space was OK for a large flower pot or seat or whatever. Manolo said that plastic pipes would be better than the metal ones that were there, and mentioned it to him. Whatever the pipes were made of they should be on the wall behind the plant section for easy access, and perhaps a spigot for attaching a hose might be kewl in the single open space.
He showed me the wall in the back part of my place -- part had collapsed and all the shit fell onto one of the terraces of my orchard -- that he would clean up -- I said he could use the bits and pieces as base for other stuff he would be doing, and he agreed. The wall along the house should be horizontal along its length and one cinderblock higher than it is now, more or less close to the top of the gate posts. It may take some adjusting to get it more or less straight, as there is a slight dip in the driveway. Not a problem.
OK, he also offered me the sum of 50k pesetas for the ground he expropriated -- which is about $400 -- I would have preferred him mentioning the amount in Euros simply because they do not use pesetas any more. I told him I would talk with Manolo and Horacio to see what they think -- and we parted on relatively friendly terms.
I worked on the Paris trip, adding some loose pics I had, and this part -- I got tired around 22h and went to rest in bed. After about a half hour Manolo and Antonia stopped by to see what was new, and I told him that Alexis stopped by to talk about stuff. He looked over the work and made some suggestions. He and Antonia said they would pick me up for lunch tomorrow. I went back to bed. Zzzzzzzzzzz
17 September 2002, Tuesday - I awoke about 9h and made a fresh pot of coffee -- since I add water, a pot lasts me four large mugs. A knock at the door and it was Alexis and Victor, who arrived to work on the pipes and get the plant section set up. Alexis showed me some things related to the type of sculpture he does (when I get back to Trenton I shall scan some things and add it to my shaggy dog story, so stay tuned -- it should be finished by the end of October). Manolo and Antonia also showed up while the guys were doing the pipe thing and kept an eye on how and where. Manolo, with his 75 years, set up an old ladder in front and went up onto the roof to see if there was water in the deposit, taking the hose with him to put some water in the thing -- in the background you can see the deposits on the roof next door. Alexis brought over the cement mixer and was ready to work -- which was a mild surprise.
After digging the main water connection to the house near the bodega out of the gravel and stuff they dumpd there, it was a simple task to connect the pipes to the main line from the street. By noon the water was flowing normally -- what a delight! I was running around to all the faucets, inside and out, letting out the air and the sediment from the pipes. Now came the job of making the plant sections wider, and for the time being the water pipe simply lay below the planting area -- it will eventually go along the wall at the level of the planters. Manolo left and would be back about 15h to take me down to La Esperanza for lunch.
I worked more on some new pics and continued the story while it was still sort of fresh in my wandering overly occupied mind. Manolo showed up and we went down to the pueblo. Their (Antonia's) place is on the far side of town, and is quite large, with a separate home for her daughter, a bunch of animals including about 6 dogs that I saw (belonging to one of her son's, and I think there were a couple more), many chickens of several varieties, rabbits and some ferrets that they use to hunt rabbits. The dogs were not exactly friendly, but at least sniffed me -- I could not get to pet them, which is sort of expected as they live chained outside in a covered area and are not exactly house pets. A German Shepherd, 2 mastiff-looking ones, and three slim ones, sort of greyhound-like, used for hunting.
The land is planted with many flowers, wine grapes (which were dried up due to the weather they had been having), various veggies and other edibles. The house is elegant yet sort of simple. Antonia attended adult classes for ceramics and painting, and she showed me a ceramic dish she had made in the old pre-Hispanic Guanche tradition. She also did an oil of plants and started another with two cats. Not bad -- way better than the works of many beginners I have seen!
Lunch is served -- a yummy chicken soup with fideos and garbanzos, a plate full of papas arrugadas (small potatoes cooked with a lot of salt), chicken breast, meat balls in sauce (the sauce was great for the papas), a monster salad of lettuce, onion, tomato, olives and avocado, bread and red wine from Tacoronte. And Antonia gave me a heaping large plate of cactus fruits, already pealed, which I had not eaten for many years -- having the skin with spines removed was a plus!
I mentioned that I was not sure how my Spanish would be since I never speak it at home except with the cats -- Antonia said she did not expect me to be able to converse as fluently as I do. Somehow it all just seemed to flow back to me, and only a few times do I have to stop to fish for a word.
Coffee followed, and they took me to see Manolo's son, Juan, who was now living with a gal in La Esperanza and had opened his own bar / restaurant about two months ago. A very nice place, well set up -- his many years as the chef of other well-known eateries in the area should be a huge asset.
Among other things I found that Manolo really did not marry Antonia -- they just live together in her place -- she has two sons and two daughters, and all of them are happy with the new living-together arrangement of their mom and Manolo. They had been to Portugal, France and Madeira since being together. She used a cell phone, but had no computer -- I sort of think the TV takes the place of a puter for their entertainment.
Back up to La Atlántida -- GAWD! What a surprise! Alexis and a couple other hunks, Victor, and Santi (under the watchful eyes of Manolo) had already started making the plant section wider and all in a single line except for the one space (you can see the cinder blocks they left on the bottom row of the previous width). After a while Alexis (on left) and Victor started nailing the wood to where the reinforcement posts would go between the sections of block in the wall. Hey, I know that this kind of work is not something that takes weeks (simply because I had done it before), but they were working at a good pace and had enough pals helping out! It is now 20h and they are still filling cement in the spaces for the reinforcements and working on the section near the bodega!
Actually, it occurred to me to put a koi pond, of sorts, in part of that section I had for plants. If and when I ever come back for a longer stay, I may simply dig out a section and put in some reinforced cement walls, sloping to one end, perhaps three feet deep at the deep end -- maybe having a lower level for a water fall. Using the same rubber compound I used on the ponds in Trenton on the cement walls, a pump and filter, it would be a kewl addition, and there is no other space in which I could do one that was not around trees and all which would contribute leaves and other detritus to the water. Horacio wants to make one on his terreno, and when I go there I can see more or less what he is thinking of doing.
Break time -- and a wrap for the night (just before 21h). I passed out a couple beers and orange drink, and we all (already six of them) sat around near the work and they talked about how much material was needed to finish the block work, then finish off the exterior surface. I would get paint and when all the cement was dry give it all a coat of white and maybe even plant some things that are all over the place -- cacti included, I guess. We shall see how it progresses.
I asked Alexis if he had ordered the prefab wooden home he wants to put up in the back part of his finca, adjoining mine -- he wants to use it as a taller, and he apparently has some large blocks of the stone he works in on the property -- I think the prefab is made in Venezuela or Argentina -- one of the other guys said it would take 6 months to deliver once he has the order in. A wooden structure such as this is quite rare in the Canaries.
I also have to go down to La Laguna to check with the bank to see why they have not been paying the utilities as was arranged the last time I was here (it is most probably due to no balance in my checking account!) -- and get to Horacio's office so I can try to get all of my shaggy canary story online. Since AOL emails are so sucky, I do not even think I shall try to see what is sitting there waiting for me -- my most sincere regrets to those who may be trying to contact me, but I simply do not find email access away from the States anywhere nearly as easy as that which we are used to in the USA. Yes, if you want to play with it a while, one can get to highlight text (ALL OF IT! -- I cannot just drag and drop parts of the original email in my reply), and make CC copies and all, but it is just a tad convoluted for me. And not having access to message boards is a real bummer!
Across from the desk in my study there is a photo of the Spanish singer, Maria Dolores Pradera, Jesús (a friend from Madrid back then, who lived in the Canaries) and me at an African art exhibit I helped organize with Jöelle on Gran Canary island in the late 60s.
I wished I had brought my iPod, but all of a sudden it dawned on me that I have a lot of her songs in iTunes, right on the TiBook! duh! So today I have been listening to her stuff, and others by Chavela Vargas, Julio Iglesias and Gloria Estefan. Maybe tomorrow I shall listen to a bunch of MP3s I have of the local folk group, Los Sabandeños.
I hear on the radio that there are strong rain storms forecast for various parts of peninsular Spain -- up to 100 liters per square meter in some places! That is a lot of precipitation. The winds have only infrequently been sort of gusty since I got here, and the weather has been semi-summer like -- right now it is 70 degrees in the living room, and it says 23.5 degrees Centigrade (= Celsius) on the lab thermometer I have on my desk.
18 September 2002, Wednesday - I got up a couple times -- about 01h I ate five of the juicy cactus fruits -- this last time about 03h -- had a really erotic dream, which is extremely unusual for me as I rarely fantasize even in my sleep -- my resting mind is usually still trying to find the answers to things I could not remember during the wake stage (hmmmmmmm -- I wonder if that is why a lot of people find me somewhat boring, awake or asleep?). I remembered the names of some graphic arts annuals that I was trying to think of for the Paris Expo part -- luckily I always have a small notebook near the bed to jot down things that occur to me in the brief span between sleep/awake -- curiously that has also been the time when several research ideas came to me in a flash of insight.
I made a fresh pot of expresso and launched OSX for the first time since making the partitions, to see if I had the Internet Explorer browser, which I do -- the OSX version. It is vaguely possible that it works better than the IE on the OS9 volume -- shall check it out if and when I can get online. OK, back to bed.
It is now 10:25h -- I showered for the first time, and am now having coffee and a cheese sandwich on sort of the type of sliced white bread we are used to, but the slices are smaller and thinner -- I took the dumb pill. The dudes are already here, Alexis filled the cement mixer with gas-oil, and they are ready to start again. I walked down his path to where he has some of the stone he uses for his sculptures -- quite heavy. I saw the space where he wants to put the house, but he has to clear it out a lot more for anything to fit, and make a retaining wall.
OMG! What a shocker! For those of you who followed my last Tenerife trip report -- Bonny and Bluebeary's Excellent Adventure -- that trip centered on the adventures of a wayward bear (Bluebeary) and a lonesome horny chick (Bonny). Well, when I looked outside, I was amazed to find them both finishing off a Dorada fria, a local beer (the non-alcoholic version, of course!), and sunning themselves on part of the construction! Bonny, being as hot and salida as she always was, stared intently at the young shirtless hunks as the did their work -- Bluebeary did not seem to notice.
Yesterday Manolo gave me some papers the bank always sends to his place next door and apparently there are only about 15 Euros in my checking account, which amounts to some $15. I started a minimal retirement plan the last time I was here, and cannot figure out what is on the papers -- in theory it kicks in when I am 65, but the monthly payments would amount to only about $20, as I recall -- it depends on how much I could contribute and for how long. Since they do not send anything about savings accounts, I have no idea what is in mine, but it cannot be more than about 100 Euros.
OK, let us see some of my study -- the door is from the entrance/living room; the walls have to be painted -- my desk that I got in the Madrid rastro (flea market) in the early 60s; the TiBook is there -- across from my desk is a display case with goodies in it; above is a large oil by Pedro Gonzalez, perhaps the most famous artist of the island; he was also Alcalde of La Laguna (Mayor) and professor in the art school; it is from his Cosmo Arte style of the late 60s; that wall is between the door to the living room (left) and the door to the second bathroom which I used as a darkroom for black and white photos -- another smaller PG is above the darkroom door -- a later style from 1975 is above the living room door.
The living room is at the entrance. The front wall is covered in stone (note the roof, which slants up to the center of the chalet) and a Spanish-style table holds a kewl 17th century bronze Thai Buddha, a wrought iron candelabra and an African headrest; an old tinaja hangs from a macrame thingy I made, below which is also a three light candle which I also used to make; more books on the right -- between the study and kitchen doors is another shelf I had made, with books, various ceramics (some typical of the Canaries); on top is an African game board, the nicest of the several I have -- between the kitchen door and the small walkway to the main bathroom and the guest room is a Spanish colonial style piece; you may note the parts that I gave a coat of acete de teca the last time I was here; more ceramics and glass, as well as where I keep the liquors, electrical stuff and general fix-up things. Vintage hand-colored maps of the Canary Islands are on the walls. The back wall is teak and is where the fire place is - the door leads to the bedroom.
The kitchen is on the left side of the house, and has a door to the exterior walkway along that side of the house -- water heater on the right, new stove from the last trip, with the tile background that I made of different types of tiles to represent cactus in flower -- monastic-like table and leather accented Spanish-style chairs -- sloping roof with one of several decorative tiles -- the door to the living room, ancient fridge and stove with expresso maker.
The dudes took a break for lunch -- I had an avocado, four cactus fruits, a piece of chocolate and more coffee -- I weeded a small section of succulents and cacti on part of the front wall, sticking myself several times with thorns that are at least four inches long, easy to get out -- put some small cactus sprouts in another section. There is a pile of rocks/cement and other junk against the wall that I have to move for easier access to the plant section. A view from the front road at this part of the wall that I weeded around the plants.
For the first time I went to the back part behind the bodega where the monster aljibe (rain water deposit) is located, on top of which I eventually want to build a large room -- this is the outer left corner with a view of what the windows would eventually look out onto -- on the other end, one of the lemon trees on the terrace below has overgrown slightly -- loads of lemons on some of the trees, some of which I picked and made a great lemonade -- from the side of the aljibe one can see the path down to the several terraces with fruit trees, and the new wall for the road that Alexis is making to his future atelier; on the left is a planter that runs along the sides of the aljibe.
I guess seeing others hard at work is catching, so I opened up the can of Teakoil I used about half of the last time and started doing the tedious parts of that piece in the living room -- finished the remaining three drawers, the bar section and the two on the ends with the doors having the damn two rows of turned knobs -- gave a second coat to the back of a wardrobe in the guest room because there was some minimal mold on it when I got here. Still a lot to do, including some baseboard tiles, my bedroom door and a few walls and ceilings, but I do not have any white left.
I met Alexis' mother (Blanca), who I sort of remember from before and was surprised that he invited me for dinner when they finished work about 19h -- it is now 23:30h, I started a fresh pot of coffee -- and the fresh paint is tacky as hell! It is still 70 degrees inside the house, where it was all day today.
Well, I met the family dogs, all four of them, including an overly friendly bulldog and a cute smallish mutt, Filimina -- all outside doggies (without chains), each replete with fleas, as they usually are. The mom, dad (Emelio), brother (Arístida) and three cousins (Victor, Alexis #2 and the younger Santiago, Santi, for short) were at the table, set with papas arrugadas, whole sardine-like fish (the big kind), salad, mojo (the typical sauce for the papas), local red wine -- and ice cream -- I stuffed myself, as usually happens on such occasions (maybe that is why nobody ever invites me a second time?)! I finished last because I guess I talked the most -- they brought up the subjects, which ranged from 9-11, Bush, Franco, the Malvinas, Barcelona and the ETA, Gibraltar, politics / business interests, computers (which none of them have), cell phones and cancer (brought up by his dad), life here and life in the States, among other topics which extended more than an hour after the meal!
His father said that years ago, before the advent of cell phones, the fad was the small transistor radio. A lady goes into the local doctor's office, had the radio up to her ear all the while listening to Simplemente Maria, told the MD what was bothering her and got a prescription. She went to the pharmacy to fill it -- it was for 2 batteries!
I guess some may invite me over once just to sondearme, to see more or less what I am like or whatever. I have no idea what impression I actually make, as if I care -- I am just being myself and chatting about whatever topic comes up - and talk we do! Rarely, if ever, do things get quasi-confrontational or more personal than what I studied or whatever.
Damn, this page is already about 68 kbytes, so I may start a second page before long -- I do seem to go on, and on, and on.........
19 September 2002, Thursday - At about 04h I got up and started adapting the Paris - Tenerife material to stash in my memoirs section, Remembrances of Skies Past, where it belongs as an important out-of-the-ordinary activity in my life. The different pages will continue to remain on the two servers, but will be linked in several individual web pages. It is now 06:15 and I am yawning, so I guess it is back to bed.
I got up at 10h and the guys just arrived. They took the board from the new cement with rebar they laid on top the wall for reinforcement. I guess the bank will have to wait until they are more or less done. I think that Alexis leaves for Barcelona tomorrow, so I doubt any work will be done in his absence. They have been putting a white cement layer over the new wall section -- which saves me from having to paint it. They trowel it on, then use a sponge to smooth it out -- it looks great!
The bottom part of that shelf/cabinet-thing in the living room still had to be done -- three doors and the inside part of the entire lower end. The paint from yesterday is still tacky, so I could not put anything back in the cabinet and the stuff was all over the floor, as well as the three drawers to dry. The lower part was slightly more difficult simply because I had to sort of lay on the floor with a work light to see what I was doing. There was a small thingy for shoes that looked like it needed a coat of teakoil -- six wood framed ceramic thingys and the mirror in the living room all now look great -- I hope it does not take a week to dry so I can put stuff where it goes and be able to clean thoroughly.
I hate things all over the place, which one might never surmise if they saw my apartment in Trenton -- but, as I said before, one makes due with what they can, for the moment -- or long series of seemingly endless moments!
By 17h I was done and had some cheese, an avocado, four cactus fruits and some lemonade for lunch.
Monica from next door, Manolo and Horacio have not stopped by since I last saw them -- it is a work week, so I guess they have their own things to do. Manolo and Antonia go to the south of the island for weekends, so I will not see them until next week. I really have not used the car except to come here, and moving it from the driveway to the front of the place when the guys are working, and back again after dark when they leave.
Well, they finished redoing the plant thing, cleaned up all he crap they dumped in my driveway before I arrived, and now only have to change the pipe to the wall behind the plant area. The coating of white finishing cement looks kewl -- and I even took some of my grandmother's iris from around the bodega and planted a few in their new home -- as well as some cacti and succulents. I was a bit tired so I rested a while in bed until 20:30h when I was invited to Alexis parents' place for dinner again. I asked Alexis (his full name is Guillermo Elizes Díaz Ramos) if it took longer to tear down the original wall and plant sections or to redo them they way they were -- he said it was easier to remove because he used some kind of an mechanized shovel/earth mover!
I was tired for some reason so I rested in bed until 20:30h when I went down to Elizes -- when I usually come here I always bring some Beanies for the kids and something for Manolo, his kids and Horacio. This time I did not have room for more than a couple small things for Horacio and a leather jacket, so I decided to give the jacket to Elizes.
Dinner was papas arrugadas, mojo, chicken, tortilla, wine and flan for desert -- have not had flan since the last visit. An interesting observation was that they usually peel the small potatoes before eating them -- when I first ate with them yesterday I did not peel mine (I never do/did) and tonight none of them except Victor peeled theirs! Some cats appeared at the window (not friendly enough to allow me to pet them or anything, simply because they are not house cats and are not used to being handled) and I gave them some chicken bones, something that they never do. The mom then gave them some more -- hey, it is less for the trash!
They mostly talked about wine and how some local growers mix new wine with better stuff -- about hunting, sports and other local stuff -- then Arístida, the brother of Elizes, who sort of looks like the somewhat leftist Spanish socialist politician, Felipe Gonzalez, started on computers (he is a sort of quiet one who I suspish has a lot of political ideas that he did not seem to say much about) -- I sort of explained some basic stuff about being online. He asked about Apple and the differences between Apple/PCs -- I went on to the founding of both companies and the way they have developed -- how many copanies use PCs, then when their employees get one for home they get the same thing they use at the office -- yada, yada, yada. Since I noted an interest, at about 23h I went back up the hill (with some hip discomfort) to get the TiBook and show them some stuff. They saw my cats and new kittens, the genealogy pages, and the present story and some of the Paris stuff. I launched iTunes and played a couple things by Roberto Carlos, who was the favorite cantantes of the dad of one of the cousins. For Arístida we listened to a couple by Juan Manual Serrat, a leftlist leaning Catalan folk singer.
Arístida showed an interest in the IR mouse, which he had never seen before, and asked if Apple is compatible with PCs -- OK, another 40 minutes talking about programs, web searches, and other stuff -- the dad said there was a scandal when on some web page a pic appeared of the Spanish head of state with horns and other additions -- I explained that I can grab any pic from the Internet and add or delete anything I want to on the pic -- we went into hackers and other puter-related themes. Even the mom and dad seemed glued to all the conversation, which I thought was kewl.
His mom gave me some tortilla and chicken for snacks tomorrow.
With the attache case I went back up to La Atlántida slower than before, and went to bed.
20 September 2002, Friday - Got up at 11h -- could hardly move. I went out to look at the wall work -- not bad, not as sort of exacting as I would have done it, but better than I remember the old one. I got some more plants from those sort of reachable in various places and started planting a few. When I got to one pot to plant, I started digging and right below the surface was the old-new cinder blocks from the wall they made less wide than it originally was, three of which I had to smash to have room to plant the thing! Not only that, they dumped other blocks that were lying around, and I had to take them out and just threw them under the plum tree -- what it meant is that they did not have to refill the sections with as much soil as they originally had, and I told Elizes NOT TO just dump that crap in there!! Here you can see the plant, finally in enough space to plant, and a pile of block fragments I had to remove to be able to plant the thing. One of the of cactus I found growing along the aljibe was in flower, and I planted some sprouts in the new section.
For some reason I had a lot of hip pain at this point and perhaps forgot to take the capsule, so I took the thing and made another pot of java. Because I could hardly walk I did not get down to the bank, as I wanted to do -- it will hopefully still be there next week -- incidently, the Banco de Bilbao Vizcaya stocks are in a downward spin, as are most others here.
This is a view from the entrance gates, with the driveway totally clean except for a lot of dried grass overgrowing the stone slabs -- the nice lawn I used to have is just dry and weedy, so that may be a job for the next trip-- and another pic from the door to the house. What a delightful change from the scene that awaited me on my arrival!
Manolo and Antonia stopped up on the way to the south to see the job and say they will have to check to see that the water pipes are placed at the back of the wall, as Elizes knows already, because that is where it was before. He also suggested that Elizes not cut the iron rods that are still sticking up from the wall so I can perhaps add something on top for more privacy -- actually the trees and stuff that were there, on Elizes' side, were at least ten feet higher than the wall now is, which did close off the view a lot more.
Although it was sunny earlier, at 17h the temperature is 66 degrees, the humidity 52% in the house, and the bruma, the low clouds, are rolling into the valley. It started getting cooler last night, and I had to put on long pants and a jacket when I went down to dinner.
Out of curiosity, I just measured the length of the new plant area -- 24.8 meters, at ±3.5 feet/meter = more or less 88.6 feet long, and slightly over 4 feet wide. The top of the wall is at 6.3 feet above the surface of the driveway -- the driveway is 10.3 feet wide. The house measures 12.8 x 6.62 meters = about 45.8 long x 23.7 feet wide. The bodega is 16.3 x 16.3 feet. [all outside measurements] It is all somewhat larger than I had imagined somehow. I may measure the unfinished construction on top of the aljibe in back before I leave. Add to this over an acre of several terraces leading down the the mini-ravine, all planted with some 40 fruit trees (largely untended, unfortunately), and no wonder I like the place -- super quiet, stuck in the mountains and all. Almost tooooooo quiet -- and the night sky is clear as anything -- an ideal spot for my eight inch reflecting telescope -- some day!
KEWL, Horacio came over with cement to fill a hole in my study ceiling that could not be worked on last time due to the constant rains and high humidity. He then said we would go to have something to eat, but since I was not walking too well I said some other day -- Elizes also popped in, finally, to say he was leaving for a week in Barcelona to visit some pals -- I mentioned the water pipes having to be changed and the damn rocks and shit I found while trying to plant stuff, and how I had problems moving after planting a couple things. I also had to bring up the payment for the ground he illegally expropriated, as it seemed he had forgotten that detail -- Manolo said the amount he offered me was sort of lowish, and I mentioned it to Elizes, adding that Manolo told me he told him he would exchange a terrace in back instead of money, but I really did not need the extra ground and was not the greedy type, accepting the 500k Pesetas he proposed, which amounted to 300 Euros (but Elizes mentioned it was about 200 Euros, but, as always, Horacio knew exactly the rate!). Horacio went out to get something to eat, and Elizes returned with the cash. We parted on what I consider friendly terms -- thus far.
Horacio returned shortly thereafter with four arrepas, a Venezuelan speciaty, distantly sort of like tacos but way better -- filled with shredded beef and a fantastic typical sauce -- and beer. We talked a lot about computers, which he seemed well informed about, although he does not have one. He knew all the terms in English and Spanish, which mildly surprised me -- but then again he is also a Capricorn and we are amazingly similar in many ways. I was going to bring up UNIX and OSX, but did not want to complicate things -- two minutes later he asked me about UNIX! I then went on and on about the difference between OS9 and OSX, including Jaguar (and the UNIX underpinning) -- and we talked about the difference between PCs and the Apple operating system -- in some detail. He did mention the error messages and freezes in the puter at the institute, and how the entire system goes down at frequent intervals! I was going to show him the difference between 9.2 and X, but it was 22:30h and he had to get back to La Laguna for a call he was expecting -- and no, he does not have a cell phone and sounded exactly like me when describing their dumb frequent, almost recreational use in the islands -- on busses, in restaurants, in the street, driving (which is against the law here) and everywhere else imaginable!
It is past midnight and time for bed. The skies are semi-clear and I went out to see how everything looks in the moonlight.
21 September 2002, Saturday - Up at 9h -- put on more coffee and had some crackers and the tortilla left over from two nights ago. The first parts of that thing I painted was sort of dry, so I started putting bottles of liquor and glassware where they go -- the drawers were OK, so they went back in -- the bottom part is still tacky so I shall have to wait to load the stuff back there.
I was getting ready to take a shower when Horacio arrived again to finish the patching in the study ceiling. When it dries I hope to paint that room and apply a liquid to the old composition floor tiles to make them impervious to the moisture below which always seems to creap through when I am not here.
He told me that that plant beneith one of the plum trees, which I always called elephant ears (Monstera deliciosa), had some fruit on it, which is very rare at this altitude -- they grow faster near the coast. I really did not notice them before -- there apparently was a flower that was sort of like a cala lily, and the fruit takes a year to mature, after which it is edible and tastes like a banana! He said that few people know they are edible. The plant is tropical, naturally, and climbs even palm trees -- he showed me where it was beginning to climb the plum tree, and how I can cut it to make new plants, which I shall do -- apparently there are several places to make some cuts, so I should be able to get four or five new plants from it.
He also identified the two succulents at the front wall as species of Aloe -- and that hormongous extremely spikey thing behind the bodega as Agave sisalana, from which sesal is obtained; it only flowers once on a very tall spike, then dies, and there are usually some hijos (new plants) growing from it (we found a couple growing between some paving stones and I shall plant them in the new plant section until they get larger, then plant them in the back near Elizes' retaining wall where they are out of the way). He suggested cutting the large one down and just starting new ones, simple because it has become way too large where it is now -- a good idea but I do not have time and maybe it may flower the next time and die all by its self. He left and would be back again at 18h to visit his finca.
I planted some more plants, including hijos of the spikey Agave -- another entire cinder block and other escombros (left overs from the wall work) had to be removed from the soil again -- got most of the junk that had been sitting in the yard in front of my study, around the plum trees, and I dumped a bunch of the shit in back just to get it out of the way. It was now 17:30 and I was sort of tired and went to bed.
I hear something chirping at the window and it was Horacio -- it was 18h exactly, and he was on time, as I usually try to be! I changed clothes while he smoothed out the ceiling patch work with a sponge -- it looks great. Then down to Guamasa...
The last time I was there was shortly after he got the land -- it was just some ground with a couple piles of huge rocks and overgrown with whatever, with some walls in the back and sides. Now there was a new front wall and gate, with many different species of climbing plants -- right at the entrance was Passion Flower, in bloom -- on the inside were flowering plants and cacti of all kinds, all of which he knows the scientific names of, of course, just as I know the names of most of the shells of New Jersey. He put in some small plastic pipes thoughout the grounds for irrigation during the summer vacation. The water comes from the collected rain water in a large algibe below where two cars may be parked. On the inside top of the aljibe there is a semi-finished patio (steps still had to be put in on the top lef), and below the wine cellar (bodega) on the left with a covered asadero on the right (you can see the smoke shaft above on the terrace -- the entrance is like my driveway, slabs of stone set in cement.
A nice sized construction is found at the end of the entrance walk -- a kitchen in front and a full bathroom in the back -- that cement area to the right if the foundation for a wooden prefab house which would connect with what is now there -- this is a view of the entrance from the foundation area (note the construction of a neighbor in the background). The clear space near the door between the black things used to keep weeds from cropping up, is where he wants to make the koi pond with two levels. The inside left corner has a sliding gate, and driveway at where the cars park outside, for machinery or trucks or whatever that have to get into the back part of the property where he has the grape vines along the walls and an amazing variety of fruit trees -- orange, lemon, lime, plum, pear, fig, chirimoya, cherry and many others. Potatoes, lettuce, melon and other goodies are also planted in back.
He opened a bottle of wine he made three years ago (which was absoutely great! He said in a good year he can get 100+ liters of wine from the finca.), and we went out to sit in the sun watching the sea in the distance and talking about the work he wants to do yet, when Ima and the daughter of his sister, Olga, arrived to go to La Orotava for something to eat. [incidently, Olga is available, so if any dude/s might want to contact her to practic their Spanish, feel free -- she said I could include her email address, just in case cotiparra@hotmail.com ]
After a while we started out to La Orotava to a bodega that Horacio's Dad came to 30+ years ago, Casa Pedro el Crusantero, in the Cuesta de La Villa, an area with many luxury walled-in chalets of expatriot Germans, way up the hill from the main tourist section of the Puerto de la Cruz, where the marvelously artistically executed piscinas and adjoining Parque by Caesar Manrique (he also collected turtle figures) are found. The view from the parking area was spectacular, looking down onto the night lights of the valley below. It is in the area of Humboldt Blick, a German eatery at a place they say Alexander Humboldt , the German naturalist/philospoher, first viewed the Valle de la Orotava in the 19th century -- and where they serve a yummy German cheese cake!
Casa Pedro had many typical farm implements and typical mimbre (woven fiber) baskets used by the locals, and many posters of fish and other Canary Island themes. It is frequented by Germans, although I did not see any there -- it was the start of the weekend and they were probable in the Puerto in the many discotecas and tourist bars enjoying themselves.
We had a variety of things in large communal plates, which Horacio termed eating Moroccan style. Escaldon de gofio was the first local specialty that we dived into, made of stone ground corn meal, shredded meat from pig ribs, bacon, massed in caldo de carne -- I never had it before and it was delicious. Then came two large bowls of favada, which was always my favorite, a plate of whole small fish and two bottles of local red wine, all of which the five of us finished off. It was a leisurely meal, as they usually are (very unlike the usual quicky thing in the States), and we sat there for some two hours, eating and talking about all kinds of topics, as usual.
After dinner we went back towards my place where we stopped for coffee at a large modern nearby restaurant -- they they turned the expresso machine off at midnight, and I asked the neato camarero with tastefully done blond hair if they at least had instant coffee, which they also did not have! There was a disc jockey, but noone was dancing -- there were not many clients, but as we sat there the place began filling up. I got up briefly beside the table and moved around a little to the music all by my lonesome, remembering the old days when I would frequent the discos. Instead of coffee, Horacio and I had Tia Maria, a coffee liquor over ice -- I had not had it in years.
As we left I noticed that they had Romero (Rosemary) planted on a wall in the parking area, and Horacio pulled off a few sprigs, saying that they might root in a moist area -- on the path leading up to the large aljibe at La Atlántida there was a kewl row of Romero planted that later grew into a hedge some six feet high, but for some reason Manolo cut is down, probably because it was growing too close to the path where he used to keep his two dogs just below the aljibe (which I did not mind) -- after hitching up with Antonia, he got rid of the dogs, and the Siamese cat they had disappeared -- I miss her because she always came to visit.
They brought me back home, taking a bag of laundry that had accmulated since my arrival. Earlier today Monica gave me the stuff she washed, so I had some fresh shirts and things to wear. I shall probably leave most of the clothes I brought with me, as I usually do, just to have a selection to wear when I return. I was sort of tired, so I turned in for the night -- it was about 1:30 of Sunday -- and this is where the second page will begin.
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Forward to Part Two - Tenerife 2002 Sunday, 22 September - Saturday, 28 September |
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G5
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