January 22, 2018 The Volcano Route

Today we were in for a major treat starting at volcano San Antonio. Volcanic activity was present here on these islands for much longer than human life has been present. And today we had the pleasure of walking from the top of the volcano all the way to the ocean, about a six and a half mile Journey.

Paul and Jean and the deep blue sea

Gorgeous glimpses of the ocean with some of the other Canary Islands in the background seen faintly in the Mist

Quite a bit of downhill walking over lava fields

Dark Fuencaliente and salt ponds

Organically Produce Salt from the south end of La Palma Island. It's many different colors include white yellow and pink

This is an artisanal process all handmade and manual production. The salt is pumped up to hire stations and eventually dries. The bottom stations kante the very best salt including the Fleur de sel. Algae give the salts their colors.

Salt Ponds prior to of the Harvest

. Preparations take place during the winter months and is harvested in May or June

Our reward at the end of a 7 1/2 mile hike.

We had a lovely dinner at a tapas restaurant this evening with dishes such as acorn-fed Iberia ham, Manchego cheese, and slice roast pork. The ones were also quite excellent

If your heart is a volcano how can you expect the flowers to bloom?
Kahlil Gibran

Our guide, Bert,  for showing us the route we would take today from the top of volcano San Antonio down to the lighthouse and salt pans of Fuencaliente.

We walked from the peak that you see in the distance all the way to the Sea.

We walked the Ruta Volcan, one of your very famous grand routes meant to provide tracking for Walkers across the entire continent of Europe. This particular route runs from the southern tip of La Palma to the Northern end. In general it takes about 2 weeks to walk but we only did a small portion of it which pertain specifically to volcano San Antonio. Volcano San Antonio was last active in 1971 and we witness multiple seismographic monitoring equipment as we walked along. Needless to say the views were stunning at every turn. Also notable is that most of the Walk was on lava some of it quite soft and shifting beneath the feet and other pieces quite hard and unyielding. We did see sporadic vegetation growing on to the lava Fields especially succulents and some Canary grasses.

Succulents are the most common varietal seen on the wall as well as a few cacti and grasses.

We were often able to see La gomera and the peak of Mount Tiede on Tenerife as we walked along.

All in all, it was a lovely day with towering volcanic sites that we can't see at home. we enjoyed the view and the beautiful weather With Friends new and old.

Let There Be work, bread, water and salt for all.
Nelson Mandela

Paul's ponderings:  Our first day out hiking and a great one it was!   Lots of volcanic soil and scenery, a lot of wind at times, and then heat.    We had a a LOT of descent and not so much uphill during the day, notwithstanding a steep climb up to to a volcanic cone where we could see three other islands  Tenerife, La Gomera, and El Hierro.   As we descended, the temperature increased until it was quite warm.   

We had lunch in a crater of a volcano then hiked down to the salt ponds near the ocean, which are still producing salt for export.   As students of history may know, salt is one of the most important artifacts in world history, so it was great to see a local example of salt production, using gravity as the main method to prepare the salt for use.

This evening, we had dinner in an old Canarian house, consisting of multiple tapas courses and wine from La Palma, which was great.