January 28 and 29, 2018: Los Llanos to Santa Cruz de la Palma....and back to Los Llanos!

Like all of the Canary Islands, La Palma originally formed as a seamount through submarine volcanic activity. La Palma is currently, along with Tenerife, the most volcanically active of the Canary Islands and was formed three to four million years ago. Its base lies almost 4,000 m (13,123 ft) below sea level and reaches a height of 2,426 m (7,959 ft) above sea level. About a half a million years ago, the Taburiente volcano collapsed with a giant landslide, forming the Caldera de Taburiente. Erosion has since exposed part of the seamount in the northern sector of the Caldera. Since the Spanish occupation, there have been seven eruptions – all of which have occurred on the Cumbre Vieja:

• 1470–1492 Montaña Quemada
• 1585 Tajuya near El Paso
• 1646 Volcán San Martin
• 1677 Volcán San Antonio
• 1712 El Charco
• 1949 Volcán Nambroque at the Duraznero, Hoyo Negro and Llano del Banco vents
• 1971 Volcán Teneguía

-------WIKIPEDIA

Yesterday, we said a sad goodbye to not only the beautiful Caldera de Taburiente---the volcanic floor of the island--- but to the lovely friends we met on this trip. Then, without missing a beat, off we were, Santa Cruz de La Palma bound

Somewhere about 7 breakfasts in at our modest hotel in Los Llanos, Paul called foul and insisted that we look around our base camp of Los Llanos, the actual largest city on La Palma, for a "proper breakfast." It wasn't that big a challenge!  Across the street from the Archeological Museum of La Palma was a hotel cafe. Fit the bill!

Yogurt, muesli and fruit salad with a bonus soft boiled egg

They fresh squeezed his OJ right in front of the man's face. This is one happy camper.

Shortly thereafter, our tour ended  and we bid a fond farewell to our new Brit friends, our prior Spanish and Dutch guide friends, and our friends from K town.  They were off to respective flights and Paul and I ....well, we stayed behind. Poor us, huh?

Paul booked us a very nice apartment near the top of a main business street in Santa Cruz de la Palma, but still close enough to the historic downtown to enjoy it. It was economical as well. Cheaper than a hotel!

the living room

Our kitchen

the boudoir

Sitting area of the boudoir.

The apartment is on the 4th floor, very spacious (there are 2 twin bedrooms also and 2 baths) and located near conveniences and has a washer. No dryer, but they do have a drying rack.  No climate control and it gets chilly at night but that's when you snuggle your honey! This place is awesome!  We spent the afternoon washing the toxic waste deposit that many people refer to as their laundry. After hiking around for a week, we had stuff that made a superfund site seem tame.

Graffiti on a downtown wall

After "chores" and unpacking, we went to the Parador here on La Palma.  The series of hotels run by the Spanish government and called Paradores are a unique and wonderful assortment of accommodations with restaurants.  Most of them are historic buildings such a forts, convents, and other government run establishments of the past. The one here in La Palma is an exception. The building was built just a couple of years ago. But it has a historic feel, I reckon.

A flight crew, lots of fancy people and is that Camilla Parker Bowles joining us for dinner at the Parador?

Of course, Mr Parris felt that a celebratory "Jean Toe Nick" was in order for the completion of our 50+ mile hiking adventure. Who am I to argue with the hubs??

It was a great meal in a nice location. And we were home in our comfy apartment to sleep, snore, whatever.  Until the AM. At which time we decided we really wanted to go back to Los Llanos and experience not just the outdoorsy stuff, but CULTURE! Yes, we wanted to see the Archeology Museum which chronicled the native people who not surprisingly were knocked off for the most part by Spaniards, by hook or crook.

the quaint streets of Los Llanos with cloud cover. Colorful houses

Door knocker

And another

Mosaic fountain. Painted barrel at coffee house

Women's clothing store

We took a nice stroll around town first and then...lunch happened. Lunch preference for Paul Parris---PIZZA!

Yummy salad

Pizza with rucoala, rocket and tomatoes

Then we were off to the museum which is really world class and spends much effort to introduce you to the local native groups existing PRIOR to the Spanish and their lives..

Small island, beautiful world class museum. Probably a good use of EU funding

There were numerous North African Berbers here when the Spanish arrived who all seemed to have their own fifedoms in different parts of the island. They were agricultural but only in a minor way and predominantly farmed goats. They did use local ocean bounty as well when goat meat and such was scarce. Goat milk was the predominant sustenance for much of the year.  The moved about as goat herding required. There were any number of volcanic activities that affected them as well.  No one knows how they got here and they did NOT have a boating culture OR move between islands for trade etc. Their origins are mysterious and since they are essentially extinct, ain't no asking grandpa.

examples of dwellings made of stone. also they used caves very often for both living space and sheep/goat pens.

This skeleton is approx 4.5 ft tall. They mummified some corpses. They buried in caves facing north and used vegetation or rock ledges to keep the body from touching the ground.

Nicely designed museum. 

The museum also had an exhibit about Canarian cheeses which are tasty indeed! These are mold covers that imprint a pattern from all over the island. Reminds me of grandma Lunsford's butter molds!

There was a small exhibit on hieroglyphs as well featuring photography.

A totally awesome and free museum of Canarian art. We found it totally by accident.

We also happened upon a lovely museum that might have been right up there with the museum of archeology as far as pleasure and it featured with local artists or Spanish artists concentrating on Canarian themes. 

This artist who uses volcanic ash over photographs in his art also made this lovely photographic print of Iceland. He specializes in landscapes of Lanzarote in earth tones.

The sculpture garden was a lot of fun

A stylized exhibit of painting of the wives of Henry XIII. Only there were 10!

Paul thought this one had a helmet

i kinda like it here

Sky in the sculpture garden

landscapes of Lanzarote. Volcanic ash over photos. This museum did a lovely job of displaying each work for maximum effect.

We had a great day in Los Llanos WITHOUT hiking and enjoyed the cultural aspects. I  think Paul is sold on this town.. there may have been gelato involved in his conversion.

Then it was back to the bus and back to Santa Cruz de la Palma. It rained pretty hard this evening, but after a pizza lunch, we were still able to float down to the waterfront for....what else? Pasta!

Spaghetti carbonara. Yum

What's not to like?

Here's toasting a great day on La Palma

Culture is the widening of the mind and of the spirit. 

                                                                         ---Jawaharlal Nehru

Well , we can't be cultured about EVERYTHING, can we?

Paul's Ponderings:  This blog covers a couple of days....mostly around Los Llanos.   Our "formal" hiking ended, but we still seem to be getting plenty of walking in.  

We said goodbye to our hiking group and our guide Bert whom we've hiked with many times now and our "bonus" guide Maxi who we saw in La Gomera about a year ago.   Great guys to hike with and hang around with as well.   

On Monday we went back to Los Llanos to check out some stuff we had no time for over the past week....a great day out weather-wise.   In general, Los Llanos appears to be on the dry side of the island and Santa Cruz on the more wet side.   This is winter here, so the temperatures are as low as mid-50s, but warmer during the day.   It did drizzle heavily here in Santa Cruz late today.  

The nice thing about La Palma in general is that it has TWO larger towns.   As opposed to La Gomera that is.   Soon we will see El Hierro (iron) and it is the most rural island, so it will be interesting to see how it compares to La Gomera in particular, which is reasonably rural.   

One last thought is that these islands are very friendly and not overly tourist-centric where we have been most recently.   Couple that with the terrain and hiking, plus great local food/wine, and it's a recipe for a great time.