To the volcanos

We left Los Llandos in the morning, taking the scenic route to Santa Cruz, the capital of La Palma and close to the airport for our next flight on Saturday. We had decided to take the LP2 to the far south, Los Canarios de Fuencalienre where one can see many volcanos (roads are all LP on La Palma, we are expecting the roads on Tenerife to be Ts).

We had driven up and down the road to the bungalow a few times, with the stone walls and banana trees, hoping not to meet anything coming the other way.

The 'swan' cactus grows in a garden by the side of the road and is a parlicularly good specimen.

Rather than drive directly to SantanCruz, we took the LP2 to the far south, Los Canarios de Fuencalienre where one can see many volcanos (roads are all LP on La Palma, we are expecting the roads on Tenerife to be Ts).

On the side of the road, there was a small chapel, perched on a hill; there was no sign of it being in use. Below us, there was little or no indication that there were beaches, but there were some resorts and a lighthouse, the Faro Punta de la Lava.

Our first stop was the visitor centre at the Volcán de San Antonio. This small volcano erupted in 1677 and continued for a year. There is the usual film to watch, but we were really there for breakfast! It is possible to walk around the rim of the volcano on a good day, but this was not a good day! The wind was howling around us and the were steep drops from the path. We walked a short way and then turned back to safety and the shelter of the car.

This is the volcano as it is today

 

We continued on to see the volcano Teneguia which erupted in 1971. Naturally, this involved a walk. We parked the car and headed off, meeting this raven almost immediately. He was dining on orange skins and bread.

Scenes from our walk: Roc de Teneguia and the volcano itself, Teneguia

We walked up to the volcano and Pat rested there for a while, while John clambered to the top. The wind was blowing strongly, so we a sheltered spot was needed. A French group were already in the best spot, eating their lunch.

At the top of Tenegua, Mount Anton from Tenegua and view from at the top.

We retraced our steps back to the car and then set off for the coast and lunch. It was a long and windy drive to get to the bottom, passing through many fields of bananas - this is banana production on a big scale. Nearby, we found a shanty town with 'boxed in' caravans - just a tiny part of the caravan could be seen outside a large garage like structure. It wasn't a place that felt comfortable taking photos of the dwellings.

The bananas and the view from the shanty town.

 

Nearby, a small cafe open and making paella on demand.

Later, we continued on our way, passing another lighthouse, the Fuencaliente lighthouse with the salt pools, Salinas Marinas, close by

From here, we were heading to our next stop in Santa Cruz de La Palma, but first, we would drive over land that didn't exist before the volcano erupted in 1971, the size of the island grew at that time. The landscape is, of course black, vey different and beautiful in its own way.

Some of the flowers around the volcanos

 

Then we drove along the eastern side of the island, past the airport where we flew in and on a short distance to Santa Cruz and our hotel in the town. On the way, we passed the docks, where a cruse liner was docked for the day.

There would be a different ship there the next day.

 

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