La Gomera

With the rainy weather outside I cannot help but dream myself back to sunny Teneriffa and La Gomera, sipping a zapparoccho or barraquito, a coffee drink infused with liqueur 43, in the sun...

After the first days in Teneriffa we took the ferry over to the neighboring island of La Gomera where we stayed at a small finca in a remote valley which we found on AirBnB. Our host, Lothar, a German expat renovated the typical Canary-style houses in the fall of 2015 so we were one of the first guests to enjoy a wonderful and calm homestay there. Since it is really secluded, shopping for groceries means a one-hour drive, one can order food at their little task where they prepare typical Spanish cuisine for you in the evening. However, the houses all come with a fully equipped kitchen so one could easily prepare dinner there aswell. A short walk up the cliffs was the Mirador de Abrante, offering a little café with the most scenic views on the sea and the Pico del Teide of Teneriffa in the distance. We really enjoyed our barraquitos there after our daily hikes and watched the clouds mount from the sea.

Upon Lothar's recommendation, we went for two full-day hikes around La Gomera which were both very beautiful. Especially the first one, around Ojila, offered an ever-changing vegetation from cedar forest to exposed rock to cloud forest.

On our way back to Teneriffa we spent a few hours on the beach, dipping our toes in the water and soaking in the sun and the holiday feeling.

Sunny Beach and Cloudy Forest: All within a Day

On one of the last days we stayed at an AirBnB directly at the sea with the apartment being built in the rocks, making it a little cave down at the shore. We could hear the waves crashing into the rocks through the night. In the morning, this allowed us to watch the sunrise from the bed and have a dip in the ocean before breakfast on the front porch. At 8 am the sun was already burning down so that we had to apply sunscreen for breakfast.

Fooled by this apparent heat and good weather we made our way to the Anaga mountains in too light clothing and, just the tourists, without any rain jacket (at least in my case).

So, once we left the coast and were making our way up the winding mountain roads the weather turned quickly from blazing sunlight to mist and rain. And a good temperature drop of 10°C.

However, the beautiful cloud forest with droplets of mist and fog caught up in spiderwebs and the occasional ray of sunlight turning the drops into little sparkling crystals between the moss-covered branches made me forget the cold and the rain. 

Although hiking boots would have been a more appropriate choice of footwear we still embarked on a small hiking trail in search of the "Matterhorn" of Teneriffa (which we eventually could spot in the distance). The trail was beautiful nevertheless, leading us through the dense cloud forest.

For lunch, we eventually crossed the mountain range, driving down seemingly endless serpentines to the little village of Benijo with the best fish restaurant at the top of a cliff, El Mirador. The clouds cleared up the closer we got to the sea and when we hit the shore, the sun was burning down on us again. After lunch, we took a little walk along the beach, with its rocks and black sand, one of the most beautiful ones of Teneriffa, unspoiled and, since getting down there involves a bit of a climb down a rocky trail, with no typical overweight Los Cristianos tourists insight.

We were really impressed by all the different vegetation and climate zones the island had to offer. Desert in the south, cloud forest in the west, almost tropical with lots of palms and flowers on the northern shore, volcanic in the center and even snow on the El Teide National Park. 

And with all that, it only takes about two hours to circle the island by car. One can change from desert to cloud forest within half an hour. It was simply impressive. 

Photos by me or by Martin. 

El Pico del Teide or Snow on the Canary Islands

So, one of the reasons we decided to book a flight to Teneriffa was the all-year-long summery weather there. Initially, we have been talking about going to Corsica to go hiking on the legendary GR-20 but were informed that in March parts of it might be closed because of heavy snowfall and mud slides on the higher parts. Hence, after a bit of searching around our choice fell on Teneriffa for its aforementioned year-round summer conditions and its highest mountain, El Teide, with its 3718 m of altitude offering some training ground for the upcoming hiking (and climbing for Martin) season in the Alps. 

So far so good for our thoughts and considerations...however, when the clouds cleared off on our second day on the island and we got a glimpse on the peak from its northern face we were quite surprised to see it covered in snow. Heavy snow...

I mean, we were on the Canary Islands, usually associated with sunburnt people sipping sangria on its beaches in the south. Snow didn't really match the picture.

Well, we eventually found ourselves in the El Teide National Park at the starting point of the trek towards the summit where the snow gave a sharp contrast to the red volcanic stones and the blue skies. It was warm outside, the locals had brought up snow slides and pique nique gear and were spending their Sunday sliding down the snow covered hills in a t-shirt.

We started the trek at the designated point at around 2000 m of altitude and followed the footsteps in the snow on the presumed path. We quickly realized that the ascent was going to be hard work since most of the trail was covered in slushy snow. 

Again, who would have thought of that much snow in March on the Canary Islands? We were laughing at our ignorance, especially since Martin has all kinds of gear at home for such conditions and here we were in our hiking boots and a t-shirt (although we had brought jackets and long sleeves in the backpack), looking at about 60 cm of slushy snow all the way to the summit. 

In the beginning, where the layer of snow was not so thick, we could still see the landmarks on the ground indicating the right trek, but with every meter of altitude we gained, the snow layer got thicker, so we ended up choosing our own "path" towards the summit, only occasionally coming by signs that warned the hikers not to stray off the path....  :-D

Under the scorching sun it was quite a strenuous hike in that slushy snow, since every step forward also meant sliding back a little. Additionally, the altitude, slowly climbing up to about 3500 m, was also taking its toll. 

However, the views down on the volcanic landscape, the sea and the surrounding islands were more than rewarding.

In the end, we didn't make it to the very top, since the ascent in the snow took us longer than we had assumed. We stopped at about 3500 m for a pique-nique, taking in the views and eventually decided to take the cable car down since a descent in those conditions of slushy snow with lots of rocks underneath and no clear path visible did not seem like a sensible thing to do. 

Albeit the somewhat sub-optimal conditions it was a great hike and we had a really great day up there. Especially since we were almost the only people out there, we only ran into one other German couple. This, however, might be due to the fact that the path to the summit had been closed due to the snowy conditions as we learned a few days later, a fact we hadn't known at the time (and which, let's be honest, probably wouldn't have averted us from making our way up there...)