Teguise

The lodgers in the neighbouring room yakked into the night again, but I got even in the morning. I put on my earplugs before going to bed, set the alarm for half an hour before I really wanted to arise and then ignored its beeps. Not very charitable but satisfying.

It was Sunday so I didn't have to get up early. I reached the markets in Teguise at about 1100. It was full of clothes, craft and toy vendors. It seemed like half of Lanzarote was there. But it was also a tourist attraction. There were quite a few British and German food stalls.

I tasted a few morsels of the local cheese and decided that I liked the mature variety so that was what I would look for the next day in the supermarket.

Then I drove down LZ30, the spine of the island, to Yaiza in the municipality of the same name, and thence to Playa Blanca which I had only glanced at on my way to Corralejo. This was also a touristy place swarming with British and German tourists with more development in the wings.

I spotted these African Grey parrots at one of the harbourside shops. They are very intelligent birds. I've heard a track of one improvising with whistles and clicks to a playback of Egberto Gismonti's composition Loro, which coincidentally, or perhaps not, is Spanish for parrot. I hoped these specimens were well-entertained. They will pluck out their own feathers if bored.

I had a filling set lunch at a Chinese restaurant there, but it was not as good as the one I had on Thursday. I drove up to the high ground at Femés and down again. It was a hot cloudless day and I could see the hot air distorting the distant views. Only the breeze kept me comfortable.

I took a side trip to Puerto Calero. which is more of a marina than a resort, via the coastal road. The development here was of a higher quality than that at Puerto del Carmen, next up the coast. It was probably fortunate that there was not enough space for developers to do horrid things.

Incidentally this picture reminds me that there is cochineal farming in the Canary Islands to produce the dye.


In the evening, I walked through Arrecife looking for a place to satisfy my craving for a hot chocolate but was disappointed not to find one. I repacked my belongings. It really was time to leave the Canary Islands. I had devoted a day or two too many to Lanzarote in my fear of not making the ferry connection.