Day 5 - Driving the mountain loop

Tuesday we got a rental car. Yes, we decided to tool around the island, driving off the coast of Africa with our limited Spanish. It took a while on Monday to get a reservation with a company that had an automatic (I haven't driven a manual in a decade and Alan never has) and we figured it would be challenging enough driving hills with signs we didn't understand without having to worry about a clutch.

The car was delivered right to our hotel so all we had to do was get out of town and head south. The city is a bit scary but we did manage to find the freeway. I might point out that when I started the day I was thinking of recent drives to Portland (about two hours). Well, the island is only 602 square miles total. The first stop on our drive, Telde, was about 13.5 km away. So close! There was not a whole lot in Telde so we continued on our journey.

Ingenio, about 12 km south of Telde, is a very small town. It is known for its ceramics but we didn't find any. Next stop, Agüimes, 3 km south of Ingenio. Agüimesa is a neat network of small alleys, a church, and a park in front of the church. There were bronze statues of a camel, dancers, a mule, and a cellist. We walked around enjoying the cool breeze and then stopped to have a glass of fresh squeezed OJ at the local bar.

We decided to have lunch in a cave restaurant in Barranco de Guayadeque. Another short ride (6 km) and we have breezed through the canyon with a brief glimpse at the Interpretive Center. Here they have examples of the cave systems and methods of grinding grains. The surroundings are dry with a lot of cactus. The palm trees look a bit droopy too. The restaurant had a resident cat who begs for food from the visitors outside. They have grapes growing around the entrance. The view is of the caves in the mountains. It was quite amazing.

From there, we head 17 km to Santa Lucia. We stop at the Museo del Castillo de Fortaleza, a small castle built about 50 years ago to house an interesting collection of items. The 'museum' does not store the items in the best of conditions. The outside gardens were the only part I would recommend seeing. They have an almond tree, a fruit which looks like pomegranate, an olive tree, a lime tree, and an avocado tree. It was impressive to see these things just there on a tree.

We continued our drive and about 40 km later we reached the Cruz de Tejeda. It is a cross, carved from stone, that marks the center of the island. While not the highest point, it is up at 5184 feet. We could feel our ears pop on the drive down from the pass. We checked out a couple of the stalls and the goodies that they have for sale before we continue on. It is only 25 km to the next town, Teror. We drove through, admired the views, and then got back on the road to Las Palmas. We didn't do bad for our first time driving in Spain. The roads are in pretty good shape. Wednesday, we plan on finding the camels in the southern part of the island...