The people who lived on La Palma before the Spanish arrived in 1493 called the island Benahoare, and themselves Benahorita. (Or according to some people, Benawara and Benawaritas. They insist their spelling is correct. I find this odd, because to me the correct spelling would be the one the people themselves used, only they didn’t write.) The Benahorita probably arrived on La Palma somewhere between 1000 BC and 100 BC,…
Don’t. You can’t. And it’s dangerous to try. And anyway, you’re on holiday, aren’t you? Relax, take it slow, and enjoy the spectacular scenery. After all, that lovely scenery is the reason for the twisty roads. And if you get stuck behind an old man driving at 30 km/h, count yourself lucky. I seem to get constantly stuck behind one who drives at 25 km/h.
Tower of Jewels is one of the common names for Echium wildpretii. Some of the other are red bugloss, Tenerife bugloss or Mount Teide bugloss. The Spanish name is tajinaste grande or tajinaste rojo, although the ones on La Palma can be blue or mauve. The individual flowers are tiny, but the spikes can be anything up to 3 m high. And they’re in flower on the peaks of La…
Most of Spain had Mother’s Day two weeks ago. But the village I live in was the first place in Spain to celebrate Mother’s Day (thanks to the local poet, Felix Duarte) and they’ve stuck to the date they originally had, the third Sunday in May. By and large my fellers don’t do the flowers and chocolate routine, much less the champagne and diamonds routine, so I just bought myself…
This morning I showed a group around the GTC, and this afternoon I sold five books. Five!
On Wednesday evening I went to the studios of Onda Cero to be interviewed about my book. I hope to be able to link to it soon, but it was fun.