Twin dragon trees (Dracaena draco), Breña Alta These trees stand in Breña Alta, just off the minor road which winds over the central ridge to El Paso. They grow so close together that it’s hard to tell where on trunk ends and the other begins. Of course there’s a legend associated with the trees. Two brothers lived nearby, and were very close, but they fell in love with the same…
This famous Art Deco advert for Chilean nitrate has been standing at the beginning of the Calle Real since 1929. It was designed by López-Durán Lozano, who was a student of architecture at the time, although he went on to become a professor at the School of Architecture of Madrid. The tiles were made by the Valencian firm Ramon Castello. Chilean nitrate was a fertilizer made of sodium nitrate (NaNO3),…
A couple of weeks ago, I promised more photos of the Caldera de Taburiente. At the top of the Caldera there’s a rock formation that from one angle looks distinctly like Napoleon Bonepart, or an indian. So it’s called Boniface or El Indio. This photo is taken from below the Roque de las Viñas, beside the vineyard. The best viewpoint has a lethal drop and no guard rail. It’s totally…
There’s an excellent report of the Los Sauces sardine at http://www.dragoazul.tv/video/146 although it’s only in Spanish.
The Cistercian convent of the Holy Trinity at Buenavista in Breña Alta is surprisingly new. It was founded in 1946, and it’s the only closed order on the island. I was surprised to find out that there are only ten nuns who live there. The convent has a small shop. I first went there about ten years ago, in search of a rosary made of dragon-tree seeds, for a Catholic…
Yay! The copies of The Seer’s Stone have finally arrived! The book is now on sale from the Dragon Tree product page, and from shops in Santa Cruz and Los Cancajos. Twelve adventures under La Palma’s amazing starry sky. Take a journey through La Palma’s turbulent past, into its present and out into the exciting future. Chedey will tell you how his world collapsed when the Spanish conquered the Island…