Well, since my son’s at camp and I didn’t have to be home by 2 pm, I bunked off. I left home later than intended, but I got to Tijarafe before noon – in good time to see the little museum, which I was told opened from Monday to Friday and shut at 1 pm.
I found it without too much trouble, but it was shut. This was rather annoying after driving from the other side of the island. So I went to the Town Hall to ask when it would be open, and to politely suggest that they tell the tourist office when it would be open.
And they opened it just for me! Even more remarkable, this was without using the magic words, “Tour guide” (because so far I have no say over where the tours go) or “Journalist” (because this blog isn’t much publicity really) . They’ve cut staff due to lack of funding (sound familiar?) but they’ll open it when somebody asks if there’s somebody with the time to go with you.
Well, it’s a nice museum. Small, because it’s the old school house, but you can see the classroom, (complete with old school books and the devil!), the central courtyard with its rainwater water tank, the kitchen, and exhibitions of old papers, photographs, school books and pre-Hispanic ceramics.
And then I went in search of the kiosk at La Bombilla that does Thai food. Yes, really. Thai food, on La Palma! It took some finding, but it was very well worth the hunt: delicious and cheap. And then I wandered up to the lighthouse and back.
By that time, it was just about time to go home, but I was having fun and the light was getting nice, so my responsibilities didn’t have much chance really. I easily persuaded myself that I ought to go and photograph a couple of nearby beaches while I was that side of the island. So I wound up at El Remo, trying for the umpteenth time to capture the transparent look you get at the top of a wave as it breaks. And thanks to the late afternoon light, I finally got something like the picture I was after.
All in all, a great day out.
