I didn’t get all that much writing done this week because I snuck off to Barlovento for a couple of nights. My friend Petra had a cottage at Las Cabezadas for a week and invited me to join her for a while. Probably my favourite bit was the ducklings at Barlovento reservoir. As you can see, they were utterly adorable. But as ususal I took photos of everything, particularly insects…
The north of La Palma is one of the best places to see dragon trees. These exotic-looking plants grow throughout the Canary Islands, and also in Cape Verde, the Azores, Maderia, and western Morocco, but on La Palma, they’re still reproducing naturally. The Canary Islands used to have a large, flightless bird, something like a Dodo. This bird ate dragon tree fruits, so the seeds evolved to have a hard protective…
I asked my Facebook friends for their favourite places to watch the sunrise or sunset on La Palma. Sunrise: Pico de la Montaña Montaña de Las Breñas Tirimaga (but there’s always a cold wind – wrap up well) Birigoyo Roque de Los Muchachos NB: The road to the Roque is closed from sunset to sunrise to avoid light pollution. You’ll have to walk. And please don’t have any car lights…
There are roadworks on the main road between Barlovento and Gallegos – the LP1. They only last for about 10 km, but as you can see, the road currently looks like a rally-type video game. I’m sure it’ll be great when they’ve finished. But in the mean time I recommend allowing extra time, and avoiding it at night.
You see a lot of flags on La Palma. Most English visitors will recognise the flags of Spain and the European Union. But the Canary Islands are an autonomous region within Spain, and they have their own flag too. You see it a lot, especially around May 30th, which is Canary Day. And then each island has its own flag. Here’s the flag of La Palma: And as if…
Santa Cruz de La Palma‘s programme is here. (The actual programme starts on page 7) Los Llanos‘s programme is here The programme for Los Sauces is here I’ve just found out that some places (El Paso, Garafía, Tijarafe, Fuencaliente and Puntallana) held their carnival early, presumably so as not to compete with the bigger places. Barlovento‘s is here. Breña Alta had their parade yesterday Breña Baja will have parrandas in…