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…
One of the best archaeological sites on La Palma is La Zarza and La Zarzita, in Garafía. You have to walk, but it’s a beautiful stroll through woods of heather and bayberry trees. Yes, heather is a tree here – see the top photo. The whole walk takes about an hour, and first bit of the path is the steepest. It’s clearly signposted. You reach La Zarza first. Here there…
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,…
The people who lived on La Palma before the Spanish arrived in 1493 called the island Benahoare, and themselves Benahorita, and they’re the subject of the permanent exhibition upstairs at the ethnographic museum in Los Llanos. The Benahorita lived in caves and wore animal skins, but they weren’t stupid. They farmed, and they had quite a bit of technology considering there’s no metal ores on the island. Their ceramics are…
This morning I finally got to see the ethnographic museum in Los Llanos. It’s been open for four years, so I wasn’t exactly jumping the gun. The building’s at the top end of Los Llanos, and the outside is an example of what you can do with concrete when you stop thinking about shoe boxes. I’m sure only smart-mouthed philistines find themselves thinking of gasometers. It’s just that I used…
This morning I finally got to see the ethnographic museum in Los Llanos. It’s been open for four years, so I wasn’t exactly jumping the gun. The building’s at the top end of Los Llanos, and the outside is an example of what you can do with concrete when you stop thinking about shoe boxes. I’m sure only smart-mouthed philistines find themselves thinking of gasometers. It’s just that I used…