This is the Palmeran Violet, Viola palmensis. It only grows on La Palma, above 1,900 m. (There’s a similar violet on Tenerife, but it has smaller flowers). It used to be rare, but the island government has a program of replanting areas. You can find them beside the road from Santa Cruz to the Roque de los Muchachos well above the tree line.
If a beach is all you’re after, then frankly you’re better off in Tenerife. But if a beach is part of the mix, then we have two main beach resorts, Cancajos and Puerto Naos. Our sand is like the Model T Ford – “Any colour you like, as long as it’s black”. When the sea mashes up black, volcanic rock, that’s what you get. However, black sand warms up in…
I had the first part of my morning all planned: drop my son off at school, take little Sam to creche, and then swing by Cancajos for a photo on my way to breakfast with Norma. They were all quick jobs, so I expected to get to Norma’s just after nine. Sam wasn’t his usual happy self when I got there, so we waited a while before I took him…
In the 1850s the export market for Palmeran wine collapsed, and somebody had the bright idea of going into cochineal production. Before the advent of synthetic dyes, this was far and away the best red dye available, particularly for wool. For one thing, it doesn’t fade. Cochineal is made from a parasitic insect (Dactylopius coccus), which lives on prickly pears (tuneras), so the plants and insects were imported from Mexico….
Today is mother’s day in Spain. And to the best of my knowledge, the first place in Spain to have an official Mother’s Day was Breña Baja. The local poet, Félix Duarte Pérez , left home for Venezuela at some horrendously young age (fifteen, I think). Not surprisingly, he missed his mother a good deal, and they sent each other lots of letters. When he finally came home at the…
Bride, groom, and bridesmaid I was a little slow getting out to see the crosses this year, but I was glad I made the effort. The traditional crosses were much the same as last year (see https://sheilacrosby.com/fiestas/cruz.php ). But one street in Santa Cruz absolutely delighted me. Wedding breakfast For the last few years, it’s been fairly common to have a few mayos or machangos beside the cross. These are…