La Palma is a confusing island to drive around. There are so many steep ravines that the roads tend to be twisty. If you want to go north from Cancajos, you have to start by taking the road south out of the village. If you want to drive southeast to the lighthouse from the Teneguía volcano, you have to go northwest to begin with. I’ve lived here for seventeen years,…
Last year I decided to take “localvore” to its logical conclusion, and grow a bit of food on the balcony. I had mixed success (see “Peas”). Well, last night I harvested the solitary cabbage, and we had about a third of it with pork for dinner. It was delicious. I suppose it figures – organic cabbage harvested twenty minutes before we ate it. And then I looked at the half-circle…
For its size, La Palma has a surprisingly vibrent music scene. On Friday, the local Hip hop group La 38 released their first CD, “Cintas Perdidas” (Lost tapes) on the Monkey Family label. Of course all the lyrics are in Spanish. The group consists of four artists: Falcon, Lese, Soulo y Split, and they’ve been together since 2004. You can hear clips of their CD at Myspace:http://www.myspace.com/treintaiocho or see their…
Last night I went to the delayed Sardine’s Funeral in Los Sauces. I finally discovered why people say it’s better than the sardine’s funeral in Santa Cruz. They say it because it’s true. The crowd was far bigger than in Santa Cruz, and over half of them wore fancy dress – mostly Halloween theme costumes. This is my hairdresser. I didn’t recognise him until he spoke. First they had a…
Last night I went to the delayed Sardine’s Funeral in Los Sauces. I finally discovered why people say it’s better than the sardine’s funeral in Santa Cruz. They say it because it’s true. The crowd was far bigger than in Santa Cruz, and over half of them wore fancy dress – mostly Halloween theme costumes. This is my hairdresser. I didn’t recognise him nutil he spoke. First they had a…
And the blue sky on that last one that gives the game away. Yes, it’s Earth, not Mars. It’s actually the Teneguia volcano, on the southern tip of La Palma. The red colouring comes from iron in the rocks. The reason why there’s no visible vegetation is that the volcano last erupted in 1971, just 37 years ago. Some of these little holes in the ground (just big enough to…