Lunes (Monday) 19 de Abril
Puerto del Carmen to Playa Blanca
14 mi./22.5 km
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Feeling fresh after a day off from riding, we set out for the Southern tip of the island. Originally, we had planned to bike along the "Bike Route" which follows the rugged southeastern coastline, but, you may recall, the "bike route" is a volcanic rock rubble field marked by the faint tracks of the lost, dead cyclists of Lanzarote. After talking to a local bartender who knew the route and confirmed our misgivings, we opted for pavement. Our route is shown in green. Luckily, the bartender pointed us toward the "old road" which runs parallel to a new road from Yaiza to Playa Blanca. Funny thing, at one time the old road used to be called the new road. The whole route turned out to be quite enjoyable. The first half was a steady, gradual climb from the beach into some foothills, finally reaching a plateau littered with jutting volcanic peaks and craters.
You can see the caldera a bit better in this shot:
Then we flew down through the towns of Uga and Yaiza, and we were glad to have gravity on our side. We made really great time, stopping here and there to take pictures and enjoy the view. We were surprised to find this right next to the road:
Salt! And lots of it. The Salinas de Janubio. I don't know what Janubio means, but "salinas" are salt pans. If the Salinas de Janubio got together with mucha pimienta negra, they could flavor all the sweetcorn in Minnesota (and any leftovers could be spread on roads in Winter).
At this point, the terrain flattened out and the wind began to blow up the valley, and seeing as it was the end of our day, we were tired, and because heavy backpacks tend to make bicycle seats less comfortable, there was a lot of whining. But we made it and had some time to enjoy the coastline before going out for supper. In the photo below, you can see the neighboring island, Fuerteventura, in the background.
That night, we rode our bikes down the coast until we found a suitable restaurant (local cuisine, with some vegetarian options and some seafood options). We opted for Paella, which is a rice dish with vegetables, and in Derek's case, every sea creature that they could trap, dig up, net, or spear. We're pretty sure there was some mermaid in there. The waiter wheeled our sizzling skillets out with a forklift--okay that's a slight exaggeration, but he really did wheel them out on a cart, and dish them out into gianormous plates, which he filled to the brim. It was so delicious we both had seconds. Needless to say, we didn't bike home; we walked along the coast moaning with agony, pushing our bicycles, and cradling our distended bellies. It was later that night, though, that Derek rolled over--much like a beached whale, in fact--and said in the most pathetic voice he could muster, "I ate Shamu." Laura laughed so hard she almost threw up.
Martes (Tuesday), 20 de Abril
Playa Blanca (hotel) to Playa de Mujeres
10 mi/16 km
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We hadn't yet gone swimming, so we headed for the South-eastern tip (El Papagayo), which was strewn with beaches. We ended up at Playa de Mujeres--though we stopped a couple of times to see some sights--and spent the day there, reading, lazing, and swimming. Our route is shown in blue. Here are some photos from along our way:
The Castillo de las Coloradas on Punta de Aguila built in 1778.
Another view of it capturing some of the sea-eaten lava rock of the coast.
The first good view of the beach we settled on.
A closer look.
Miercoles (Wednesday), 21 de Abril
Playa Blanca back to Puerto del Carmen
Now, during all of this time, we were trying to figure out from Ryanair (and news sources) whether or not we'd be able to ever leave the Canary Islands. Which we really only cared about because Derek was to give his Research Proposal Presentation in front of his department in 8 days. At this point, we still didn't really know anything but decided we had better head back to Puerto del Carmen, near the airport, where we could be more flexible if our flight actually DID leave (at this point, our flight had gone from the "cancelled" status to "reinstated" and was scheduled to leave the next day. As it turned out, we did leave that day, though were bumped to a later flight and didn't arrive home till the wee hours. There's a much longer story here, but we'll spare you, for now). So we returned, via the same way we arrived (the green route, but we took the purple route where those lines meet), and our new hotel was (conveniently) next to the bike shop. Thus, you have already seen our pictures from the journey.
The following pictures are the magical mixture of the lovely Jameos Playa, a lot of sangria, and the "last night in Paradise" mentality.
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