
Our guidebook recommended that if we were in this area, that we had to check out the gorgeous coves off the coast - Playa de Benijo and Playa de San Roque. So, we headed toward a trail and set off on a walk to the most northeastern part of the island. The day before we had seen dry arid land, with cacti spotting the red ground or rocky hills. However, Tenerife has something like 18 different bioclimates, so the landscape that we saw as we started on the walk was completely different. Bright green cactus trees sprouted from the ground, while vivid yellow flowers dotted




But, when push came to shove, we are just normal people and when we got really hungry and almost out of water, we headed back to the car, ready to try a typical Canarian dish. At the restaurant at the base of the trail, the windows were all open and the smells wofting from the run-down kitchen were delicious. All I had heard about and read about were these papas arrugadas - which is the Spanish (Canary Island Spanish at that) way of saying wrinkled potatoes, so that's what we ordered. Now, I was thinking crinkle-cut fries, but these are actually small potatoes boiled until the water disappears so that the skin turns wrinkly and then heavily salted. Served with some sauces called mojo, they were tasty, but to me, it was kind of like eating a extremely overcooked baked potato. To accompany our potatoes, we ordered some cuttle fish, which is similar to squid but a bit tougher, but filled the belly up just the same.
That evening we made our way to Puerto de la Cruz, on the northwestern side of the island, to our hotel apartment. We always enjoy renting an apartment style hotel room when we go somewhere for a longer time, so we don't feel so much like we are living out of a suitcase and we can manage a refridgerated breakfast. This place, Los Dragos, gave us a plain but big apartment, and we happily settled in and as soon as the lights went out we were fast asleep.
The next morning it was quite cloudy, so jumped in the car and headed to the south of the island, where sunshine is almost always guaranteed. The tourist office guy had told us about a little beach called Playa de la Tejita, so we decided to go there. Why you ask? Because, it is a GASP nudist beach. Neither of us had ever been to a nudist beach before and we figured that heck, we are on vacation, let's go crazy, so we went! Nestled between a little rock formation and a large hill that juts out into the sea called La Montaña Rojo (The Red Mountain), the wind was much calmer and it was kind of secluded. We arrived and stripped down to our birthday suits and put on some sunscreen, then some more and then a little more, just for good measure. While there were a good amount of people, I never once felt embarrased or self-concious. Everyone kept to themselves and it didn't feel dirty or strange at all. Just everyone, accepting thier bodies, not criticizing others and just enjoying the mid-equator sun! Add that to the list of crazy things I didn't think I'd ever do! And sorry to disappoint...but no photos hahaha.
With the good majority of the day on the beach, we made it back to Puerto de la Cruz just as the clouds were clearing and headed down to the main part of town for dinner. We set our eyes set on a big pasta dinner to fill up on carbs, because it was the night before our big hike on Mount Teide (Spain's highest peak). With our eyes set on the top, we wanted to make sure we had a lot of energy for our 5am wake-up and partial darkness-hike to be on the mountain for the sunrise. And boy was it worth it. I will happily tell you about the sun's first morning rays in the next blog!
Mwaaaak! (Remember, it's in Silbo)
Amanda
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