Gran Canaria

As we go along I'm finding that each of these islands is so very unique. Gran Canaria was quite a surprise, but it involved finding a number of keys before we could uncover its treasure. Similar to a nut that's hard to crack, we persevered, and quite frankly I didn't even know if there would be anything edible inside. For me it was a Jewel Quest.

Right from the start things were odd. Upon leaving my cabin I couldn't find the way off the ship; they'd switched doors to disembark and it was on an entirely different floor. The morning was overcast and starting to spritz... possibly another omen. We came down the ramp, looking for the car rental office that we had a reservation with, and were told that it was permanently closed. HMMM. Adding to the confusion, it seemed I'd left my wallet in the room. Let's go back to the cabin and start over shall we?

Actually I took a moment to compose myself. Were these signs to remain on the ship today? Admittedly it didn't look very promising from the port area. The city was huge and without any appearance of island charm. But there was this little voice inside that whispered "keep going". So I grabbed a map of the city that was given to me the day before, and saw that there was another inner-city location for our rental agency. We could always try to find it on foot. We walked into the inner regions of the city, with drizzle, and our day bag. Trudging up and down streets with people lounging in doorways, or waiting for a bus. Plainly they could tell we were tourists. The map wasn't clear and it was difficult to get our bearings. Again we almost pulled the plug on this excursion. Several of you were getting very restless!

After walking for about thirty minutes we miraculously found the rental agency, only to find that it was closed. This was despite a sign on the door that indicated they should have been open for fifteen minutes already. Would you have given up at that point? Somethings are just not meant to be... but at that thought the door opened and the attendant was ready to rent us a vehicle. There's more to this story, believe it or not, including many wrong turns and a number of one way streets. Inevitably I surrendered the need to find a specific location and just started driving.

Gran Canaria is heavily populated, with homes, businesses, and industry everywhere that they could find land to build upon. Nearly one half of the entire population in the Canaries lives on this island. But I knew from the map that it was essentially round and had one large mountain in its center. It seemed that this might be a good destination, so we headed inland. The road continually switchbacked as it climbed, passing homes and small towns. About thirty minutes into the climb things began to pay off. What was overcast started to thin out slightly, and the land became more green and truly rugged. This huge central peak used to be a volcano a few gazillion years ago, and the sides of the resulting mountain are a series of deep ravines which became increasingly more beautiful.

I still didn't know what we would find at the top, but we just kept climbing. Near what appeared to be a summit region there were a few restaurants and it seemed like a good time for a break. How about a late breakfast at noonish? Sound good to you? Not only was it delicious but we got to take that much needed pit-stop. After we exited, much to our delight, the sky cleared and I looked to my left and had a glimpse of something astonishing. I began climbing the trail that began along the side of the restaurant. This tiny video will reveal the product of our patience and tenacity.

It was so beautiful I kept walking, often sitting for fifteen minutes or more in awe. And to be honest I was brought to tears quite a few times. No recording device can do it justice, and any attempt to describe it will be trivial.