When the clouds loom and the wind swirls the waves, the most logical thing to do is book a ferry trip. At least, this is what I chose to do and then eyed the water askance. I am not a brilliant sailor but the bus arrived at 8:00 am and off we went. We boarded the Catarman ferry and sailed for 45 minutes to the Island of La Gomera.
This was a wonderful day trip, once I was over the sailing. The bus meets you in the Port of San Sebastion and you climb straight up into the mountains. This is the island of the rain forest with all the vegetation getting their nutrients from the clouds. This was proving to be a clear day on this side of the water so we had lovely vistas and views from all sides. The bus stopped several times to allow us to look at the foliage, views and cliff sides. There was explanations in three languages from the guide and plenty of signage to read for those that wanted to. The forest fire was explained and the charred branches made an interesting contrast with the foliage that was on the far side. The island is of course volcanic so that made for more steep cliffs and narrow road ways. This was a bit adventurous on a bus.
Keep in mind that there are no bathrooms en route so by the time we reached the park center, I had dickey dancing kids that ran for the loo asap. After that, we had some delicious coffee and hot chocolates before climbing the pathway from the visitor center to the edge. There are 400 unique species to this park that are native to the island of La Gomera. It was stunning to see. For the children, they had a fabulous park with zip line, swings and slides, climbing nets and a pretend donkey. You can tell that the locals use this area too.
Then, we twisted and turned our way to the lunch restaurant. They piled the tour buses in and orderly gave us soups and chicken with canarian potatoes. Of course, I got the table with all engineers...and the Spanish professor from Hanover so at least I had someone to talk to that wasn't speaking technology. Engineers are a breed all their own as I have learned. Hahahaha.
After lunch, they gave a phonetic Gomerian whistle language demonstration. It was incredible to hear the pitch and speech patterns and very musical. I think my own two picked up far more than they should have however as they have been whistling ever since. Sigh. More bus views and a visit to a banana plantation followed. The trip back put us back at the hotel by 8:00 pm. Very late for the 6:45 dinner reservation.
New Years Eve was spent eating at the buffet and then going to the Mini disco and shows at the Sandos. There was the Spanish dancers followed by the Chinese acrobatic team. We couldn't quite get away with not ringing in the new year with gangum style. Some things are not meant to be. The balloons fell, music blasted and streamers were everywhere. Happy New Year from the Canary Islands. It is a wonderful place to be.
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