5-13-12 The Canary Islands

I guess you could say I saved the best for last. As a matter of fact, this trip was full of lasts; my last Ryan Air flight for a long while, my last trip of the year, and my last blog post until I come home in a few weeks. However, with all of the lasts, this trip brought a lot of firsts as well; my first time scuba diving, my first time renting a car, and my first time driving in 8 months. I have much to tell you about the car, but I will save that for later.

This last weekend, Elizabeth and I went to a small island in the Canaries called Lanzarote. Lanzarote is an island that not many Americans know about. In fact, if you speak English on Lanzarote, everyone assumes you are British. It was the first time of the year when we would tell people that we were Americans, and they would look at us like, "Really? Well...what are you doing here then?" Lanzarote is a touristy place, but because of the time of year we were there, it was almost empty, and when it is occupied, it is mainly  Germans and British. Our SCUBA instructor, who is also a nurse at the local German hospital, said it really isn't even necessary to speak Spanish to work in the hospital because everyone is either German or British.


Before I get any further, mostly for the sake of my extended family, I would just like to make sure you know that Elizabeth and I are friends. Only friends. However, with that said, our friendship became much deeper this weekend.

My parents have already asked me how I liked the Canaries in comparison to Hawaii and our family trip this last summer. Hawaii is a very tropical place; there is vegetation all over the place, there are many different varieties of flowers, trees, fruits, etc. Lanzarote is a volcanic island; it wasn't tropical even though there were still many types of flowers and trees. When I think of Lanzarote, I think more of Lake Havasu where it is completely barren and brown until you go within about 100 feet of the water, then everything is green and lush. None-the-less, I think Lanzarote is a gorgeous place- maybe because it reminds me so much of Lake Havasu. As far as which vacation did I like better, well... yes. I enjoyed this trip to the Canaries quite a bit more than our trip to Hawaii, but that is not discounting the time we had in Hawaii in any way. On this trip, Lizzy and I made a point of NOT planning. The goal of this trip was to relax, rest up, eat well, read, and do whatever our whimseys told us to do. On our Hawaii trip, we had to get up at 7:00 am most mornings to be on time for whatever  it was we were doing that day. Another reason why I favor the Canaries over Hawaii is the price. Lizzy and I spent 72 euros for an apartment for three nights, about 50 euros each on airfare, about 40 euros on food for the entire weekend, and the rest was just extra. Another reason I enjoyed this trip more is because Lizzy and I were calling the shots; doing whatever we wanted when we wanted to do it, and that freedom really added to the relaxing factor and overall enjoyment of the weekend.

I don't exactly remember the weekend in a chronological order, so I will just talk about things as they come to me.

I guess a good place to start is the apartment. Our apartment had four rooms; a living room, a bedroom, a good sized kitchen and a bathroom. Just to settle any questions that anyone might have, Lizzy slept in the bedroom and I slept on the couch in the living room. Everything was nicely decorated and very "homey". Our complex was very nicely decorated with all kinds of cacti, palm trees, and flowers, most of which can be found in Hawaii. Just outside our window was a huge plumeria tree and just a little bit beyond that was the pool and lounging area. We had a patio, and since our complex provided us with patio furniture, every morning we were there, we made breakfast, and ate out on the patio as we enjoyed the view of the pool, the flowers, and the beach.

For breakfast every morning we were there, I made omelettes, Lizzy made potatoes, and we also had a fruit salad and breakfast tea. We spent 40 euros the entire weekend on food and ate like kings. For dinner, we made spaghetti with tomatoes, oil, garlic and basil, a salad with spinach, tomatoes, strawberries, oranges and oil on top, and on our last night, we had a special soda from Brazil that I haven't had since 7th grade.
On Sabbath morning, we went with a professional scuba guide for a two hour dive. I can very easily say it was one of the coolest experiences of my life and if the opportunity ever pops up again, I will definitely take advantage of it again. It was like watching a National Geographic documentary on coral and underwater life, but a million times better because I was actually there and experiencing it first hand. After we were suited up, our instructor gave me a weight belt to put on. The only experience I have with weight belts was at Catalina Island in 5th grade when I wore a 4 or 5 pound belt that didn't seem to have any effect. This time, the instructor gave me 10 kilos (22 pounds) of weight to put on. Once I figured out how to put that on, she helped me get on and strap down the vest that held my oxygen tank, and that must have weighed another 20-30 pounds. I felt like I was backpacking to the water's edge, but worse. In backpacking, all of the weight is on your back, and you can shift it around and take it off if need be. As I was standing there with everything on, it felt like I weighed 100 pounds more than I do- as if all of that gear were a part of me. Needless to say, I didn't want to play basketball right then.

We were diving in a little lagoon, and since we had about two hours of dive time, I figured we would go out of the lagoon, go around the coral, go up the coast a little ways, and make our way back. As it turned out, we spent the entire two hours in the lagoon and the deepest we ever went was 7 meters. I was so focused on the fish, the coral, and just the sheer excitement of breathing underwater, that I didn't really pay attention at all to where we were going and it seemed to me like we went way farther. After what seemed like 15 minutes, our time was up, and it was time to get out. That was easily the quickest hour and a half to two hours of my life. To my sheer surprise and delight, my scuba suit that took me a half an hour to put on practically just pealed right off.

After our dive, we asked to be dropped off at the airport so we could rent a car. At the airport, there are about 5 different rental car agencies right next to each other. I am 20 years old and don't have my international driver's license. We went right down the row and each one told me I had to be at least 21 or have my international driver's license or both until we got to the last place. At the very last place I could finally rent a car. Until we got to the last place, I was so afraid that we would have to walk back to our hotel again -about 4 miles- and worse than that, we would have to use taxis for the rest of the trip which are horrifically expensive there, and since we had plans on the other side of the island, it would be almost impossible.

Finally, we were sitting in the car in the rental car parking lot. I hadn't driven in over 8 months before this, and I hadn't driven a stick shift in over 3 years. I took a good ten minutes to just identify the controls that were necessary and think about the positions on the gearbox, which were quite different than what I am used to.
As we were pulling out, I stalled three times consecutively. I knew it had been a long time since I had driven a stick-shift, but did I really forget how to let out the clutch and give it some gas? After a quick reassessment, I figured out rather quickly that I was in 3rd gear. Sheesh. Because the gearbox was different, I had a hard time knowing what gear I was in from the start, and that caused even more problems later.

It was Sabbath afternoon, we had the car, and after about 15 minutes of cautious on the borderline of scared driving, it all started coming back, and I was able to calm down and drive a little bit more relaxed. Elizabeth was the co-pilot, and she did a great job of telling me when another car was coming, just in case I didn't see it, or when I was going to fast and other things like that.

Since the island was very small, and because we were about an hour away from sunset, we thought it would be nice to go finally watch a sunset that happens over water (something I haven't seen since I left home because the beach faces the east in Sagunto). We headed off, and because the island is so small, navigating can basically be done by just keeping track of where the water is. We found our way fairly easily to a good spot to watch the sunset.

Even though it was fairly easy to find the beach on the other side of the island, at one point, I made a wrong turn that lead out to a gravel road out in the middle of nowhere. The answer seems pretty simple, right? Just  turn around. That is exactly what I...tried to do. I started my three point turn, and just as it was time to go backwards...we kept going forwards. 

Look at the picture on the left. The gearbox on the left is the kind of gearbox I am accustomed to back in the states. That's not to say that all gearboxes in the states are like this, but of the three or four manual cars I have driven in my life, this is how it has been. Now, look at the gearbox on the right. That was the gearbox I was dealing with at this particular moment. Because it showed reverse as all the way to the left and up, that is exactly what I did... and we kept on rolling forwards. Because we were on a very wide gravel road, I didn't even need to do a three point turn, so I turned the car around onto a straightaway, and tried again. I jammed the stick all the way to the left and up and hit the gas...and we still kept going forward. How could this be? I spent the next five to ten minutes shifting between first, second, third, fourth and fifth, seeing if maybe just the diagram on the top of the stick was wrong, and maybe reverse was hidden somewhere else, like maybe where I am accustomed to it. Nope. I tried a hundred more different combinations with the stick just seeing if somehow I could find the reverse. Nope. It was the funniest feeling in the world to think that I was stuck with a car that seemingly didn't have reverse. Is it possible that some idiot in the factory forgot to install it? Is it possible that you have to move the stick  in a particular way it to get into reverse? Nope. It was as if I just didn't have reverse. I was beyond frustrated at this point, seeing as how I had spent the last half hour just looking for the ****** reverse. After about a half hour, I discovered a little button on the handle of the stick. I pushed it and kicked the stick to the left again, but this time, it was different. This time it went even farther to the left. I tried the gas...AND WE STARTED ROLLING BACKWARDS!! Hallelujah! Finally, after a good half an hour to forty minutes, we had learned how to go into reverse!

We saw the sunset, and even though it wasn't spectacular, it wasn't shabby either. It was getting dark when we left, so we needed to figure out how to turn on the headlights. After another ten minutes of playing around with all of the controls, I found the windshield wipers, cruise control, trip meter, and a few other things, but still no headlights. This car was quite a mystery to me. It was like a team of puzzle makers put it together with the goal of hiding all of the functions. Finally, I found the headlights that were basically at the level of my left knee. With all of the basic car functions figured out, and some not-so-basic ones that we found accidentally while looking for the basic ones, we were finally ready to head back.

The next morning, we were planning to go out on a surfing lesson. However, because our flight was sooner than we had originally thought, that didn't workout. Our flight left at around 5:00 pm, and checkout was at 11:30 from the apartment. What were we going to do for about three to four hours? We rented the car to take us to surfing lessons on the other side of the island and back to the airport. Now that we weren't going to surfing lessons, we decided to just start driving around the island, and that is what we did. We drove back to the same spot we were at the night before, to the other side of the island, and to the national park.

This national park was truly one of a kind. Lanzarote is a volcanic island, so this national park is right near the volcano and all there is to see is volcanic rock. That's it. No trees, no mountains besides the volcanoes, no wildlife of any kind, no rivers, just black rock everywhere. As we were driving up to the entrance, I was expecting to come around a bend somewhere and see the island paradise I was imagining Lanzarote to be. Nope. Not even close. However, even though it wasn't a normal person's paradise, it was beautiful all the same. I have never, and will never again, see so much metamorphic rock in one place. It was spectacular to see the volcanoes, the red hills and the black rock against the blue sky.

As we were headed back from the national park, right near the entrance, there was a random group of camels parked by the side of the road. Lizzy and I still had about an hour to kill, so we decided to just see if they were for riding, and if the price was reasonable. As it turns out, the price was very reasonable, and the next thing we knew, we were climbing one of the mountains on the back of a camel. This was unlike any camel ride I have ever taken before, and I can say things like this now that we rode camels in Morocco. This camel was a two-seater, and there were legitimate seat belts on the seats. When I first saw the seat belts, I just started laughing- how ridiculous is it to ride camels with seat belts? However, once the camel got up and started moving, I was never more glad to wear one. Our ride lasted about a half-hour, and afterwards, since our bags and everything were already in the trunk of the car, we wondered our way back to the airport and headed out.

As I have said before, this trip was unlike any other this year, and in many ways, it was by far the best one. Now, we have less than two weeks to go. At this time in two weeks I will be back in the good ole' U.S. As I reflect back on this year, and I think about all that has happened, I realize how lucky I am to have met all of the people I have met, to have gone to all of new cities, countries and continents, to have had a year to slow down and take it a little bit easier, and to have learned as much as I have about myself and about my God. This next week is a very busy one, and next week we have finals on Monday and Tuesday, we have a field trip on Wednesday, and that is it. I leave very early on Friday morning out of Valencia, and I will be home very late Friday night.

It has been a privilege writing to you this year and letting you know a little bit about what has been happening around here, but as they say, all good things have to come to an end sometime. I will miss this place greatly, all of the people, the orange trees, the beautiful hills, the beach, and the experience, and I do plan to return sometime in the next few years. However, the emotion that I feel even stronger than how much I will miss everyone is the sheer excitement I already feel to come home. The next time we talk, it will be in person and I am looking forward to that day very much. So what are my last words to finish off my blog of my year in Spain? I can't say until next time like I normally do, because this is the last time, but I guess all I can say is that it has been a privilege, and until we meet in person, take care, and I'll be seeing you very soon.