When we had breakfast and thought about where to go today, the weather wasn‘t super nice. Okay, it was warm, but very cloudy; and we didn‘t exactly know what we wanted to do. So we did the obvious: we drove up to the largest mountain, the Teide.
Our plan was to just see what‘s there and go for a short hike. We often overdo it on the first or second day and then have to deal with pain in hips, knees or somewhere else, because we still don‘t really get that we aren‘t 20 any more. On the way up we stopped at what has to be one of the oldest locals of this island: an 800-year old tree.
Majestic old friend, with a wonderful energy.
After this stop, the road kept winding up and up, until we were way over 2000m in height; and we saw more and more people in cars and on bikes. Most car parks were full, but we found a parking spot exactly where we wanted, very close to the lift up to the mountain. We didn‘t intend to go up (we didn‘t buy tickets in advance for the lift), but even if we wanted – it was not possible. Due to strong wind the lift wasn‘t operating. We hoped the people queing nonetheless and optimistically hoping the wind might cease would find some happiness in the interesting landscape.
And what an interesting landscape it is!
We just followed the most interesting paths, seeing new and sometimes very alien landscapes around every corner. Despite the distance, some parts reminded me of Australia; probably the combination of blue skies, green, hardy bushes and sometimes reddish-brown soil. No kangaroos though.
We tried not to overdo it and turned around after 2.5 km; and it was then we discovered why exactly the lift had to close. Once it didn‘t come from behind us, gently helping us move forward but was with force blowing right in our faces, the stroll became a bit more difficult. At a nice point in the landscape we sat down and meditated in this landscape dominated by air and fire – the Teide, after all, is a volcano.
We crossed the island and made our way to Puerto de la Cruz, one of the major citie of Tenerife. The ocean made very big waves for us, which was quite impressive. Although I really wanted to be in the water, in the middle of these huge, powerful waves and play with the ocean, this would have been a bad idea and the rocks wouldn‘t have played fair.
After a nice little lunch we went shopping; my wife managed to talk me into buying a t-shirt, and now she‘s very happy about it. Well, it‘s a nice shirt and I do love to make her happy.
The drive back to our hotel from Puerto de la Cruz was a bit of an anticlimax, because we took the motorway; and that rarely is entertaining or interesting. Well. At least during the drive home we realised we did all the major things we had wanted to do on the first full day on the island: a bit of shopping and hiking close to Teide mountain.
We finished this day with dinner at restaurant Mirador and had excellent conversations about showing anyone love instead of distrust and animosity, and about spiritual growth. It was that kind of day.