Camel Safari - Day 6 - 8/11/2008

As promised, we returned to pet the camels on Saturday, when we could get a bus to the camel park. Brian and I walked over to meet the camels, which were tethered together wagon train style. The guides immediately started organising us onto camels, which meant Brian and I got the lead camel.

Technically, the camels on Lanzarote are dromedaries, one-humped camels.

The camels' loads were balanced roughly with sandbags, which meant the bigger the weight difference the bigger the sandbag. The guide put a makeshift seatbelt around each of us. One of the camels behind us made grumpy camel noises as everyone was being loaded. Once all of the pairs were on their camels, the guide came through and asked each camel to stand up. Back legs came up first, tipping us forward by about 45 degrees. Then we were kicked backward a bit when our camel stood up on her front legs.

Yes, all of the camels at the camel safari were female. Our tour guide on the bus tour explained that the male camels were much grumpier and more prone to rivalries. The complaining camel behind us continued her grunty complaining. Once everyone's camels were standing up and not thrilled about going anywhere, the guide led our group away from the camel loading area.

Our guide knew two phrases in English that he used frequently and effectively. "Oh my God!" and "Hold on tight!"

As our camels walked into the park, the guide tossed the reins of our camel to me with a well-placed "Oh my God!" to go with it. He walked back along the camel train. Our camel continued for a few paces and stopped. I think the guide gave her a little nudge and she continued a few more paces and stopped again. More Oh my Gods and Hold on tights followed.

Grudgingly, our camel led us up the hill of chunky lava gravel. We were surrounded by a landscape of reds and browns typical of young volcanoes. Eventually our camel guide took the reins again as we neared the top of the trail. He stopped and gave us a nice view across the landscape. Sadly, when he offered to take photos of everyone, I had to say no. My poor camera was not happy.

Our guide led us to the next overlook with a few more Oh my Gods and Hold on tights along the way. He made like he was going to lead our camel off the trail and down the steep gravelly hill. Our camel would have none of that and we laughed at the look she gave him.

We wandered a bit farther down the trail and he did the same. This time, when our camel stopped abruptly, the camel behind her didn't stop so quickly. I got a camel kiss on my right arm. In truth, I think it was a camel shove to get us to keep moving, but with no luck. Through the wire and cloth muzzles, camel kisses are about as slobbery as dog kisses. I bet that makes them even more slobbery without the muzzles. Brian was jealous that I got camel kisses and he didn't.

I am pretty sure it started after the camel kisses but our camel became a full suspension camel on the way back to the loading area. As she walked down the trail, Brian and I seesawed on our seats. We looked around and didn't see anyone else with anywhere near as much wobbling. I tried to shift my weight to the right a bit to balance but that didn't help at all. We continued in full suspension mode all the way to the bottom of the hill and back into the camel loading area. It eased a little on the flats but I wondered if the next riders would be in for the same.

Our camel ride came to an end with our camel sitting down again. Kicked back, kicked forward and then we were on the ground again. We pet our camel and told her thank you.

The bus journey gave us an extra half hour at the camel park before taking us back to Matagorda. We visited the shop for an ice cream and stood outside to watch the next camel safaris. I saw our camel leading the next group as enthusiastically as she led ours. The guide tossed the reins to the woman in what used to be my seat. Suddenly, our camel made a hard right and started walking toward us. Not running because she wasn't that enthusiastic about it but definitely heading away from the park entrance. The guide's Oh my Gods were interrupted briefly while he had to grab the reins and lead her back on track.

We bid the camels farewell and headed back to the hotel. Back earlier than we expected, we picked up our snorkeling gear and headed to Playa Chica, a spot recommended by the dive shop proprietor who sold me my mask and snorkel. It was protected from the effects of wind and current by piles of rock on either side. He was right. We saw loads of fish, small fish near the beach and larger fish getting closer to the end of the sheltered area. The water was still quite cold but at least the air temperature was getting closer to making up for it.

I should also mention that our hotel had entertainment each night. Sometimes it was rubbish, but on our last night it was pretty good. A man and a woman, both acrobats, put on an hour long show. The woman was amazingly flexible and showed off lots of bendy poses. The man was a bit of a goof -- he juggled a lot and balanced on silly things. Sometimes they did both together. We were pleased that the entertainment was good for our last night and we didn't need to find other ways to entertain ourselves. We had our last dinner at the same place as our first dinner, which ended perfectly with the delicious ron miel (honey rum) with cream and cinnamon.

The camel safari was much less congested when we returned on Saturday.

The camel seat view got more exciting in a minute when the camel stood up.

Lanzarote the Bus Tour - Day 2 - 4/11/2008

We took the Grand Tour of Lanzarote to see what there was to see and see if there was anything worth seeing more.

Our first stop was a cafe in Yaiza so the arrivals from Playa Blanca could join us. From there, our first real stop was near El Golfo. On the way in, we saw a photo shoot for something with a woman wearing something that looked both expensive and insufficiently warm given the lack of warmth that day.

Once the bus let us off, we walked down to see the Green Lagoon that was a bit more yellow when we saw it. Some of our group looked among the rock rubble for olivine. Others bought theirs from the woman running the "gift shop" table in the car park. We explored the rocks including a semi-cave as well as the beach. Brian discovered that the water was just as cold on the windward side of the island.

All of Lanzarote is volcanic in origin so the rocks are cooled lava, stubbly and brittle like limestone. Climbing felt easy. From the walk back to the bus, we noticed that erosion seemed as much a problem as limestone -- a big chunk of the path had fallen about 5m to the rubble below.

We spent a lot of time in the Parque Nacionale de Timanfaya, first visiting the camel safari (but not riding camels) and the natural oven of the park's restaurant before doing the famed Crater Route in the park. Natural heat makes the ground warm and if you dig down just a little, you can find quite a lot of heat. There were three levels to visit. First, one of the park employees took a shovel of rubble from the ground and gave each of us a rock to hold. We didn't hold the rocks for long as they quickly became too hot to hold. At the second level, we got to look into a natural pocket as they tossed some straw into it. I wondered what the autoignition temperature of straw was as it burst into flames. At the top level, we were told to stand back while one of the employees poured some water into a pipe in the ground and made a mini geyser.

Only buses are allowed along the Crater Route and no one is permitted off the buses. The topography is a barren mix of reds, browns, black and white. Green and living things were sparse. Our bus tour took us along most of the big craters, including the Timanfaya itself, although I must confess I don't remember which one was which. Our tour let us look down on the camel park as we looped around the much taller craters that could easily be on another planet.

The end of the crater route meant lunch was soon to follow. We stopped at a large buffet-style restaurant. Veggie options were limited and my lunch was very potatoey. I discovered a fondness for papas arrugadas aka Canarian wrinkly potatoes, so called because they are cooked in seawater and are indeed wrinkly. They weren't salty enough for Brian. I also sampled the famous salsa mojo verde and creamy garlic death sauce. The tour guide warned us against the garlic sauce, but Brian ate it, too. That's always the way to do it, sharing the garlic breath.

After lunch, we stopped at a local bodega to sample local wine. Lanzarote whites are better known and appreciated than their reds. We got to sample a dry white and a moscatel. The latter is a dessert wine, similar in sweetness to sherry. I liked it a lot. We brought two bottles back with us to share.

Back on the bus, we drove through the old capital of Teguise and the guide spoke more about architecture. Most of the buildings have flat rooftops to collect the rain. The rainy season is in the winter and that water must last them the year. They have desalination plants for seawater now but that water is not good for drinking.

We stopped at another cafe overlooking the shoreline northeast of Arrecife, the current capital. I was a bit annoyed by this cafe stop. It was a nice view but not all that interesting otherwise.

Back on the bus again, the next stop was the Guinate Tropical Park that I think was set up by an English guy and is apparently a bird sanctuary. The sun was well hidden behind the clouds, the wind had kicked up and most of the birds were smart enough to be somewhere else. Apparently sometimes you can see penguins in the park but we just saw some seagulls playing in the wind. We had nice views to Islas Graciosa, Montaña Clara and Alegranza just north of Lanzarote.

The stop in the park was brief as we were already approaching 4pm. Rounding the north end of the island, we headed to our last stop of the tour, the famous Jameos del Agua. Born of ideas from César Manrique, a famous modern artist I had never heard of, a resort hotel was built into a cave in the 1960s. Lots of rich and famous people visited it. Eventually it was converted into a tourist attraction. The bar/restaurant was still running but the hotel rooms were not. In the tidal pond in the cave, we saw albino crabs crawling along the rocks. Exiting the cave, we found a pool that looked like part of a villain's lair in a James Bond film. No wonder Sean Connery is said to have visited the resort.

At 6pm, the Jameos del Agua was closing and the sun was setting. We piled onto the bus for the journey back to the hotel. It felt like a good taste of the island but unfortunately, we were not inspired about what else we needed to visit while there. The camel safari felt like a must but otherwise, we were left wondering.

Our bus tour of the island was too "busy" to include the 30min camel ride, but we got to see the camels, hear them complain (camels are grumpy animals) and even see one spit at a woman. I think we could have ditched the second cafe stop in favour of camel rides, but we returned later in the week for a camel safari.

The view across the Parque Nacional de Timanfaya from the visitor centre / volcanic oven restaurant.

The lavascape of the Parque Nacional de Timanfaya looked like something from another planet. Barren, nearly devoid of life, beautiful and not somewhere I would like to be stranded.

I have no idea which one was the official Timanfaya crater but this one impressed me.