I headed over to Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands to the west of Gran Canaria. I stayed with a German woman (Uli) that runs a Hostel in the small town of La Orotava. Here I will be exploring the town while learning a bit about organic gardening. Although her garden is somewhat of a wild thing with no form, it definitely allows the natural plants to multiply easily with the fertile volcanic ground. Unfortunately all sorts of weeds have made it their home which makes it hard to distinguish something that belongs from something that should be removed.
As for La Oratava it is town that is known for their balonies which can be seen on some of the pictures I posted below. Homes built around the 17th century still line the streets on some of the older places in town.
My stay will be in a tent that is in the garden but has a bed and living area within. I have retrofitted the other side of the tent with a bench and shelf for my things to keep them off the ground. My host has also run an electrical cord to the place so I can have some light in case I want to read or move around after the sun is gone. This hostel is mostly hosting German travelers so I hope that my Deutch sprechen will come back to me.
During my stay I helped around in the garden and the house chores to keep the place a bit tidy.
Aside from learning a bit of German I have been able to spend my free time exploring the town and the coast in Puerto De la Cruz (full of Tourist).
While here I was able to experience my first Carnaval which started on the 24th and went on for two weeks with each small town having their own customs and music concerts. Maggie and I went to two different towns with Santa Cruz (Tenerife’s main city)being the biggest and loudest place by far. It seemed to me like they had closed off 8 to 10 square blocks for music and drinks. I must say that it is the biggest block party I have ever been to and people were very friendly and welcoming.
Overall a great time here on the islands and I would like to return someday to visit and keep exploring.
I know I haven’t posted in a bit but it gets difficult to do it on a mobile phone. My computer got rained on and it is no longer alive. I will try and keep everyone updated. Hopefully soon I will figure out what this blog is really for.

Here is a video that I recently saw that was enjoyable.

Now its time for a solo adventure on Gran Canaria. I have rented my first vehicle since on the trip and I must say it is coming in handy. The rates are relatively cheap but I figured it was worth it seeing as how it is serving as my room and transportation around the island. My loaner Fiat, model Panda is a little gutless, gas efficient comfortable cruising bug that so far for three nights I’m learning can be comfortable as a sleeper as well. Every night I figure out how get even more comfortable as I stack my available cloths and what nots to make a comfortable surface to sleep on. I must say that the experience is a unique one but I am loving every minute of it. I have also figured out that when water is not readily available as it would at a hostel or hotel, wet wipes are a heavenly shower in the crisp mornings as the sun is rising in the distant horizon. The loveliest sunrise I’ve seen in long time.

Awesome sand sculpture on playa de Canteras

Fiat, Panda

Playa Maspalomas

Dunes on playa Maspalomas

Gran Canaria

Playa Puerto Rico

Weird Blocks on Playa Puerto Rico

Our time is coming to an end here in Competá and our hosts have been great. Long walks in the mountain to very relaxing times in the cabin were we are staying have been meditative and relaxing. The town of Competá is small in size and smaller yet in the number of people living in the surrounding areas. With a population hovering around 30K, almost a quarter of those are foreigners that are retired or only in town to escape harsh winters. The beach is a 40 min drive through the mountains but thats only if you have a car to drive in. The morning and evening sunsets are amazing, but even more amazing is the fact that you can see over to Africa on a clear evening when the sun is dipping just below the horizon.

The place has been amazing, the food tastes wonderful and the people are very laid back. Unfortunately we were not able to see everything we wanted but none the less it was enough.

Campo Sunrise

View from Cabin

view from cabin

Competá

Competá Streets

Street wanderer

Campo

We left Granada and headed to the outskirts of a small town by the name of Nerja. Our guest have set us up in a cozy little cabin up in Parque Natural Sierras de Tejeda. The air is pretty cool and the views are unbelievable.  Our host have an art gallery that is situated in the town of Cómpeta. The locals are all pretty easy going and the ex-pats are very kind as well. Not much more to say then time to relax and take in nature.

You can see some fotos of Granada in the Fotos section of the blog. Here is a video from a street performance at Plaza Santa Ana, Granada, Spain.

Le decimos adiós a nuestro primer huésped a viajamos al suiguiente sitio que queda cerca de Granada, España. Gracias a Jota por su hospitalidad y por dejarnos compartir con el de sus diarios que hacerse. Ayer como despedida me incluyo en preparación de un pollo para las fiestas. La experiencia fue única y me dio una apreciación por los animales y la carne que yo como seguido sin saber de dónde viene o como fue creada.

I am appreciative for this opportunity and I look forward to the next chapter of this adventure. Time to see more and see what other eccentric characters we run into.

Until next time folks, for now I leave you with this song by Groundation titled, “One More Day (live it up).” Beautiful song.

Our first week has been a nice experience, learning a bit about agriculture from our host on his organic farm. He says much has to be done but regardless there is still an abundance of winter crops in his garden. His green house is made of bent metal tubing lined with a thick clear plastic to keep the warmth and moisture inside.

His green house foundation could use a bit beefing up but it works for his application and also cuts his cost down because most of his materials are used, repurposed, or recycled from local construction sites.  He still needs to close the back and front and add fans to circulate air within the greenhouse to maintain a constant temp but non the less it is still producing a good crop. 

Besides being in the country, Barcelona is a huge place with the same hustle and bustle of any other large city. The subway system is a bit difficult to get used to but not impossible to figure out. It is definitely a more economic way of getting around due to the high prices of gas in Europe. Compared to the U.S., gas is about 2.5 times more expensive in price. Regardless we are still making the most of it and looking forward to our next destination (wherever that may be).

Amongst all the amazing places to see around the city we have gone to see Sagrada Familia and the historic Gothic center near the ocean. I spent hours just looking at all the details that were carved into the outside and inside of both churches. An amazing display of wealth by the Catholic Church. Even to this day the church of Sagrada Familia is still under construction and will be for the next 20 to 30 years for sure. Instead of fronting the money to finish it the church relies on a 20 euro contribution for anyone wanting to see inside the amazing structure. ( I kept my money and I’ll see the inside when its free!)

More amazing to me was the architecture and decorations of Catedral de la Santa Cruz y Santa Eulalia de Barcelona in the Gothic district. This district is 500 plus years old so I can only imagine how long it was under construction when it was started.

We arrived at Jotas Finca on the south western part of Barcelona. We took a 25 min train ride from Estacion Barcelona Sants a el pueblo de Gavá. From there we took a taxi over to the edge of town to where Jota was waiting for our arrival. Turned out he had a similar experience to mine where at 34 years old he was tired searching for something different and started traveling the world. He finally settled not too long ago in this small town having been given the opportunity to own some land that some older folks offered him.

Maggie and I are thinking of staying here a couple of weeks then possibly make our way to another community where we are hoping to learn some food cultivation.

That big ass dog in the picture is Jotas Guard dog Fly boy. He must be mixed with polar bear because he is a pretty large creature.

We finally made it Barcelona after what seems like 20 hours of traveling (quite the adventure). We got to JFK airport early for our flight and I ended up checking in my bag without putting my knife in the bag before hand. I ended up having to give it away to some guy at the airport. I was quite sad about that but I guess it was written in the stars, c’est la vie.  We boarded the plane a few hours later and headed to Moscow for our connection flight. When we landed it was 12 degrees below zero and the people were rude as f*$k. We flew out of Moscow at around 8pm and arrived in Barcelona, Spain 3.5 hours later. Note, at this point I haven’t slept but 2 hrs at the Moscow airport so I was hella tired.

Around 2 in the morning we got to our Hostel and were finally able to get some zzzz’s in. Now it is time to look up some things to do and the adventure begins!

I will be trying to update this as much as possible and in the process I hope my writing skills will get better. If anyone has any suggestions as to what you like to see in the posts write your comments in the comments section somewhere within this blog. I will try and reply whenever I get a chance so just give me some time and I will get to you asap.

To begin our adventure into Europe, we make a stop in Providence RI to visit with some friends and chill out a bit before headed to NY city. The weather is cold, the atmosphere is rushed and the food is delicious. Although not much effort is made to go out and explore I feel content reading and relaxing in the warmth of the house we’re staying in which belongs to Heidi and Kyle. This is good way to start the trip and gather our bearings before heading off into yet another place of unfamiliar sites, sounds, and people. This is going to be quite an adventure.

I don’t know what direction this blog will be going other than a way of tracking where I’ve been, but I hope that it starts taking shape as I learn the platform and how I want it to look. The hope is that it will become a way to record an experience, learn a new skill, share some thoughts, and let everyone know whats going on in my life to a degree. Stay tuned for some pics as soon as I can figure out how to post them.