We arrived at the beginning of October, and the first two weeks were spent in a blur, in a serious heatwave.
All the folks here said they have never experienced such an event. The hot trade wind air over Africa was blowing over the island, which is something that does happen, but usually in the summer, and it never lasts for more than three days. This event was longer than two weeks, so it was an exceptional event, in a bad way.
We stayed at Tazacorte, and I think it’s a bit of a heat sink there. At the start of our stay, it was 35 degrees, and it was very challenging to rest, or get respite from the heat. Slowly, over the two weeks, the temps dropped, but 30 degress is still very hard. We struggled to find activities to do; as even going to the car and back was difficult. Parking was never close by, so even to get out and do something, meant having to park 100 meters away, and hike up the hill to our flat. We have been buying water here, so 4 liters is easy to drink but hard to haul!
The heatwave impacted the island in many ways. We had found some respite up at El Pilar, it’s a lovely Refugio, up at altitude. We found we could get up there early enough to enjoy an easy-ish walk on the ridge, and get moving a bit, and be comfortable and cool. Midway through, many of the trails were closed b/c of the risk of fire. That was a little unsettling. Once the heat wave broke, they opened up the trails and removed the restrictions.
We did a hike from this same place after the heat wave, and it was so cold! Around 12 degrees, not 25!
Anyway, we just worked it through, day by day, but I will say it was challenging for us to get through it. Lars had a bad cold, and I was just struggling.
We did try to make use of the time, inside, doing admin stuff and planning the remainder of the trip. Booking accommodations, flights, etc. etc. So, time wasn’t wasted, but it was hard to spend so much time staying still, trying to stay comfortable.
Anyway, the trip began in a more relaxed fashion, once the heat wave broke.
We hiked a few, and tripped around a bit. I’ll make another posts, just on the hikes we have done on La Palma and Gran Canaria.
On the volcano, Taijogate de Cumbrecita eruption, here’s wiki info on it, began in 2021, and lasted for almost three months.
As we had been there before the eruption, we had a strong interest in how the area had been impacted. Seeing the destruction, lost homes and still an exclusion zone that includes two towns and a major resort we were awestruck. People are definitely getting on with it, but I can’t imagine it would be easy to find a new normal.
Here are some pics, and then vids too. I went a little bonkers making time lapse videos, watch at your own peril!
fajersson.org 