We stayed in Fuencaliente, Los Canarios for seven full weeks, on this, our fifth visit to La Palma. We obviously enjoy this lovely island in the Atlantic, as we have been there so many times. For many reasons though, it will be a while until we return. This little post in part documents our visit, notable hikes, some firsts, and many last visits from our stay.
At some point of our stay, we realized this trip was going to be the last one for quite some time, so we did a lot of things before we bid adieu.
We have hiked a fair bit on the lower half of La Palma. Hiking from the door is one of the biggest attractions for us. Here are our notable hikes, a first, a variation on the past and a revisit.
Rutas de los Volcanoes – from El Pilar down to Fuencaliente.
About 19kms; and so much vertical gain. It’s tough hiking up, but pretty challenging going down too, with the eccentric contractions on the legs. It took me more than a week before my calves returned to normal.
Night hike
We did a night hike also, starting from our casa in Los Quemados, on the dirt roads to Volcan Teneguia. It was a full moon, and it had been hot that day. Bright enough to see for footing in the dark, and cool enough to enjoy the hike. There’s a night photo of Roque Teneguia. Another first, on this last trip.
Night shot of Roque Teneguia. This photo was taken at 9:00 pm.
Virgen Pine Church to La Cumbrecita, out and back.
This hike took us a little bit by surprise. Longer and a lot more work than we were expecting. La Cumbrecita is a camping and parking area in the Caldera de Taburiente, but it’s difficult to get parking permits just because of demand. We have hiked from La Cumbrecita to Pico Bejenado in previous visits so we thought the hike to La Cumbrecita would be a good option.
We hiked up and down through the pine forest to La Cumbrecita. We were greeted with amazing views of the caldera, and the Aridane Valley. The aroma of the Canary Island Pines is so lovely, I will always remember it fondly. The hike was 16 km long hike, 5.5 hrs, and 1023 metre elevation gain.
Our last hike on the island
This was fittingly, from our door, down to Faro Fuencaliente and back. It has been a long time since we’ve done this one, and we had also forgotten how absolutely beautiful it was. Walking past Roque Teneguia, then further past Volcan Teneguia, and through the lava fields downwards to the Faro (lighthouse) Fuencaliente. So beautiful, and amazing to be in this landscape and to see the ocean all around. We sat beneath the Faro, eating our lunch and enjoying being there, before heading back to the casa. <14kms, 4 hrs, and 635 metres of elevation gain.
First times
These are the “first” time visits and excursions, on our last visit.
Whale watching tour, out of Puerto Tazacorte,
Well worth the effort, I’m not a particularly enthusiastic boat person, but the seas were calm and it was a great day. We saw some pilot whales and dolphins; Poris de Candelaria and the Great Cave. It was very interesting, as they professed to be very non invasive to the sea life. Here on the west coast of Canada, tour operators can’t get within 150 metres of the whales. On La Palma, we were right on top of them.
Roque de los Muchachos and the Observatory
This is the highest point on the island, it’s quite a drive, which is why we had not done it before. We did try last time, but abandoned it because of sketchy weather. The observatory sits up here too, and we spent some time at the visitors’ centre. It was excellent, although a lot of information to absorb!
The views from the Roque de los Muchachos did not disappoint, they are so stunning! We could see the top of El Teide on the neighbouring island of Tenerife. From the top of the island and caldera, it was so fascinating to see the landscape of places we had hiked before – Pico Bejenado, and the Rutas de los Volcanoes going down the spine of the island.
Back close to our hood
We also did a wine tasting tour, at Bodegas Teneguia in Fuencaliente. It was so interesting, learning about the history of this part of the island, in relation to its development, and of course the intricacies of growing and harvesting the grapes in the area. If you’re ever down that way, it’s awesome. I’d be happy to do that again, one day. We did this tour with friends from Sweden, so that was another first, being on La Palma, with friends!
The next first, a stop in Los Cancajos. It’s close to Santa Cruz, and is where there’s a very high concentration of tourist accommodations and services. It’s quite the opposite to where we stayed, very remote hillside houses, with more dogs around than people. It was interesting to see, but really it’s not our thing.
Otherwise, there were the “Last visits” for coffees and treats around the island. To Puerto Naos which is opening up after the closures caused by the Taijogaite volcano; Santa Cruz de la Palma, to see the balconies and walk the lovely walking streets; to Los Llanos, to walk through that amazing Parque Antonio Gómez Felipe, along with a coffee and a treat. We knew these stops were our last for a while, so we just took the time to enjoy and reflect.
Other notes and notables…
As we spent such a long time in one area of the island, we got to see the comings and goings of life there. Some things we observed:
Thursday and Sunday mornings are “Dog Days”, guys with their Canary Island breed of dogs chasing conejos, (rabbits) all over the hillsides. It was interesting to watch, the dogs are a very interesting breed.
There’s an elderly couple in Fuencaliente, they live on the Main Street, but every time we were in town, we would see them sitting in their old Mercedes, watching the world go by. Eating food, doing their cross word puzzles. We started waving a hello to them each time we went by. I wish I knew enough Spanish to converse.
In fun and fascination, we watch and hear the pigeons race down the hillsides. It really is quite something. It sounds like fast moving planes, but, they are pidgeons!
As environmental and green as a society tries to be, there were so many abandoned vehicles down in Los Quemados. I can see how hard it is to get these things off the island, and it’s not my place to be critical. Just another observation.
So spending seven weeks there, we really got to see the comings and goings of the area. It was good that we had this amount of time, because the first two weeks were spent hacking, spewing and recuperating from some very nasty bug we caught on the flight over.
It will be a while before we return to La Palma. We think that an extended stay is necessary to make travel to this far away destination worthwhile. We couldn’t hike every day, so we had some time on our hands; we both would have appreciated the feeling of being a bit more productive while there. Turning to home, there’s the whole other facet of our lives at home and the connections and responsibilities that exist in that sphere of our lives. It was a wonderful trip, but that’s enough, for now. So, hasta luego La Palma.
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