For this mountainous, diverse island, we arranged to have a local guide, Tony Vega, who provided much knowledge of the island and language abilities… meaning that he could speak English quite well.  He greeted us at the airport and became our driver for the first few days, giving us a condensed island tour.  Beginning with Las Palmas, the capital city of the Canaries, we found it like most large cities with lines of concrete high rises and lots of congested traffic.  Fortunately, we had elected to lodge outside the city’s limits (on a map, it looked rather easy to access) but soon discovered that we had selected a quite remote location to stay, at the center of the island.

Our drive to Cruz de Tejeda, the high peak of the island, took about an hour of winding, steep roads through precipitous terrain to reach our accommodations at El Refugio.  We had left warm and sunny weather for cold and rainy (this photo is the day we left.)  Being quite tired, we quickly enjoyed a home-cooked warm meal and retired to our room for much needed rest for the upcoming days.

Cruz de Tejeda marks the dead center on the island at a crossroads that memorializes the sacred island.  From our pre-trip research, it seems like the most central and interesting place to stay on the island, though we felt stuck at the top of a mountain without transportation.  The island’s national Parador was closed for repairs, and with only our hotel and a few neighboring farmers, the only attractions (or distractions) in Tejeda were merchant stalls that lined along the roadside and farmers offering donkey rides.  We wouldn’t do that to the poor animal.

Our first full day on the island began with a nice hike up to Rogue Nublo and fortunately the sun was shining bright and warm for our hike.  Our guide, born and raised on the island, shared his thoughts on the spiritual essence of Gran Canaria and its connection to the other island and “mother earth.”  As he explained it... Gran Canaria island is rounded (Yin) with a protruding Roque Nublo at the center (Yang) and Tenerife shape is sharp and long (Yang) with the round Pico del Teide in the center (Yin) = creating a natural balance for these islands as well as whole universe.  And some believe that these islands are the lost Atlantis!  The Incas once called these islands the "cradle of Mother Earth."  Many spiritualists believe that these islands form a natural Yin-Yang of energy for healing.

We enjoyed a beautiful and relatively easy hour’s hike with magnificent views along the way.  At the plateau, you could see the coastline all around the island while taking in the beauty of the valleys that surround the peaks.  It is here that our guide demonstrated the healing powers of these rock formations… placing our hands on the rock called “the frog” and taking 7 deep breaths for the Yin energy, and then over to Rogue Nublo, which looks like an altar, for the Yang balance with 7 deep breaths… drawing in the balance of these natural elements from the earth.  We did feel that one rock was warm and the other was cool.  His demonstration continued as he portrayed the ease of a mountain goat walking out on a narrow rocky ledge called “the throne” for a brief meditation and blessing from a puddle of rainwater.  We preferred to remain with the safety of the healing rocks.

After our hike, we headed onward to the town of Artenara, one of many towns and villages built into a hillside with troglodyte caves in which some are still inhabited.  We lunched at a restaurant called La Silla, where we had to walk through a cave-like tunnel to other side for an outdoor café with amazing view of the valley.  Our tour included town of Teror which is the religious capital of the island with Basilica de la Virgen del Pino – yes, the virgin of the pine tree.  It is here that the image of the Virgin Mary could be seen on the side of a pine tree.  We found this native Canarian showing off an African Tulip tree just as interesting.

From Montana de Arucas, we enjoyed expansive vistas of the region's valley, which included the Caldera de Bandama, an extinct crater, and Las Palmas in the distance.
 

This island is unique as there are several hamlets of modern-day cave dwellers, like in the Gorge of Guanches’ Barranco de Guayadeque, where we families still habitat in the caves built by their rock-dwelling ancestors.  These efficient eco-homes are built into the mountainside with their front entry looking like a regular dwelling, surrounded by farming land on terraces. 

For our last tour with Tony, we decided to explore the more touristy southern end of Maspalomas, where a tropical oasis meets up to the dry canyons, sand dunes are mountain high, and tourists flock for sunbathing and tax-free shopping.  Their canyon lands resemble those in the American southwest.  Even a camel ride attraction was available for the more adventurous sightseer, but no need since there are many spots to enjoy this vista. 

 To reach the beaches of Playa del Ingles, our guide had us relish in the extent of the sand dunes by leading us across them through the blowing winds and the heat of the sun.  Along the way, we pass another camel ride attraction where the dromedaries looked as we felt hiking in thick, blowing sand.  We pondered the effort and felt thankful for the easier access of our own beaches back in Florida.  The winds continued to blow quite strongly and steadily but that did not shy away the Europeans in occupying all of the umbrella chairs and even found a few brave ones swimming in the freezing cold ocean waters.

Back in Las Palmas, we toured through old town and discovered Museum Canario, which is the island’s most famous for Guanche artifacts.  This museum even included an interesting display of skulls and mummies, showing signs of their own healing practices with the use of lobotomies.  Almost everything found on these islands has made its way to this museum but at the time of our visit, we found the exhibits not well marked.  Next stop was Casa de Colon, the "House of Columbus", once the residence of the former governors, now a museum of pre-Columbian artifacts... likely not original to the islands.  Though the home was never visited by its namesake but does offer a great example of typical Canarian architecture.

We ended our visit to the islands with a walk through their Jardin Botanico just outside of Las Palmas, where protected park lands have been set aside to grow a wide range of Micronesian flora, some only indigenous on the Canary Islands.  Several of these plant forms were even on the verge of extinction, but with care and support of this park, the island’s flora is flourishing to great heights.

The end has come:  23 days… 6 islands… countless hotels and restaurants… we were ready to return home.  We enjoyed the uniqueness of each island and experienced awe and adventure throughout the Canary Islands...  Hoping to return someday.  

Taking the "Good" with the "Bad" ~

During our travels through these islands, we recorded the best and worst on each island.  Of course, these are our observations and opinions to share with you as a way to provide an overview of our impressions.

The Best of Gran Canaria:
1 - Being the capital of the islands must help as most locals spoke understandable English
2 - The most varied landscape from a "grand canyon" type appearance to the dunes of Sahara desert to tropical gardens that make the rain forest look dry
3 - A spiritual moment at Roque Nublo ~ especially after an hour hike through a pine tree forest and along a mountain ridge with the most spectacular views
4 - The Botanical gardens in Las Palmas which offered a beautiful representation of all indigenous plant forms from all the islands


The Worst of Gran Canaria:
1 - True to its name, it felt like we cross a continent after a day of driving along its windy roads
2 - Even with its varied and beautiful landscapes, this island is unable to produce a drinkable wine ~ it does offer a sweet Date palm rum that could double as syrup
3 - Many interior townships consisted of houses built from caves, including most rural restaurants ~ one cave tourist trap is interesting, many becomes less interesting
4 - Signs to the city's attraction (when you could find them) were in Spanish only ~ and would be lucky to find what you are looking for since many of the sign faced the opposite direction on an one-way street

A SPECIAL THANKS:  Our visit to this island was made especially wonderful by our Gran Canarian friend and island guide, Tony Vega.  If you plan to visit this island and would like an exceptional and knowledgable island tour, contact Tony via e-mail at dangels@jazzfree.com

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