Canary Islands-Last Day in Grand Canaria

On the way back from one of our excursions, we had chanced upon a cactus refuge boasting Europe's largest collection of cacti... unfortunately closed on our initial pass, it was a bit too enticing not to check out more thoroughly...so back we went..

resident peacock and donkeys

and a very impressive assortment of cacti, many in bloom. My excuse for the plethora of pictures I took of them..

boyz tiptoeing through the cactus garden

finger puppets?

back out of cactus land, last stop local beach off the beaten track. Tenerife's volcano in the distance..

after which we enjoyed a typical canarian meal of papas arrugadas or "wrinkled potatoes" with mojo sauce, roasted peppers, and assorted tapas. Yum Yum!

Canary Islands: Switch-a-roo

Mommies off for their own day of self-abuse and adventure. A view of the climb. 

While somewhat apprehensive about the climb from Puerto de Mogan, the new and improved friendly bike shop guy suggested to us what must be the best thing since sliced bread. Yup, the triple ring! Maybe it was being at sea level, or maybe it was the 30 minutes we put into pre-training for the trip, but wow! what a difference, you can basically go uphill forever without a second thought. Well, maybe not that good, but pretty good! 

View of the canyon below

Half-Way Point

A little refresher before the trip down

The final descent, coast in view

Daddies and kids embark on a submarine ride

Alemayehu calculating the pressure/square inch at a depth of 80 feet and not liking the answer..

Visit to a ship wreck

Canary Island's-Top of the World

Daddies finally get a day to ride. And ride they did! After a 3+ year hiatus from biking, Chris came back strong, at least for the first 20 miles...the last 20, well, they were like the last 20 miles if you haven't biked in awhile, like a really long while. But hey, as the marines say...'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger!' Nothing a little motrin and beer can't cure...

Mommies n'kids take a drive to the top of the island to take in the views and check out the cave houses.

Shots from the top of the world

Kids do their final rituals before heading into the the 'cave house'

but first, you must crack a nut

then off you go...

not to bad for a hole in the wall...

water filtering device

food storage

and of course, formal dining.... and coffee roasting

wow, this place has it all!

Canary Islands-Turf and Surf

Daddies off collecting beta on the local biking scene, and making 'friends?' with the local biking shop. Unfortunately, the shop owner was a bit quirky, and well, one thing led to another, until the conversation took a nasty turn.."I have no bikes for you!!". Well, that could put a damper on the festivities... luckily for us, he turned the boyz onto the real bike shop in town... one where they have actually have real bikes and thus the tragedy turned to triumph.

Meanwhile,  back at the ranch...

Time to embrace the desert heat, and what better way than to hug a camel? 

...or kiss a camel in this case. 

Alemayehu and Jeremie get to know their new neighbor

off n' running

on the trail again..

Poser shots with our new friends

After a hot day on the sand, what better way to cool off then a little dip?

Jer n' T get ready for a dip

Brotherly plunge

Can we take it home? Pleease?? 

Canary Islands: Recovery Day

After an exciting first day of adventure, we retreat for some R&R on the local beach! What jet lag is not made better by sun and sand?? But for Alemayehu the most memorable part of his first euro beach experience was the tops optional culture...yep, an overwhelming array of boobs of every size and shape. Nope, we certainly weren't in Utah anymore.

Splish Splash

Crocidilia

T-bone doing her Bo Derek imitation. 

Canary Islands!

After a very long plane ride-we arrive!

 Below: View from our new temporary pad

Puerto de Mogan

Well so far so good...however, what vacation is complete without a debacle? We got ours out of the way the first day. Missed flight to Gran Canaria and unable to get us all together for the next flight out...  Rolf, Andi and Tahlia back in Madrid hanging until a later flight, we were in charge of groceries, and some post flight cocktails. 

We had the luxury of meeting the property manager who showed us how to find the apartment. Can I just say, this was no small feat. A random side "street" which was basically an outside stairway up a hill with houses stacked on either side...a random turn off to a random looking entrance. Surrounded by rooftops...the privilege of hauling your heavy luggage up endless stairs..

Last communication with Rolf was basically how to get to the town, the map to the place is confusing, and it is better if we just meet you when you get here. No problem, right? Crew due in a midnight..so we all passed out for a couple of winks. Turned the phone volume up to max so as not to do the unthinkable...like sleep through the ringer... 

Well you have probably guessed it by now....somewhere deep in a coma I hear Alemayehu saying someone is knocking on the door...Then a little louder..Mommy! Someone is at the door, and a little louder: MOMMY WAKE UP THERE IS SOMEONE AT THE DOOR!!! I am yanked back into a conscious state... Where am I, what time is it, what the ?*%.  What the ?*% is right! Rolf and Andi at the door, knocking to have someone let them in. Dark-check, raining, check, almost out of gas, check. No one answering their phone calls!! check, check.

So I suppose this is one of those Rolf adventure stories... cryptic map that he had a photo of on his iPhone, middle of night in foreign country where no one spoke english, jet lag combined with sleep deprivation. Sounds like a Rolf adventure to me! Just missing a head lamp, which is usually optional in most Rolf adventures.

But there they were, against the odds. Profuse apologies and wine followed. Along with a phone check....yep the only thing that bad boy was doing was vibrating....volume up, ringer off-oops.. Crown of shame, check.