Eric is hilarious. He introduced himself to me as a drug dealer and a hustler, and I totally believed him because I’m gullible. He always has something ridiculous to say and likes to talk about girls a lot. Jonathan looks really serious all the time but is a ton of fun and wants to be a Swiss/American diplomat (whoah). Ádám is super into fitness and loves taking his shirt off a lot.
We had decided to rent a car together and my license was, for whatever reason, the only one we could use, so I got to do the driving! It was TERRIFYING.
Our car, a little Fiat. Drivin’ around in the mountains and stuff. No big deal.
Left to right: Eric, Ádám, Jonathan, me. Here goes nothing.
Eric planned for us to see Roque Nublo, a big rock situated on top of a mountain where the old island dwellers use to go for ceremonies and stuff. So we headed out of the busy streets of Las Palmas through the smaller towns and tiny roads on the mountainsides, Eric giving directions and getting distracted by his own stories about girls, and me in the driver seat trying with all my might not to kill us.
The scenery was absolutely amazing. There were pine forests that reminded me of California, smaller trees that were changing colors that reminded me of autumn in Missouri, and of course, desert, desert, desert.
A caldera near the end of our drive.
We parked with some difficulty near the beginning of our half hour-ish long hiking trail. There were a ton of tourists, which surprised me, but the sights were so worth seeing. Ádám and I kept choosing to take the more difficult ways to continue up to the site, ignoring the fact that there was an easy trail. We climbed rocks, saw a cave, and walked along the top of the mountain, wind blowing softly as we talked about how amazing the scenery was.
We continued up to the rock, where there was a tiny platform sticking out one side of the mountain. We decided to stop there and eat, surrounded by the most breathtaking view I’ve ever experienced.
After lunch we headed back to the car and started driving towards a lake we had seen from out picnic site. The road was especially windy, and most of the turns had no guard rails on them so I was terrified, but we made it there alive. Turns out it was a dam.
After that, we headed back to town, and after driving in circles for half an hour, found the place we were supposed to leave the car, and walked quickly to the surf school area to learn how to surf.
The situation ended up perfect. Josué kept our stuff safe and showed me how to start surfing, and then Jonathan, Ádám, and I got boards and went out right as the sun was setting to catch some waves. Surfing is like nothing I’ve ever done before. Half the time, I was underwater, the force of the ocean pushing water up my nose and tumbling me around like a toy, and the other half I was laying on my board being carried toward the shore with the wind at my back. I think I may have finally found a sport I would love to do long-term. So long, Missouri.
As an added plus, I stood up a couple times!! I kept thinking, “How am I supposed to become the greatest water bender in the world if I can’t master the waves?” (Lol)
After an hour of surfing we were all exausted and starving. We headed to a local Carrefour and got a ridiculous feast for the three of us, sitting down at a McDonald’s area to eat.
My sandwich was the size of my arm. The pizza lady even heated it up in an oven for me!
After dinner we all headed back to our respective rooms to sleep and agreed to meet up the next morning for more surfing. I was scheduled to leave on my flight at 3:30 the next day, and I couldn’t wait to get more surfing in before I left.
The following morning I woke up a bit late but still made it in time to surf. Waking up, it felt a lot like I had worked out for eight hours the previous day and all my muscles were sore, but I downed a chocolate muffin and pressed on. What you don’t really think about learning to surf is how much friction there is on your stomach and the board, so if you don’t have a wetsuit on, it starts to feel like e surfboard is going to rub the skin on your stomach off. It’s soooo painful.
I managed to get in another hour-ish of surfing before I couldn’t take the pain on my skin anymore and ended up surfing just with my body and taking some pictures of the other two.
Unfortunately I was running low on time, so I had to say goodbye (I’m gonna MISS these guys), took a shower, repacked, caught a bus to the airport, and got on my plane.
My face when I realized I wouldn’t be coming back for a long, long time. And probably without seeing another ocean. SAD.
Oh well, London, here I come!