We were out by 11:30 and on the windy mountain road to Masca. With Kamal at the wheel again I was left to shut my eyes and pray for survival - some of the locals do enjoy hanging out on our side of the road!
Stress over we arrived at the village. And what a view!
We walked down to the village and used the toilet before deciding it would be a fantastic idea to hike down the mountain!
We asked a spritely looking man how far it was to the coast and he told us 1hr, maybe 2 if you're slow. We laughed, 'That's alright' we agreed. So we began a descent masked by complete beauty. We were also constantly followed by beautiful red dragonflies!
2hrs later, we decided never to trust the first man up the mountain! In scorching heat (thankfully this time I was applying sun-cream like it was oxygen), having bruised our feet and ruined our knees jumping from rock to rock downhill we met another couple who told us it was at least another hour to the coast. We were going to turn back when a 40yr old looking local told us it wasn't so bad. 'Yeh, you're right,'. 'There's a boat at the bottom' he told us - so on we went!
And on,
and on, and on, and I nearly cried at least twice and I slipped on a rock and grazed my leg and arm. But finally, with just that bowl of chocosnaps in our belly and a quarter of a bottle of Ribena between us, we reached the sea and scraped together 20 euros for a boat back to Los Gigantes. It felt like that moment in Robin Hood Pronce of Thieves when he eats the sand - I have never been that happy to reach the bottom of a hill! We then had exactly 2 euros left to buy water - and water has never tasted so good!!!
We struggled a further 5mins for a quick swim too! I had no bikini but no-one else seemed to care, so we both stripped down to our underwear and jumped in to ride the waves with the rest of them!
The waves got strong pretty quick so I got out, knowing full well I had no strength to swim! We made it to our boat (no not the ones in the picture) and set out across the crystal clear seas!
We arrived in Los Gigantes smelling as though we had only ever bathed in our own sweat, so headed to our hotel to shower, change and eat some well-deserves pasta! Our floor is now covered in wet clothes!
Then we had a car to salvage from a car park on top of Masca mountain, so paid 23euros to get a taxi back to it! We were met with a surprise when we got there. The couple we had met a few times on the way down the mountain, who looked to be struggling as much as we were, had spent the three hours we had spent get in back to our car, walking back up! Hats off to them, I would never have made it!
We then picked up the car and powered on to Garachico, a beautiful little town I absolutely fell in love with. We admired the coastal views and crystal clear rock pools with tropical fish swimming along sweetly together.
We then walked around the town for a while, picking out the historical sights and and the church. Oh and I can't forget he moment I became the mother of dragons!
Apparently it's Canarian tradition to build things like this from wood for celebrations and then burn them down. So annually they build another crazy project, like this one!
With the sun setting, we sat by the sea-front and dined at a lovely restaurant, Canada de Garachico, where I tried my first ever banana omelette - it is AMAZING! Followed by sautéed potatoes, chorizo, bacon and fried egg. Kamal had veal steak (basically alive) but it was again - delicious, and the staff were very friendly and even helped to give us the confidence to drive back up the mountain in the dark. We'd definitely recommend it!
A quick pic at the seafront and then onwards and upwards - very literally - towards home!
An hour later, it's midnight and we're back and ready for bed. My god, there'll be a lot of bruises when we wake up tomorrow! Our feet might not even function!
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