Island-Hopping

---

I have a lot to recount! It's hard to get internet at sea (they charge 100 E for 3 hours) so I'm going to try to remember 10 days of adventure now.



I went on a cruise with my beloved boyfriend (it's official now! yay to me for not fearing committment) Vince to the islands of Lanzarote, Tenerife, Madeira, and finally to Malaga. We started in Barcelona. It was hard to focus on the sights with Vince there but I did my best!



Lanzarote was perhaps my favorite island. It's a vast expanse of volcanic rock that's more reminiscent of another planet than anything here on earth. Jagged pieces of igneous rock cover the earth in sheets and piles. It is the island with the most recent volcanic activity and thus has not reached a developed stage of ecological succession. Think minimal plant life, rocks everywhere. There are gargantuan volcanoes looming in the park that make up a complex collection of valleys and hills with strange fragments everywhere. Some pieces are as tiny as pebbles while some are larger than cars! It's amazing.

We used Vince's camera so I personally don't have pictures but maybe if you stalk him and friend him and wait until he uploads the pictures you can see! There are certain "hot spots" where even the rocks on the ground are hot to the touch. If you dig a hole and put brush in it, it will ignite from the heat. If you pour water in the holes, jets of steam shoot out that might make Old Faithful blush! They even grill meat over a hole in the ground and the heat is enough to cook it. Very cool. I mean hot....



Vince and I took...wait for it... A CAMEL RIDE on the island. I was not permitted to ride the camel bareback and was linked into a caravan of sorts. This was disappointing not only because I wished to be an aggressive and speedy camel rider but because the camel directly in front of us defecated and urinated constantly throughout the ride. Although engrossing, this was also gross.

Lanzarote was beautful aside from the camel waste.

---