sailing - Lanzarote

---

On Nov 9, 2011, we left Arrecife and anchored for 2 days at Papagayo beach which is a nudist or “naturalist” beach.

On Nov 11, 2011, we anchored outside Marina Rubicon and was there for 9 days, then we docked in Marina Rubicon for 7 days.

The best internet place in Playa Blanca is El Mundo Latino at calle La Laja 16b.

We waited for a taxi at the taxi stand just outside Marina Rubicon but none came. We went to the Marina and they called the taxi for us but said that nobody was picking up the phone. We went back to the taxi stand and about 10 people were waiting there but no taxis came. We continued calling and finally booked a taxi for the next day.

To go to the airport from Marina Rubicon, you need to take a taxi to the bus station at Playa Blanca (2 km). Then, take the bus to Playa Honda (30 km). From there, take another taxi to the airport (1-2 km).

Playa Blanca has 7 Chinese restaurants and stores and many more are opening up and taking business away from locals and therefore, the Chinese are hated by the locals. I went to an ice cream store in the middle of town and the owner refused to serve me. The footpath along the waterfront from one end of Playa Blanca to the other is about 8 km and is the most awesome jogging route early in the morning. The post office has very limited hours such as 8am to 11am.

I went to stay with a CS host in Uga. The bus from Playa Blanca to Uga is €1.55. Central Uga consists of a church, 2 cafés, and a supermarket. Apparently, lots of people have their wedding at the Uga church as it is very quaint. My host and I walked to Bodega winery and had wine with a tapas for €3 each. His apartment is really nice and he was paying only €300/month. We also went to Playa Quemada by car. The restaurant there was really close to the water and I wondered about high tide.

From Uga, I hitchhiked to Famara which is a lot faster than by bus. To go by bus, you’d have to go to Arrecife first and then take another bus to Famara and the wait time in between is longer than the ride. It took me only an hour by hitchhiking. On the way back, a woman from Barcelona gave me a ride and I saw her again the next day at the market in Marina Rubicon. She spoke only a little English but we talked a lot. I wish I spoke Spanish.

There are awesome organized hikes in Lanzarote. The activities are posted online at www.juventudharia.com/agenda (only in Spanish). I signed up for a 15 km downhill hike but it started at 9am and I couldn’t get from Playa Blanca to Haria in time. I made it to Haria at 10am and just in time for the artisan market in the centre of town. I bought for Ekavi a bracelet made of olivite and lava, both minerals from Lanzarote. I decided to go to the Ermita de Las Nieves which is hike-able from Haria. However, my map was not very clear and I asked someone how to get there. He tried to explain in Spanish without success and after a few more tries, he told me to wait there and he will take me there. After 25 min, Tomas came back and we went to the Ermita. I saw how I would have totally gotten lost and why it was so difficult for him to explain how to get there. The Ermita turned out to be a very small one room church and was only open on Saturdays during mass or special occasions so nobody was there. I was very disappointed as I thought there would be monks. Tomas told me that there have not been monasteries in Lanzarote for a very long time now. Nobody lives in churches anymore. However, the Ermita is situated on the highest point in Lanzarote and from there, I saw both shores of the island at the same time (Famara and Los Cocoteros).

Because I was disappointed with the Ermita, he took me to the Cathedral in Teguise where there was a sarcophagus made of glass so you can see the bones of whoever was in it. He told me it is the body of a priest from long ago. Teguise used to be the capital of Lanzarote and has many very old buildings. Central Teguise still has the original cobblestones from centuries ago. Tomas said that many artists live in Teguise and just as he said that someone said hello to him and Tomas said that this guy is a well-known painter in Lanzarote. There is a gathering of artists every Sunday at the market and he highly recommended seeing the art exhibits. I did go back to Teguise on a Sunday and the market there was huge, the biggest I’ve ever seen anywhere. There were stalls on almost every street in town. There also happened to be a Gastronomic Fair going on that day so it was an extra busy day. There was drumming in the main square. I saw the woman who gave me a ride from Famara at the market and we chatted. I told her I was leaving to go to Las Palmas today and she gave me the contact info of her friend Cristina in Las Palmas.

At the marina, I came across a couple from the UK. The man was a typical white guy but his wife was of Indian descent. Their son looked exactly like my sister’s kids who are 100%!C(MISSING)hinese. I was very confused.

<strong id="docs-internal-guid-6f5478c2-f18e-e8c8-b971-e3b0b9faa40e" style="font-weight: normal;">I met a few people from South America and they said that the Spanish are very racist and people in the Canaries are rude and impolite. Later on, I met a local Canarian from Gran Canaria and she said when she lived in Lanzarote with her husband and her son, their son had a really hard time with the kids in the neighbourhood and in school because his parents are not from Lanzarote. Wow, hardcore parochialism. But when she was talking about this, a woman from the Netherlands said that she experienced the same thing when she was young. When she was in grade school, her family moved from her mother’s village to her father’s village which was 7 km away, and all her life growing up there, she experienced ostracism. The human race is evolving at the speed of snails...

---