So much sun here, but cool in the morning; I was worried about getting cold on the water yesterday, nothing could have been less true. The weather forecast changes quickly here. Two days ago, it announced cloudy with possibility of rain for today and tomorrow. It is very sunny today.
We plan to go to the lighthouse this morning, but we have to change our plans because it's about 1h05 to get there (38km) and Louis tells me that there is a gas line left so we search for a gas station on Google and we take this path: 45 min. We hope to get there. There surely isn't a gas station on every street corner here.
We drive through sublime pine forests. Most of the pines are burned, probably due to the eruption of the volcano (but was it underwater?) or a fire. The best thing is that you can see that the bark is regenerating around the "burns".
We continue our way on very steep slopes and the dial indicates that we are at 7/8 of the tank. Steep, I told you. We stop in the valley of El Golfo and we go to Frontena for gasoline. Mission accomplished. I look at the gas dial to see which side is the access for the tank. Louis told me he was looking at the wrong dial. We had plenty of gas after all. Bah, it will have made us visit. We therefore continue towards the tunnel that we see on the other side of the valley. A hole in the mountain.
We continue our journey on the other side. Louis asks me where I want to go. I would like to go see the interpretation center of Arbol Garoé. It is supposed to be a four hundred year old tree which would have allowed populations to live thanks to the water which it provided them. To understand the principle, you have to go and see. We drive on such steep roads: at least 45 degrees if not more. Long live the mini Fiat. We get lost and we get lost again. Sometimes Google seems to want to take us on people's properties or on roads that are not really there. We meet walkers on the road. Louis encourages them. We continue and one of them, behind us, waves to us. We stop and we discuss a moment with her. A Spaniard from the continent, came with friends. She speaks English. She tells us that her friends, higher up, will surely know how to go to Arbol Garoé, if we want to bring her with us to them. All right. She tells us about her corner of the country in Spain, the restaurant where they go later, Guachinche Aguadara, typical food from the islands, but we have to book by What'sapp and we have no signal at the moment. Too bad. We take 2 walkers to San Andrés. So that they can go back for the other two, since their reservation time is approaching. We would have taken them all 4, but our mini Fiat would not have supported them either. Great encounters all 4.
We finally go to Arbol Garoé. Small interpretation center. The wind is blowing and we can feel the surrounding humidity, which has not happened often to us since the beginning of the holidays. I put a small microfiber towel over my shoulders. Swimming will wait. We enter and the employee is in a winter coat. Well maybe not Quebec winter coats, but still. This is to tell you that it is cold in the mountains.
We walk the path and we arrive at the tree. It's not a very big walk, but it's the natural phenomenon that attracts us. The tree, more than 4 centuries old, is practically enclosed by a cliff / high rock walls. There is high humidity. The tree is covered in moss.
The tree is known as a sacred/holy tree. It prevented the first inhabitants of the island, the Bimbaches, from dying of thirst and it provided water, which flowed from its leaves, to the Spanish conquistadors. It is a phenomenon of horizontal rain that allowed it to capture the water particles in its foliage when the clouds or the fog came to give it a bit of a chat. The particles by grouping together form droplets which fall to the ground. We saw several small cavities filled with water near the tree. The original Garoé was destroyed in the 17th century by a hurricane. It was replaced by a Basswood tree, which we understood when writing to you, because on site, we took pictures of the signs but we waited before reading them: #1 it was cold with my mini towel and #2 , we prefer to read in the warm and not forget.
Louis wants to go to a natural swimming pool. I don't really want to swim having been cold part of the day, but ok. We are heading towards Las Playas. So we go back near the ferry to get there. We understand that we will have to retrace our steps later. A little discouraging, but we continue. We roll and we roll. We arrive there, it is not really a beach. Let's say instead that there is a large concrete block with a ladder to go into the water. It does not tempt us too much. We therefore continue to see if we will find another way so as not to have to retrace our steps. Well no. Louis will still have tried some steep paths without success. He stops peeing on the side of the road, but it's so windy that he pees all over his clothes. The lucky!
We stop in a small restaurant on this side of the island, around 3 p.m. We then wait for the light of the small single-lane tunnel to cross to the other side. We want to see beautiful views and so we look for belvederes (mirador in Spanish).
Head to the Hoya de Fireba watchtower, but Louis sees a sign and decides to turn to go to Jinama. There is an incredible view. Very happy to have been there. We would have liked to go on the trails, but they are closed.
We continue towards the Hoya de Fireba viewpoint, 1330 meters from the road, but we do not see a parking lot there so we continue towards the Llania viewpoint. We park to walk in the forest. I take the big beach blanket this time. We arrive on a hill of small volcanic stones, we see a tree with a concrete base, which empties into a container in the ground. We now know the horizontal rain of the islands so we do not ask too many questions, but it is pleasant to see up close. We walk for a while in the hills. The view is nice, but we preferred that of Jinama. We return by another path in the forest. Did I tell you it reminded us of a Hobbit forest? It seems enchanted. We would have walked there for hours, but we would have to be better dressed. Louis takes us back to the car through a hidden walkway in the forest. He has a sense of direction this man, that's for sure!
Oh, we probably didn't tell you, but they still have some safety barriers on the road. Sometimes it's empty and sometimes there are metal barriers to prevent cars from flying.
Back to the apartment but before, we stop at the supermarket to buy a particular cheese. Andreas made me repeat it several times yesterday, he said to eat it with the pineapple from the islands. We have the pineapple, we are missing the cheese: “queso ahumado” (if I make a mistake, I apologize, I write it to the sound). It's a smoked goat's cheese, at least from what we understand. It is supposed to be very soft. The lady at the counter shows me a large piece: about 3x4x3 inches. It would probably have been at least $20 in Quebec, Canada. I wonder if I have it cut, but I take it as it is. The price here: 2.73 euro. No comment!
So we prepare the cheese and the pineapples around 6 p.m. to relax a little. Very good with some bread.
We're both exhausted. We finally go to bed at 7 p.m. Louis falls asleep quickly and I toss and turn… until 9:30 p.m. when he gets up to read a little. Let's say I have a little difficulty with my sleep on vacation, but if it's just that, we won't complain.
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