Have you heard of the Canary Islands? I feel like they're one of those places that you think you might have heard at one point, but you're not sure if they actually exist. They do. I went there. A three-hour flight from Madrid (they are in the middle of the Atlantic off of southern Morocco) took is to Tenerife, a volcano island with black beaches and strong carnaval traditions.
I went back and forth when trying to decide whether or not to go - I have many trips planned and knew absolutely nothing about this place, but the idea of an exotic island and the fact that it was the week of my birthday made me take the leap and buy the ticket, and as we came in for landing above the clear blue water and plentiful beaches, I decided that it had been a pretty good decision.
After attempts at using public transportation to get to the hostel failed, we grabbed a cab with three Chinese girls who were also using the same, apparently faulty directions to get to our hostel. The bright yellow hostel was in a group of vacation homes right along the beach (I think it was originally one of them), but really in the middle of nothing. They greeted us at the gate, and welcomed us to the huge front patio, with a pool, lounge chairs and all.
It was a very laid-back place with few guests, all of whom had the same goal: hang out and enjoy the sun, which was definitely plentiful. One guy went to Boise State (small world), one from Belgium, a few from Italy.
We walked for ten minutes along the road to arrive at the little town of Los Abrigos (ironically, "the coats") where we got sandwiches, followed by tropical drinks (I'm legal even in the US now, so I can say that) as we looked out over the ocean. Not a bad life. Then the boys got involved in a heated soccer match against some little boys and we all eventually made our way back.
It turns out that I have three friends who play Spades, which I was thrilled to hear, and we had a heated hours-long game on the patio, which Dennis and I sadly lost (pretty much because of me). The next day we hopped on the bus and took the hour ride to Los Cristianos, which is one of the more touristy areas of the island, and spent the day hanging on the beach, swimming in the ocean, drinking rum and coke, eating fresh seafood for lunch, and wandering through the carnival (the Canary Islands are famous for their carnaval celebrations, which last for weeks). We topped it off with a sunset from the boardwalk and some carnival rides, then grabbed the last bus back, where we chatted with our hostel-mates and made grilled cheese for dinner (at 12:30).
Our last day, we went to the beach across the street from the hostel, grabbed a conejo (rabbit - a specialty) lunch and some relato, and walked back to pack up and head home. As my grandpa said the other day, there is a difference between travel and vacation and this was definitely a vacation - very little effort or thought went into it, but we all had a wonderful time.
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