On Thursday we hiked first to la Pico de Bandama and then into la Caldara de Bandama. In English, we hiked to peak of Bandama Mountain and then down into the basin (caldron) of the extinct Bandama Volcano.  This ended up being a pretty energetic undertaking, but we did it!

Just let me say that the maps available on Gran Canaria leave a lot to be desired! They are small, not well detailed and thus very difficult to follow. In fact, our first hike was supposed to be on this trail, however, we got totally lost and ended up hiking another trail in a completely different part of the island. The pictures from that hike were the ones that I deleted and they were gorgeous… but I’ve gotten over it – kind of.

Anyway, thanks to Google Maps and a lot of studying, we finally found the location of the trail we were looking for! We parked in the tiny village of Bandama, near the trail entrance at about 9:30 and it only took us another 15 minutes to find the actual trail head.

We started up a very narrow, steep path between giant prickly pear cactus, large pointy yucca, and wild geraniums.

 

Although tough climbing, we made it to the top in about 45 min. pretty much unscathed. The views were terrific!

 

The way back down was along the road. The guide book didn’t bother to tell us that there was a road that went along the back side clear to the top. None-the-less, we headed back down to the village to find the trail into the crater. The views along the road were beautiful too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next part of the hike was the real challenge! Hiking on volcanic gravel is not my favorite thing. A fellow hiker once described it as hiking on ball bearings which I feel is a pretty apt description.  It is like light (as in weight not color), round pea gravel and rolls easily making walking on it tenuous. Still, we were well equipped with water and Band-Aids and ready for the challenge.

This part of the trail was a lot longer and a lot more open. On the other part you had prickly pear cactus to break your fall, here there were more open areas of steep cliffs.  The good news was that the path was wider in most places.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The landscape was gorgeous and well worth the time and effort.

We spent some time resting and wandering around the basin and then headed back up. This was a lot slower process.

The trail was pretty steep and we had to stop about every 20 – 30 meters up to catch our breath and let the hearts settle to a normal speed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eventually we made it back to the top, Yea!

Another hike completed and another area explored, but still so many more to do.

 

Our third day out we happened upon Aborigenes Canarios – Gran Canaria’s archeological park. It just looked like a small museum from the parking lot, but ended up being pretty extensive and interesting. We were told that it would take about an hour and that would have been about right if you didn’t bother to read the plaques along the way or take pictures. We on the other hand did all of that and spent nearly 2 1/2 hours learning about the first civilizations of Gran Canaria.

 

The first settlers in the Canary Islands came between 2000 to 3000 BC probably from Africa. The museum is a combination of reconstruction and the actual  archeological site of one of the early civilizations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Goats were raised and were a mainstay of the people. They provided milk, meat, clothing, weapons, tools… you name it. They used every part of the animal for something.

I find it fascinating learning about early civilizations – how they survived, lived, developed and all without the internet – go figure.

This was a fun outing and we thoroughly enjoyed the day.

 

 

I know that I’ve been a bit slow in posting this. I’ve had some issues – on our first outing I forgot my camera and on the second outing I got some great pictures which I accidently deleted while trying to figure out my new camera… heavy sigh. However, I now have some pretty good pictures and am ready to show you around Gran Canaria.

 

Gran Canaria is a volcanic island covering approximately 1,560 square kilometers. Beautiful brown sand beaches belt the coastline

 

 

 

 

 

 

and mountains congregate the interior with the highest peak reaching 1,949 meters into a pristine azure sky. The temperature ranges in the low to mid 60s at night to the mid to upper 70s during the day year round. It doesn’t get much better than that.

While the temperatures remain very consistent, the landscape varies greatly with semi desert like conditions in the southern half

and beautiful forested areas toward the north.

As most of you know, Tom and I like to walk/hike. We’ve found it to be a great way to explore a new place, so on our first full day, and a few others, we walked along la playa promenade (the beach walk). Cool breezes, great views and interesting people made a great place to take in the sights.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We heard many different languages as we walked and saw some interesting characters.

The promenade is just about 5 miles round trip. A beautiful way to stay in shape on a non-hiking day.

 

 

 

 

We’re here! Here, by the way, is Gran Canarias, Spain. It is one of the Canary Islands owned by Spain. 

 

 

We arrived after about 22 hours of travel – about 3 PM local time.  No screaming babies, everything on schedule, so all-in-all it was a pretty easy trip but still long. 

Neither Tom nor I sleep well, or at all really, on planes so we were pretty much toast by the time we arrived. 

We have a kitchen so we went grocery shopping and then explored the grounds a bit. After sipping rum punch on the balcony, we ate an early dinner and were out for the night by 7:30.  

It’s amazing what 12 hours of sleep will do. We’re off to explore and possibly do some hiking today.