A Staycation in El Hierro

¡Hola!

I had some more visitors in El Hierro this month, another Fulbrighter from Lanzarote and her friend. It was a lovely weekend filled with beaches, seafood, and black volcanic rocks!

The first stop was Charco Manso, a place I've been meaning to go this whole year, since it features a beautiful freestanding sea arch that you can climb all over as well as a stone swimming hole. I'll never get over the power of the ocean that you can feel on the islands, surrounded by crashing turquoise waves pounding the black volcanic rock.

We had a great morning climbing around the charco manso, which ironically means "calm pool" when the waves were anything but calm! :D

Next we went to Pozo de las Calcosas, a set of beautiful pools (one calm and one featuring crashing waves) down a massive stone staircase. There are some amazing volcanic deposits all around the pools and it was a lovely couple of hours, although the hike back up is never as fun.

We also went to Charco Azul, one of my favorite places to swim on El Hierro because it is a little cave you climb into and has crystal clear water. At low tide, you can swim across to a little stone wall and see the coastal view. We also saw a bunch of rainbow crabs and some limpets, a local favorite for seafood.

We drove down to La Restinga to see more of the island and had a fabulous dinner including gambas al ajillo (garlic shrimp scampi that I will miss dearly), grilled limpets, local mojos, grilled cheese with pepper jam, fried calamari, and the always-fabulous papas arrugadas.

It was a beautiful sunset over the harbor to finish our busy day of swimming, sunbathing, and eating!

¡Hasta luego!