Fab Fuerte: Sunshine, Sand, and Sea

Sadie Williams
Apr 9, 2019
2 min read

#fuerteventura #islascanarias #fulbrightespana

Continuing on my mission to see every Canary Island before the end of my year here, I ventured to one of the furthest islands from me, Fuerteventura. I was able to stay with some other Fulbrights there, and it was a fantastic weekend!

The other grantees live in Puerto Rosario, a pretty big city where I had the first real pizza I've had in around seven months, saw a beautiful tiled church, and saw some beautiful street art.

On my first full day on the desert island, we went North to el Parque Natural de Corralejo, full of stunning yellow sand dunes, the signature turquoise water of all the islands, and sunshine.

It was great to lounge on the sandy beach. El Hierro is my little home, but we don't have many sandy beaches, and certainly no yellow sand like this! It was a great morning soaking up the sun, and the famous Fuerteventura wind kept us nice and cool.

Driving through Fuerteventura is vastly different from any other island I've been to. There are few cities and fewer plants. Mostly, you just see low mountains and sand stretching off into the horizon. Like another planet!

We walked back to the car through the sand dunes, which reminded me of the sand dunes by Lake Michigan, where we often spent the summer when I was little. Beautiful sand stretching for what seems like forever!

Puerto Rosario is a neat town, with lots of street art. I enjoyed this statue and the dog on the side of the building, and we saw a great sunset from the roof of the house!

I had so much great food on this weekend trip! Some highlights include lemon cake, an actual British scone, a yummy cachapa (a Venezuelan food made with a sweet corn pancake, chicken, cheese, and avocado, similar to an arepa), and a delicious sugary mojito.

The next day, we went to some natural pools, called charcos. This word literally translates to puddle, and is the exact type of swimming area we have in El Hierro--rocky pools that become perfect for swimming during low tide.

The landscape around this pool reminded me a bit of my island, all volcanic rock and sand.

We went on a drive through the island, seeing lots of goats (all the tiny dots in the first picture), low mountains, and stretching desert. A beautiful drive that reminded me a bit of Utah!

We arrived to Aguas Verdes, on the west of the island, which was a stunning little hideaway filled with natural green pools you could dive straight into.

We climbed all over these rocks, taking in the view of the ocean, finding salt deposits, and even finding a little cave you could climb into!

I'll never get tired of swimming in this beautiful blue ocean water!

We also met some other Spaniards swimming and learned the word for sea urchin: erizo del mar. It means "hedgehog of the sea" which made me laugh, but is very accurate!