Trekking in Gran Canaria

I am finally catching up on my blog! Last weekend, I had an amazing time going to a Walking Festival and visiting some other Fulbright grantees in Gran Canaria, one of the biggest islands in the Canaries. It is one of the capitals (though not of my province) and has nearly 900,000 people. Wow! Just about 90 times as many as my island! :D

On Thursday evening, I flew over from Valverde. It is pretty far, and I had to go through Tenerife (the other big island and the capital of my province), but I finally made it! On Friday, I enjoyed going to the sandy beach, catching up with other Fulbrights, and eating at an Italian restaurant that served shrimp pistachio pesto pasta that was quite yummy.

The next morning, I got up bright and early and headed down the beach to catch my bus. It was wonderful to be able to watch the sun light up the water, even though the sunrise was on the other side of the island. There were a ton of people in my hiking group (they said there were 100 of us!), many from Gran Canaria. I signed up for just two hikes, but many local people got a deal where they paid less for each hike by signing up for all of them. There were also a fair number of German tourists, but I only met one other American in the group, a photographer who was here taking pictures for the Gran Canaria tourist board and for American publications back home.

We started our journey by driving up a long, winding road. The bus was quite big and the road was quite small. A couple of times, we met a car on our journey, and I was certain someone was going to lose a mirror or go off a cliff. But we all made it :) The views on the way were spectacular; we passed farms on the side of the mountain, saw the ocean for miles, and saw some beautiful, colorful houses. They also gave us snacks! Water (:D), juice, chips, dried fruits and nuts, chocolate, and granola bars.

This hike was called "The Trace of Dorama's Jungle" so we walked along roads and trails that followed the ancient forest of Gran Canaria. Only 1% of it still exists, but what we did see was beautiful! There were lots of succulents, cacti, ferns, and colorful flowers. I also saw a pear (I think) the size of a cantaloupe. We even walked through a patch of what I swear was a bamboo forest, although it seems like there couldn't be bamboo on this island. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It was a lovely hike because, although it was decently long (about 6 miles), it was mostly flat or downhill with only one major uphill. So we got to see a lot of different views and plant life without working too hard. It was also nice to go with an organized group because I didn't have to think about where to go; the first person put out these colorful markers to guide us along, and the last picked them all up.

Believe it or not, this is me limiting the pictures I allow myself to post. The lighting was so beautiful and it was so nice to be up high in the mountains again! I particularly liked the knotted tree and the massive Prickly Pear.

We ended our hike in the little town of Moya, where we saw a beautiful little church with an elaborately decorated status of the Virgin María, stained glass, and some neat architecture. There was also a little museum where we saw paintings of the landscapes and some sculptures.

Check out our cute group photos below!

fFor lunch, we had potatoes, sweet potatoes (which threw me off because it looks exactly like a potato and tastes not at all like a potato), grilled fish, and gofio. Gofio is the food of Gran Canaria. While I think it exists in El Hierro, it's not as big of a deal there. Gofio is a type of Canarian ground flour. It was pretty sweet (and honestly not my favorite thing I've ever eaten) but I am assured that it is different in every dish and every region, so maybe I'll like it better next time. They also gave us vegetables! I was astonished: actual lettuce, tomatoes, and a lot of red onion. I've literally never seen so many vegetables in one place in all my time in Spain.

After lunch, we got back on the bus and headed back to the city of Las Palmas. I rested a while and then, a couple hours later, headed back to the bus stop to go to my night hike!

I was so glad I decided to do the night hike, even after so much hiking that day. They drove us way out of the big city of Las Palmas well before moonrise, so the stars were truly out of this world. It reminded me of stargazing at Girl Scout Camp in the mountains of Utah, or camping in the desert in Arches National Park. We could see Andromeda galaxy, the Milky Way, Polaris, and a ton of other constellations. We even had an astronomer along on the hike with a super strong laser that could point out all the stars of interest. I also learned that Gran Canaria is a Starlight Destination, which is a big deal because Europe is so developed that there are just not that many places where you can see an unpolluted sky -- even a little town can ruin a sky for miles. So the fact that the Canaries are just a hop skip and a jump from Europe and offer this beautiful sky is a huge draw for tourists!

Pictures can never do an unpolluted night sky justice, of course, but here are a couple attempts. The ravine is left over from an ancient volcanic eruption and, if it were just a little bigger, it could fit the entire island of El Hierro in it. The lights on the other side are the island of Tenerife! The two big islands are a lot closer than I ever thought!

After our little night hike, we got hot chocolate (yummy rich churro chocolate that is basically just a melted chocolate bar), apple fritter things, and the chance to see Polaris and other constellations through a telescope.

On Sunday morning, I flew home to El Hierro. It turns out, I was on the first direct flight ever from Gran Canaria to El Hierro! Our plane was welcomed by some fire trucks spraying an arch of water to "baptize" the plane, and the mayor and a bunch of people from the tourism board were there to welcome us in the name of connecting the islands. I even got some free cheese and a swag bag! The last highlight was seeing these drums come through baggage claim. It was an amazing trip, but I'm glad to be home!

¡Hasta la próxima!