Many steps on mama Earth: 2012

Once again.. Hola :)

A last little message from La Gomera, before I fly home.. The passed four weeks flew by. I enjoyed the beauty of this island which is only 25 km wide and 23 km long. The colors and landscapes are wonderful. The pace of living is nice and slow. And the local people are very friendly.

Besides doing my work, I made a few wonderful hikes and runs. I enjoyed the mixture of dense forest and wide views. Of cold mountain winds and hot bare valleys. And of busy towns and quiet villages.

Another favorite moment was watering the garden in the evening while looking at the changing colors of the mountains and the sky. And shopping with an immense choice of local grown fruit and vegetables. And waking up and noticing the sunlight falling into the room.

Happiness is in such small moments.
One thing is for sure: this island has many stairs. No, not just a few.. But heaps..! Some of the walking trails consist mainly of stairs. I could not escape from them, because to reach the door of my cosy home I had to walk up 220 stairs. That meant 440 stairs just to put a garbage bag in the container… If you would like to visit La Gomera, and are looking for a little paradise to stay for while, take a look at this site: www.hetishierheerlijk.nl.

Hasta luego…

View from Arure at Tagaluche

The hill many hundred metres above the town of Valle Gran Rey. I met at least 10 people climbing uphill in the heat during the middle of the day. It was their own decision, but I felt sorry for them. After a day of climbing 1000 mtrs I learned the easy way of walking La Gomera: take a bus to the top, then walk down to the sea by one of the many different trails..

View at the valley of Valle Gran Rey (the valley of the Big King)

The harbour of Valle Gran Rey

The valley close to Hermigua

The town Hermigua

Love them

This plant looks like a nettle that stings... but someone created this piece of art to go with it. I am amazed..

Home sweet home

View from the bedroom window

The kitchen

In the valley on the right side is the town of La Laja.. The mountain at the horizon is El Teide at Tenerife, almost 4000 mtrs high. It is higher then any mountain in Spain which surprised me. It is possible to climb it. Apparantly you have to book in advance though for safety reasons.

Left is Rogue Agando. From La Laja it is a one houre uphill walk to this rock

The coasts of La Gomera are often bare and dry. The middle of the island has an altitude of 1000-1500 mtrs and gets lots of clouds and rain. For this reason this area is foggy most of the time. This day was an exception. Because of the rain and fog the higher parts of the island are covered with green forest.

Campfire

Resting on the way to Valle Gran Rey

Caldera

San Sebastiaan, the capital. Same population as Wanaka.

Hola amigos,

More than three months have passed since I left New Zealand. The memories I have of last year are still very vivid, and beautiful.

At the moment I am staying at the island of La gomera. La gomera is a small island off the coast of Marocco and part of the Canary islands. The whole island is in fact one old volcano. It is part of Spain, so spanish is spoken here. From the house where I am staying, the view is amazing.

Being here provides me the opportunity to do work activities and to discover the different landscapes and many hiking trails. Running is quite tiring, because a flat piece of road is hard to find. Some of you asked me to send some photos. I will post them here

Hasta luego J