Barlovento

A partially sunny day with drizzle around noon but missed the nearby showers.
A good breakfast of cereal, yogurt, orange juice, and pastries at the hotel.
Due to the lack of a Palma Travel & Tours (the company used by Natour for the hikes) hiking guide who may be guiding cruise passengers, I took a coach tour to the north-east of La Palma. The coach was full, mainly of a noisy Spanish group, with a guide who translated from Spanish into German and English.
The first stop was at a mirador overlooking the coast at San Bartolo.
The next stop was at the Piscinas de la Fajana at the NE tip of the island. These were salt-water pools protected from the crashing waves.
Then we stoped at the Mirador at La Tosca on the north coast followed by pools at Charco Azul. The latter were near the Aldea sugar cane rum distillery which had moved from Aldea in Gran Canaria, where I had been, because growing tomatoes had become more lucrative. After the tour of the distillery, we visited the shop with samples of flavoured rums such as caramel and banana.
I had a tapas lunch at a bar in Los Sauces before the coach drove up the Baranco del Agua to one of the waterfalls in Los Tiles which was a biosphere in an ancient laurel forest with water channels similar to the levadas in Madeira.
The countryside had been very green with lots of banana plantations on the hillside terraces, some under netting with the bunches in blue bags to force their growth. The netting is mainly to protect the bananas from the wind.
La Palma had deep ravines similar to Masca on Tenerife. It was newer and steeper than the other islands more more tunnels and bridges.
Back in Santa Cruz, I had an alfresco dinner at La Lonja.Read more