Roques de García

Today we want to take another shot at Mount Teide. The weather forecast has been monitored closely for the past days, but unfortunately the predictions change almost every day. In the morning the night sky will be clear, towards the evening things don't look so good anymore. We decide to just have a go and see. After all, it's very hard to judge the exact altitude of the cloud base. Anything below 2300m is fine, but anything above will block our view from the base camp.

As we only plan our hiking trip towards the evening, we spend our morning at the pétanque fields. It's our time to shine and show what we're made of without too many bystanders. The pétanque fields are located next to the sea and provide therefore a very relaxing and beautiful environment.
After a couple of games, we pack up and stop by another Belgian bistro in town. On the menu today: stoofvlees met frietjes, another typical Belgian dish. It's almost easier to find Belgian food here than typical Spanish ones.

After a good meal and some groceries to make sandwiches in the evening we pack the car with warm clothes and set off.
On the road we decide to add a quick stop to the viewpoint of Los Gigantes where we have an amazing view on the steep cliffs. One of the cliffs where we hiked on a few days ago. On the way up the Teide we pass through the tiny town of Tamaimo again. The windy road takes us quickly higher up and the temperature drops to about 4 degrees. Brrr!

Unfortunately, the cloud layer seems to be just around 2300m where the start of our hike is. No sunny weather and a perfect scenario for sunset photos. With our jackets and sweaters, we start the loop hike of Roques de Garcia, a famous hike in the Teide National Park. The huge rocks are impressive and the desolate landscape brings a sense of serenity. Because it's almost evening we're almost alone on the trail. When we stop to catch our breath the complete silence is golden. Every now and then the clouds disperse and we get a clear view on the Teide crater.

The rocky formations are in fact congealed magma underneath the surface of the volcano. Many years ago, the ground was much higher here, but due to erosion the soil washed away and the magma structures became visible.

We finish our hike in daylight and take a warm cup of tea in the nearby Parador hotel. We take our time and enjoy the warmth before it quickly gets dark. Very dark. In the meantime we pray for the wind to blow away the last thin layer of clouds that remains above us.

We head back to the car to eat our sandwiches and decide whether or not to stay any longer for the clouds to disappear. In the end we're down on our luck and drive back down without any star. We'll have to come back to this place one day!Read more