Whisper it quietly but today I got out of bed carefully without the nerve in my back being pinched. It was still very sore and painful, but I took that as a good sign. As I did the weather as there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.
We were also up earlier as after the shenanigans at the airport trying to pick up a rental car I had instead booked one just for the day from the rental office just across the road.
My head wound looked healed enough to be left open for the first time but I still covered it with a hat.
At 10am I was at the rental car desk and by 10.05am I was given the key and a map to locate the car which was parked nearby behind the Spar. It was a cream coloured well used Fiat 500 which turned out to be fine to drive even if the gear stick was on the wrong side.
Getting into the car was amusing as with both of our back problems we both find it easier to get into cars the opposite sides to the ones we now found ourselves.
With Karen reading the Sat Nav instructions from my phone we set off on the 20-mile journey to Cueva de Los Verdes, a volcanic lave flow set of caves. The roads were good, but they do seem to have bought a job lot of roundabouts.
I’m not sure where I expected the caves to be, but certainly not on a flat piece of ground not too far from the sea. It was obviously a popular spot to visit as the car park was heaving but well organised.
Our tickets were for 11.30am and groups were being dispatched at 15-minute intervals. We were early but as they were 2 short on the 11.15am we were able to join them. There were probably about 40 people in each group. We made sure we were at the very back to take our time as the path down was quite steep and then involved loads of steps hacked out of the lava.
It was all quite interesting and different from the myriads of other caves we have been down. The boys used to say that it wasn’t a proper holiday unless we went down some caves.
There were low tunnels that even we had to bend down to get through. All the way throughout the tour the guide had been building up to the finale of the last largest cave. Absolute silence would be needed to gain the full effect. No cameras would be allowed until we had all experienced it and we were to stand well behind a marked line. The guide kept building the anticipation at various points.
As we arrived at the last cave, we were still at the very back. The guide then asked the back markers to go round the side slightly. We were warned not to cross the line as we peered down into what seemed like an enormous empty abyss. We had a great view down.
Then Karen was selected from the group to hurtle a large rock into the abyss whilst everyone else stood silent and still to experience the full effect. Karen threw the rock like a shot put. And now to ruin the surprise for anyone else who takes this tour, the rock did not fall thousands of feet below but instead plopped gently into an absolute still pool of water. It was all an optical illusion causing a reflection of the ceiling above. It caused a round of applause and much laughter. It made the visit very worthwhile. Everyone waited until the water settled and then safely moved forward to take photos.
We had enjoyed the visit although Karen may have moaned that today was supposed to be day off for her from walking too far instead, she had already climbed a million steps and done a 10k underground.
As we had the car for the day, I decided we should visit the Jardin du Cactus on the way back which is somewhere else we had never been. It was the last installation of the artist Cesar Manique – the only person of any repute to have come from Lanzarote. He forced the island to restrict buildings over a certain height and that they are all painted white so his legacy lives on.
Set in layers in what was like an old quarry, there were some 500 magnificent cacti below a traditional windmill. Karen decided she could not possible even contemplate looking at a cactus before having caffeine and sustenance from the café. Actually, the café had a beautiful setting even if it did have the lowest chairs in the world. We were served by a wizerned old man who refused to speak any English even though he understood perfectly what we were saying. The prices were higher than we had been paying but worth it for the view.
I climbed the windmill just because I could. You could not see out of the top which made it a waste of time. We wandered round the garden. The cacti were enormous and many were flowering. Designed as a perfect sun trap, it certainly was but Karen soon found it too hot to remain there too long.
We drove back and after topping up the petrol we left the car in the same spot as we had found it. Karen had an ice cream from Spar as we walked back to drop the keys off, forgetting the car rental office closed for a siesta mid-afternoon.
Instead, we went back to the apartment.. I sat on the balcony reading the Prince Harry book – Spare. Interesting is my take so far. He obviously did not write it himself and already I feel I want to slap him. Karen sat inside as wanted to cool down and rest. At 5pm I walked back to return the car keys to the rental office.
Karen decided that April is too hot for her here and probably March would be the latest she would come here again in future.
For our meal tonight we walked down again to Pinocchio’s. This time we recognised many more of the staff working and were greeted like old friends. We both ordered old favourites of the Tipica Pizza for me and the Sole for Karen. They were both really good. We washed it down with a litre of Sangria and Karen even had the Tiramisu to finish with.
Strangely we had to pay cash for the meal as they claimed the power outage on mainland Spain meant their card machines had stopped working. I didn’t want to argue but my phone was still working as were other things we had bought and paid for on a machine since the outage had begun. I think it was just their card machine was broken.
Neither of us felt the need for any more drinks and indeed Karen was hankering for a hot cup of tea on the balcony and so we made our way back to the apartment for 9.30pm.
