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Tuesday, May 20, 2008

La Gomera

Valle Gran Rey, La Gomera

We went to La Gomera yesterday together with our friends Mick and Frances.
It was clear weather which was really a blessing when you don't see much of it when it's covered in clouds and fogs.

La Gomera is a small beautiful island outside the west coast of Africa, about 23 X 25 km in diameter, and it's shaped almost like a round cake out of which somebody has cut out thin slices a little all over. It has because of this shape got a lot of high mountains and deep valleys. The highest point is 1487 m.
The island belongs to the Canary Islands and is the neighbor island of Tenerife where we live.

We went early in the morning on the ferry from Los Cristianos and I started feeling seasick after a while when the waves of the Atlantic Ocean became bigger. I didn't start vomiting but it was not fun and it caused me also to feel uncomfortable in the car later on.
Normally I don't get seasick but the way of which this particular catamaran ferry moves in high sea gives me problem. It was the same last time we went to La Gomera.
When we went to El Hierro on an other ferry some weeks ago it was really a rough sea but then I didn't have any problems.

When we go out to other Canary islands we always have nice lunches or dinners there and try to eat the cuisine that is typical for the place. That's the highlight of the whole travel when the food is a good source if you like to quickly get a taste of a culture.
This time I had an ice cream and the other didn't like to have anything else than a cheap breakfast when we arrived when it kept them satisfied the whole day.
When we came back to Los Cristianos in the night Clas and I went out and had a five coarse meal and after that we were so tired that we went home and went to bed and slept until the next day.

It's a little bit tough to go by car on La Gomera. You go up on the mountains and down into the valleys and there are big changes in the altitudes all the time. And the road is turning constantly. You don't find many straight roads, but they are in a good condition and it's a lack of fellow road-users. It's very quiet and peaceful and the nature is awesome.
Drive slowly and you will really enjoy it!

I am so happy we got to hear `El Silbo´, the whistle language of La Gomera, this time.
The language was used before to talk to each other from one cliff to an other, but there are not so many people there anymore who know how to use it.
The `cabildo´ of La Gomera have the last years been arranging courses, for the youths who are interested in learning the language, to try to conserve it. That's nice when La Gomera is the only place in the world where the language has been used.
We went to a restaurant called Las Rosas where we have heard they sometimes arrange demonstrations of the language and we came exactly in time to get to hear it. Half an hour later and we would have missed it out!

We also visited a bodega at the road that goes down to Valle Gran Ray. There we got to taste wine, liqueur, cheese, honey and marmalade from the island and I bought some of the products.

We are planning to go to La Gomera again in November together with a couple from Sweden.
But then we will go by an other ferry to avoid the seasickness.

Clas made a short video clip of the Silbo Language with his phone.
Please, click on the video to listen to it.

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