November 13 - Wind Cave and a Dragon Tree

Our tour today took us to the north coast of Tenerifi where the coastline was beautiful and rugged and totally volcanic.  Along the way we saw many banana plantations.

This hacienda in the middle of a banana plantation was used in the filming of the film Fast and Furious, 6.

There must have been a storm out at sea because the waves were pretty intense.  On the other hand, maybe the waves are always this dramatic.

Our first stop was the town of Garachico.  During the earliest days as a Spanish territory Garachico was the main harbor of the island.  However, in 1709 a large volcanic eruption sent lava down the side of the mountain and obliterated the port.  Now it is a sleepy little town with no beach and only a moderate amount of tourism.

When the surf is extremely rough (per the guide this was a pretty calm day) the waves can get as high as the road.  So at one point the buildings, alternating with walls surrounded the city on the ocean front to keep the waves out of the city.  Some of the walls still remain.  

There was also a new, modern wall, curved like a wave, which would divert waves back to the sea.

They have also been building up along the ocean front to help minimize the wave impact on the town.

Included in our walking tour was the old customs gate where everything coming into the port needed to go through customs.

There were a couple of beautiful old churches that were not open, 

a square filled with gardens, 

and several buildings dating back to the 17^th and 18^th centuries. 

According to Xavier, our guide, many of the religious buildings had been seized during a period of confiscation of church property and converted into other uses and/or sold.  This was done because wealth was being retained in these institutions and not used for the public good.  So one of the convents we saw had been converted into the public library and another into the city hall.

While walking through town we saw a "market" where a farmer was doing a brisk business selling his produce from the back of his van.

We had lunch in a traditional Canarian restaurant where Mary had the Rancho Canarian soup and wrinkled potatoes with mojo sauce and Paul ordered a mixed salad, which turned out to be huge.

Our trip to our next stop took us high up to the top of a hill where we had great views of Garachico and the coastline...

and a few other towns along the coast. 

Our next stop was the town of Iocd de los Vinos where the main attraction was a large specimen of a Dragon Tree, which is really a gigantic bush, not a tree.  This particular “bush” is about 60 feet tall and 65 feet in circumference.  From a distance it looked like a gigantic head of broccoli. 

Xavier explained that the Dragon Tree is indigenous to the Canary Islands and flowers only very erratically.  After each flowering the tree produces more branches.  Because it isn’t a tree there are no tree rings to they don’t know the age.  However, based on the average time period between flowerings (approximately 10 to 15 years apart) and the number of branches the scientists estimate that this particular Dragon Tree, the largest in the world, is probably between 300 and 400 years old.  We noticed a few smaller specimens in other parts of the town.

We spent some time walking through some of the town...

before we headed up to the Wind Cave.  This is the largest lava tunnel complex in the world with over 18 kilometers (11 miles) of tunnels.  We entered through one of the “sky lights” (collapsed portion of the cave) and had a short tour.  The floor of the cave was very uneven and we had to be very careful to watch where we placed our feet.  They gave us hard hats with lights to protect our heads and light our way.

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More Tenerife Drive Photos
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We were back into town by late afternoon.  For dinner we walked down to an area near the harbor and found a restaurant with a promising menu.  Mary had a make your own guacamole (they put everything in the bowl, she had to mash it up with a pestle) and fresh tortilla chips and a salad.  Paul opted for a margarita pizza.