Somebody's got to do it.

 I've been showing an international group of journalists around La Palma for the tourist board. So I took them to all the most beautiful parts of the beautiful island, and we ate in the best restaurants, and we had good conversations and I got paid for it.

But then I suppose that somebody has to do it.

On Saturday we watched the sunset from the dome of the enormous Gran Telescopio Canarias at the Roque de Los Muchachos observatory. As usual, it was spectacular to watch the sun set into the sea of clouds beneath us.

Even the people and their shadows looked amazing.

Then we went up to the Roque itself where we saw the twilight and Venus (on the right) through the Muchachos themselves.  ("Muchachos" is Spanish for "young men". With a lot of imagination the rock formation looks like a group of people.)

This morning

I didn't feel like getting up early this morning, but I had two groups of tourists at the Roque, so needs must. And the drive up was all sparkly with dew and early sunlight.

I finished work at 1 pm, and went up to the viewpoint right at the top in hopes of meeting my friend Carmelo, the raven for a chat. He wasn't there, but another raven was (I recognise Carmelo his ankle bracelet) so I opened up the little pot of cat food I'd brought.

And the cheeky blighter flew off with the whole thing!

Bit it was worth it for the laugh.

A Window on the Universe

Galaxy M 83

Want to learn about amateur astronomy on La Palma? Well, at last, my new website is open for business. Star Island is designed to be a window on the universe, and a show case for astrotourism on La Palma.

In future, I hope to sell advertising on the site, but for now, it's just for people to enjoy.

The Cat's Eye nebula

On Sunday I continued my walk around the island, from Montes de Luna to Los Canarios. Unlike previous sections, this part of the path doesn't run through villages, criss-crossing the main road. It goes through the lonely middle of nowhere, and I wasn't sure whether there'd be mobile coverage. Walking alone seemed like a bad idea. Not that there was any particular reason to expect an accident, just that twenty years of working with computers has given me a lively respect for Murphy's Law.

Helen and Theresa got up indecently early and arrived at my house before 9 am, so that we could start before the day got too hot. I fed them bacon sandwiches and coffee, and we got to Montes de Luna by 10 am.

Previous sections of the path have been anything between main road and goat track. This was the roughest bit yet: very steep goat track, heading up behind the first house of the village, and up, and up, and up, until we'd climbed 200 m in about half a kilometre. It made a great cardiovascular workout for three large ladies. It wasn't sunburn that made out faces red.

We found fresh dung on the path in several places, and had a ribald conversation. It definitely wasn't sheep, goat, dog, cat or human dung. It looked rather like horse manure, but none of us could imagine a horse getting up that track.

Black skeletons of bushes dotted the mountainside. Last summer's fire had obviously swept through. A little higher up, we found scorched pine trees, recovering nicely. Canarian pines have evolved to survive burning for anything up to six hours.

At the top of the big climb we saw the burnt-out remains of somebody's summer house. Poor things! It was completely wrecked. But they were rebuilding; someone had stacked a pile of breeze blocks and roofing slates beside the ruined back wall.

And that explained the dung. The most practical way to get building materials up that steep, steep path would be a donkey or mule.

After that the path was relatively level, and soon became a track, which was much easier going.



After some kilometres we came across a tiny statue of the Virgin Mary in a niche in a pine tree. And just past that, the track had been washed away. Presumably that happened when the winter rains arrived last year. Since the vegetation had been burned, that end of the island suffered a lot of small landslides. There was no way you could have got a car past, but we managed it on foot easy enough.

The track carried on. It was all very pretty, but we started to get tired, and we were all glad when we reached the crossroads (crosspaths?) with the trail down into the village of Los Canarios. When we got there, we found a restaurant, and my husband and son joined us for lunch. We had the fresh fish, and it was awesome.

If you're looking for food in Fuencaliente, we all recommend, Restaurante La Era.

30 km down, 129 to go.

Los Indianos

Author and friend in Los Indianos, Santa Cruz de la Palma

In Santa Cruz de la Palma, the highlight of Carnival is Powder Night - Los Indianos. This commemorates the people who emigrated from La Palma in the 1940s to 1970s and especially those who came back rich.

An Elegant Lady

Anyone can join in the parade. You just dress up in white, maybe have a suitcase full of Monopoly money, and for some reason throw vast quantities of talc at each other.
When I say "vast", the town hall gives out something like six tons of it to people in the parade, and one supermarket was selling 25 kg sacks.

A Not-so-Elegant Lady

When I lived in Santa Cruz, you could follow the progress of the parade by the cloud of talc drifting above the four-storey buildings on the route. Once the parade finishes, there's dancing in the street (of course) and a fun fair, which my son loves. Not surprisingly, we had a great time.

Batucada (percussion) in the Plaza España

Fiesta de la Cruz

I love Fiesta de la Cruz, when they decorate the roadside crosses. Even though I really had no time for anything except translating and housework, I went out on Sunday night to see at least a few crosses, and this morning I took my son to Santa Cruz to see more. To my delight, there were lots of mayos again.

More photos and details on the blog about La Palma.

Calima

After an colder-than-average winter, the temperatures here have shot up. This happens whenever the trade winds give way to calima - a hot, dry wind and dust blowing from the Sahara. We used to get it only in summer, but for the last few years it's been happening earlier in the year.

Actually, it's really nice at this time of year. Suddenly it's warm enough to sit on the beach, even if you haven't just flown in from northern Europe. Whereas in summer, it's frankly too hot. Anything over about 35ºC, and I start to melt.

Carnival

Yay! It's carnival, and I get sometime off for fun. (Actually I had to take time off work, because my son's off school, but I felt overdue for a break anyway.)

So the house is a little tidier, and I've finally sent off photos I promised to send weeks ago, and I've mended stuff that's been broken for over a month. And I got to see the kids' parade and the big Los Indianos parade (see the blog about La Palma.) On Thursday my friends come back from El Hierro, and they're taking my son to their house overnight so I can work Thursday and Friday. They're even bringing him back on Friday afternoon, and then we're all going to the sardine's funeral together.

That's right. Carnival ends with a funeral for a sardine. It's totally mad and I love it. (More details here.)

Coochi-coo!

It's a good thing I love La Palma, because I get off the island once or twice a year. But last weekend was my great nephew's baptism, and we hadn't even seen him. So, although we absolutely didn't have the time, we went to Tenerife for the weekend.

Getting up at 4:30 am for the 6am ferry was a killer, but we had a great time. We stayed in a really nice hotel in Guimar (the Casona Santo Domingo I recommend it), saw family, saw the pyramids, and met the baby (isn't he gorgeous?). best of all, we actually had time to talk to each other.

Of course the catch is that we never did all the domestic stuff we usually do over a weekend. The laundry baskets are overflowing even though the sheets haven't been changed. The blogs haven't been updated. There is no home-made stew in the freezer.

It was worth it.

A trip to Puntagorda

Yesterday I left my fellers and sneaked off to Puntagorda to photograph almond blossom. As usual, I felt as though I'd bunked off school. I've seen better years - I think the wind and rain got there before me. But for all that, it was still gorgeous.

I stayed until sunset. Living on the eastern side of the island means I get to enjoy a sunrise every day (provided I get up in time) but sunsets are a rare treat.

And then I had to drive home in the dark, but it was worth it.

The best laid plans...

So I finished my day's work and waved Helena and Theresa off. Then at half-past nine, they phoned to say, "HELP!"

There they were, driving peacefully towards home, when a sizeable rock detached itself from the side of the cutting and leapt towards them, screaming "Banzai!" It bounced on the other side of the road and rolled to a halt just half a metre in front of the bumper.

Of course, Theresa jammed on the anchors. Of course, she couldn't stop in time, and it went crunch.

So I phoned the insurance who arranged the breakdown lorry. Rather than go home to the middle of nowhere, car-less, I suggested that they come here. We have a perfectly good guest room, and they´d be close to the workshop and hire car firm.

So I excavated the guest bed. Eventually they got to Santa Cruz with the breakdown lorry, and I fetched them home and fed them. We got to bed at 1 am.

This morning we got to the workshop just as they were unloading the poor van. It looked fine from outside, and the mechanics were wondering what the fuss was about.

Then Theresa opened the bonnet, and they all went, "Ooo. Nasty."

Of course they can't give a sensible estimate until they've taken it to bits to see how much internal damage there is. They did say that we should talk to the insurance firm about getting the town hall to pay for the car repair.

Obviously I was going to be very late for work. Ah well, I could sort that out later. So we phoned up the insurance people, and they say we need to go to the local police in Barlovento to complain officially.

Barlovento is an hour's drive away. On the other hand, it's could easily be worth 1,000€ to my friends, so we're going, and they´ll babysit later so I can make up the hours at work.

Buggerlit millennium shrimp!

Holy Innocents Day

Today is Holy Innocents Day, which is the Spanish equivalent of April Fool's Day. Last year I got my friends in Franceses This year they got me.

They came to visit on Christmas day, and poor Theresa got stung by a wasp, just below her eye. Of course it's a terrible place to get stung, and it swelled up like she'd been thumped by Mike Tyson.

So when I phoned up today and asked how she was, Helen couldn't resist it. She said the swelling was worse, and the eyeball itself had a faint tinge of green. I was just about to offer to drop everything and translate at the hospital when Helen got the giggles, and said, "Happy 28th, Sheila."

So now I can stop feeling guilty about last year.

Hungover

The rest of the working week passed in a blur. I finished checking the books on the shelves against the inventory and started on the huge pile of books to add to the database and then shelve. I've done 152 so far and there's maybe 3,000 to go.

It didn't help that I've got a heavy cold, which I think is the one my son had last week.

But last night was the Christmas party in the Three Chimneys restaurant. I was a little disappointed to find out that it wasn't traditional turkey this year, but the steak was delicious. Even so, the best bit was the company. I spent most of the evening chatting to people I've worked with years ago and not seen lately, since I'm rather isolated up on the sixth floor. and the rest of the time I spent getting to know some of the new faces.

It was well worth the hangover in the morning.

Boogie on Down

Friday night was the fiesta for issue 7 of Fanzine Ruido. I wanted to go, so did my husband, and it was too late for our son.

We got lucky at someone else's expense. Our friends Helen and Theresa wanted to go too, but their clutch has an intermittent problem, and they didn't trust it all the way to Los Llanos. On the other hand, they had to come to Santa Cruz on Friday afternoon anyway. So Theresa stayed with our son while Helen came out with us, then they slept in our guest room.


It was a great night out. €3 paid for entrance to the gig, a copy of the magazine, and a free beer. (I was driving, so it was the only alcohol I had all night.)


Casiano Melian



I'd promised to take photos - the bands turned out for free to help support the magazine, so we take publicity photos for them. This time I remembered the big flash (the one we call the tactical nuke) but my favourite photos were some of the ones I took with the available light.

And here's one I took with the flash, just to prove I took it.

Eremiot y la Tripulación

And finally, they had an impromptu jam session. My husband joined in on the drums, and had a great time.

New experiences

Last night I finally got to see the dancing horses (caballos fufo) during the fiesta in Tazacorte. I wanted to get photos, so I made sure I charged up the camera battery, and tookthe full kit. When I got there, I found that the horses were dancing in pretty dark streets, and that they move really fast. So I was really pleased that I'd brought along my big flash gun, the one nicknamed "the tactical nuke."

I put it onthe camera, but it wouldn't switch on.

No batteries.

*head-desk* *head-desk* *head-desk* *head-desk* !

So I went in for creative use of blur!

The photos are on my blog at http://lapalmaisland.sheilacrosby.com

The other new experience was my first ever yoga class tonight. It's much harder work than it looks! But I had a nice surprise.

Some months ago, a friend tried to teach me the yoga salutation to the sun, and I just couldn't do it. I couldn't even do it badly. My spine was too stiff, my arms too weak to lift my upper body off the ground, and my hamstrings too short. So I settled for doing a few gentle stretches a day. And for the last six weeks or so, I've been spending a couple of minutes a day lifting weights to strenghten my arms. Yesterday I noticed that I've got tiny biceps for the first time in years.

And tonight I could do the salutation to the sun! OK, I did it badly, because my hamstrings are still too short, and by the time we finished, my biceps were trembling. But I did it!

OK, you can lock me up now...

After three weeks of being responsible, helping friends (which I was glad to do, don't get me wrong) and bashing on with the current translation, something snapped yesterday morning. So I went out. I told myself I was getting material for the blog, but to be honest, what's the point in living on a paradise island, and then spending all day in the house?

So I went to Belamaco cave, The old windmill in Mazo, and Salemera beach where I photographed the rubbish bins (trash cans in American English). I think it really must be time for the kindly men in white coats to take me away for a nice, long rest.

Actually I did take some normal shots too. The Salemera ones are on the blog about La Palma. But this is my favourite!

It was bound to happen sooner or later. An intelligent woman can only sweep the stairs so many times before she flips.

Busy, busy, busy

Friday morning went on helping Helen and Theresa with paperwork, which gave us all chance to catch up on the chatting.

A friend of mine's gone to work on another island. Since she was leaving on the Sunday afternoon ferry, she stayed with us on Saturday night and on Sunday we hosted a small leaving party at lunchtime. Helen and Theresa promised to bake a cake, which they did. Shame they left it at home! But I think everyone was so stuffed with quiche, roast port and salad that nobody would have had much space anyway.

I'm going to miss my friend, but she's not so very far away really. Hopefully she'll be back fairly frequently, and we can go and visit her sometimes, too.

I also started a jumper I'm going to knit for my son with multicoloured wool we bought in El Hierro.

And the last couple of days have been busy with lots of little things. I've posted off the hats to Save the Children (see Little Woolly Hats) , baby clothes to my new great-nephew (see The Things Great Aunties Do) , and a story to Woman's Weekly (fingers crossed!) . I've bought some storage boxes and tidied up the living room, updated the Ruido website, taken my son to the dentist, carried on witht he translation, bought new tyres for the car, and re-written "Agent Hammer".

Whew!

Maybe I'll have time for a little fun tomorrow. I think I should go and see something I can put in the blog about La Palma. Which is going really well, by the way. I'm now up to an average of 60 visitors a day.

R.I.P. Florian Goebel

Florien was the project manager for MAGIC II, the second of the huge Cherenkov telescopes at the Roque de los Muchachos. The telescope was due to be inaugurated next week, on the 19th. That's been delayed now, because somehow he fell from the prime focus tower in the dark last night. The tower is about ten metres (33ft) high, and Florien's dead.

I only ever had one conversation with him. He must have been very busy, but he took time out to help me with a magazine article. I always think that's the acid test of character: how you treat people who are of no possible use to you.

My husband worked for him for three weeks, fitting mirror segments to MAGIC II, and said several times how nice he was.

My sincere sympathies to his family.

Sunset on top of the world

GranTeCan (Grand Telescopio Canario / Big Canarian Telescope) at sunset.

Some six weeks ago I got permission to take sunset photos at the observatory. But one way and another, there was always something that stopped me going: I was ill, or my husband got home late, or the the air was full of Sahara dust and the sunset would be lousy. Yesterday I finally got up to the Roque at sunset. I was pretty happy with the photos I got.

I wanted to put a human being in for scale, and since I was on my own, I used the delay timer and ran into the shot.

I'm not at all fit. I'm not used to sprinting, and up at the Roque, there's only 75% of the usual oxygen.

I pulled a muscle in my rear. It hurts.

And this is NOT FUNNY!

The Battle of Lepanto

Sunday was busy.

I left home with my son at 10 am to go to Puntagorda, so he could have a go on the Karts. Sadly, it turned out to be a demonstration of Karts, and he couldn't have a go himself. So I took one very disappointed kid off to lunch at my friend's house on the edge of the village.

It was a nice lunch, with better company.

We popped into Puntagorda's farmer's market, right at the last minute. I only just had time to grab some freshly squeezed sugar-cane juice and a bottle of wine before the place shut, which was a pity, because it's a great place for veg.

Then we drove to our friends in Franceses, where my son got a brief video game fix, before the four of us headed off to see the Battle of Lepanto in Barlovento. By the tie that had finished, we were tired and hungry, so we had a quick plate of soup in the local restaurant and went home.