The weekend.
Sarah Grace goes to sea
Chris Yerbury and Sophy White
Mon 21 Nov 2005 08:30
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Chris writes:
Saturday morning and the best decision yet- to stay put for 2 days not doing ANY
boat jobs and NOT looking at any weather forecasts. After the stress &
indecision of friday(well, actually deciding to go,checking out,loading with all
the fresh provisions,then deciding not to go) it has been a great weekend. And
that is inspite of 35 knot headwinds for those at sea today(eg the ARC
fleet that left this morning).
Yesterday was spent
with the girls at the really beautiful Cesar Manrique designed palm islanded
swimming pool topping up the tan and admiring the other sunbathers. Today
I set off in the drizzle down the wrong mountain track with Steve,Otti+ Mimi and
we ended up drinking wine with a rough looking bunch of very
hospitable locals in their hut at lunchtime. It transpired they grow
potatoes on one of the tiny terraces high among the wooded slopes we were
walking through. This excuse is sufficient for them to get together in their hut
beside the terrace every weekend(away from the women folk and their homes in
Santa Cruz) where they consume pleasurable quantities of wine and delicious food
in a prolonged frenzy of inactivity. I had noticed the incongrous smell of their
enticing seafood stew wafting across the mountain path long before we reached
them. They also gave us sausages and figs and even sang us a song before we
left. By the afternoon
the clouds had cleared,the sun was out and the mountains looked magnificent as
we continued down to the village of Taganana.
If the trade winds
take all week to return, I won't be too sorry.
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