LAS PALMAS – GRAN canarIA                                      CONTINUATION #1

"I'm all in favour of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let's start with typewriters."

- Frank Lloyd Wright (1868-1959)

I am starting to wonder whether this does not apply to my mental wanderings? Oh well here goes again!

Las Palmas is a surprise. Isn’t it nice to arrive in a place with no expectations and be pleasantly surprised. The people are Spanish but not Spanish, more a touch of South America I think and they don’t really consider themselves Spanish as the people on the Iberia Peninsular they rather look down upon. The weather is a delightful temperature with a light trade wind blowing most days, the town, twin towns really, as the old town is to the south of our marina and the ‘shopping area’ to the north, are well maintained and the shops bright, modern and inviting. The other noticeable thing is that apart from the yachties gathering for the ARC which departs November 25th, there are not many tourists.

Last Saturday there was a huge procession through the streets with Canarians from all over the Gran Canaria gathered in folk costume to celebrate a religious holiday.

The ladies gather in all their finery and are out to enjoy the experience.

All of the costumes vary slightly from differing parts of the island and all the floats were pulled by pairs of oxen, well used to the crowds, the noise and the enthusiastic music from one group after another.

Bulls & cows pull the floats and are dressed for the occasion. Irene, Nancy and Sue enjoyed themselves immensely.

We reluctantly left the parade at 19:45 as the final of the Rugby World Cup was due to start at 20:00. We had found a local bar and had a great night, sitting at a table in the street, eating tapas and drinking wine while watching South Africa beat England on a big screen TV facing the street. Our table consisted of two Kiwis, two Aussies and a couple of Yanks. The Aussies and the Kiwis were torn between either side from a barracking point of view and the Americans were just plain mystified. They are Cincinnati Colts fans.

Part of the deal with the ARC and the locals is that they make us very welcome and particularly the Club Maritimo Varadero de Gran Canaria which is right here in the marina. For a small fee they give us temporary membership and with the high speed WIFI, the swimming pool, sauna, bar and restaurant it is a great facility to have close by. Heck last night we even had Salsa lessons; 4 blokes, 23 women and our teacher, a sexy guy from neighbouring Africa I think, and then adjoined to the club restaurant for dinner. We admired one of the wines and the maître’d promptly offered to order us a box or two at his buying rate. Great service!

Then being the clever fellow that he is, he invited us back the today for lunch so that we could sample another wine he has which he claims is superior. We will see.

AND REMEMBER

LIFE IS NOT A JOURNEY TO THE GRAVE WITH THE INTENTION OF ARRIVING SAFELY IN A PRETTY AND WELL PRESERVED BODY, BUT RATHER TO SKID IN BROADSIDE, THOROUGHLY USED UP, TOTALLY WORN OUT, AND LOUDLY PROCLAIMING----WOW----WHAT A RIDE!!!