Our day out with Don Pablo Ramirez Rodriguez
Chaser 2
Yvonne Chapman
Mon 20 Nov 2006 16:55
Pablo Ramirez Rodriguez is the president of the Club Varedero here in Las Palmas, we met him in Rubicon. He was there on holiday during the 6 weeks we were there. We didn't know at the time that he was involved with the Club or anything else in Las Palmas, we just chatted in Rubicon.What a nice man, like so many of the Canarian people, just friendly and helpful.
On our arrival in Las Palmas we met again, but when we encountered our seacock problem he couldn't have been more helpful, and apart from that he
offered to take us out around the Island for a day.
He met us at the Club at 11am, and drove around the city, visiting La Isleta, where all the houses used to be made of wood, many of the fishermenand port workers lived there. It's not now an Island but water does sometimes run through a street during large tides and heavy rains, dividing the area from the mainland. We toured through many parts of the city seeing the government buildings, the Guardia Civil headquarters, and he showed us where the sea had been reclaimed to put in a motorway style bypass and some large offices. We moved on to the old part of town and saw a house where Christopher Columbus lived, a beautiful area. Its surprising what more you see when you visit a country and stay, meet and talk with the local people. So many tourists stay in a hotel complex and never leave it or tour the local areas other than with official tour guides. We got back into his Toyota Landcruiser and he drove us into the mountains,we stopped for lunch in a small village and sampled some of the local foods and wine. We had seen on menus many times ' Ropa vieja' old clothes, in English, it didn't resemble that at all, it was very nice. After lunch we drove higher up into the mountains and volcanoes. Gran Canaria really is a continent in miniature, the terrain, the climate and seas are so different from one end of the island to the other. At the top we were at 1900 metres, the temperature was only 11 degrees, the sun was shining and we were looking down over the clouds which were at 1000 metres across the most rugged moonlike landscape with the mountain of Tenerife in the background poking its peak through the clouds. Pablo said the view is spectacular on a clear day, but looking over the clouds had an appeal of its own.
Driving round the other side of the peak we could see down to the southern tip of Gran Canaria overlooking the desert like sand dunes. Strange, within
a 25km radius we could see, the Ocean, desert, orange groves, grape vines, mountains that are sometimes snow capped and volcanoes.
Although Las Palmas, like many cities is a bit dirty and the port area leaves a lot to be desired Gran Canaria has a lot to see and do, old and new, hot and cold, sun and rain. We had a lovely day out thanks to Don Pablo.
On our return we had an ARC cocktail party in the Real Club Nautica adjacent to the marina. They provided tapas and drinks for the ARC boat owners, it
closed a nine though, but we needed to get back and chill, it had been a tiring day.
