A Tenerife Day

I feel like I should apologize for writing so little while on vacation; what else do I have to do? Unfotunately, while I am fairly busy, the greater problem is that the computer is not always free, especially in the evenings when I tend to be here. Let me explain the workings of a normal Tenerife day.

8:00 Get up. This is approximate; Josh´s aunt´s family all have to be at work and school by 830, so we usually are woken up by then and eventually get out of bed

9:00 Leave to have the day´s adventure. Usually visiting another town or going to the sea (more on this later)

1100 (or so) Coffee. Spanish coffee is delicious. And super cheap. Actually, all food here is cheap, and generally quite good. Also, the coffee is small and thus very manageable, even for people who don´t normall drink much of it, i.e. Josh and myself

230 Get home for lunch (this is when the work and school day ends in Spain. Its only 6 hours long. How glorious.). Lunch usually lasts for about an hour, from 3 to 4. It is also the biggest meal of the day, and leads to....

400 SIESTA. Not everyone takes one, and not every day, but how great is that? A built in nap!!

500 Do something else, or just go for a walk, read, whatever. This would be the time I would blog, except that Josh´s cousins and his uncle are home and on the computers. As might be Josh or his mother, also visiting and also without computers. Sigh.

930 or 10: Dinner. Usually light. Very, very later, even by my families standards. Not sure if this is entirely healthy. But whatever!

12 or so: Bed.

And that is it! The normal run of my days. Josh and I did do two day trips this week, so we had lunch out, but besides that its how its been. Its so lovely to be staying with a family; getting to converse and eat with other people, seeing what real life in the Canary Islands is like. Also, they are absolutely fantastic people, which helps.

Anyway, yesterday we went to La Laguna, a nearby town, to walk around some more and see a book fair that had been set up. Its a lovely little town, one of the most European I´ve seen here (including a man playing accordion!!!!), with historic buildings dotting what seems like every corner. There are a number of churches and convents, including an active one (!) with an iron screen which the nuns sit behind during services to avoid the public. We also found a few lovely little galleries and the city market; upon noting which, I have to say that I have some sort of gift for finding both museums and markets. Call me crazy, but I find them everywhere I go. Perhaps its the parts of the city I like to wander in?

In the afternoon it was back to La Laguna with the whole family to see Josh grandmother-in-law, have a delicious bit of cake at a local bakery famous for their desserts, and go to the police station to report a stolen wallet. Spanish bureaucracy, apparently, rivals Russian in its complexity.

Anyway, a lovely day in a beautiful city. I promise to try to be better about blogging in the future!