We take one day break from walking to rest and to have a look at another town. Los Llanos is the most populous city on La Palma and only 45 minutes by bus (but first we will have to walk sharply uphill for 45 minutes to catch that bus). The mountain road is in good condition but the young driver drives much too fast. Vertiginous, plunging ravines and the bus going right through lava from an eruption 2 years ago are the "fun" stuff on this bus ride.
Heavy duty construction vehicles are still hard at work 2 years on. They managed to clear the main road and repaved it like new, plus a lot of new lava has been removed. Local and intercity traffic was back to normal only months ago. I was told it took so long because the lava was still hot to do anything. Some photos I've seen the lava and ashes reached the top of the front doors of houses.
Photos taken from the bus. It's about twice the height of the bus!
All the black stuff is new lava. The crater is still smouldering. The surface area of new lava is 3km wide and 5km long (iirc).
The bus ticketing system is efficient. Taking the bus is cheap but departures are not every (half an) hour. Infrastructure is good. 45min ride costs E.2,60.
Los Llanos is a nice city with good (food) shopping options (but still, just keep in mind that this is a small island).
Single benches
I enjoy finding new and interesting plants in a new place. A tree with big, dense flowers that hang upside down. The bloom clusters look a lot like hortensia. Very pretty, especially in pastel pink.
Not as common as the usual green/yellow kind. Returned 2 days later to buy them but they were all gone.
For roasting chestnuts. This one has a very long handle. There's another one with a short handle.
Some beer before catching the bus back. Gobsmacked when it's time to pay the bill. E1,50 a beer. At home you can't get anything for 1,50 in a sit-down cafe with service. Maybe you can have some hot water but no tea for 1,50.
I didn't bring any cooking equipment on this trip ((a mistake, also decided to leave the sous vide stick at home at the last minute). Well, I'm using these now.
Every. day. It's middle of winter and miserable at home.
Malvasia aromatica from a local bodega. They don't send wines in these non-standard bottles to the supermarkets. They all cost over E20 so are considered "expensive".
Poached tuna, spicy mixed vegetables and wrinkled potatoes.
Los Llanos, my base village and the capital Santa Cruz. Red area is the lava flow path. (Photos found online)
The map of La Palma has changed.
People and businesses that were affected are still suffering 2 years on. They are living in temporary housing. They have lost everything. There are foreigners who live here (including German transplants or long-termers) who have also lots everything.
Danger in paradise is never far away.
So eerie
La Palma is full of volcanoes and is the most seismically active of all the Canary islands.
