10 Things I learned about Tenerife
16 January 2024
Happy Tuesday.
Yesterday we spent in the day in Tenerife. Although I have been to Spain several times before, this was my first trip to the Canary Islands. It was a pretty cloudy day when we docked at Santa Cruz de Tenerife and stayed that way for much of the day. However, the temperature was a blamy 20C, 68F. Which, I might add, was much better than the -35F that Lou was experiencing at home:-).
Before we go into the things I learned and my personal perspective, I have to say that it was a far more interesting port than I ever thought it would be. I'd always thought about Tenerife as the beach destination that so many Brits go to each year - and I'm just not a sit on the beach and bake kind of girl. (Mind you, I have been known (in the very long past) to lie on the beach with cooking oil all over my body trying to get a tan!). So, my vision was of lots of bodies baking on beautiful beaches. Oh, Tenerife is so much more than that! So, let's hear about potatoes, fire-resistent trees, rovers, and Brian May!
Let's start with 10 things I learned about Tenerife:
- It is not pronounced ten-e-reef. It's pronounced ten-e-reef-a by the locals. So, all my life I've been saying that incorrectly.
- Tenerife is the largest of the Canary Islands and attracts over 7 million tourists a year.
- Her main source of income is tourism. However, the export of cochineal dye extract still plays a part. Prickly Pears (host of the cochineal beetle) were exported from Mexico to Tenerife during the conquest of the American continent in the 1500s. During the 19th century it became one of the largest trade exports. The archipelago is still the only European region that cultivates cochineal. As an aside, cochineal is still one of the reasons I don't eat Smarties or M&Ms! Even though they don't list it as an ingredient "because it is contained in such small quantities" they still use them!
- Tenerife grows 22 different varities of potato! Including a specific potato (Negro potato) that is only purchased on very special occasions and costs around 13 Euros per kilogram. Thats nearly $8 per pound. At home we can get a bag of russests for less than $3 for 5 pounds!!! So, these must be quite some potatoes.
- Several movies have been filmed on Tenerife including Clash of the Titans (2010), Planet of the Apes (1968), Fast & Furious 6 (2013), One Million Years B.C. (1966), Jason Bourne (2016 where Tenerife was used as a substitute for Greece), and some episodes of Dr Who (2015).
- The Isleños in St Bernard Parish in Louisana, are descendants of Canarian migrants and the Canarian dialect is still spoken there.
- Tenerife is classifed as dark sky country. It has the Teide Observatory that houses telescopes from more than 19 countries. It also has a connection with music. The great guitarist Brian May (Pink Floyd) (recently voted best guitarist of all time in a 2023) poll has strong connections with Tenerife. As part of his PhD in Astrophysics he stayed on the island and worked at the observatory in 1970.
- It is home to the higest summit in Spain. Teide volcano is 3,715 meters high - over 12,000 feet. It is also the third highest volcano in the world. Teide is still an active volcano that last erupted in 1909. It sits on the edge of the caldera of an older, extinct volcano that was over twice the height of Teide. The caldera that was left after the explosion is 21 kms - 14 miles wide. Teide is not the only volcano on Tenerife - there are 320 others!!!!
- Oh.. yeah.... Mount Teide also played a part in trying to find extra terrestrials! The Perserverance Rover currently on Mars is currently on Mars trying to see if we have neigbors. "
- Teide is located in the Mount Teide National Park. It's the 8th most visited National Park in the world. The Teide Observatory is located on the edge of the national park. Teide National Park is home to what is considered the most fire resistant conifers in the world. Having grown on an island with volcanos over the last 170,000 years - it's built up some unique mechanisms to cope with the extreme temperatures. Oh yeah, and it's the place where Sir Brian May noted in a British newspaper interview as the place he would like to have his ashes scattered as he felt such a connection with it.
My personal reflections on Tenerife:
Firstly, I can see what Brian May meant. It is a spectacular place. It is impossible to describe what it is like. Moon-like fits is spectactularly - but even that doesn't do it justice.
Whilst we were driving up the very winding road to the top... sometimes on the very edge of the cliff... nerve-wracking anyone! I was struck by the very diverse plants that formed on each layer of the topography as we moved from sea level to the top of the National Park. As we got higher, the mixed growth forest turned to pure pine forests and I was asontished by the fact that the pines were tall and had almost all of their needles towards the top of the tree. This left wide open spaces around the trees that were carpeted with fallen pine needles. It was strangely beautiful. I couldn't get a decent photo as the bus was moving so fast... but absolutely nothing grows underneath the pines and the light has this strange filtered, soft feel. It really was amazing. Sorry about the blur... we were driving pretty fast downhill at this point!
it looks more like sand than pine needles!!!
Then the vegetation gives way to the Pinus Canarensis - the fire resistant pine. A huge fire in 2023 had covered nearly 2,600 hectares of the national park with a perimeter of 23 kilometers and closed all roads in Teide. The result of the fire was very visible when we went to the National Park. The barks were all burned and the pine needs were either brown or missing.
The bark is designed to protect the tree from extreme heat. Within 2-3 years the tree will have recovered and the needles will all be green. We did see some trees that had already started to sprout new green needles. The bark does recover, but it takes much longer. I suppose, when you have been growing in a volcanic area for some 170,000 years, you have to adapt to some pretty extreme conditions! This species of pine will also survive on low amounts of water. They can survive with less than 7 inches of rain per year.
Once we had gone through the pine forests, we rounded a corner and wham... NOTHING. Just a couple of gnarled trees trying to eek out an existence. The area had suddenly changed color - not reflected at all in this photograph and the ground was covered with scrub and massive rocks.
Around one corner we also captured a sight of Teide herself. With a little cap of cloud!
And changed again:
Finally, we could totally understand the moonscape. On the way back I was struck by a formation locally known as "la tarta" - the cake. Here the various layers had formed from previous eruptions - it was beautiful.
My final thoughts:
Parts of Mount Teide National Park reminded me of the Badlands and in some ways some of the parks we had visited in Utah. What made it different though was how quickly everything changed. From beaches, to sub-tropical flora, to mix-growth forest, to pines, to desert/mountain scrub - to nothing. In a matter of minutes we had gone from sea level to the middle of the crater and the vistas kept changing. The weather changed a lot, too. From grey clouds, to rain, to sunshine and back to grey skies. I could totally understand why Brian May felt the way he did about this place. I would love to have been up at the observatory at night - but, I absolutely must admit, i wouldn't have wanted to drive that road at night. At some points on our ascent and descent, I was holding the chair in front of me so hard, my knuckles went completely white! But I bet the night skies and the peace and quiet would have made that drive absolutely worthwhile.
Magical place. I'd definitely come back.
I'll be back tomorrow with my story of Lucy Ada. In the meantime, warm hugs and prayers for those of you who need a little lift tonight.
Hugs
Jaydee