Day 2: July 13

After breakfast, we set off. We drove through Anaga National Park. Dense tree canopies hung over the road, creating a cozy twilight and completely shielding us from the bright sun. We made a couple of stops to take photos.

At one of the stops, Volchy came up with the idea of giving the lizards water. There are so many of them here. There are ordinary gray-brown lizards, and there are beautiful Canary lizards — black with blue iridescent highlights on their sides. Volchy splashed water on the leaves and stones, and the lizards ran up and licked the droplets with their pink tongues. We poured out a liter and a half of water in an attempt to give the lizards a drink, and then drove on.

After driving through the park, we turned toward the town of Taganana, to the coast. As we later understood, on this part of the coast there are almost always clouds…. We wanted to swim at Playa de Benijo beach; from the photos, it was supposed to be picturesque there.

Getting there turned out not to be easy. At one point, the road became very narrow and climbed steeply uphill. We realized that we would hardly find parking there. So we parked a kilometer from the beach and walked there along the coast on a path.

The beach was a little depressing… Black sand. Endless gray clouds hanging right above us. Even the black jagged rocks in the ocean didn’t add any picturesque charm; they only made the atmosphere feel even more oppressive. We went for a swim, sat on the rocks for a bit. The black sand stuck to our bodies in a funny way, and it seemed as if Volchiy was wearing black little shoes. We ate some wonderful Canary bananas and decided to move on…

According to the plan, we were supposed to cross the mountain in the center of Anaga and reach the opposite coast. It was amazing how suddenly the clouds disappeared from the sky as soon as we crossed the mountain.

We went to Playa de Las Teresitas beach, which is considered one of the most beautiful beaches in Tenerife. No wonder — instead of black, dreary sand and gray clouds, everything here was just as it should be in the best traditions of a beach holiday: sunshine, golden sand, and palm trees.

Later we read that the golden sand had been brought from the Sahara and that a breakwater had been specially built so the sand wouldn’t be washed out into the ocean. We swam a little. It was very windy here, which slightly spoiled the idyll, and we started getting ready to move on. I had managed to get covered in sand from head to toe, and Volchy said he wouldn’t let me into the car looking like that. We had to go back to the sea and carefully wash the sand off ourselves.

Wolf is waiting while I rinse off the sand

We decided to drive all the way along this coast. I was very curious to see what was there. We reached the small sleepy village of Igueste, but the beach there didn’t impress us, and we drove back toward our temporary home. On the way, we stopped by the supermarket again.

At the entrance to the supermarket, our temperature was taken. And we were asked to put on disposable gloves.

Wolf found tortillas there, and we came up with the idea of making burritos :) We bought chicken breast and a salad mix for the filling. We also bought half a melon.

The burritos turned out just right, delicious! We ate them with beer.

In the evening, Wolf came up with the idea of taking the mattress out onto the balcony. We carried it from the bedroom, and I lay down. Wolf took photos of me. The pictures turned out very funny.

Then, when it had grown completely dark and the street lamps had come on, we lay on the mattress and looked at the stars.

We saw 3 shooting meteors.

And then we dragged the mattress back into the bedroom and fell asleep.