When you are retired you potter around at home and don’t rush about but when you go on holiday you tend to do something every day and are much busier. So instead of holidays being restful they are exhausting. As we know La Palma well and are here for three weeks (before moving to El Hierro) we are taking things a little more slowly. Sitting on our window seats (with a glass in hand) watching the world go by is particularly restful.
Opposite our apartment are two shops one selling fancy handbags and hideous frocks, the other selling Aloe Vera products. We place bets on whether people who go in actually buy anything, gosh what an exciting time we are having. It did not take long to exhaust the “Hello Vera” jokes and wondering if the salesman is called Vera but the time spent watching has convinced us not to buy into Aloe Vera. It is a franchise with branches throughout the Canaries but we won’t be paying €17.50 for a small bottle of shower gel, the same stuff in the Superdino supermarket is €2.09 and judging by the few people who go into the shop nor will anyone else.
The handbag lady seems to be doing a good trade so should we hit hard times and need to come out of retirement a handbag shop might be the business to go into.
Yesterday we caught the bus to the north of the island and did a walk we failed to complete in 2020. On that occasion we had almost got halfway when a barrier blocked the path and a sign announced it was closed, a bit of a bugger and we had to trudge back. This time we completed the walk, as you might be able to make out in the picture we were in the mist for much of it but it was a lovely walk through laurel forests and we only met two people the whole day. One major cock up on my part, I left our copy of Walk La Palma at home so had to work out the route from a map on the National Parks web site but fortunately the footpaths are well signposted so we managed ok in the end.
At sea level the temperature during the day is in the mid 20’s but higher up on the mountains it is a little cooler (and misty). The forecast is for it to stay warm for the next couple of weeks and the only rain is forecast for Christmas Day, perhaps the locals place bets on rain on Christmas day instead of snow as in the UK.
Today we collected our hire car so stand by for exciting adventures in the mountains of La Palma.
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