sketches from a canary island

a farewell feast

There was one stop we had to make on our way to the airport, and this was to look for some Trumpeter Finches in Juncalillo del Sur. When we passed a lonely penitentiary, I marveled at how birds can take you to some pretty random places; from the inside of a volcano in Eastern Turkey for example, to a sewage treatment plant in North Cyprus. I could have lived happily without ever visiting the latter.

At some point while watching a delightful troupe of finches inspect the vegetation, I began to feel hungry, and became anxious at the thought of missing the opportunity to grab lunch before catching the plane back to Morocco. Luckily Pedro seemed to read my mind, and we soon packed up the telescope and set off in search of food. Things were looking pretty grim with little more than dive bars on offer, until we came across a lovely little restaurant by the water called Mama Gata, which offered a fine array of seafood.

Octopus? Limpets? Assorted fried fish and papas? Yes. Yes. Yes— why yes, I'll give those little potatoes another chance!



Oh I was such a happy traveler!

in the pines

...and back down.

bocadillos and papas

Ah, the beauty of a fresh slice of bread piled high with meats! Be it a seductive slice of smoked salmon or jamón, a dollop of crab salad or a fine piece of morcilla (as modeled by Pedro below), there's simplicity and an understated elegance in a mini bocadillo. We enjoyed these trendy versions of the bar snack with a few glasses of gorgeous wine at the Mercado del Puerto in Las Palmas for dinner one evening, while the next day...



It was the humble deviled egg and a beer for lunch, accompanied by a dish of olives, pickled anchovies, and papas arrugadas— salt crusted potatoes.



I must admit that I was not impressed by the papas, and tried my best to scrape off the salt and smother them in pepper sauce. It was a delicious sauce, but goodness how my tongue hurt from the salt!

surrounding colours

While Pedro searched for birds, I took out my fountain pen and watercolours to sketch a pretty little Kleinia Neriifolia. Heavy clouds hung above, teasing with a bit of sun, then returning to an inky grey. With the sketch complete, I wandered up the path a little to marvel at some lichen and the ribbons of colours that ran through the surrounding volcanic rock.

in plain sight

The colours of that morning were green, white, ochre, rust, and so many grays— the beautiful palette of a volcanic island under an overcast sky. While Pedro scanned the waters and shore for seabirds, I studied the shapes of the shadows between the rocks. Suddenly with a grin, he asked if I noticed anything interesting about the rocks I had been so focused on. "No," I replied, but then, my eyes caught the tiniest movement.
Do you see it?

morning coffee in agaete

upon a bed of pine needles

High above the black volcanic beach of Agaete, a vivid green pine forest spread along the jagged spines of the rocks. At times the summits were swallowed by a grey fog which slid into the valleys like a serpent, obscuring everything in its path. The pines, and their resident Blue Chaffinch were our goal, and we were determined to brave every hairpin turn up, and up, and up...



It had been a while since I felt the soft crunch of pine needles under my foot, and smelled their sharp yet comforting scent. Though we missed our bird, I felt a profound sense of peace while inspecting the forest floor.

back in time

So as I mentioned in the previous post, we're going to go back in time— to the end of November, to be precise. On the first day of a four day weekend, Pedro and I hopped on a prop plane and flew south-west to the volcanic island of Gran Canaria.