Tenerife - My Pilgrimage Journey in Spain

Again I have been very busy but I believe it is time to stop for a bit and tell you about one of the most beautiful places I've visited this year, Tenerife.

Tenerife is an island like no other, I was struck from the beginning by its scenery.. volcanic rocks mixed with sand, decorated by cactuses and palm trees from place to place. It caught to my heart from the start.

Also very modern, you find beautiful houses and really good highways.

If you go there definitely rent a car, you have more flexibility and can explore the island more freely.

I arrived there pretty late in the afternoon so after picking up my car and checking in the apartment, not much time was left.. however I can say I started the trip with a really beautiful, breath-taking sunset.

For me this is pretty much how heaven looks. I love sun downs or sun rises and I love orange and for me this was pure poetry.

So yes, my trip started as if I was walking into heaven. Then something happened that turned everything around and found my self needing to re-consider the entire trip, make decisions on the go and try to be as flexible as possible on a tidal wave situation while still remaining grounded.

As per the book I started reading there, The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho, nothing happens by accident, everything is connected, so I decided to look at this trip from a Pilgrimage point of view.

I spent my first day near Los Gigantes, previously known as “The wall of hell”. This pseudo-name comes from the impressive geography of gloomy lava, which was seen as the end of the world by the Guanches, the aboriginal inhabitants of the Canary Islands. Los Gigantes Cliffs are characterized by its non uniform lateral walls as a consequence of erosion and deterioration. The cliffs fall over the ocean and they have an altitude between 300 to 600 meters above the sea level.

Near this amazing scene you will find a very beautiful natural pool, where you can seat and relax in the sun or just cool your self in the pool water which is much warmer than the cold water of the ocean.

Unfortunately for me this place, as beautiful and amazing as it is, does not hold a very good memory. But I will choose to look at it from a Seed Practice (RAM practice) point of view and transform it in something good.

So yes, here I was a seed struggling to break through. Like it is said in the exercise, "when you can no longer stand it, scream and open your eyes".

And that is what I did, although it was really hard, I opened my eyes. And what I saw was something amazing, a scenery like no other and houses with an architecture I've never seen before.

And I began to feel reborn and that I was regaining my self. What happened next for me was like a Speed RAM exercise. I started taking everything easy, giving my self time, move more slowly, observe people and my surroundings. This phase lasted for a day and a half. It was also in this time that I had my first ever surf lesson. Surfing is a really amazing sport, I definitely would like to practice it more. The first lesson has been more about just paddling and falling in the water. I also tried a little bit more surfing towards the end of my trip and also learned some qui gong yoga tips that are kind of similar to the RAM Breathing exercise.

After the surfing lesson I continued the Speed RAM exercise and allowed my self time to recover, taking it slowly and easy, enjoying my meal, enjoying just not being always on the run, enjoying the sun and the beautiful scenery.

Continuing also my reading of the The Pilgrimage, the next exercise I read about was the Cruelty RAM exercise, which I have to admit is a really good one and I highly recommend it every time a bad thought comes to your mind.

The next day, I continued the slow rhythm exercise, however I also visited a few places. I went to the beach in Los Christianos where you will also find all sorts of yachts and where the ocean sea is really calm and not that cold and you can even swim a bit. This is also the place where I tried The Arousal of Intuition exercise.

I finished my day in Las Americas where I witnessed another beautiful, poetic sunset. Las Americas is the heart of the life in Tenerife. You will find lots of shops for souvenirs or clothes but also like other stuff - photography shops and really good restaurants.

The next day I went on a trip on the Teide volcano, visited an old historic town, saw another beautiful natural pool and the hill top view of La Masca.

The Teide volcano is 3,718-metre high and is the highest point in Spain and the highest point above sea level in the islands of the Atlantic. If measured from the ocean floor, it is at 7,500 m and is the highest volcano in the world base-to-peak outside of the Hawaiian Islands and is described by UNESCO and NASA as Earth's third-tallest volcanic structure. Teide's elevation makes Tenerife the tenth highest island in the world. Teide is an active volcano: its most recent eruption occurred in 1909 from the El Chinyero vent on the northwestern Santiago rift.

Well, I have to say that for me this is the first volcano I ever visited so it is pretty special. I also was really lucky as I got to see the red bugloss or Tenerife bugloss in its blossom which only happens in April - May.

Really loved it here, although the places I have seen are pretty full of tourists, I still found it to be very quiet.

The next stop was in the little town of Icod de Los Vinos, a really charming town, with beautiful views of the ocean. Here is where you will find the Dragon Tree. These kind of trees can be found throughout the Canary Islands, as well as Cape Verde, Madeira, the Azores and Morocco. Worldwide, they can be seen in southern Asia and Central America. The only thing that distiguishes El Drago tree from this town is its size and age. El Drago tree is huge and very old - estimates vary from 650 years to 3,000! There are claims that it is the oldest tree on the planet. The species gets its name because, when the bark or the leaves are cut, they secrete a red coloured resin, which is said to be the dried blood of dragons. It is also said to have healing properties. In the past, this "dragon's blood" was extracted on an industrial scale and used to make varnishes and lacquers. Because many of these trees disappeared, now the tree is a protected species.

Going further, I arrived in Garachico, another charming old town where you can find another one of Tenerife's natural pools. Just over three hundred years ago, Garachico had it all. It was the main port at the crossroads of Europe and the New World. In 1706 nature cruelly snatched riches away from Garachico when Montaña Negra (Teide volcano) erupted, spewing out rivers of lava that swept through the town to destroy its golden goose, the harbour. That disaster ended Garachico's run as the most important port on Tenerife and ships started docking elsewhere on the island - in Santa Cruz and Puerto de la Cruz.

When I started reading about Tenerife, I found that there are some pyramids here, the Pyramids of Guimar. I didn't have time to see those and I heard they are not really that interesting, however if you want to see something impressive then I recommend El Palmar, it is a very unusual looking mountain that seems like it has cracks in it and which overlooks the town.

There is also a footpath up through the forest covering the mountain, however you need to be an experienced hiker to take this trail. This is the view I got on the way to the place where you can view La Masca from the top. The scenery is really breath taking. And the next days I also got to see La Masca from the ocean side on the board of a catamaran. During the reign of the pirates, back in the 16th century, La Masca village, for some reason, was never attacked. This may have been because it was possibly a pirate hideaway and they would have used the small Bay nearby.

Throughout this trip the RAM exercise on my mind was the The Shadows Exercise, observing the play between shadow and light.

The next day I continued my exploration of the island. This time I decided to check out the capital city. It is the second largest city in the Canary Islands and the main city on the island of Tenerife, with nearly half of the island's population living in or around it. The area on which now we find the city and the municipality of Santa Cruz de Tenerife has been occupied since the time of the Guanches, approximately 2000 years ago, as attested by the archaeological sites found. The area was known to the Guanches, the first inhabitants of the island, as Añazo. The famous Mummy of San Andrés is one of the most important archaeological remains of the aboriginal past of the region.. This area belonged to the Menceyato de Anaga (aboriginal Guanche kingdom of Anaga), one of nine in which the island was divided. After the conquest and defeat of the Guanche aborigines, the capital of the island was initially established in the city of San Cristóbal de La Laguna, which was founded in the same year of the conquest of the island in 1496.

The most important touristic attractions in Santa Cruz are Plaza de Espana, Iglesia de la Conception, Auditorio de Tenerife and Castle of Saint John the Baptist also knows as Castillo Negro. I only had time to visit Plaza de Espana and Iglesia de la Conception.

Plaza de Espana square was built in 1929 on the historic Castillo de San Cristóbal, a bastion for defending the island of piracy, currently there are only a few walls of the original building on display in an underground tunnel under the square. Recently the square was refurbished by the Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron. Now it is a beautiful, quiet and peaceful place where you can catch your breath. There are caffes and benches on which you can sit and rest.

I would suggest to rest a bit here but not lose much time, as near Santa Cruz there is a very beautiful beach, Playa de Las Teresitas. Originally the beach consisted of mostly rocks and a small strip of black sand. In 1973, 270,000 tons of white sand was shipped from Spanish Sahara to create an artificial beach of white sand. The project costed in total 450 million pesetas. The beach is really beautiful, really large and with palm trees from place to place, looks like a paradise. However this was also a place where I had a really hard moment which I overcome successfully also with a little help from beautiful people. So you could say here is where I had my 'Buried Alive' RAM exercise. Although the name of the exercise is really scary and the exercise itself is really scary, the outcome of becoming free of all fears is amazing. So besides being a place where I had a tough moment, it is also the place I regained my total freedom.

As there wasn't really a weather for staying on the beach, I decided to move further and drove on an amazing road to Benijo beach. You will find really unique landscapes on this road through an untamed nature, at least that is how it looked to me, truly amazing.

This place will always remain really special to me, because of its beauty and simplicity, here is where I found nature at her best, wild and beautiful.

At the end of this trip I went back to where I was staying and enjoyed a really great, special galician octopus dish. I recommend it with confidence. It is healthy and really tasty.

My last full day in Tenerife was spent cruising the ocean on a catamaran, getting to see again Los Gigantes and La Masca, enjoyed a really nice show from seagulls and also from the dolphins, I've never seen so many dolphins.

During all this time on the catamaran, all I did was listen to the wind, to the waves, to seagulls , to the dolphins and the island. It was the most relaxing RAM exercise, the Listening exercise.

Dolphins, lots of dolphins:

Los Gigantes cliffs:

Last but not least came the dance exercise, which is the most beautiful RAM exercise. For me this took place near the beach close to where I was staying.

At the end of the trip I regained my self, you could say symbolically I also regained my sword as Paulo Coelho did in his Pilgrimage. The sword for me symbolizes strength, responsibility and honor. I learned also that no matter what happens, the universe will always conspire to find ways to help you.

All in all, the entire trip was amazing, Tenerife is an amazing island with many activities to choose from and many beautiful places to visit.

If you visit it, I hope you will find it also as a kind of Pilgrimage, as I believe it is a truly magical island.

And I wish you all to find the balance!

And once you find it, maintain it!

"Three things cannot long be hidden: the sun, the moon and the truth."

Always remain true to your self and also to others!