Today we went to Timanfaya National Park on the other side (west) of the island. Laura woke up with a headache and took ibuprofen and was determined to come and not miss out.
There were two main things to do when going to Timanfaya National Park, 1 is to go on a camel ride and the other is to go up to the top of the Timanfaya mountains in the national park and have a tour.
It was extremely windy today, still hot, but blowing a gale. The wind featured heavily in today’s fun with ash and grit in our hair and eyes from the volcanoes.
Camel Ride
We got to the camel place at just before 11am and was greeted by a lot of camels, probably around 100 of them. You buy a ticket and two of you sit, either side of the camel and, in a long line of 20 or so, you go for a trek up the mountain and down again.
Laura and Adam were on the camel in front, Adam nick named him “Jeffery” and Dad and I was on the camel behind, that we nick named “Nigel”. Unfortunately, because of Mum’s hip, she wasn’t able to ride a camel, so she took pictures instead – Thanks Mum… Before we got on the camel, the drover told Dad and I to move to the next camel behind, we think this is because it was a bigger and stronger camel. We got on and waited for the off. Poor Nigel, with 36 stone on his back seemed to be struggling somewhat. Did you know that the camels on Lanzarote are members of their own union. They have specific working regulations that are reinforced by the union. For example, they are only allowed to work for 4 hours per day.
I think “Nigel” will be writing to the union about the amount of weight he had to have on his back… When we got back and “Nigel” sat down we almost landed face first into the floor, he pretty much fell down. Poor “Nigel”. The camels were very friendly and Laura kept stroking “Nigel” who would put his head very close to “Jeffery”, but the camel behind us, would get his head right along side either Dad or me so he could have a stroke too.
What a fantastic experience that was, an awful lot of fun and quite cheap, only €6 each. I would thoroughly recommend it, and we know the camels are looked after.
Here are some more camel pics.
Timanfaya Volcanoes
After leaving the camels (and Nigel to voice his complaint to the union) we headed off to Timanfaya to the volcanoes. It wasn’t far, but there was a long queue to get in. Once we finally got to the front of the queue and paid the money (€9 each) we joined yet another queue… This one didn’t take too long, it was more about traffic control than anything else. Dad flashed the disabled badge and we were directed to the very top of a very big hill – there is no way either Laura or Mum would make it up that hill (I think I would struggle too). As soon as we got out of the car we were directed onto the coach for a tour. WOW!!!! What landscape, it looks like it could come straight out of the Mars Rover camera, incredibly desolate, baron and amazing formations. The only way to really appreciate it is to visit, but the the photos below will have to do for those who haven’t been or for those who have and want a reminder.
After the coach trip we looked for the toilets but found a maintenance place instead. After finding the actual toilets we found the grill, now this is not a normal grill with charcoal, someone dug a BIG hole in the volcano until they reached the crust of magma and built a BBQ over the top – as you do. This was VERY hot as you can imagine. The food smelled lovely so we went to the restaurant to buy some lunch – OUCH I think they are trying to pay for the coaches or something average price was around €14. No thanks, so we went outside and watched a couple of “experiments”.
These “experiments” basically consisted throwing water down a bore hole into the volcano and watching the water being spewed back out as steam very impressive. I managed to get a video of the geyser. The other experiment was setting fire to some braches, just by putting them into a small hole dug in the ground – they started smoking and almost instantly caught fire. The guide also picked some stones for us to hold and they were red hot!
Once we’d finished in Timanfaya National Park, and on the way back to the villa, we popped into Playa Blanca to have lunch and a look round. As Mum and Dad had been before, they knew of a secret (well not really secret, but little known) parking place that meant a short walk to the front. It was a lovely place, actually looked finished, unlike the rest of the island. We strolled along the front and found somewhere to eat. Mum had sardines, Dad and I had Spanish omelette, Adam had ham and chees omelette and Laura had roast chicken. I was a little disappointed with the Spanish omelette as it was quite bland. Mums sardines were ok-ish. Adam loved his omelette and Laura was very happy that she chose the roast chicken.
Still windy today but hot, great views across to Fuerteventura too. Had a walk through I guess was the high street.
Loving the photos. What you been up to since Friday?