Rabbit-ear and spikey-cucumber cactii

Hiking day today, in Anaga.
Along a lava-stone trail lined with cactii, aloe vera and an abundance of Dragos, Dragon-blood trees. Anaga is a national park in the northern corner of Tenerife. In our rent-a-reck we charge up the steep (how many times have I used this word after arriving at Madeira?) cactii lined slopes on the way past La Laguna and into the Las Mercedes mountain area. Up in the clouds we are now surrounded by swirling mists. So the fabulous viewpoints have to be repeated on the way down. The laurel and Erica (heather tree) and holly woods remind us of Madeira. A sort of rain forest on a dessert island! There are huge "roques", hard rocks in fabulous formations, towering in the landscape.

Our hike starts at Chamorga, a pretty village of terrace farms, a few white, tiled-roofed houses, a little plaza with a chapel, and a dozen Dragos (Dragon`s blood trees) on the hillsides. There's also a hostel, with cafè where we eat a bocadillo while the teen-age son ate his dinner watching tv in this "school cafeteria" style cafè.

From Chamorga the trail goes downhill towards the lighthouse, Faro de Anaga, and to the sea. The lava path is well-worn, lined with huge Aloes, Dragos, and cactii. One sort looks like a muddle of big, fat rabbit-ears. Or are they prickly green pancakes!? Another sort, which appear further down the path, is like a bunch of overgrown, prickly cucumbers. About three meters tall they fill the hillsids, stretching upwards, towards the sun. It´s all very unlike the artfully orchestrated "Rubicon Marina"s village and cactus-paths. Here the plants grow all hultur til bulter, a casual chaos. Song birds sing in the bushes down in the valley, little lizards scuttle off as we approach. The cactus-fruit leave my hands full of tiny, invisible thorns. But no nasty stinging biting bugs or snakes.

We reach an abandoned farm, the tile roof caved in, where we can see the sea and over to the lighthouse, Faro de Anaga, on the next hillside, about 400 meters over the sea(!) It´s uphill all the way back , and no time to lose. It´ll be pitch dark at 8pm.

We arrive, huffing and puffing, back at Chamorga, and the car, by 6:30 and have a soft evening light as we twist and turn down the mountain roads to San Andrès and the lovely palm-tree beach, Playa de las Teresitas.