We drove an hour to a tiny town where we met a hiking bus that took us to an even tinier town at the top of the Masca gorge. From there we hiked four hours through some absolutely breath-taking landscape. The pictures say more than I can.
We started in a rainy, misty, wet part of the gorge, but the further we hiked the dryer it got.
In the beginning stairs were cut into the rock to make for an easy start, but after those first 100 meters, it was rough, raw hiking. The way I like it.
Quite windy at times...
Through crevasses.
Manfred taught us about water canals that were dug in the gorge in the late 1800's to supply the surrounding villages with fresh water.
And how their discarded tools were made into part of the trail.
As we broke into the sunlight, we were stalked by a cat who I named Senor Gato. He liked me because I fed him….and probably because I named him.
At the end of the gorge, was a picturesque beach, only accessible by boat or by taking the four-hour journey we just took. While a bit rocky, it was a welcome warm sight after the damp walk we just took.
It was a bit choppy, but that didn’t stop me from getting in the water. With the waves crashing against the rocky shore, walking in from the beach was not an option. I had to walk over this concrete walkway out to a round platform in the water. Manfred assured me it was safe and it more or less was. I’m always shocked at how strong currents are in the ocean. I thought I was going to get smashed upon that concrete platform a few times, but my strong swimming held out.
I dried off just in time to board our dolphin watching boat. It was really entertaining watching people attempt to board this bouncing boat as the captain carefully maneuvered the boat to keep it from drifting to far away or from crashing into the platform.
As we pulled away from the gorge a full spectrum rainbow bid us farewell.
We eventually pulled up to some fish nurseries where we were able to see some live dolphins pick off the fish that made it through the nets. A few even jumped out of the water for us, but mostly it was dorsal fins and blowholes. But I’d rather see that from dolphins in the wild, than a full body view of a dolphin in a tank.
After a little wait in the ocean side tourist area of Los Gigantes, we took a bus back to the little red mini-van where we drove back to La Orotava.
We walked into town that night and grabbed some dinner with Patrick and Arnita, the other two hikers on our tour today. I don’t know how I became the Spanish expert in our group of four but it was up to me to communicate with the waiter, which with Rachel was rough as she had specific wants. Poor Arnita had to have all her meals gluten free, but she had a small card with all her needs printed in Spanish, which helped a lot. The highlight from this place was the pumpkin soup, delectable.
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