There's something rather satisfying - to me anyway - about the parallels between our homes in Yorkshire and Tenerife. Some differences too of course. In Yorkshire we live in a tourist village, settled above the main road watching visitors park up, which can be quite entertaining. The view from our floor-to-ceiling windows across the dale is wonderful, and within yards we're out into countryside for delightful walks around the farms and hills.
In Tenerife we live in a tourist town, rather more than 1000 residents in Playa Paraíso, we're still above the main road, get to see interesting parking, and have great views from floor-to-ceiling windows across Barranco de las Galgas. We’re close to the nearest banana plantation and it’s onward to fabulous walks in three out of four directions (the fourth one requiring my scuba gear, which isn't here yet.)
The biggest difference is of course the weather, we've yet to eat any meal inside, even when it rains we're protected by a balcony. Oh and stairs - we have a staircase in Yorkshire, but just get to use it occationally as it only goes to the garage and wine cellar (OK so that last point proves its gets farily regular useage) and the rest of the house is on one level. So whilst most people decide to move to a single level as they get older, we've gone the other way and bought a home with two levels for the first time in decades.
Another huge difference is internet - in Yorkshire we can allegedly get 30Mb (at least that's what the carrier is rated at) although in practice the service is around 10. Here the carrier is rated at 600 and that's exactly what is delivered - blisteringly fast, indeed 60 times, for just double the cost.
We're here to work so it's wonderful to be able to do so without any of the speed-frustrations we have endured over the last two years of lockdown and working from home - now WFH is positively desirable. We're maintaining the same discipline - at our desks by 08:30, break for lunch-time walkies noon to 14:00 and then work again until 17:30 - standards must be maintained! Of course there are extra hours and weekends where needed but the core remains consistent.
After work the evening takes a different turn - first a turn around the town, or across to Callao Salvaje perhaps, for 30 to 45 minutes, then it's pool-time before we shower and dress for dinner. Yes, we've engaged our hot-weather routine of evening showers which is standard on vacations too.
Weekday walking is restricted to the local area, just a five or six mile, oops I mean eight or ten kilometre walk, our most favourite places being the rocks nearby (so we go a crazy long way to them) or Puertito beach one direction and Poseidon's Well the other way beyond Callao Salvaje.
Weekends see delivery of a hire-car so we can get shopping, then travel further afield for different and longer walks. It’s amusing coping with a little Polo or similar, which does not engage Park or put the handbreak on automatically like my car in Yorkshire, or zap a message if left unlocked, meaning I often have to walk back to check it’s secure. Let alone the joy of a gear-lever after nearly a lifetime of automatics, but I am managing with these first-world challenges. Happily, driving on the wrong side isn’t an issue at all, my driving brain is totally ambidextrous, and dealing with a very different set of road disciplines, or lack thereof, doesn’t raise my blood-pressure even slightly. Well, maybe a teeny bit.
So far we’ve done some excellent walks, mostly locally and a few further afield, this last weekend the most adventurous, Saturday ascending 2200 feet into the hills right above us, up the side of Barranco de las Galgas, stopping for lunch as we cross Barranco Ajebo, before returning to the car. Sunday, walking into a difficult barranco near to Playa San Juan, we enjoyed a solitary lunch on the beach at Playa Barranco del Roque after a death-defying descent.
Walking from La Caleta back into the congestion of Adeje, Las Americas, Los Cristianos is also a great walk when we don’t fancy any hills, this is virtually flat, extends to over six miles each way, and can be a fascinating people-watching experience
Barrancos are everywhere, these natural drains are valleys at right-angles to the coast, which almost always end up in a small beach, just like Barranco de las Galgas which we overlook from the house. Our beach is just beyond our view, but only five minutes down the barranco.
We have had some visitors, starting with our cleaner Anne, from Barnsley, who has a timeshare nearby, so she and a friend jumped on the 471 bus to visit us for drinkies and dinner. Another evening Jackie whom we bought the house from, who lives nearby and is omnipresent in the area, came round for drinks. We’ve done many FaceTimes back to Blighty too with various friends, it’s so easy.
Once a week we’ve gone out for dinner, Italian, French and Spanish, each one is so close we’re not more than five minutes away and there are several others yet to try. The French experience was wonderful, an excellent set menu followed by drag cabaret making for an hilarious evening’s entertainment. Easter weekend a visit to our favourite Chinese restaurant will require a drive to La Caleta, which is walkable during the day but certainly not at night over several kilometres of lava and numerous barrancos.
We’ve not gone in the sea yet, plenty of time for that, maybe on this beach at Callao Salvaje which is about 15 minutes walk?
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