A small rock in the Atlantic: 13/04/08

The cloud waterfall.

Because the island sits in the trade winds, damp air hits the northeast of the island and has to rise, where it turns into clouds. Because La Palma has a north-south spine called the Cumbre Nueva, the cloud quite often reaches up to the ridge and then tumbles over as the cloud waterfall. This is extremely pretty, and best viewed from around the western side of the tunnel. You can also look down on it from the Los Andennes mirador on the road to the observatory.

Sometimes, when the winds blow from the west, the waterfall tumbles down the eastern side of the ridge.

Occasionally, it keeps going after sunset, and you can see it lit by the full moon, which makes you wonder if you've slipped through to Narnia or Middle Earth.

Just once, I saw a spectacular sunset illuminate it candyfloss-pink.

I didn't have a camera.

I swore.

Labels: Canaries, Canary islands, La Palma, Weather

Bookmark with:

Helen Bennett

Sunrise over La Palma by Helen Bennett

La Palma has a talented new digital artist called Helen Bennett. A year ago she left her high-stress job in London and moved to Franceses, in Garafía, with her partner. They bought a fixer-upper and set about fixing it up. Of course this wasn't always smooth going - you can read their adventures at http://casa-estrellas.blogspot.com

Helen also did the layout for Issue 5 of Ruido.

For these two pictures, she used a digital model of the island, and added the lighting.

You can see more of Helen's work at http://helen.helresa.com/

Sunset behind La Palma by Helen Bennett

Labels: art, Canaries, Canary islands, culture, digital art, La Palma

Bookmark with:

Los Sauces Bridge

The new bridge over the barranco at Los Sauces is huge. It's 319 metres long and towers 150 metres above the valley floor. It opened in December 2004. To begin with, it was rather controversial because it crosses the same valley as the Los Tilos National Park. But you can't see the bridge from the park, and it's really rather elegant for something so big. It also knocks a full five minutes off the journey to Santa Cruz, which is important if you're in a hurry to get to the hospital.

If you're visiting the island, I recommend walking across it -- you get a much better view. Unless you suffer from vertigo!

Labels: Canaries, Canary islands, La Palma, Los Sauces

Bookmark with:

Santa Cruz Tourist Office

When I first came to La Palma, the tourist office was in temporary accommodation in the third floor of an office building, with absolutely nothing at street-level to indicate where it was. Basically, you had to ask a local to find it.

Obviously this left something to be desired, so they put up two signs: one at the south end of town pointing north, and one at the north end, pointing south.

That was seventeen years ago. Since then, the tourist office has moved twice. They are now in this rather attractive building in Santa Cruz, outside the port entrance. As you can see, it's in the middle of a dual carriageway, but there's a zebra crossing just out of the frame to the right. All the staff speak good English, and I've always found them very helpful.

Opening hours:

Mon - Fri
Saturday
Sunday

9 am - 7:30 pm
9 am - 3 pm
9 am - 2 pm

Labels: Canaries, Canary islands, La Palma