A small rock in the Atlantic

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Thursday, 25 September 2008

Salemera Beach

Salermera from the road above: the beach is in the inlet at the right.

La Palma has lots of little beaches tucked away here and there, like Salemera. You take the main road from the airport to Fuencaliente, and just south of Mazo, follow the marked turning off. After four twisty kilometres, you wind up at the little village. It's easy to park.

The beach itself is tiny, but very sheltered. You don't have to worry that a big wave will come along and knock your toddlers off their feet. The lighthouse (built in 1992) is called "White sands lighthouse" (Faro de arenas blancas), but in this case, white is relative. To me, it looks like the same black, volcanic sand you get everywhere on the island, with perhaps 5% smashed shells.

Salermera beach

I don't think many people live their permanently. Most of the houses look like beach huts, but there is a small café, with a kids' slide, open from Wednesdays to Mondays, noon to half-past ten (ten on Sundays).
Salermera beach

Labels: Beaches, La Palma, La Plama, lighthouse, Mazo, Salemera Beach, Salerma

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Friday, 23 May 2008

Corpus Christi in Mazo

Corpus Christi (the body of Christ) is a big festival in Mazo. They decorate the streets with spectacular archways and carpets covered with flowers and seeds.

The main feast day is ten weeks after Maundy Thursday, so this year it's very early. (In 2009 it will be on the 11th of June).

People collect the materials and work on the pieces pretty much all year, but it all comes together on a Wednesday night, so Thursday morning is the best time to see the archways.

If you can't see them then, they stay up until Sunday.

The church of San Blas, at the bottom of the hill, gets decorated too. It's a rather unusual church in that it has three naves.

And the flowers inside are wonderful. If you get there, check out the ceiling over the altar, too.

This is the 50th anniversary of the fiesta in its current form.

The carpets beneath the archways are made using things rather like wrought iron gates, as stencils. They lay the "gate" down on the sand, fill the sections with petals or whatever, squirt with water-with-a-bit-of-glue-in-it, and lift the gate up again.