The Dragon Tree Viewpoint

The leaning dragon tree (Dracaena draco).

There's a rather nice viewpoint in Puntagorda, on the main road at km 78. Its most obvious attraction is the dragon tree, leaning much further over than the tower at Pisa.


Red-billed chough, Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax barbarus.

But when I was last there, I was charmed by a tame red-billed chough, Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax barbarus. They're relatives of rooks and crows, but this particular sub-species only lives on La Palma where they're called grajas. They're something of an icon here, because they're so distinctive. They're also pretty intelligent for birds, and rather curious. My husband once had one pecking away at the windscreen wipers of his car.

The graja at the viewpoint came right up to me and begged for food. He even lay down and pretended to be injured, until he realised that the other family there had food, and I didn't.


Red-billed chough, Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax barbarus, pretending to be injured.

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St Maurus's Church, Puntagorda

The first church on this site was built in the 16th century, when this was the centre of the village. Since then, the population moved uphill, leaving the church rather isolated, and the church has been rebuilt twice (the current building dates from the 19th century), and finally fell into disuse and ruin. It was replaced with a newer one, in the new centre of the village, in 1951, but many footpaths still run past the building. Perhaps more importantly, this is where Puntagorda holds it's annual religious fiesta, from the 14th of August to the 22nd. (The other fiesta celebrates the almond blossom, at the end of January or the beginning of February.) They'll be lots and lots of special masses, and a procession with the statue of the saint in Sunday 17th.

I'd never heard of St. Maurus (San Amaro in Spanish). He was an abbot and theologian in 8th century Germany, and apparently he was popular with the Portuguese settlers who founded the village.

The associated sports contests all happen before the religious ones, from August 4th to 14th. They hold tournaments of football, tennis and chess, athletics and an exhibition of Go-Karts.

The old parish hall stands in front of the church. It's a beautiful ruin, (OK, so I'm weird. I think ruins can be beautiful) but there are plans to restore it.

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Flags Galore

You see a lot of flags on La Palma. Most English visitors will recognise the flags of Spain and the European Union.

But the Canary Islands are an autonomous region within Spain, and they have their own flag too. You see it a lot, especially around May 30th, which is Canary Day.



And then each island has its own flag. Here's the flag of La Palma:



And as if that weren't enough, La Palma has 14 municipalities, of which twelve have their own flag.

Santa Cruz	Breña Baja	Los Llanos
El Paso	Barlovento	Breña Alta
Garafía	Mazo	Tijarafe
Puntagorda	Puntallana	Tazacorte

(The other two municipalities are San Andres y Sauces and Fuencaliente)

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Puntagorda Market

Puntagorda is a village and municipality in the north west of the island. Every Saturday and Sunday, they have a farmers' market and craft fair in the Mercadillo, which is at the north of the village, near the Fayal picnic area.



Like most farmers' markets, the vegetables are fresher and cheaper than most supermarkets. There are also stalls selling organic wholemeal bread, sugar cane juice (with or without rum) cakes and meat. One stall just sold papayas.



The craft section had silver jewelry, hand-made furniture, leatherwork, and artwork prints.



Opening hours are Saturdays, 3 pm to 7 pm and 11 am to 3 pm.
The English version of the website is at http://mercadillo.puntagorda-lapalma.com/en.html?p=&lang=EN

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