Spot the Lava Flow

Just north of Fatima, El Paso

Ladies and gentlemen, can you spot the lava flow in this picture?

This lava flow at Fatima in El Paso is from the eruption of Volcan San Juan (St. John's volcano) in 1949, but the whole island is volcanic. And, geologically speaking, it's still in nappies.

The very oldest rocks on the island formed as a submarine volcano, some 3 three million years ago. Of course most of it's buried deep, but if you know where to look, there's a little patch of it you can see in the Barranco de las Angustias (the big ravine that drains the Caldera). Apart from that, the northern end is the oldest, at a mere 1,500,000 years old. Most of the south is younger, at 700,000 years old, give or take. And just to confuse the tourists, the Cumbre Vieja (old ridge) is younger than the Cumbre Nueva (New Ridge).

And the youngest bit of the island is Playa Nueva which means (very) New Beach. It was formed when Teneguía erupted from October 26th to November 28th in 1971. It's just 37 years old - younger than I am. Luckily the eruption only killed one person, an old man who got too close and suffocated. My husband was a teenager and remembers it well. You could here the rumbling from Breña Baja, and the whole family went to see the show from the higher volcano of San Antonio.

Today, plants are just beginning to colonise the area near the cone, and the red rocks make the surrounding area look like Mars (See Which Planet Are You On? ).

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Taking the Hump

Crater of St Antony's Volcano. You can see people on the skyline at the right.

The most recent eruption in the Canary Islands was Teneguía, in 1971 (see Thursday, 21 February 2008 Which Planet Are You On?). It's a nice place to visit, but you have to be fairly fit.

St. Antony's Volcano (Volcan San Antonio) is nice in a completely different way. For one thing, it looks like a volcano should look, and you can walk halfway around the spectacular circular crater. You could even get a push-chair most of the way. For another, there's a car park, and a visitor centre with a café, shop, and a rather good exhibition.

The last eruption was from November 13th 1677 to January 31st, 1678. There were earthquakes, sulfurous gases and thirteen lava vents, one of which buried the hot spring that gave the borough its name - Fuencaliente. This left the spa town without a spa, and did the local economy no favours at all.

Crater of St Antony's Volcano looking back towards Los Canarios.

If you fancy taking the hump, you can ride a camel along the path for 6.00€. The sign says they start at ten, but when I went there, they still hadn't arrived at 10:30. So no photo. Sorry.

The catch is that you have to pay. The car park is 3.50€ for visitors and 1.75€ for residents, but this includes the visitor centre.

Coffee with milk (cafe con leche) was a startling 1.70€. In most places it's between 1.00€ or 1.20€. So I didn't try the cake, although it looked good.

So does the view from the crater.
View from the crater, north towards Las Indias.

To get there:
The easiest way is in a hire car. Take the main road to Los Canarios and follow the sign from the village centre. Alternatively, bus L3 will take you to Los Canarios, and you can walk downhill from there (perhaps 2 km).

You can also continue your walk from St. Antony's volcano down to Teneguía and the coast. Bus L31 goes back from the lighthouse to the village.

View from the crater, south towards Teneguía and the salt factory

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Which Planet Are You On?

And the blue sky on that last one that gives the game away. Yes, it's Earth, not Mars. It's actually the Teneguia volcano, on the southern tip of La Palma. The red colouring comes from iron in the rocks. The reason why there's no visible vegetation is that the volcano last erupted in 1971, just 37 years ago.

Some of these little holes in the ground (just big enough to put both hands in) are noticeably warm on a cool day. Children love them - it's when they realise that this really is a volcano.

Actually, there are a few plants beginning to grow, but as you walk up the cone, the main impression is that you're on another planet. It's very hard to believe that you're only about twenty miles from a cloud forest.



All the Canary Islands are volcanic, but La Palma is still a baby in geological terms, and still growing. The eruption of Teneguia made it half a kilometre longer. Much of the new land is now banana plantations.

Luckily, Canarian volcanoes don't BANG! so much as gently ooze. The eruption of Teneguia only killed one person: an elderly man who was overcome by fumes.

The summit is only about 400 m above sea level. You can walk all the way to the top, but be warned that the path is very rough in places. Stout trainers are about the minimum footware, and walking boots are better.



You can start walking from the visitor centre of the San Antonio volcano, or a little lower down on the road from Los Canarios to Las Indias. In fact, you can drive several kilometres along the track, which leaves the road, which only leaves about two kilometres to walk.

And the view from the top is terrific.

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