PinayOdyssey

Here’s my last entry about our trip to the volcanic Canarian island of Tenerife last month. 🙂 Carl and I enjoyed traversing through the mountainous landscape, spending great time watching whales and dolphins in their natural habitat, feeding wild birds with the giant Los Gigantes rock formations in the background, getting amazed by the smart and engaging animals at Loro Parque, and learning more about the natural and historical origins of the Canary Islands by exploring the capital city of Sta. Cruz. Before going back to Los Gigantes, we spent two wonderful days with his mom and stepdad. We decided to take a quick trip to La Laguna, a UNESCO World Heritage Site recognized in 1999.

La Laguna was the ancient capital of Tenerife, and often dubbed as “Ciudad de los Adelantados“, for being the first university city in the archipelago. Some significant sights to see in the city are the University of La Laguna, the Shrine of Cristo de la Laguna, Cathedral of La Laguna, Plaza del Adelantado and its forests. I particularly liked the towering drago trees! Although I didn’t get to see the Parque del Drago, home to the thousand year old drago tree! Here are some shots I took in La Laguna:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

After spending three days in the capital, we took the bus back to Los Gigantes to prep us up for the Mt. Teide climb the day before we set off back to Norway. It was a much-awaited part of the trip! We planned to take the cable up the volcano to fully enjoy the experience!

Unfortunately, sometimes, you don’t get to do what you expected you’d do. The bus driver who was about to take us to the volcano got sick, and the British agent failed to inform us because we were out of Los Gigantes a few days before the trip. Seriously, they only do communication via the hotel reception where you’re staying. It had probably something to do with phone costs. But yeah, we missed the much-anticipated climb to the third highest volcano in the world!

Disappointed, we went back to the apartment and Carl sat in the balcony. I remember acting out like a child, asking him why he couldn’t make everything perfect for me! Hahaha 😀 But then, it’s okay. When you’re a traveler, you shouldn’t expect that everything will go according to plan. Perhaps it wasn’t meant for us.

I handed him a cold beer, and voila! He finally proposed! I thought it would not come, but it did. And I was the happiest girl in Tenerife! We decided to just spend the last days together, bonding and getting excited for the future. 😉

I really didn’t think I’d get engaged. I thought I’d die a spinster, burried in books and art and things that many people call boring. But then again, who are we to go against the ways of love? There’s so much to look forward to and I can’t wait!