Surf's up!

In contrast to my prior volcanic island experience, the next month my friends and I decided to head to Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands, part of Spain just off the Northwest coast of Africa near Morocco. This time by heading closer to the equator we were hoping to get a bit more sunshine and enjoy some more typical island activities.

We were inspired by one of our colleagues who, when giving us a ride home from Monday evening football (soccer), mentioned the great deal he found for his family trip to Lanzarote. A few days later, the group of us followed suit and booked our trip!

After another very early start (yay budget airlines!) we found ourselves at the Arrecife airport before we knew it. Due to the longer days and kinder weather we were able to be a bit more leisurely in our approach than we were in Iceland, so after arriving we took a bus toward the city centre and wandered along the coast before making our way to the bus station which would take us across the island to Caleta de Famara, where our hostel for the next few days was. We explored an interesting shopping centre (whose main feature was an impressive fitness area) before stopping into a shop for some delicious bocadillos (Spanish sandwiches). On the way, we chatted with some very friendly locals who had plenty of recommendations of things for us to check out on the island.

Lanzarote is a very touristic destination, especially for families from the UK and Ireland, but most end up along the Southern coast of the island in Playa Blanca or Costa Teguise. Our destination was further from those areas, and we were grateful to get (somewhat) off the beaten path a bit. As the bus rolled into the stop at the end of the line, we were greeted by waves crashing along the beach just beside a cluster of uniform white buildings. Across from where the town was situated cliffs jutted out over the sea, towering over the surf. About 50 yards from the bus stop, we stepped into the surf shop where we checked in for our hostel and confirmed our reservations for lessons and equipment the next few days.

Our home for the week was just behind the dunes, with a clear view of the waves from our front porch. Once we settled in, I took care of a couple emails while my friends stepped out to explore the beach and the town. I followed close behind and met up with them at a local bar where we enjoyed a few pints, plus some yummy snacks including bread with red and green mojo sauces (a favorite for the rest of the trip).

We relaxed for a while, then made a grocery run to take care of breakfast & lunch the next day, before choosing a restaurant for dinner. Being right off the ocean, my priority was to enjoy as much fresh seafood as possible during our trip, and I started off strong with calamari and shrimp in a buttery-garlic sauce. It was my first time eating shrimp which were not fully cleaned, luckily two of our group were from Georgia and shared their expertise.

After a full day of travel and with very full bellies, we were ready to call it a night in order to be well rested for our first surf lessons the next morning. That said, we did make time to stop and admire the clear, starry night sky on our way back in from dinner.

Before lessons the next morning, we had a relatively early start to make sure we had plenty of energy to sustain us through the next few strenuous hours. We started off back at the surf shop and squeezed into our wet suits before driving a few minutes down the road to a sandier section of the beach. Since our entire group had relatively minimal experience surfing, we started off in the beginner lessons with Garo, a very entertaining and personable instructor. Before heading into the waves, he walked us through the steps to 'pop up' from laying down to standing on our surfboards: relatively simple on land, but much more difficult on water.

Once Garo was confident we had the basics down, including how fall off properly and how to protect ourselves if collision was inevitable (or if our board became airborne), we headed into the water. He started off by giving us a push along the wave and then shouting to help us understand how to time the wave and have the best chance of getting up. He was very invested in our success, cheering us on and giving advice every step of the way.

We were reasonably successful for our first day on the water, luckily the conditions were excellent. As the morning session wrapped up, we were persuaded to extend our pass for the day and stay on a few extra hours through the afternoon session. For that, we continued to receive coaching plus one of the instructors waited at the shore and recorded our attempts so we could receive more detailed feedback later.

At Famara beach, low tide is around 10 am (which is why lessons started early to make things easier on us) and the surf intensifies as high tide approaches at about 4 pm. So as we got into the afternoon session, it got more and more difficult to get out past the breakers which was especially brutal since we were tired from the hours of learning earlier in the day as well. We were pretty exhausted by the time we had to pack it in for the day, and snagged some batidos (fruit smoothies) from a café down the road from the surf shop for a sugar rush to sustain us through the video reviews.

Once receiving those tips, we cleaned up at the hostel and headed back along the coast to the town centre. By then, it was near dusk, which made the surrounding cliffs and rocky landscape even more impressive. We had fun exploring a while before indulging in another delicious seafood dinner and calling it a night to prepare for another day of lessons!

The next morning started off much breezier, and it was quickly apparent the conditions were not as favorable as the prior day. We graduated to the beginner-intermediate instruction group and had lessons on how to drop into waves and turn before we headed into the water. The wind was coming from the shore out toward the water, which made the waves a bit trickier to read and substantially increased the likelihood of the wind catching your board and launching it into the air if you lost control at any point (as some of my friends learned firsthand, unfortunately).

We still had a lot of fun but, especially due to our soreness from the day prior, decided to call it a day after the morning session. Once we took our wetsuits off, we immediately noticed another consequence of the wind: flying sand added an exfoliating aspect to our walk back to the hostel. The day seemed sort of hazy as well, since the surrounding cliffs were a bit harder to make out.

After cleaning up, we decided to head out for some snacks & caffeine and met a German friend who had also been at the morning lessons. He was interesting to speak with, as he was planning to surf for a week and then sail around Lanzarote for the following week (perks of European vacation policies). We stepped into a café with a nice view of the water and quickly realized it was, in fact, a restaurant so we decided to order some appetizers as well, in part in order to appease the waiter we had offended but also because the dishes served to the tables around us looked incredible. Both the coffee and the food were delicious, and we were on relatively good terms with the waiter again by the time we left.

Before finding a spot for dinner, our group headed back out to the beach to play some Frisbee. The wind made it interesting, but we had a lot of fun (and, I think, entertained many people walking by). There were some surfers out as well, who were much better than us and a lot of fun to watch between throws.

We grabbed a relatively quick dinner, followed by a yummy dessert made with gofio, a local flour made of toasted grains with a unique nutty flavor, before heading to a bar Garo recommended since it had a live DJ that night. Martin joined us, and we had a lot of fun trying the refreshing, sweet house chupitos (shots), homemade with fresh maracuyá and mora (passionfruit and berry, similar to raspberry). It was quite a busy spot, and we ended up running into Garo as well as a few fellow Brits who were surf instructors in Bristol (a coastal UK city which you may recognize from my previous adventures) in town to learn from the local experts. After quite a bit of fun, we headed back to the hostel for games and shenanigans before calling it a night.

The next day, instead of doing lessons we decided to just rent equipment in order to be a bit more flexible time-wise because there was a hike we wanted to try which would take us to the top of the surrounding cliffs, or up to the Risco de Famara. Usually this would offer a fantastic view, but unfortunately the haze continued to worsen so we weren't too optimistic about that. In fact, we had learned that what looked like haze was actually sand and dust blown over from the Sahara-- as I mentioned, Lanzarote and the Canaries are very near Northern Africa. It's common for the dust to blow across in the summer, but apparently was pretty unseasonal for the time we were there.

Anyway, after a breakfast of delicious Spanish tortilla (not the kind you're probably thinking of, these are a bit more substantial and made of egg, onion, and potato) we struck out to climb the cliffs. Especially on the walk to the base, which was quite open, we encountered more abrasive wind; however, as we progressed closer to the cliffs the wind subsided a bit as we became more sheltered by the rock.

Accordingly, the greenery and wildlife increased substantially as we neared the top as well. Further out, it was much scrubbier-- a few bushes and succulents scattered about-- but as we ascended, we saw larger cactuses, succulents, and other plants! It was impressive how well-adapted they were to the harsh, rocky landscape. We all were surprised to see how much the landscape reminded us of Iceland, although the climate was clearly much different.

Another thing we noticed along the hike were snail shells scattered along the path, which at first we thought birds had potentially carried up to eat, but as we looked closer at the plants and rocks we noticed many were also covered in shells! It was really bizarre, and despite some research afterward I'm still not sure exactly what they were or why they were there, but they were super cool to see!

Once we got to the top, we were pleasantly surprised to have a decent view of the town of Famara and the surrounding ocean. We couldn't see too much further inland than that though, and we didn't spend too much time at the top since the wind was quite intense there-- another reminder of Iceland!

Following the several hour hike, we were very dusty and hungry, so we first had a quick lunch and then went by the shop to grab equipment for an afternoon surf! Once there, we were excited to hear that the 'last light' conditions were expected to be some of the best all day, so we hurried out to to the coast. As the sun faded, it was a bit harder to stay warm (especially due to the wind), but we got in several hours on the water and had a great time.

From all the hiking and surfing, we were yet again starving and exhausted so we cleaned the equipment and ourselves up quickly before heading to town for dinner. All the outdoor eating areas were closed due to the dust, so we had to wait briefly before a table inside opened up which was agonizing on our empty stomachs (we managed somehow). The bread, mojo, and seafood we had for dinner that night seemed like the most delicious we'd had all trip-- still not sure whether it really was or if we were just that hungry!

The next morning we got another early start to make the most of our last day on the island. Luckily, we had extended the rental equipment instead of signing up for lessons again as the usual morning session had been postponed to the afternoon due to strong offshore winds. Despite the wind, we got in a decent morning of surfing along with a handful of other surfers as well as a kite surfer who was the first we'd seen out at that beach. Between that last evening and morning surf, I made a few corrections to my form and was getting up relatively consistently, which was great although I would have loved to stay a few more days to improve even more!

After a few short hours, we had to return our rentals and enjoy one last café con leche in town before cleaning up, packing up, and catching the bus out of town. Instead of going back into Arrecife we decided to stop in another town, Teguise, to walk around a bit and have some lunch before catching a taxi to the airport. Teguise is known for having a lively market in the town centre which we were hoping to see, but unfortunately the square was empty when we passed through-- not sure whether that was due to the dusty, windy weather or if we mistimed our visit.

Regardless, the town was very interesting to walk through, with white buildings similar to Famara but more palm trees and cobbled streets lending itself to an interesting atmosphere. We stopped in a beautiful, solemn church for several minutes before deciding we needed to find a spot for food soon in order to catch our flight.

We stumbled upon an adorable tapas place, unassuming from the outside but inside leading to a beautiful little plaza sheltered from the wind. The food was amazing, we enjoyed yet more shrimp (still not very good at the de-shelling process, I have to say) and another gofio dessert before wrapping up and asking the waiters to call us a taxi. The driver was very friendly and we chatted the whole way to the terminal, which made the drive (much like the trip as a whole) pass by very quickly. Turned out he had a daughter our age, so he was very interested to learn more about our travels since she also really enjoyed travelling!

Before we knew it, we were through security and at the gate waiting to board our flight back to a much less sunny island. As the plane gained altitude, we got a really neat view of the dusty haze clinging to the land.

For a pretty spontaneous trip, Lanzarote did not disappoint! We definitely left a few stones unturned on the island, and I wouldn't hesitate to go back sometime or recommend it as a destination.