Each morning for breakfast we get to sit out on our balcony and have our breakfast.
It is great that the balcony is just outside the door of our kitchen. We sit out there chatting about what we might do for the day or do a review of the day before. We have a lovely view of the mountains and the famous volcanic mountain, Tiede. The changing cloud cover or lack there of makes for a scene that is ever changing. You do not get tired of such beauty. Coffee is the icing on the cake.
This is a day of not doing much. After all we are here to rest and get my foot/hip better. Ken is going to brush up on the information needed for his pitch to the incubator company in Vancouver and also to get started on the CRTC letter. I am going to do Spanish all day, trying at some point to be conversational in the language. I am always searching for new material that might move me along faster on my language learning journey. I have searched out cartoons, books, podcasts and repetition apps in Spanish to assist me. Now I just have to be dedicated enough to take advantage of all that there is out there in the line-up of free materials.
It is so wonderful to be able to take the time to just be and indulge ourselves in the freedom to do what we want.
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
We had plans of going out to breakfast today.
We did not have to go far, just a block or two to so-called Best Semirami Hotel. We were able to have a table by the window and look out over the ocean, big plus. Most of the people eating here were staying at the Hotel. The restaurant is on like the fifteenth or sixteenth floor with the guest rooms below. The food was nothing to rave about compared to the hotel in Santa Cruz that we had gone to. Next we moved on to walk around in another hotel that usually has loud music out by the pool each day. We wanted to check out their breakfast buffet for future reference. Both places had lots of canned fruit as an option. I am not thinking I want such a thing as something I would be interested in for breakfast. Finally before settling in for the day we walked up by our pool and took pictures of the scenery - quite spectactular.
The rest of the day was quiet and calm. I sat and laid around working on my Spanish. I have been working at doing six lesson with Duolingo and lately using Youtube Spanish lessons from Señor Jordan to supplement Duolingo. Señor Jordan is a Secondary School Teacher who has made videos to teacher from beginner on secondary students Spanish. He teaches a lesson using coloured words and has things very well organized and is easy to understand. He adds little tips that have, for me, never been clarified before. I can take screen shots of the videos while watching them. Then I will be able to go back and review the salient points. I am going to get a note book to record the important information in, too. As a teacher I know that writing things down increases retention and understanding.
Ken is working on the CRTC letter which is needed by the fledging radio station on Gabriola. It is a massive undertaking that will require a few days of work but he is disciplined and will get it done. Later on Ken needed to be involved with doing his pitch to the incubator company in Vancouver for his fresh idea. He is not far with the business plan yet but that does not stop him from making a pitch. He is such a go getter. Doing this pitch will assist him in congealing his ideas and hopefully get some support from this company.
After hours of work or play, however you look at what we are doing we decided to go into town for a relaxer. After somehow miraculously finding a parking spot we headed in the direction of the Hotel Monopol. They had an even more abundant array of flowers gracing their entrance way than last time we were there. What a lovely spot. Shortly after that we found a little park that appeared to be pure vegetation. The little gardens were overflowing with patients plants, In the centre of the park was a huge plant, maybe a philadendrem. We made our way down to the ocean and the pier. It was far too hot last time we were in this area to walk on the pier. This time it was cooler and we were able to walk out there. We could see spectacular views of the city, boats, the ocean and the shore. Wow, beautiful harbor!
We visited a few little shops along the shore. Hope we return soon.
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
Today is my Brother-in-law, Mike's birthday. We both wish him a wonderful birthday today and hope for him to have many, many more.
Physio was my first stop for the day. Marina the therapist is so skilled. She assesses how I am doing first thing then works on the areas that are giving me the most difficulty. She does not do just one method of treatment per area, she does several. A new place that was giving me difficulty was my left knee. She did ultra sound on it and loosened tight muscles in my leg below my knee. It is so much better at the time of writing this post.
We spent much of this hot day inside. I worked at doing Spanish and Ken began his letter to the CRTC. After awhile we needed a break and since it was rather hot and humid we decided to drive up to a Lidl store. We first saw these stores in Ireland when we first arrived in Europe. They appear to be a discount grocery store which has some frozen food.
On our return back to the apartment we went into a huge hardware type store like a Home Depot in the city of Orotava. We did not see a lumber yard attached to this place but we did see some other interesting items. They had great floor tile, some was like the pasta tile we saw in Merida in the winter. There was tile in the shape of rocks, both rounded and flat. Tiles that were big and miniture, coloured and natural looking. All the prepared kitchen cupboards have the plate racks above the sink to store dishes. The light fixtures were more artistic than some places. It was enlightening to see the differences between here and a store like this in North America.
Later on I was still hot from the muggy weather and decided to go for a swim up on the flat roof. I went by myself as Ken was very involved in what he was writing. I was at the pool all by myself. I was a bit reluctant to go up there by myself as I have had such poor balance lately and
the floor is slippery. I also had difficulty climbing the pool ladder with my sore foot but I was able to move past those things and really enjoy my solo experience in the pool. I think it helped loosen up my muscles. The view from the pool is incredible. You can see up into the hills behind the apartment.
Thursday, September 17, 2015
Up in the dark today, out of bed before 7:15 am.
We were off for a wonderful buffet breakfast in Santa Cruz de la Tenerife, a little over a half and hours drive from here, supposedly. This time it took us longer. Traffic was at a stand still several times. It was rush hour traffic but at around 8:30 or 9:00 am. Odd for us to be stuck in rush hour traffic as we have never really had to experience such a phenomena where we live the most.
Once into the city Ken had a plan. If we did not get parking immediately we would just go to the Hotel we stayed at when we first arrived in Santa Cruz at the end of August and park in their underground parking. That is exactly what we had to do. In a city with not parking you must plan your parking strategy before heading out into traffic. Taburiete Hotel has a great parking garage and in the end, because we were there only an hour and a half, they forego the daily parking rate.
The breakfast buffet, the highlight of the day, was delicious and worth every bit of inconvenience and all the money we paid. It mostly has real fruit not canned fruit (pineapple is expensive here so there was canned pineapple), eggs done in at least four or five different ways, lots of good pastries (Ken's fav), a choice of several different coffees, cheese, grilled veggies, etc. Several expressos later I realized my choice of drink might have been flawed. I did have several different fruit juices, too. I think I ate more than Ken, bad idea. We walked around the hotel and realized that this was or is where the crew for the new Bourne Identity movie is staying. We could tell by printed signs. We did not see any crew.
We walked around the city to purchase a few things we saw another day. We walked to the lovely mercado and back to the car. We knew were road closures were because of the movie so we decided to drive to those neighborhoods. San Juan de la Ramble was one and San Marcos. The movie is set in Greece. San Juan de la Ramble was on a hillside and San Marcos would provide more of a seaside scape for the movie. It was interesting to go to these areas but they seemed rather quite for tourists.
Friday, September 18, 2015
Today the weather seems to have shifted slightly.
It is cooler and somewhat cloudy. It is very humid and cooler. I mention this because usually it is sunny, rather on the dry side and it is hot. It seemed to be always the same weather wise but today it is different.
I had a morning physiotherapy appointment. i am sure that I mentioned that I just walk to these appointments. I walked passed flowering hedges and bushes, passed palm trees and blooming roses and lilies. It is truly paradise here. There are plenty of mostly German tourists in this area already sitting in the sidewalk cafes.
My physiotherapist again asks if I am willing to give "the needle" a try on my hip to loosen it up. At this point I would try almost anything short of surgery. I am close to 120 days of not being able to walk properly and having either sore feet, legs or hip, or any combination thereof. She is going to do Intra-Muscular Stimulation (IMS). I have had many acupuncture needles placed in different parts of my body (including the odd one that hurt). I figured, what do I have to lose, just pain so let her stick big needles into me. Yes, it did hurt my hip and it was not the most pleasant thing, but it hurt for such a small amount of time compared to the pain relief it could provide. Then she wanted to do it on my leg muscle to help free up my leg. Again I let her go ahead as, no pain, no gain came to mind. She did other work on my foot, too, along with TENS on my hip. I left feeling a bit woozy and headed home quickly.
I had several long naps. I felt totally woozy and tired all day. Good thing I had no plans but doing Spanish which I managed to do. I felt almost drugged I was so tired. My hip and leg after the first nap were intensely sore when I woke up to walk. My physio did say that both spots that had needles put into them would be sore for a few days and that was normal.
Ken had good news today. He will be given some assistance from the incubator company in Vancouver that he pitched to recently. I knew he had a great pitch. He also found out that the radio station does not have to pay a permit fee for the radio tower. That was a real relief because they were looking at a fee of over $2,000, which would have to be fund raised.
Saturday, September 19, 2015
This was destined to be a lazy, do nothing type of day.
All I accomplished today was doing some Spanish and making meals.
Ken finally had a do nothing, lazy day. That does not happen often with him. By the end of the day he was finally bored which does not happen often either. He finally rested and relaxed.
We tried out a traditional Spanish soup called Salmorejo. It is similar to our tomato soups except it is served cold with crumbled hard boiled egg on top. Different but delicious. My Sister alerted me to the fact that her and Mike have tons of tomatoes to deal with again this year. They have a tomato press and will be making lots of salsa, etc. They looked like their were going to be having a busy Saturday.
We managed to go for a Saturday evening walk. It was so nice and cool. There were lots of people in the sidewalk cafes enjoying meals and other people milling about. It was nice to see the fur friends out, too. We saw another stone wall cat. This one was orange. He was hanging out just out of the reach of a playful German Shepherd.
Sunday, September 20, 2015
The first of many creatures that we saw this lovely Sunday afternoon were Canary Island Goats.
The goats were grazing near the highway, families of them, even babies. They had both a shepherd and a German shepherd dog looking out for them. They are a Spanish type of goat, obviously with a name like that.
We continued driving up passed the big mall that we often buy groceries at, then up into the hill. I do believe we were in La Perdoma or San Antonio, at least another part of Orotava. This is more where the regular inhabitants of Tenerife live. The buildings and infrastructure are very well maintain just like the rest of Tenerife. We drove around enjoying the area, the hilliness and all of the views of the ocean and the buildings down below. Heading back we came to what used to be an old monastery on the hill called Meson Monasterio in what was the town of Montanata. In the big parking lot at the entrance were old wine barrels. It was very much a park-like setting with Dragon Trees, Palm trees of different varieties, cactus, aloe, roses, white oleander, birds of paradise, pink lilies and many, many more types of plants. There were walkways and many groomed trails. Up into the hill were the stations of the cross with painted tile representations of the crucifixion.
Meson Monasterio also has buildings, many of which are restaurants. We looked inside an saw that they were very well appointed but at that time we were not interested in eating. There was a little nativity scene set up in a small building. The grounds had many patios, sundials, fountains, old farm equipment and inviting cement benches. In spots you could overlook the surrounding area and hills
There was a barn with animals, like a petting zoo. There were ducks with a pond including one very unusual duck. At first I thought it had some sort of problem. It feathers were very ruffled up, but upon closer inspection, it was the type of breed. Later I found out is was a goose actually, likely a young Sebastopol Goose. We did, however, see Muscovy ducks, another kind of black and white skinny duck, many chickens and roosters, Peacocks - both regular coloured and a brownish variety. There was even a black pony. One pond was stocked with Koi.
This place was its own mini paradise inside an island that is already a paradise. Such an amazing spot where we were able to roam freely. It was inspirational and added so much joy to our day.
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