La Gomera 2005 - Playing around -

Our Beautiful World

Playing around -
here and there

In the lagoon
We mentioned before the many fishes children can collect - or just watch,
but going out (at LOW tide) and look for shells, snails and other creatures,
is an unforgettable experience.

Look here what we found this time:

It is not difficult to find them out at the waterfront, or in between the rocks,
up to 5 within an hour. And they are all different in colour.

They are big, about 10-15 cm long. Some times their back - or on top of them -
it opens up, and you can imagine something like a big stone in there -
don't know what it is, but believe it belongs there....

If you know the name of this snail, will be happy to hear from you!

But there are more interesting founds:

Hermit crabs all over - they find the empty snailhouses, and walk
around in the shallow water, and are absolutely not difficult to find.
Just keep in mind that they are living creatures!
Watch - but don't touch!

This time we also found what first looked like a fish:

You might see (I do...) the mouth and an eye to the left,
but also it looks like it has opened up his back. So what is it?
[spondylus varius? - gaederopus?]
[europeisk piggøsters]

Touching it very lightly forced it to close - and so we understood this had
to be some kind of a shell. But so far we have not yet been able to
identify this one either. Length about 5-6 centimeters?

The last mysterious creature we found was more like a thick hot-dog:

?

One evening when we were dining on the veranda, we suddenly observed
this little fellow, up beside the outdoor light. (My wife suddenly wanted to
move our table further out from the wall....)

Not long after another one showed up.
We soon found out that every night we turned the light on, then they came
out and sat (hang?) very quietly waiting for some insects to come by -
they always like to come close to the light in the night. So, as soon as
an insect sat down on the wall, within half a second it was in their mouths,
and they went back into their hole somewhere to enjoy their meal.

We also enjoyed our meals. We (that is my wife) cooked all meals herself,
except when I had the kitchenwatch - then the chineese restaurant not far
away got some extra work to do. But only one portion + rice from there
were more than enought for two, and the price was often (nearly) equal,
about 5 Gbp or 8 Euroes for a one dinner to take away.

Only one time did we have to pay more to the restaurant-dinner, and that
was when we bought our traditional farewell-dinner, Roasted Peking-duck.
And I are in no doubt when I say it is the best I have ever tasted anywhere.
They claim themselves that "Preparation of the Peking-Duck has long
traditions, as the speciel way they roast it, is a very old kind of art.
The duck is prepared according to a traditional recipe, and is roasted in a special closed oven, hanging on a stake of iron."

"The result is a duck with a roasted surface, tender juicy meat. And a taste which surprised
even the most experienced gourmet."

Never do the same mistake as we did the first year down here. We went to
the restaurant and unknown with the system, ordered on portion of
Peking-duck to each of us. We have never eaten so much at one time before.
First try with only one portion if you are two - as we were....

You will find the "Restaurante Fulin Chino" between Borbalan and Vuelta,
just follow the main road from the Post Office to the harbout.

Then comes the desert or sweets. Never has it been such a great temptation
NOT to buy more than just a bread in the morning, when visition the local
bakery. And their prices were surely non-norwegian prices....
Cafeteria Dulceria La Canela - Regina Queder
Calle Principal, Valle Gran Rey, S/C. de Tenerife, La Gomera

Evening walk often lead to the harbor, where the last sunrays colored the
hillside (not on this picture) of Tequergenche in the background,
and the many fishingvesselsin the harbor. Here with their traditional colors.

Something for drawing or painting when you get back home?