We were coming to the end of our time on the Spanish mainland and needed to get closer to Madrid. So, we spent one night in Arganda del Rey at the Complejo la Cigüeña. It was more interesting to stay here than the typical airport hotel. We had little bungalows and so it was a bit like glamping. We tried the onsite restaurant for dinner and had some excellent paella.
The next morning, we were all flying out. Two of the group were headed back home. The remaining five were flying to Tenerife, one of Canary Islands. Our flight had some turbulence, but the plane held together, and we landed safely.
This time, we had rented a historical Canarian home. We knew it was up on the hillside, what we didn’t know was how steep and windy the road was to get to the house. But the car managed it despite grumbling a bit. The property was gorgeous.
This home is one of 2 historical homes still remaining on the island and it was extensively renovated a number of years ago. We spent the first day just kicking back and winding down from all the almost constant moving from place to place. The pool was heated so we got some use out of that as well. Others weren’t feeling 100%, so the down time was good for their recuperation as well.
The Views were amazing. 
We decided to explore another part of the island the following day and headed to the Rural de Anaga Park. It’s a biosphere reserve in the northeast part of Tenerife. We thought that we would be able to stop at the visitor center and get some ideas on short walks to explore the area. The road up was another crazy drive and the reserve was crowded. We couldn’t find parking at the visitor center or pretty much anywhere. Will dropped us all off at one point so we could do a short walk while he found a spot to turn the car around. We did manage to squeeze in for a brief stop at one of the overlooks as well. The vegetation is abundant. It was a great day for a drive and still nice to see another part of the island.
Graffiti covered the dirt walls. 
We headed back to the southern part of the island where we were staying and headed to the beach area. We grabbed some lunch and walked along the promenade. That night after hanging out in the pool for a bit, the guys fired up the BBQ. It was a really enjoyable evening.
The next morning John, Stella and I went for a drive up the mountain to the National Park of Tiede. It’s a towering volcano and the highest point in Spain at 3,718 meters (or 12,198 feet). The park gets about 3 million visitors a year and it felt as if all 3 million were there on the same day we were.
We were surprised when driving up the mountain how quickly the landscape changed. We soon found ourselves surrounded by tall evergreen trees. We stopped at one of the overlooks for some amazing views. We continued on up the road and just as we entered the National Park boundary the landscape changed again. It was a dry and barren environment with numerous lava flows visible along with some jagged rock peaks. Again, it was crowded with visitors. We drove to the base of the cable car before turning around. The cable car takes you further up, but to get to the peak you have to have a permit and hike the remaining 530 feet.
We took another road down to further explore the island which also provided some nice views. That night we hit up a local Canarian restaurant. The appetizers were excellent and most of us had some type of steak, which was tasty as well. Stella’s octopus was favored by the local cats as she tossed some to them over the fence from our table on the patio.
We had a lazy morning for our final full day on the island. We got out that afternoon and headed down to check out the San Juan beach. It’s a black sand beach that has a harbor with barrier walls, so the water was very calm.
A lime kiln, used in the 1950’s.
After our little beach excursion, we drove to the Los Cristianos area to hang out for a bit. We watched the sunset and then ended up at a nearby restaurant after dragging Lorraine out of the casino. It was a beautiful evening and a great way to end our trip.
Spanish style sea bass
Got to the airport the next morning and dropped off our rental car. We didn’t see our flight listed on the electronic board. Upon further investigation, we discovered that our flight was scheduled at the North airport, not the South. The airline had changed the time of our flight from what I had originally booked. What I didn’t notice when accepting the time change was that they had changed the airport as well. The lady as the airline info desk said we should jump into a taxi and try to make it.
This is one of those times that you are thankful for an aggressive cab driver and that we had gotten to airport early. The cabbie got us to the North airport with about 45 minutes to spare. Going through security 3 of us were flagged for additional screening. The 2 of our group with a Spanish surname sailed right through. Curious, isn’t it?? Anyway, in spite of all that, we still managed to be in our seats with a few minutes to spare.
Our vacation was fast coming to a close. We boarded our flight home the next day and off we went. About halfway through the flight, the co-pilot announced that we would be diverting the flight because of a medical emergency. So, we changed course and headed for St. John’s, Newfoundland in Canada. We knew at this point; we had no chance to make our connection and we’re probably not making it to Albuquerque at all that night. We landed in St John’s. They got the passenger off the plane, and we waited on the plane for refueling, flight plans to be changed, etc. After almost 3 hours on the ground, we were back in the air and headed on to Dallas.
We arrived in Dallas a good 5 hours late. Then it was on to customer service to wait in the lovely line to rebook our flight. So, armed with new boarding passes for the next morning and hotel, taxi, and meal vouchers; we were off to the hotel for a few hours of sleep. We arrived at the hotel to a check-in line that would rival most check-in lines at a Vegas Casino hotel. It was another long wait for the poor front desk clerk to finally get this influx of people all squared away.
I took a quick shower and we all quickly fell asleep. Lorraine had gotten the time to head down for the shuttle mixed up and got up at 4 to take a shower. When she went to turn it off that morning, it wouldn’t shut off at all. So, now we were all up at 4am. I called the front desk to get someone to shut off the water. The tub faucet was at full blast and would surely flood the room, if not turned off. I finally managed to convince the front desk clerk that yes, he needed to leave his post, or likely will have a bigger problem. He came to the room brandishing a wooden mallet. Now at this point, you’re thinking, this is not the first time this has happened. He starts whacking away on the faucet and finally gets it to shut off. Needless to say, there was no going back to sleep after that. We made it back to the airport and on our flight without any more issues.
It was a wild ride at the end, but somehow, we managed to make it back in one piece. Just one more adventure in traveling for the books.