HOTEL HORIZONTE - Tenerife

Depois de ter perdido a bendita balsa, a unica saida era achar um hotelzinho barato e passar a noite em Tenerife. O escolhido foi o Hotel Horizonte, pela proximidade ao porto.

Fico praticamente sem palavras para descrever a experiencia, entao resolvi colocar fotos do lugar.

Na recepcao, o funcionario do hotel e um gorducho, suado, mexendo no computador. Com um pouco de papo, descubro que o fulano vai ao hotel a meia noite, checar seus e mails, por que ele nao tem internet em casa...

Da uma olhadinha no palacio onde passamos a noite, eu e a minha tia Irma...

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When we finally believed our ferry was gone, we had to look for a hotel to spend the night. The winner was Horizonte Hotel, because it was close to the Port.

At the reception, we were greeted by two people. An employee and a larg gentleman, covered in sweat. Strange scene. After some small talk, he told us he checks his e mails at the hotel, as he does not have internet connection.

I have no words to describe our evening, or our experience, so I chose to post photos of our gorgeous hotel

O corredor que nos levou ao quarto

The corridor, leading to the bedroom

Minha tia tentando desemperrar a porta do quarto

My aunt, trying to open the door - it was stuck

A barata que nos recepcionou.Enquanto fui buscar uma vassoura para mata-la, ela sumiu

The insect who welcomed us to the bedroom. I went  downstairs to get a broom, and by the time I was back, she was gone. Gone to our beds, maybe?

This is the sofa we decided to put against the door, to protect us from possible predadors!

Resolvemos colocar o sofa na porta, para impedir a entrada dos bandidos

Da pra ver a proximidade do vaso e da parede? FAzer xixi so com o corpo encostado na parede...

Can you see how close the toilet sit is to the wall? To pee, one has to lean agiants the wall.

A banheira, que mais parece um balde, tinha um degrau, entao era dificil ficar em pe dentro dela...Sentar nem pensar, por razoes obvias!

The bath tub was small, and had a step inside it, so it was almost impossible to stand up in it. Sitting down

was totally out of qquestion for obvious reasons...

E o charmosissimo rosa bordel, para terminar o ensaio fotografico

And a pic of the "whole" bedroom, to finish it off...

Tenerife - Ilhas Canarias

We woke up very early and made our way to the Ferry - our transport to Tenerife. I heard the island is just gorgeous, and being so close, I had to go and visit it.

My aunt Irma went with me and we had reserved a rental car. As soon as we arrived in tenerife, a charming taxi driver tried to convince us to join him on this exciting tour. Only 200 euros!  I have not robbed bank and I am still looking for the gold pot in the end of the rainbow, so until either of this things happen, I can't possibly afford this kind of tours. Rental car it was.

I could not believe when I went there to pick up the car and found out the darn thing was manual. I can not drive manual cars, haven't done so in over 10 years, no way I would try it today. Back I went to the rental place, with the keys in hand

- Eh, ar, I can't drive manuals

The guy told me there were no automatic cars available, explained they would be much more expensive, bla, bla...

I even tried to charm a couple who had just rented the last automatic car into travelling with us. We did not really cared where we went, so we could share, right? NOPE! The couple did not even look at me. Not at all.

The guy from the rental place finally decided he had an automatic car, agreed to give it to me for the same price, things were starting to look a bit better.

We took of to our adventure. I wanted to visit Anaka, my aunt wanted to go to the second biggest Vulcan in the world- the Tiede. I asked her to be my co pilot and give me directions, just follow the map, but she said she could not read maps, she did not like them.

I guess I had no options but to go wherever I wanted. Anaka it was.

The place has stunning views. Gorgeous places, amazing scenarios. And a very narrow road, so small it was good enough for one car, but of course it was a two way drive. Down the hill, the beautiful beaches.  One could only pray not to fall down the side of the road.

I am sure my aunt called all the saints she knew by name and made up some new ones. Whatever she did, we managed to get to the other side safe and sound.

From there i decided to be a good girl and take my aunt to see the Tiede (yep, I confess it was on my list too).
On our way, we met that couple from the rental car company. Their car was broken and they were being towed somewhere. I did not even look twice - and I did not offer help either.

More amazing views.Impressive landscape that made me feel so insignificant, so small, so irrelevant, and at the same time, so much part of it all.

We had lunch at an amazing restaurant, with extensive views. When we finished, everything was closed. The cable car, the museum, the information centre. All we had left was the amazing nature sorounding us. Luckily that was incredible and we were both delighted to enjoy every second of it.

I missed Fabio. I wish he was with me. I would like to share this images with him, I would love to have him by my side when I was having this amazing time.

Pity he was not here.

On our way back we stopped at a restaurant for some water and ice cream. God, it was hot!!

The waiter decided to share some local information with us and told us all about the guanches - a local tribe who lived here in ancient times. Apparently they were almost giants, and so virile they had 7 wives each. Some men had sex with several wives a night. And their sexual organ was 27 cm.

Now tell me: why someone would go to such detail to describe someone else's sex life? Didn't he have anything else to say about this civilization?

I blame it on my aunt. It never happens to me when I am alone.

We drove back to the city very early. The traffic was a breeze and it was easy to find parking. We had a fab dinner, went for a walk, took pictures, had lots of fun and managed to loose the last ferry back to las palmas

Tenerife - Ilhas Canarias

Acordamos cedo e fomos pegar a balsa para Tenerife, uma das ilhas vizinhas a las Palmas.
Duas horinhas e meia no mar ( dormi, claaaro!) e chegamosa ilha. De cara encontramos um taxista que estava decididissimo a nos levar para passear. So duzentos euros, dizia ele... Como nao ganhei na loteria, nao encontrei o pote de ouro no fim do arco iris e nao enlouqueci ainda, achei melhor seguir o plano inicial e alugar um carro. Com certeza alguem vai me dar um mapa do lugar, e com a minha tia Irma como minha co pilota, podemos economizar dinheiro e ainda nos divertir aos montes.

Encontramos a locadora com a maior facilidade, e assim que entro no carro, percebo que o dito cujo e manual. E eu nao dirijo carro manual. La volto eu pra locadora...

- Mocinho, eu nao dirijo manual. Voce pode me dar um carro automatico?

Claro que nao tinha nenhum disponivel, claro que custava muito mais caro, claro que eu ja estava a beira das lagrimas.

Um casal tinha ido buscar o ultimo carro automatico. Tentei puxar conversa, ver se eles iam para o mesmo lugar que nos, poderiamos dividir as despesas, ir juntos, quem sabe...

Tentei falar com eles, mas os esnobes nem me deram atencao. Pegaram o carro automatico deles e foram embora.

Quando eu estava quase pedindo meu dinheiro de volta, o fulano resolve me dar um carro automatico, que apareceu do nada e ainda por cima nao cobra a diferenca. YUHUPPY!

Eu queria conhecer Anaka - minha tia queria ir ver o segundo vulcao mais alto do mundo - o Teide.Pedi para ela ser minha co pilota e me guiarate o tedide, como ela disse que nao gostava de ler mapas, achei que seria muito justo leva-la onde eu bem entendesse.  Fomos para Anaka.

A paisagem e maravilhosa, o problema eras as ruazinhas tortuosas que mal deixavam passar um carro (mas eram mao dupla, claro) e que beiravam um precipicio, com o mar, majestoso, la embaixo.

Tenho certeza que a minha tia invocou todos os santos amigos dela, e inventou uns santos novos. Chegamos sas e salvas.

Depois de termos passado por cenarios simplesmente maravilhosos, resolvi ser boazinha e leva-la ao Teide ( estava na lista dos 3 lugares mais importantes da ilha, de qualquer forma!)

No caminho, encontrei aquele casal da locadora, com o carro enguicado e o guincho chegando, para reboca-los. Olhei com a minha melhor cara de superioridade e segui em frente. Nem pensei em parar.

A area do parque nacional do Teide e de tirar o folego. Montanhas majestosas, um cenario de sonhos. PAramos para jantar num restaurante que tinha uma vista linda, ate onde os olhos alcancam. Comemos muito bem e continuamos o passeio.

Ja eram 5 horas, o teleferico estava fechado, o museu tambem. Tivemos que nos contentar com a natureza estonteante que nos rodeava. Nao foi muito sacrificio.

Eu me senti tao insignificante no meio dessas formacoes da natureza, tao pequena, tao minuscula, e ao mesmo tempo me senti tao inserida naquele contexto, como se nao houvesse nenhum outro lugar para eu estar.

Fiquei triste por nao estar dividindo toda essa beleza com o Fabio. Essa foi uma das poucas vezes que viajei sem ele, a sensacao e estranha. Uma vontade de dividir, de mostrar aquele pico,aquela arvore,aquela nuvem.

Depois de um passeio maravilhoso, paramos para tomar um sorvete e uma agua, e aprendemos sobre os Guanches, o povo antigo que vivia no local no passado.Segundo o garcom, eles eram enormes e os homens eram tao viris que tinham 7 esposas. Muitas vezes eles dormiam com duas esposasd e uma so vez.

O garcom ainda fez questao de contar que o orgao sexual dos guanches media 27 centimetros. Eu nao sei o que aconteceu, mas nunca fui tomar uma aguinha no boteco e fiquei conversando sobre o tamanho do pau dos outros com o garcom.Para tudo ha uma primeira vez, ne? Culpo a presenca da minha tia - vai ver que com ela issoa contece sempre!

Voltamos para a cidade relativamente cedo, ja que nosso ferry so ia sair as 11:30 da noite. Encontramos o caminho de volta com a maior facilidade, estacionamos o carro sem maiores problemas, jantamos, conversamos, fizemos hora, tiramos foto, conversamos com estranhos, rimos...e chegamos ao ferry as 11:05, para descobrir que o bendito saia as 11 em ponto - nao as 11:30

Ainda tivemos tempo de fazer um chauzinho para ele, que se afastava do porto na maior alegria, nos deixando para tras, sem do nem piedade!