preparing for el año nuevo

Christmas this year was very peaceful. No shopping, frantic or otherwise, no running around visiting folks. I just stayed at my finca, made some food for the dinner Christmas eve evening, thought about attending midnight mass but in the end felt a little sick to go, so I went to bed early. Christmas eve dinner was prawns, as tradition dictates. I contributed Mexican style rice, beans, and tortillas, and for dessert a pumpkin pie, about which tradition is silent.

Christmas day isn't a big deal at all here, it's the eve that everyone gets together with family and exchanges gifts (also on 5th of January, I'm told - the King's day ...) so I spent part of Christmas day on the computer calling home.

I'll spend New Years eve in La Laguna with my friends Vero & Rigo. I know that we'll eat twelve grapes at midnight and I'm supposed to wear read underwear (crazy Spanish traditions). After that I'll stay in La Laguna for a little while; my time at Finca Limon has come to a close, and I'm not altogether sure what I'm going to be doing next. There are some spots in Anaga (the northern and somewhat wild part of the island) that I'd like to explore; what I'd really like to find is a community where the people work with sheep. I'd like to learn to care for sheep and work with their wool, and if I can fit in some lessons on making cheese, that'll be great. I'm told that sheep are very rare in these parts (it rarely gets cold enough for sweaters, so there isn't much of a wool culture) but that if they're anywhere it's in Anaga.

So as the year opens for me, it presents a future full of mystery. Where will I go next, what will I learn and how, with whom? I'm glad for a change of pace and a little less certainty than I've had so far, it does make a day more exciting. And I'm confident that my luck will remain strong.

Here's hoping that your new year is also full of mystery, learning, luck, and positive change. Welcome 2008!

warm winter solstace

I suppose it's easy to welcome the first day of winter while wearing a tank top and smiling in the sun. It was downright hot today. The coolness that the rain brought has passed, leaving the island clean and bright and bursting with new green. When I get a glimpse of Tiede it is absolutely striking as it is covered with brilliant snow. Tiede is the tallest mountain on these islands and in fact the tallest mountain in all the EU ... or so I've heard. How strange to look around this island that is in every way tropical except that there's a huge snow-covered peak looming over the not at all distant horizon.

I hardly have a sense that Christmas is coming, but little reminders keep popping up here and there to tell me that this holiday will be here soon. There are some decorations along the autopista, and I can see colored lights blinking in the town below from my window at my finca. Today I switched on the radio and heard "Santa Baby". It's quite nice to be this far away from a sense of time. I wear no watch but I listen for the half-hourly chiming of the church bells. I use no callendar but I'm aware of bits of conversation that tell of a change coming. One fellow from a farm up the road told me today, "I'll be seeing you on Monday because I'm coming to your finca to use the phone. You know, to call home for Christmas and all ..." So Monday is Christmas ... or Christmas Eve? And what day is it today, anyway? Well, I can say for certain that I hope you're enjoying your RIGHT NOW, whenever that is.

con bici

I got out of Los Silos a little this past weekend. I took the bike and headed uphill. Los Silos is a quaint and cute little village, like something out of a movie with a happy ending - but in comparison with the mountain pueblos Los Silos looks almost cosmopolitan. Beautiful, simple, small communities where life is not complicated though it's certainly a challenge. It was wonderful to see and feel the environment change as I continued to ascend. Tiede, the tallest mountain, was sometimes visible far above to my right, the sea far below to my left. It's just snowed on Tiede, so glimpses of the mountain were striking. I stayed in a very old house, sleeping on the kitchen floor with a fire burning all night in the fireplace. I did a bit of work outside the next day, including picking the fruit from the enormous cactus bushes on the property. On the way back down to the coast I took a different road, through a forest called Mountaña de Agua. It was my first view of the forest here - a gentle, beautiful place that reminded me quite a bit of the forests of the northwest of the US. Both Tenerife and Gran Canaria had huge fires this year like what California suffered just before I left; scars in the forests were visible here and there, but when out of sight I enjoyed the illusion of an uninterrupted expanse of soft green.

beautiful rain

Today it is raining, which is a nice change. This year has been very dry, so a little rain is a relief. In the morning it was light enough and warm enough that I was out in it, in a tank top, trimming some vines, but then it started coming down harder and I spent the remainder of the day in the kitchen.

When the children came home from school and after we had all eaten the midday meal together, Zazu and Alba took me through the barranca (ravine) to walk along the mountain side via the water canal to the waterfall. This island is strange in its combinations of foliage. Avocado and Banana trees wherever the land is tamed; where it is wild, ferns and cactus grow very happily alongside each other. Everything is green and brightened with the rain. We all came back soaked, and had to rely on creativity to get warmed up again as the hot water has been out for two days.

cuentos

Finca Limón is a brisk 10 minute walk from the pueblo Los Silos. Los Silos is a perfectly quaint little town that fits perfectly between the coast and the base of the mountains. It's absolutely lovely, I really like it here. It's a tiny enough town that everybody knows everybody. I've been here a month now, and it's impossible to go into the town without seeing three or four people with whom I've shared a meal or a conversation.

Last week was Los Silos' annual story telling festival, Cuentos Los Silos. People came from all over to hear and to tell stories, and it transformed the town. I listened to a lot of the stories, but I was disappointed in my Spanish because there was very little that I could understand. Maybe I'll be back here for the festival next year ....

But Spanish or no Spanish, I got to be a part of the festival. One story was told in the form of a play, and they were recruiting actors. I happily volunteered for the job and got to run around the town´s convent-turned-library with chains and fire, trying to scare the audience. It was fun, and I got tickets to all the stories as compensation. It was really wonderful to be so intimately involved with this town.

This week it's back to regular work on the farm, which is never very difficult at all. I've been working lately on an herb garden - it's got sage and lemongrass and mint and rosemary and basil so far, today I planted mint. I won't be here to see it harvested, though; my time at this finca ends just before Christmas. As of right now, I don't know where I'll go next, but I quite like having the future as a mystery .....