For the
third time I visited ‘el Teide’, the most important volcano on the ocean island
Tenerife. This May I came from the south of the island, which is said to have been a desert
for millennia. Again El Pico del Teide
—the Teide Peak— impressed me with its bare moon-like landscape. The soil seems
fresh erupted ‘black lava’ of hard rock fragments; on other places it is covered
with gentle hills of cream coloured sand dust, which actually is volcanic ash. Like what came down from Iceland some
years ago, remember? Nothing grows on it. Its earth seems as dead as the native
aboriginal people the Guanches, who lived on the islands until the Spanish
conquerors arrived at the end of the 15th century. The Guanches
believed in the mythology of the Teide and many legends survived, telling us of
its divine legacy. It was thought the Teide held the most devilish forces in
its crater. Personally I can understand some of that, as a decade ago our suspicious
German workshop leader felt drawn to jump into the crater, believing we all
would be saved by extraterrestrials. Tenerife is known for its UFO connection. So
glad the jump was prevented by the local police!
Nowadays the island lives
off the more attractive energies of tourism and the banana export. You see their
polytunnels everywhere. Like the
native Canary Pine tree the residents have adapted to live off what the land can
offer — or they moved away. The
abundantly growing pine tree is fire resistant, from blackened trunks they
simply rise again into the green. They
possess an amazing water-collecting system in their leaves to survive the long
periods of drought. It only rains 14 days a year. What a difference with
Scotland! We enjoyed the sunshine and warm breezes that cooled down the island. Thank you, beautiful island of Tenerife!
© text and photo: Adriana Sjan Bijman
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