Day Seven

Friday 31st August

Today's mission : Chillax with some Whales (Ones in the sea not ones in the Pool fool)


Got up and went down to the quayside to find out about the Pilot Whale and Dolphin trips leaving for the Harbor, however had to go to Subway first. Tradition and that.

Booked a Trip for two hours aboard the "Monte Carlo", got some money off. (I know Adam Fox you see).

Dad decided he wasn't going on the boat trip still, Couldn't do with the boat apparently...



Got on the boat, found a seat, Relaxed. Once we got going I really started enjoying the boat, my Dad had tried to scare me about sea sickness but I was having none of it.

Had some nice views of Los Christianos and Playa De Las Americas as we went out on the boat.



Found it really hard to walk around on the boat, felt like an idiot walking around grabbing on to everything for dear life. Still I wasn't fazed by the sea, I love it !




Once we got far out the engine was cut, the radio was turned off and then we started to see some of the Whales! It was really exciting seeing the Whales breaking the surface and spotting them. Even better knowing I was seeing them in their natural environment.




Heard one blowing water at the front of the boat so I went around and there it was. took a picture of course....



The thing about the boat was that it was glass bottom and I was lucky to see the Whales in below the surface in this way. The first one I saw went under the boat from a distance away. If you look clearly on this picture you can make it out.



Next a few went past, but it happened so quickly I only happened to catch the last one going past. It was so awesome seeing them like this. The picture doesn't do it true justice.



We didn't end up seeing Dolphins because apparently it was only a 50/50 chance but I was happy with seeing the Whales all the same.

When we came back into the Harbor I saw my Dad, and told him how stupid he was for missing out on such an experience.

Much didn't happen until we went out later. Saw the Cheers bar lady who says "Guys you coming later?" *in a scotch accent* every single day, when I went to the local Netto. bought a Donut.

Went for a 3 course Meal. Was good.However the entertainment was slightly annoying as it was yet another country act.

Watched Big brother live Final ! (I'm so sad) Brian Won, I was quietly pleased about that over a pint.

Went to a pub called the Big Ben, talked about how I had been in front of the Big Ben not long ago over a pint.

Went back and drank some sweet San Miguel.

Jay

Day Six

Thursday 30th August

I woke up at 6am this morning, and my head was feeling a bit fuzzy from the cocktails last night. So naturally I put on Final Fantasy IV. However, when I stopped playing it I realised it was 12 o'clock ! Time fly's when your saving the planet from the evil Warrior Golbeleze.....

Saw a Cockroach crawling by Chris when he was asleep (his bed is on the floor). Had a giggle to myself ^ ^

Had a walk down by the sea front, went into "planet fun", played some Star Wars Racing and Pool. Went back to the apartment and slept for ages, catching up on some sleep.

After I woke up and got ready to go out we decided to go to a Chinese all you can eat Buffet down by the sea front. Saw some really friendly cats again who even posed for a few photo's for me.



At the Chinese Restaurant all seemed normal. Meal was nice. Drinks were nice. Service was nice....



But when the Bill and the complimentary shots came I couldn't help but bursting out with laughter. For when I looked into the bottom of my shot glass I saw what appeared to be a naked women fondling herself!? (I looked away when I saw it honest Megan), my mom had the male version !

How odd. I never had that at the Big Wok in Birmingham....

Went into a bar Called the "Sunshine Bar". Terrible DJ/karaoke bloke. went soon after.

As it is Fiesta week in Los Christianos there have been events being held around town all week and today there was something going on down by the Harbor. I couldn't tell what was being said but women after women were coming on stage dancing and miming to various tracks. It was all good fun.



However I didn't work out until later that it was actually a glamorous Granny competition. Good on them !

Ended the night in a Miner themed bar (that's the Coal one not the Wacko Jacko One) and Dad decided he wasn't going on the Whale watching trip tomorrow. Apparently he had a bad experience with his Dad and brother deep sea fishing....I told him to go lay an egg because he was a chicken. We shall see tomorrow !!

Jay

Day Five

29th August 2007

You could compare today's Blog entry to Superman Returns, Star Wars episode I or any other bad sequel/prequel. I'm not saying that its a bad blog entry (However I am saying those films SuX) its just It can'y compete with the action packed meaty feast that was yesterdays.

I woke up at 11.

I sat by the pool for a bit (trying) to get a tan.

I had a walk down to a beach I hadn't been before, it was allot more secluded than the others. It was really nice but I was horrified when I found I had forgotten my camera ! But I will probably go back to take some more shots tomorrow for those of you reading this (all two of you).

I found a Spar ! and yes it was still a rip off even in Spain! and I felt kind of warm inside knowing some things never change wherever you are.

Cleaned the apartment.

Played some more Final Fantasy IV. Cecil is now a Paladin !

Went to a restaurant where the waiters got everything wrong ! Does "Garlic Mushrooms" sound like "Prawn Cocktail" ???!!" the Spanish omelet was nice tho : P

Saw the Ferry coming in again, looked a lot nicer when the sun was setting.

Had a walk down by the sea front again, tide was a lot further away this time so I took some pictures across the bay. Also saw some cats that seem to all live on this little area by the beach.



Spoke to Adam/Mike in some Internet Cafe/bar. Can't wait to move to Stafford. In here I saw an arcade machine that made me laugh...



Had a Crepe/Pan-cake down by the sea-front with lots of chocolate sauce, ahh sweet calories.

Spent the rest of the night in a bar drinking Cocktails, Sex on the Beach and a "Canary Island", while listening to a Spanish Country Singer.



Now after a few Cocktails I think I got carried away with some of my pictures so I tried to make a bin look arty. Decide for yourselves about the results...



Went home. Played FF IV ^ ^. Went to Sleep (as you do)

Day Four

Tuesday 28th August

Oh my what a day. I think I have seen the most views/tourist attractions/places of interest ever in one day and have been literally around the whole of Tenerife.

The day started off quite cloudy when we got on the coach but it was still quite humid.
Our guide was a local called "Alexis" who had an inclination to keep saying " Remember" instead of "Remind" e.g "Let me remember you" every five minutes. But that was quite funny.



The first stop of the day was at the massive cliffs of Los Gigantes. as with alot of the views on the island you really have to be there to see how impressive they are.

The picture is quite deceiving to how big they actually are. see those tiny white dots at the bottoms of the cliffs, they are massive fishing boats !



Next was up to the mountains, after a stop off in a small village, to a truly amazing vantage point. Because we had climbed so high up the mountain in the coach, we had actually broken through the clouds and could see above them for miles. With no cloud clover the heat was searing up here.



We also had a very clear view of Pico Del Teide in the foreground, which even higher up still.



On the way we passed reminders of the forest fires that had swept through this region a month ago.



Next we visited a point above the town of garachico, at port that in 1706 was buried by the lava flow of a nearby Volcano. You can clearly see how the Lava had spread out when it had hit the sea after cascading down the mountainside in this photo. The town has since been rebuilt on top of the old one.




Icod Del Vinos, the home of the supposedly thousand year Drago Milenario Tree was our next stop along the coast. The tree is steeped in local legend and said to have once been worshiped by the Guanche people of Tenerife. The Drago trees are only found in the Canary Islands and haven't changed much since the time of the dinosaurs, hence their strange appearance and fascination.




Next we travelled to the mountainside town of La Ortova to the Casa de los Balcones (House of the Balconies). It was nearly 400 years old.



Also saw a peculiar named shop..



We stopped next in Puerto de la Cruz where we went to a restaurant called "Cafe Berlin" to have something to eat. But when the bill came it appeared that they hadn't charged us for the drinks, so we put the money on the table and ran like the wind !
I had a walk down the sea front and saw some old men feeding some pigeons, I don't think Id ever seen so many in one place before.



Next stop was Candelaria. Home of the the statue which is the patron saint of the Canaries , The Black Madonna. Apparently there are only 6 of the same kind in the world.
I went In the Basilica where the statue is kept and the atmosphere was very calming. As you would expect there was relative silence with everyone there just to see the statue.



Outside there stood 9 statues of the 9 Guanche Kings. They represent the 9 Guanche kings (oddly enough) who ruled the island and who had converted to Christianity on the arrival of the Spanish conquerors.



By now it was getting on in the day and the day had really tired me out, the next stop was back at the apartments.

Went out for a meal at some restaurant, that I have forgotten the name of. Had some fried mushrooms and Chicken in Roquefort sauce followed by Profiteroles. Was quite nice.

Went to a bar but only had one round of drinks on account of how knackered everyone was from all the walking in the day.Slept : )

Day Three

Monday 27th August

After another English breakfast (Ill be the size of a Playstation 3 when I get back) I decided that today I was going to go discover some of Las Americas and catch a glimpse of mount Teide if the sky was clear enough (a mountain hides it from view in Los Christianos).
Me, Dad and Chris left my Mom to fry on the beach and headed off a short while down the coast into Play De Las Americas. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would have been however it was very busy and still there were the annoying touts.



I had someone talking Russian to me because apparently I looked Russian : S

Once was had walked past the custom built beaches we found a little bench on the corner of the coast. The wind was stronger here but it was very warm and pleasant so we sat here for what seemed like ages watching the whale boats go in and out and looking at a box that had drifted onto the beach.



Looking down the coast you could see how elevated the land becomes as it raises quite steeply towards Teide, the views were really something.



Decided to take a picture of the waves crashing on the rocks, however it didn't happen much because the waves wern't always strong enough and also i had to time the delay on my camera exactly correct ! it took me ages to get this shot.



I have hundreds of photo's stored on my laptop. Im going to do a best of the best at the end of my Holiday to post on here. So Ive saved some really nice ones !


It took us about half an hour to walk back and we had some tapas in the bar above the ferry terminal. The woman couldn't speak english so I didn't know what it was that I had picked but after thinking it was chicken it turned out to be Rabbit stew - please don't hate me Meg !
It was really nice ! probably the niceset and most authentic Canary dish I had eaten so far.

We passed the harbour on the way back and I noticed the large group of people fishing who seemed to be there everyday at that one spot.





I went back down to the beach after looking in a few shops and had a dip in the water but it was freezing for how hot it was ! (33 Degrees) So I didn't last long and opted to lie down on one of the sunbeds instead.

Went back to the apartments and played some Final Fantasy IV. Met Yang the monk from Fabul.

To eat we went to one of the best conceptions ever created, the chinese all-you-can-eat buffet! It was called the many stars and It was pretty good. After this we mulled over going to see Scotch Eddie and Ged Bolton (Rod Stewart Impersenation) at the Cheers bar, but we decided that we didn't want our ears to bleed so we went to a karaoke bar instead - what were we thinking.

Went back a bit early on account of the Island tour we have to wake up at 7 o'clock in the morning for : /

Day two

Sunday 26th August 2007

The first thing to do today was to go find some breakfast. So after dodging even more annoying scratch card people we finally got down to the waterfront and found a restaurant called the Olive Garden. Now here I thought I would be health concious so I opted for the Vegetarian breakfast, however, the guy who served us assumed I was a vegeterean and so tried to flog me all the other Veggy dishes on the menu - but I didn't have the heart to tell him the truth. I fealt a fraud.

After quickly leaving I then went down to the beach (not actually a natural beach but instead created from sand imported from the Sahara) for a little paddle. The water was nice.



I then saw the Ferry from La Gomera come into port while I was at the beach , it was huge.



I also decided to bury my feet into the sand,as you do.




Next we headed back to the apartments but stopped off at a travel place to have a look at some of the trips that were on offer. There was a Dolphin and Whale watching trip and a trip of the island (including the massive cliffs of Los Gigantes) which were available. I hope to go on these at some point during this week.

Went back to the pool at the apartmens, swam about a bit, posted yeserdays blog ; ) then played some more Final Fantasy IV ! levelled up a bit.
The Cleaner came while Chris was asleep and he looked so shocked when she popped her head around the corner. He then hurriedly vacated the apartments in a half-asleep state and he couldnt get the door shut properly.!



We went to a restaurant, that had been reccomended to us by a local bar owner, that was just down the road. I had chicken with mushroom sauce because I do love my mushrooms. It was nice 7/10 !

Had an ice cream down by the sea front, then looked around for another bar to go to but alot of the places we wanted to go had closed on account (I guess) of it being a sunday night. Mom and Dad then went to a bar across the road from the apartments while me and Chris headed back because I felt a bit knackered.

Played some more Final Fantasy IV, met Gilbert the Bard prince of Damcyan.

I couldn't get to sleep so I stayed up until about half past four looking at google earth....goodtimes!

1st full day

Saturday 25th August 2007

I woke up at around 7am-ish with my mouth as dry as my bank account (thats dry) but I couldnt drink the tap water because the water had " a high mineral count" or something like that so I proceeded to put 10 cence in the TV.
I turned the channel and Pokemon:Advanced Batlle was on! Sucess! However it was all "Las Pikachu" this and "Las Catchas Themas Allas" this but I got drift of what was going on. I was about to see if Las Pickachu had won or not and then the TV cut out and I didnt have no change! This was the low point of the day.
The next activity was a trip to the local Netto and then my god damn neck started to hurt. I swear it was that bed that had caused this, I shook my fist in the air and swore I would get my revenge before the Holiday was out. I went back and eat my Chocos and drank my Coke, It felt good.

The next thing was the welcome meeting, the rep turnded up, told us about some trips to go on before we had chance to look at anyone else's trips and made us buy them. We opted for the Loro Parque trip (gotta love them orcas and Gorillas) and the trip to Mount Teide (gotta love those active Volcanoes). I then got offered by the rep to go on a bar crawl in Play de Las Americas that night but on my own?? there?? nah.


I went back and got my camera at the ready (que pictures in the blog) and set out with my dad to explore a bit off Los Christianos.
The first thing that struck me were how big the surrounding mountains were, and how Pico del Teide had to be even bigger! I was quite excited at the prospect of this.



I didn't really like how many Hotel complexes were being built into the mountainside and how many chinese/indian/english restaurants there were but apart from that Los Christianos seems a nice place.

We kept seeing a plane advertising a Casino flying around, it was funny at first.



We went down to by the beach first and the views into the Ocean were stunning, I do like the Ocean. We then carried on up to the main high street were all the shops and bars were located and got approached by about a gizzilion people asking if we wanted something to eat/drink.




It was around this time I made one of my greatest discoveries. I had heard that it may be here but only until now did I truly believe...it was only a Subway!



I was elated! I was even more impressed when they told me they had Southwest sauce too!!! it was at this point I took a picture of my Subway, how strange this must've looked...but I was just too busy grinning about how HxC my blog was going to look.




I then walked along the pier to take some shots along the coast and of of the Harbor and Los Christianos, I was still impressed by the mountains. I also came to the conclusion that pico del Teide must be shrouded by the non-moving clouds. I will wait and see..



We then grabbed a drink at a local bar on the Ferry terminal place and then headed back to the apartments.



Here I played Final Fantasy IV !!!! success!!



I went up to the top balcony of the apartments to check out the views from up there, and I even thought " oh heck, Ill pose for a picture myself, im feeling Saucy!". I Then went back to the apartment to relax and get ready for going out later. However at this point I actually fell asleep on my laptop while writing that last sentance.

I awoke and then went straight out to the sea front of Los Christianos to seek out food, however I was still half asleep for the most part of getting there. We went to a restaurant near the beach, I forget the name, and for those who have a keen interest in my diet I had mushrooms in garlic, Paella and a Chocolate cake. It was ok, I wasn't too impressed with everything but I had a nice time.

While at the restaurant we encountered the full Los Christianos experience - the African and Spanish annoying people trying to flog you useless stuff. You are guaranteed to be approached many,many times by people trying to sell you "gold", "watches", "food" or anything they can sell to you for money. even while you are wating for your meal they still try their luck! it was funny at first...
However what it is a complete mystery to me about the Africa sellers is that they all seem to call my dad "Del Boy" or even "Rodney"? Do they like Only Fools and Horses a bit too much? Or is my dad a body double of David Jason? I will get to the bottom of this..

At the restaurant there was a keyboard player who played Jazz classics and songs such as "Wonderful World" (I think thats what it is called..) However I don't think he was all the ticket as he kept adding hight pitched voices to the ends of lines and being generaly strange, much to the amusement of me and my brother.

We then wondered around for a while, had a crepe, and ended up at the O'Flahearty's bar. Here there was a Tom Jones/Ozzy/Elton John/comedian performing. he was hilarious and actually quite a good vocalist. We had a round of drinks then moved on.


We then went on to a little place called the "Merry Monk". Had another Beer, watched the entertainment, was an alright pub.
The next place we went too I knocked over a glass on my way in > < which I cleaned up...However It by no means topped Adams performance at the wharf bar a while back ; )

After such a busy day I then went back to the Apartments and like any other decent Human being, recorded the days events in a Blog. Goodnight and thank you!

Departure and Arrival

For those of you that don't know I am currently on holiday on the island of Tenerife. Over the next 14 days I am going to update this Blog (hopefully) and post photo's and talk about stuff that Ive been up to during the day etc. etc.

Okay but before I get started a little info on the Island and the resort.

Tenerife is part of the Canary group of Islands just off the coast of Western Africa. Although it is a Spanish territory it is actually 1,500 km away from the mainland and much closer to Africa (300km).

It was formed 10 million years ago by Volcanic History.

The native Islanders were called the "Guanches" and up until the late 15th Century remained largely un-disturbed. It was around this time in 1493 that the Spanish colonist, Alonso Fernandez de Lugo, invaded and conquered the island.

Tenerife is the home of the highest point in all of Spain, Pico del Teide, which soars into the heavens at 3,718m!. It is also an active Volcano, but hasn't erupted (fortunately) for a hundred years (bet I Just jinxed that).

Tenerife is also purported to be a UFO hot spot, with numerous sightings and even a suicidal cult associated with the Island. People who believe in this usually associate Pico del Teide, the Pyramids of Guimar and the Guanches with the "visitors". I on the other hand think it may be because of the duty free goods available at low low prices ; ) which proposes the question, do Aliens smoke?!

Okay, okay enough of the history lesson. I know what you're thinking;

You: Christ, who duz this guy think he is, Wikipedia !!??! *%£&!

But I wanted to get that clear because;

A : it makes me feel slightly important, so much so I even give a wry smile to myself when I pass the mirror.

B : You probably won't have a clue what I'm on about half the time when I go on about stuff...and things...


But anyway, let us commence with the Web log Maestro !!!

* curtains open * * few people walk out*




I have a fear of flying ! so I wasn't looking that forward to flying to be honest, but leading up to the flight I read up on flying, flying phobias etc. to make me that less nervous. However I think my Dad and brother thought of me as a bit strange when I started watching videos of flight turbulence on you tube....hmm maybe that was a bit strange in hindsight..

Anyway on the day of the flight I had to take Bella and Mitten to the Kennels to stay while we were away : ( . On the way Bella moaned, and Mitten moaned. I think they had sussed it out.
We got there and Bella was taken to her cage/pen thing but she looked kind of scared cause all the dogs were barking. So I told her it would be alright but she didn't answer, I think she was blanking me.
Then when I had to go she started barking and barked at me all the way to the exit, this really made me sad : (

We went back home and Meg came round and I gave her some milk and cheese to take home (as you do) and I said I'd miss her and then she waved me off on my journey to the ends of the earth, or Tenerife. One of the two.

At the airport the usual was done, check-in,departures,buying random crap just because its tax free and you probably wouldn't even buy it or want to buy it if it wasn't tax free,drinking beer and then boarding the Aeroplane.
I felt a bit nervous at this bit when the realisation of flying in a Plane actually hit me, but I remained calm and breathed slowly and I felt kind of, better.
I was ok on take off, just nervous that's all. I kept myself busy by watching Shrek 3 and reading the Newspaper and the usual. *victory dance* 245 exp gained.

The flight took about 3 and a half hours and we landed at Reina Sofia airport in Tenerife at around 11:30 GMT (the time difference is the same as the UK) and then after collecting our luggage and finding our coach we set off the the resort of Los Christianos which was a short drive away.

We arrived at the hotel Aguamar and then after no less then 10 minutes we were in a bar. However upto this point it sounds good but the bar was full of boozed up Scottish people (I have no quarms with Scottish people btw its just happens to be that they were in fact,Scottish).

I was so hungry at this point and so I went off in search of food, hoping to find but a lonely shop that sold just crisps or something at this hour (it was 2am). However I forgot the fact that next door to our resort was the resort of "Playa De Las Americas", loosely translated to "resort full of drunken chavs" so of course every restaurant in a 5 mile radius was open to cater for some boozed up bloke called Baz and his mates to have a curry at 5am in the morning.

And so I turned a corner and there it was! a Chinese curry house and, get this, takeaway!! I was so happy that I think I may have levelled up.
I ordered curry to go and went back to the apartments.

I put a Euro in the TV (no I'm not going mad its pay-per-view : / ) and watched CNN for a while. tried to get to sleep on this sofa-come-torture device-come-bed but I was quite hot. I finally did.

My Week : In Pictures

Monday

Christ what happened Monday, thats like 6 days ago !

Tuesday

went to stafford on the train, waited a bit, then met adam fox.

went to the firkin with adam, saw cohan and some other people there.

Then we went to see Transformers ^ ^



Went back to the Firkin and stayed for about an hour, but then had to go catch the bus but we missed it!. Then we had to go back to the firkin and wait an hour to get the bus which we then realised wasn't actually running. badtimes. But then adams mom picked us up on the edge of town. Goodtimes.

Got back to adams and drank some Hobgoblin !



Watched this ! don't listen to Ondore's Lies!






Adams brother Tom, and his friend adam were playing the 360 all night but I only lasted until about 5 am because im not that HxC.

Wednesday

I awoke to the smell of freshly micro-waved bacon, courtesy of Tom. Then Played some Metal Gear Solid : Twin Snakes.

Had to walk to Haughton at some point to buy some Cola. Saw a few cows on the way.. (the countryside isn't that different to Wednesbury after all )



Later on I introduced Adam to the joys of the comedy program, Hyperdrive . How I laughed all over again.


Went to Bradley Park somewhere around 12 PM, armed with a bottle of wine.
I was lucky enough to see the International Space Station ( or a satellite ) pass over. I also slightly remember being on the swings after consuming the wine.

Thursday

Went to Alton Towers !



Now I really didn't like Rides that much prior to going, but after forcing myself to to go on a few I really got into the spirit of things. However I did chicken out of the Nemesis at first...

This was a longs day.But I really enjoyed it.

Went back to adams and played some GOW, ate some noodles, listened to some Elliot Smith, you know the usual.

My back started hurting ( long story, damn you burger King and your evil Coca Cola Syrup, yes Coca Cola Syrup).

Watched Kiss Kiss Band Bang in HD, I like Val Kilmer, and I liked this movie.





Fell to Sleep.


Friday

Woke up and got a lift back from Adams Dad.. : ( . I really enjoyed this week,did loads more than I usually would, they were funtimes!

Spent the rest of the Day with Meg ^ ^ but I kept complaining about my back.

Saturday

Bought a Ashton Electro-Acoustic guitar from George's music in Walsall !!


I LIKE YOU!

Went to work for 8 long hours : ( back hurt. Badtimes.





Sunday

Went to work , wrote a Blog.


Jay