2004-12 Gran Canaria: Las Dunas del Maspalomas

Happy birthday, mother-in-law Marion! We called you this evening (your morning) to wish you all our best wishes. This is what we were trying to tell you we did today:

Isaac really liked our dune hike of last year and, a year older and a year more mature, he pleaded his case. So we headed back, but to the south edge of the dunes. (This is about a kilometer or so away from the Faro de Maspalomas, the lighthouse.)

At the edge of the dune fields Isaac and Lila decided that their goal in life was to pick up the rocks driven inland by the tides. The boy took the big ones, the girl the little ones. I'm not sure why he's making that face. (He makes lots of faces these days.)

Then they see the first wave of the big dunes. They must be twenty meters high, at least. So of course we start climbing them. There was no wind at all, which makes all the difference whilst on the dunes. (It's not that I have three kids, but Isaac kept walking while I was taking the panorama.)

From the dune crests to the troughs is much easier, and much faster, than climbing up. Here are the kids in a trough far below me. At the upper left you can see the lighthouse.

Whereas Isaac is more of a runner, Lila prefers sliding on her buttocks. In the background you can see Isaac rolling sideways down the slope. By the time he was done he was covered with black-and-white sand: in his ears, behind his ears, all over his face, and about everywhere else. Lila was a bit less covered.

Here's your narrator. Behind be is part of a natural preserve, where a bit of freshwater (sweet-water in German) almost makes it back to the ocean. That thing about my neck is a blast from my past.

This might be my favorite photo of the day, if not of the trip so far. My kids, exhausted but happy after an afternoon of hiking, rolling, running, and climbing through the dunes.

Lately Lila has been riding on Papa's head a lot. But here's why she's hopped aboard now:

Lila: Papa, please help me. My knees are tired from so much bending and there's nothing at all I can do about it.

Who could resist that request?

On the way back through town, by the C. C. Yumbo, we see three feral parrots in a tree, screaming and preening. Can you spot all three?

This is about the time when my youngest turns to me and says, á propos nothing at all,

Lila: When Mama talks all I hear is "blah, blah, blah, blah".

We have a fine dinner of boiled chicken and rice with cauliflower and asparagus with a hollandaise sauce. The kids hold it together pretty damn well, what with not having naps and a big day out in the sun, breezes, and sand.

Lila: I'm sorry Bubbie (grandmother), I'm going to stay in this town for many and many days.

Have you found errors nontrivial or marginal, factual, analytical and illogical, arithmetical, temporal, or even typographical? Please let me know; drop me email. Thanks!

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