2003 Gran Canaria: San Fernando

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Gran Canaria

 

this trip's overview

(about the Islands)

SFO to LHR

stranded!

LHR to LHR

spending Iberia's money

baggage arrives

along the beachfront

visiting el Medico

Isaac's first haircut

R & R

Faro Maspalomas

cockroaches!

San Fernando

All over...

Puerto de Rico & Puerto de Mogán

el penultimo

on to London

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2003 Gran Canaria: San Fernando

Tuesday 21 January 2003

Lila is making up for lost time. Eating time, that is. For months she showed very little interest in food, preferring "Mama's milk" to everything else. These days she's snacking non-stop. My nickname for her right now is "snack-pack". Here she is digging into a box of cream cheese.

After breakfast at Omi Marga's we head out to the Centro Comercial San Fernando. San Fernando is where the locals live. It's only about three or four blocks away, but when I started coming to the Canaries, in the mid-1970s, there were no paved roads between Playa del Inglés and San Fernando. Why are we going? Because Rose strained her back carrying Lila around, or picking her up when she threatened something fragile in Omi Marga's apartment, so we're off to buy a stroller. (I think it's funny that Isaac is mimicing Rose's gesture; I'm not sure whether it's a coincdence or not.) Omi seems to be having a fine time as we set out.

I'll skip describing the walk. We were walking. Uninteristing.

C. C. San Fernando, however, is interesting. A long time ago it was the major shopping area around here. (The tourist shops were at the C. C. Cita, or the Kasbah.) The following panorama (thumbnail reminder; you can click on it to see a bigger version) shows the two toy shops in which we looked. We found a stroller, but instead of the $15 it cost at home it was $44 here. Still, we needed it, so we bought it.

That done, we moved along to the late Opa Sigmund's favorite butcher shop. Now Omi Marga shops here for meats such as the black proscuito. At left you can see Lila happily in her new stroller. And a happier Rose, too.

What's a trip without a rest break? We ate good Canarian and German food at XYZZY-3, shown here. The borracio, a sort of anchovy in oil and garlic, was wonderful.

As we were leaving we passed the pork delivery guy, shown here just entering the freight elevator with a side of animal on his back.

Now we've got a head of steam going. We head back towards Playa del Inglés, stopping at an herbario for some spices and a fruteria for some fruits and vegetables. Good locally grown produce is a joy.

Autopiste GC-1. The autoway, the only one, loops around the island. Before this had underpasses we'd stop at the road, look both ways, and sprint across it. Seemed a bit more fun :-)

We pass the Pizza Express, where freshly-cooked pizza pies are loaded onto the back of scooters and raced to your hotel room. You can see one delivery roaring away from us.

Back at the C. C. Yumbo, we stop at the Café de Paris for café leche español (and for some of the others, sweets in the form of ice cream or cakes). Omi just ordered and is making it back to our table.

Isaac, on the other hand, had no interest at all in food, preferring instead to play with toys being displayed nearby. Never mindful of social convention, he just lay next to the toys and played. If you think it looks funny from this vantage point...

...perhaps you'll smile when you see the big picture (literally). This photo was taken at a moment when the foot traffic was quiet. For much of the time he was quite an obstacle; one humorously tolerated.

Joining us was Jurgen a/k/a Charlie, a long-time friend and fellow distance runner. Charlie, pronounced Sharlie, had just returned from a marathon on a nearby island. I have no idea what he and Omi were discussing at the moment, but it wasn't as bad as the picture seems to show. (When others start in on politics I stop listening, especially if it's in a foreign language.)

The kids were very tired, so after eating and saying our goodbyes we headed back to the playground and the amusement center. Isaac is getting good at remembering to ask for half-Euros.

We're all going to crash early, I think. Tomorrow will be an interesting day, as we're going to visit some friends, go to the beach, and swim.

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