For some reason, I had never been to Gran Canaria before this summer. That might not sound so absurd, but the fact increases in absurdity when I add that my mum has an apartment there.
She always said that I should go. She offered me use of her place. She talked it up constantly: it was her "Paradise".
Maybe that's why I was so reticent to explore it for myself. It was mum's ideal. And I had imagined her apartment to be just like her house, but concentrated into a one bedroom apartment. I need to point out here that my mother doesn't know how to do anything demurely or schematically. Minimalism is not in her vocabulary. She is a maximist.
There were other reasons for not going, but I won't go into those here. Suffice it to say that all the hurdles had disappeared and I was packing my backpack - no need for suitcases when you'll be wearing shorts and t-shirts all week!
Gran Canaria was just what I needed. The weather was incessantly hot. My mum's apartment has a view of the ocean and a pool within a two minute walk from the sun-lounger on the balcony. I was never far from the coast in the week I was there. Altogether now: life is better by the sea.
I was in need of some relaxation and warmth. And I got both. In some ways I felt like I was not making the most of my holiday as I wasn't rushing around in my usual frenetic way to pack as much in as possible. But as I stared out at the ocean one evening from the balcony I realised that all the nothing was very worthwhile. Sometimes we need to just do nothing.
Maybe it's because I'm getting older, or maybe it was the heat, but I did a lot of sitting in Gran Canaria. I quite enjoyed just sitting if I'm honest. I also did quite a lot of thinking. Often these activities were simultaneous. In my times of contemplation I whittled my holiday down to many statistics. Some of which I shall share now:
8 days in Gran Canaria
6 days of swimming in the sea
4 novels read
2 bikinis worn (a personal milestone)
4 cockroaches shrieked at
1 cockroach caught
2 bats watched in flight
1 festival flotilla witnessed
The part of the festival I was lucky enough to witness took place on the second day of my trip. It was part of Fiestas del Carmen. This is a festival that honours the Virgin of Carmen. She is the patron saint of fishermen, and seeing as this is one of the main industries on the Canary Islands, and in the area I was staying in particular, she is a pretty big deal.
The festivities go on for weeks, but the part I was lucky enough to witness was one of the most bombastic parts. A flower-strewn effigy of the Virgin is taken to fishing boats in the port of Arguineguin. There, she boards one of many boats. She is then taken as part of a colourful, flag-covered flotilla of fishing boats, ferries, yachts, speed boats, ribs, jet skis and any other sea-worthy vessel in the area, along the coast to Puerto de Mogan.
We had settled down to watch the excitement at El Faro, the restaurant at the foot of the lighthouse that gives the restaurant its name. By the time the heaving, beating heart of the flotilla arrived (late, obviously - the Spanish adhere to their own timekeeping), I was pretty excited. I heard them coming before I saw them. All the boats were playing music and honking horns. Every inch of deck on every boat was used by passengers. How the accompanying coastguard didn't have an anxiety attack, I'll never know.
It was like a sensory overload to watch the sea of boats sail past. There were so many that at times it was a wonder that they didn't bump into each other. In fact, I reckon it would've been physically possible for me, sat at the end of the protruding harbour wall, to walk across the boats to the opposite harbour side, such was the density of vessels in the water. It was amazing. Music was pumping out from various boats and everyone was dancing or shouting or waving or generally celebrating.
My hosts told me several times how the Spanish know how to celebrate. I could see this clearly that afternoon. It's clear how important the sea is to the people in that coastal community and this is the perfect life-loving celebration and religious acknowledgement of all that the sea can offer and the perils it can bring. I hope Carmen continues to keep them all safe.
That afternoon, I returned back to the apartment well fed, in both food and local culture. At first, I thought I'd seemingly wasted my afternoon sat in one restaurant for close to five hours. But then I realised that sitting should not be the enemy. When you can soak up the activity happening around you, and as such become part of the kaleidoscope of life, it's never a waste of time.
Another of my sitting sessions brought a different kind of spectacle. I had taken an evening walk down to the beach to sit on the sand and watch the day disappear. As dusk took hold, I saw two swooping shapes above me. My initial presumption that they were birds was soon superseded when their aerial acrobatics became more dynamic that any birds I'd seen. It was, in fact, a pair of bats. They were diving and soaring with breakneck speed, presumably on their early evening buffet hunt.
I sat there for almost an hour, captivated by the show they were putting on. As they dived increasingly closer to the ground as the light faded to almost darkness, I was oohing and ahhing as much as I have for any firework display. Nervous but joyful laughter escaped from my mouth as they dared swooping lower and lower.
A Spanish family passed by and stopped to watch with me for a while. The kids were almost as excited as the dad to see "Batman", one of the only words I could distinguish from their Canarian chatter. In my broken Spanish, we had an excitable conversation. FYI 'bat' in Spanish is 'murcielago'. Another important word to add to my repertoire.
For a while, I tried to document the moment with a photo. I don't know if you've ever tried to take a picture of a bat or two in mid flight, with a poor quality i-Pod, in the failing light, but it's not as easy as it sounds.
Trust me, the back splodge is a bat. I may not ever make a wildlife camera operator, but I had fun at the time. Photo taken, I resumed the sitting and watching. Sometimes doing nothing can bring the most unexpected enjoyment. When the darkness had made it impossible to see the bats any longer, I made my way back through the complex towards my home on the hill. I passed people heading to restaurants for dinner and a disco drawing the crowds. I reflected that given the choice, I would always choose sitting on the beach watching nature's entertainment.
Gran Canaria gave me many treats whilst I was there. I can now see why it's paradise for my mum. There is great joy to be had in sitting by the sea and soaking up the sun, the culture, the nature and the life going on all the time in paradise. I'm not sure it's my paradise. Paradise is a strong word. But I shall definitely head back sometime for another taster of a beautiful and welcoming place that has much to offer.
Muchas gracias Gran Canaria. Hasta luego.
