La Caleta

Our last full day in Tenerife I had to work, which meant focusing on statistical stuff from 6:30 to 2:30 pm then getting a taxi to La Caleta, our destination for Monday. We started at Restaurant La Caleta. Here's mom enjoying the view.

I just happen to have a coworker who lives in Milton Keynes, England, whose uncle has an apartment in La Caleta. She has been there many times and gave me an extensive review of the restaurants. My preferred place, Rincon del Varadero was a) hard for mom to reach and b) not open. So we went to the place above and watched swimmers and windsurfers. Here it is from the outside:

And my miso eggplant lunch, plus apricot liquer and gin cocktail and mom's mango gazpacho with smoked cod.

This was our first time not eating at a buffet in a week so we were a little excited. Before and after lunch I walked up the hilly promenade toward Rincon del Veradaro, which had inclines too steep for mom. But was hopelessly picturesque.

As my co-worker told me, La Caleta is less touristy. And you get a feel for what Canarian fishing villages once looked like.

I was very taken with this mural, however the light didn't favour me when trying to capture it.

I was very jealous of the swimmers. And scuba divers. Our hotel room has large posters of colourful sea urchins. I wonder if that is what the divers see?

Here's mom with some strange vintage Mercedes roadster. She also insisted on taking my photo next to it. I think it's an awful photo of me, but she thinks the photos I take of her are awful, so we're even.

We walked the promenade from Rosso Sul Mer (delicious Italian food, according to my co-worker) to Restaurant Celsio, then doubled back inland to find a taxi to take us home.

It was a fine afternoon outing, including a quick visit to a supermercado to buy Canarian wine and mail postcards.

We spent our evenings after dinner in the hotel watching BBC World News, hearing the unimaginable death toll from the Turkiye/Syria earthquake. It is so hard to fathom the extent of the devastation and the misery visited upon hundreds of thousands (or millions) who were already refugees from the Syrian civil war. And who are now homeless and freezing. How can fate concentrate its fury over such a long period in such a small area?

It is disorienting to enjoy the good life on Tenerife while passively viewing the trauma unfolding as people wait for news of entire families who are likely wiped out. And then there's Ukraine, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia.

And yet the four cold buffet stations at Gara Suites are brimming with beautifully displayed food twice a day, and the fifth, hot buffet station provides an endless supply of meats and fish. People pile their plates high and don't eat all of what they take. Disorienting is the gentlest word for it.

Tuesday morning. I worked in the early hours, making sense of emissions-weighted portfolio temperature ratings. Sigh. Then mom and I packed and had our last (disorienting) Gara Suites Golf and Spa Hotel buffet breakfast (crepes with nutella sauce!). We kind of forgot it was Valentine's Day until we saw balloons in the lobby. And this festive arrangement as we entered the dining room.

Here's me and my Valentine:

Shortly after breakfast, we took the bus to the airport, then flew to Belfast. First thing when I got home I made a withdrawal at the cash machine and visited my neighbour, who has collected enough money to buy five family shelters for earthquake victims. What else can we do?

13-14 Feb