After a couple of early starts to our days, we planned to sleep in as long as we could on Tuesday morning. But, Eilidh wasn’t on board with that idea, as she was up a shade after 7:00 and convinced she had to get out of bed and start her day since it was light outside. The other kids followed suit pretty quickly and we were all up within an hour.
Still, it was a lazy morning around the house, with us catching up on laundry, dishes, and Noah typing some of his latest blogs. I planned to take Eilidh with me to run a few errands in the morning, including a return to an Arrecife hypermarket and a stop for stamps and a box at a Spanish post office. Eilidh’s interest in the adventure started strong but eventually waned. At the final stop, I purchased a lollipop to keep her happy for the rest of the drive home.
Eilidh recognizes our car because of the “X” on the driver’s door.
She was very excited about the bag of Cheetos we bought at the grocery store.
HiperDino has a fun logo and their stores are found all over the Canary Islands.
Eilidh, a sucker, and wine barrels.
Eilidh, Peppa Pig chocolates, and flowers.
Amanda took the older kids back to the beach while we were running errands, then returned to the house to follow up last night’s successful charcuterie dinner with a charcuterie lunch. The kids enjoyed it as much as they did the day before, and I did too. Another day of perfect weather meant we were able to enjoy the meal outside with ocean sounds in the background.
We left our home just after 2:30 to make the half-hour drive to Cuevos de los Verdes, one of two stops on our afternoon agenda. Our timing wasn’t as perfect as it was yesterday with the bus tour, and we ended up hanging around the entrance area for more than 20 minutes before our cave tour began. The cave was impressive at times, and there was a fun moment at the end of the tour, but the tour group size was large and inefficient, with long breaks for walking between tour stops and sometimes difficult-to-hear audio.
Getting buckled for our drive to the cave.
All smiles to start the trip!
And asleep by the time we arrived at the caves.
Ready to enter the cave.
Emmie found a cat while we waited to enter the cave.
Up next was an attraction across the street called Jameos del Agua. It’s a bit of an eclectic site that’s difficult to accurately describe, but in essence, it’s a tourist site built to combine art and nature as the facility is built around a lava tube. The center includes a restaurant and auditorium, but our main interest was the first water pool, which was home to very rare blind lobsters.
This became the highlight of our visit, as the kids were fascinated as they identified the white lobsters in the water. They average around a centimeter in length, but we were able to capture at least one decent photo to give a sense of what the kids were looking for in the water.
Three blind lobsters.
After the main pool, we walked up some stairs to a snack bar, where Noah ate a donut, Emmie a muffin, and Eilidh an ice cream bar. Amanda and I shared a bag of sweet potato chips made by the same company that made the potato chips we’d enjoyed a day earlier. We finished our walk through the site with the large, lighted outdoor pool and a glimpse into the auditorium. The volcano museum was closed for renovations.
The kids voted on another charcuterie meal for dinner, and after a stop at an uninspiring grocery store, we rounded out the food selection with some meat, cheese, and ice cream from a gas station. The meal worked out pretty well, and we again took advantage of the lovely evening weather to enjoy our food outdoors.