Arrival in the Canary Islands

Ahh. The Canary Islands. Europe's Hawaii. I had no idea this place even existed before I did the Camino de Santiago. I had never heard of it. In fact, there are only 2 reasons I am here now. First, a pilgrim named Eduardo and a hippie I met on the Camino told me about the Canary Islands, which piqued my interest. And secondly, an amazing friend named Juan offered me to stay in his apartment with his mother for a week. I am currently writing this from his laptop.

There are several different islands, but I've been in Tenerife for about three days now. This island is the main one where all the airplanes land. Now that I've seen a bit of it, I can say that it looks a lot like the big village island in the Moana movie. It makes sense. The tallest mountain is literally a volcano.

A beautiful view of northern Tenerife from a tall mountainside.

The fabled Teide volcano sits off in the distance.

I'm grateful to have a local like Juan show me the ropes of the bus and tram systems here. We've already done quite a few things. We went on a long hike through the mountains, visited the beach, went to a museum, and much more. And I'm lucky to be here this time of year as well. Here in Tenerife, they have what is called the "Day of the Kings." Dia de los Reyes. It is essentially America's Christmas, but on January 6th. Instead of being about Santa and his reindeer, the holiday celebrates the three wise men who brought gifts to Jesus Christ. The night before, on January 5th, they have a very large parade to signify the arrival of the three wise men, along with all sorts of different side characters. I saw Mickey, Bluey, Cocomelon, Chip & Dale, Avatar, and many others. Then, on the 6th, families exchange gifts with one another and children get their presents under the Christmas tree.

Of course, Spain still celebrates December 25th, but it seems they only focus on the birth of Jesus Christ and move the gift part to January 6th.

I had the fortune of sharing Dia de los Reyes with Juan's extended family. They originally moved here from Venezuela, so the celebration had a very Venezuelan touch to it. Gee, I really enjoyed it. They came over to the apartment at 2:00, and we didn't say goodbye until 9:00pm. It was amazing. Tons of food, chatter, laughter, songs, and games. We played White Elephant and Pictionary, but they call those games something different here. I learned how to dance to a bit of Salsa as well!

I am so very grateful that Juan and his mother are kind enough to let me be here. If I'm being super honest, I've felt incredibly discouraged. Very discouraged. I'm the type of person who gets frustrated easily when I don't meet the high expectations I set for myself. I got into a bad mood on the plane flight over here, and it set me off on the wrong foot. I felt lazy, helpless, and lost. I wanted to search for under-the-counter work while I was here, but I have felt too shy to ask around and I haven't made any progress. That frustrated me a lot, and it caused me to doubt myself. Many times I thought about home. Many times I've kicked myself for not being better at this whole travel thing.

It really wasn't until today when I spent all that time with Juan's family that I got out of that low. I can see it better now. My expectations will get the best of me if I let them. I must always be vigilant to remain in a state of gratefulness, because that's when things happen. And more often than not, I may need to change my expectations.

For example, expecting to find smooth work was a bit unrealistic. I tried asking Juan's family about possible work opportunities and they helped me understand that it may not be worth it. They told me that it's very difficult, and while it may be possible to find work, the conditions won't be very nice. According to them, I'd be working long hours with very little pay.

However, I still would like to start gaining money instead of losing money. But there's many different methods that would be more efficient. It would be a good idea to look into an online job. Simply having the responsibility of working a few hours each day will add some guaranteed discipline and productiveness to my day.

Tomorrow I am going to see a lot more of the island. I'm buying an all-day bus pass for 12 euros. I plan to go hiking, swimming at the beach, cliff jumping, city exploring, and whatever activity presents itself tomorrow.