My holiday began on Thursday two weeks ago (what!) with a 3 and a half hour flight to Madrid. From cold Denmark to a mildish warm sunny Madrid
On the way!
Emma, me and my host dad ready for Le Santa!
We were in Madrid for the night, and stayed at my host Dad's friends mansion 30 mins from the airport. I can now officially say i have ridden in a Mercadies! So we crashed and woke up very early the next morning ready to jump on another plane ride to reach our next destination- the grand canary islands and airport. The flight was around 3 and a half hours again. It was a clear day, so we could see out the window as we flew over Paris and other exciting European cities.
At least the early morning provided a really nice sun rise
We arrived in the Canary island airport and it was clear that we were far from Europe's cold grasp. It was hot. Like not quite Australian 40 degree hot, but hot which was SO nice! We changed clothes and then got on another plane ready for our final destination- LANZEROTA!
Our 3rd and final flight
nb before i came to Denmark, I had only been on 2 planes..... within the space of 2 days i have exceeded that limit- what?!
This flight wasn't so long, only lasting about an hour and a half. And finally we had arrived in Lanzeroter! We got our hire car, and drove half an hour to our home for the next 12 days- CLUB LE SANTA! It was good that we had a little drive, as I got to see some of the islands landscape. There is lava rocks everywhere and of course catacuses! There are actually some volcanoes on the island that are no longer active (thank goodness ;) )
I wouldn't call it a tropical island by no means! So the geographical aspect of the island was interesting and within the 12 days I got to explore a lot of it. One of the days, we drove to a beach about an hour away to go snorkling. This was just AMAZING as we were snorkling over some lava rocks from the volcano. Of course there were tropical fish which were amazing to see in the wild. And the water was crystal blue and so warm and inviting. It was a wonderful day.
Ready for snorkelling!
Beautiful beach!
I was also lucky enough to go to a Spanish market in one of the neighbouring towns in La Santa in a town called Teguise. This market literally had everything and it was by no means on the same scale as Cobbity markets. it was HUGEEEE and took up the entire town. It had a really cool atmosphere with spanish music and it was located around a beautiful old church (of course its europe after all). I didn't buy much as a lot of the stores had typical paddys market knock off design things, however there was some cool individual stuff. So I picked up a few souviners and headed back to La Santa!
The Market (the church is in the background)
Beautiful Spanish Town!
We also ventured out to a cave which has a unique species of crabs which is found no where else in the world. This was beautiful to see! And the Spanish people of course turned it into a fancy restraunt where concerts are held. We just had a coffee and enjoyed the beautiful surroundings of the cave. It was difficult to get a photo that did it justice!
The cave where the crabs live.
The beautiful fishing town where we had dinner that night
We also had surfing lessons in a neighbouring beach called Farmara. The surf was pretty good and offered me some beginner waves to find my balance on a good old foam board. The surf turned on the first day though and became a little washing machiney. We were there for just two days, but I learnt a lot and by the end of the courses I could ride the waves standing up. Of course that will all change when I get home and try it out on a hard board at Grassy!
The courses were from 10 30-16 00 each day (long day) and we had lunch provided by the school. This was hyggelit as we got to meet people from all over the world. There was a Russian, dutch, italian and german. Quite a nice range.
The instructors were good, and one even asked me to marry him because he wants an Australian citizenship. So i suppose I'm now engaged?
The beach where we had our surfing lessons
Beautiful last morning at the beach!
Unfortunately I have no photos of me ripping up the waves. Have to save that for when I get back to Oz!
For most of the time though, we were just at Club Le Santa becuase there is SO much to do there. Every sporty thing you can possibly think of it offered and the days were filled with a range of classes, from tennis to kyacking to wind surfing to zumba to paddle tennis to morning 3km walks to dance to yoga to cycling. You name it, they have it!
So at 8 00 every morning they do this thing called morning warm up which has not changed in the last 30 or so years. The same music, same movement, same time every morning. It was a fun way to begin the day
Here is a peak of what we did and where we did it (you can actually see some of the club in this video)
After the warm up, there was a range of runs or walks you could take and i opted for the walk on the first morning so I could take in my surroundings. We did a range of activities that lasted for an hour. During the day, I went mostly to dance, zumba, aerobics, paddle tennis, kyacking, wind surfing, body ball and a lot more. It was a very fun and all free! The instructors were trained in absoloutley everything you could think of.
Where classes were held during the day. It was so hot!
We also had a lot of chill out time in the middle of the day where we could relax by the pool. I managed to finish harry potter in Danish which i was quite happy about. The pool was beautiful and I really enjoyed soaking up my last dose of sun for 3 months!
The pool of a night. We had some beautiful sunsets
My favourite activities down there were wind surfing (which I didn't quite successfully get the hang of. Good thing we have one home ;) ) and dancing. It was SO good to get back into it again.
The club was also beautiful and offered beautiful modern facilities! There was a wellness centre which I enjoyed a spa one night and of course there was some pretty good restraunts where we ate out of a night.
The beautiful sunsets
The Green Team Show- one night during our stay, the team members known as the Green team who run all of the activities put on a show for us. It was a lot of fun and they did a range of things, from dancing to sycronised swimming skits.
Sadly this vacation of mine had to come to an end, and I am now back in Denmark where there is clearly a temperature diffence and it is time to send all of my summer clothes home.
I had a really really great time away and hopefully can one day take my own family to Le Santa because i think they would just love it!
And if anything I found out what I can do with my Danish- work at Le santa! All green team members need to speak danish or english. So i meet the standards! ;)
So now time is moving all too quickly and i have less than 80 days left of my exchange year. If anything, this year has taught me how quickly time just passes. Like this time last year I was doing my HSC exams- WHAT?!?!?!
Anyways, the plans for the next week
-Tivoli (of course) for Halloween
-Last EVER get together :( with the whole of Denmark
-School
-Keeping warm
Oh and to all my fellow Aussie readers who are affected by those terrible bush fires, my thoughts and prayers are with you
Much love xxx
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