In sickness and in health

Or in this case - In sickness and in sickness.

We were certainly not fit to attend the Los Indianos carnival on 12th February - though Scruffbag popped out to take a brief look. That very day I had been to the health centre as my flu appeared to be getting worse rather than better. I was diagnosed with a chest infection and given antibiotics and lots of other tablets, Meanwhile Scruffbag was slowly improving, though still not 100% by any means.

By the following Tuesday we were all set to leave, despite the fact that Scruffbag had a sore throat. However, after getting the boat ready to roll he was feverish, weak and clearly not fit to sail anywhere. He took to his bed and by Thursday we were back at the health centre with him barely able to speak. From there he was sent to the hospital, where he had a large abscess drained and was put on a drip feed of antibiotics and steroids for a "serious infection". He hopes to be discharged tomorrow as he is back to his usual happy self now and is also eating well and speaking clearly.

The weather for the rest of the week  is awful - gales and huge swell so no chance of getting to Gran Canaria this week. We have flights booked from Gran Canaria for a few days in UK with family but have now had to buy more tickets to fly to and from there to catch those flights

Back here on 8th March and hopefully on with the trip soon after feeling fit and healthy.

Fingers crossed.

Rain, more rain and illness

I could count on the fingers of one hand the number of times it has not rained at some point in the day over the last 3 weeks here in Santa Cruz. Yes  it's warm but it's not that much of a consolation and there have been some very strong winds too. What happens is that the rain clouds  have blown across from the north east and when they hit the mountains they drop their water over the centre and east of the island (often leaving it sunny on the west coast)!

Our friend Nick was here the last week of January and he hired a car so we were able to escape to the sunny west on several occasions. We also went on an astronomy trip one night. La Palma has UNESCO status as a stargazing site due to its latitude and lack of pollution. This means that polluting industry is banned and planes cannot overfly the island at night. amongst other conditions. At the highest point of the island there is an international observatory. We went out with a group of 30 with 2 telescopes. It was fascinating and we learnt a lot but the group was too big and there was too much waiting around and I feel that the need to make money by packing in as many people as possible somewhat detracted from the experience.
















We also visited some salt water pools with Nick. having previously been swimming in saltwater pools further up the coast the week before his arrival. The change in the weather was certainly apparent here.

Anyway. poor Nick went down with flu a couple of days before he left, though he soldiered on manfully. Unfortunately he left his flu behind with us and both Scruffbag and I  have been laid up for over a week now. We had planned to leave for Gran Canaria last Tuesday but up to press we are still nowhere near fit enough to travel. At least we will still be here on Monday for the festival of Los Indiannos where the whole island dresses up in white clothes and throws talc around everywhere. Maybe we will even be fit enough to join in. Who knows?