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?