It’s been a few days, and had great visits to the Canary Islands. First, Lanzarote. Volcanic and pretty dry and desolate, but beautiful. Visited sites designed and built by César Manrique. First, Mirador del Rio, a spot overlooking the water separating Lanzarote from la Graciosa, then Jameos del Agua, a series of underground tunnels created by lava flows, and finally, Jardin de Cactus (Cactus Garden). All incredible spaces.

The next stop was Grand Canaria, and I went on a group hike through one of the ravines. We visited the towns of Moya and Firgas. Really wonderful to get out in nature. Oddly, I kept looking for wildlife, but there isn’t much here, except the spiders. Lots of webs.

Last stop was in Tenerife, where we drove up and up and up some more to the caldera high above the clouds. A geologist’s dreamscape. I don’t know what I was thinking, but I didn’t dress for the cold. It was pretty chilly and, while there wasn’t any snow, it is obvious that they expect it.

On the tour in Tenerife, I was in a car with a woman who looked exactly like my grandmother. I decided not to say anything to her. I know I wouldn’t want to hear from a 64 year old how I look like his grandmother. It might be where my head is, but I have been seeing lots of faces from my past on this cruise.

I moved to an English speaking table for dinner, and lucked out. Two very nice couples, one from New Zealand and the other from Canada.

It’s always a roll of the dice, and as with life and chocolates, you never know what you get. I went to a chef’s table, and there were four couples – Ireland, Australia, Canada and Florida. Florida was a bad roll. Fortunately, they only skirted politics, but they made it clear where they stood. Even they understood that in international waters, they should be embarrassed. I was glad to get back to my Kiwis and Canadians.