Tuesday, 20 January 2009

Fuerteventura: Tercer Dia!!

Fuerteventura: Third Day!!!

Después de haber descansado decidimos coger nuestro cochecito y empezar a visitar la isla. Pero antes tuvimos que parar en una gasolinera y comprar un par de escobillas para el parabrisas ya que nos habían dado el coche con una escobilla!!! Y después de que César consiguiera ponerla empezamos nuestra visita por la parte sur. Nuestra primera parada fue la punta de Jandía (el punto más al sur de la isla) y terminamos nuestro tour viendo y disfrutando de las maravillosas e increíbles playas de Cofete.




Para llegar a la Punta de Jandía, donde hay un faro, tuvimos que recorrer unos 20 km a través de una pista ya que todo esa parte es Espacio Natural Protegido y sólo hay caminos sin asfaltar. Así que con nuestro C3 (sin tapacubos) nos adentramos por la pista y empezamos a descubrir una de las partes más naturales y virgenes del archiepielago de Jandía, la primera zona era muy rocosa, y la segunda toda de arena y la única vegetación que vimos fueron un par de palmeras, el resto eran montañas, llanuras y el mar, siempre el mar al fondo. Justo antes de llegar a la punta pasamos por un pueblo fantasma llamado El Puertito, donde sólo había caravanas de hecho la electricidad la sacaban de un molino de viento. Y por fin llegamos al faro!!! que olas!! y que viento!! el Cierzo al lado de eso es un soplido!!! que daño la arena pegando en las piernas desnudas!!! pero mereció la pena y después de visitar la zona y hacer millones de fotos pusimos rumbo al otro lado de la isla: Cofete.




Para llegar alli también lo hicimos por una pista pero esta vez había que subir una montaña, cuando llegamos a la cima nos quedamos completamente anonanados y con la boca abierta contemplando la belleza del paisaje, Impresionante. Empezamos a bajar la montaña y os podemos aseguar que por un momento no sabíamos dónde estabamos!!! y conseguimos llegar al pueblo (por llamarlo de alguna manera) de Cofete, nada 4 especies de casas y poco más. Y nuestra ultima parada fue la playa. No queremos ser pesados pero nunca habíamos visto unas playas tan impresionantes como éstas!! no hace falta irte a las Maldivas o al Caribe para ver playas de arena blanca, agua cristalina,... están en Fuerteventura!!!! Además estabamos solitos, solitos, solitos, ni un alma, solo un coche mas que el nuestro y debía ser el coche fantástico porque no vimos al conductor. Imaginaros una playa de 10 kilometros y estar solos. Impresionante, fantástico.

Lo que más sentimos es que esta vez las fotos no muestran la auténtica belleza y pureza de estas playas. Por favor, ir a picasa y visitar ese album.



After having got relaxed in the second day, we decided to drive our C3 and start visiting the island. First, we had to stop in a petrol station in order to buy a pair of windscreen wipers because the rental agency gave us the car with only one of them. It took Cesar nearly 30 minutes to install it, to be honest the instructions were not very clear and the system was quite different from the standard one. After that, we started our trip around the south of Fuerteventura. Our first stop was "La punta de Jandia", which is the southest point of the island, and we finished the day in the beautiful, enormous, incredible, awesome Cofete beach.

In order to go to "Punta de Jandia", where there is a lighthouse, you have to drive about 20 Km on tracks, as all that area is Natural Park and therefore it is protected. The road finishes in Morro Jable. So, with our C3 without hubcaps, we went into the track and after Morro Jable's cementery and about 2 Km to the south, we discovered one of the most natural and virgin lands of the island. The first part was rocky and the next one, closer to Africa, is full of sand. The only flora we saw was a couple of palms. The rest was mountains, sand and the blue sea, always there at the end and to our side. Just before arriving at "Punta de Jandia", we went through a little village called "El puertito" where the local people have caravans to spend the summer weekends there. There is no electricity system, and they get the electricity from little wind power. We thought it was a ghost village, but later we knew it is quite popular in summer. Finally, we landed in the lighthouse, wow, such huge and amazing waves, very dangerous, surfing not allowed, they were more than 10 meters high!!! It was very, very windy. Zaragoza is famous for its strong wind, "El cierzo". Ok, "El cierzo" is its baby brother, a little "bluf" compare to that. The sand hit our naked legs, it hurt, really hurt sometimes. But it was really worth visiting. We had a long walk on that area, take millions of photos, we headed towards the west side of that part of the island: The Cofete beach.



In order to go to Cofete, we had to come back the same track. First we stopped to take some photos of surfers in a little and protected cliff. Then, we drove up a little hill, and when we got to the top of the hill, wow, we got shocked, speechless due to such a beautiful landscape. We started to go down the hill and we don't lie when we tell you we didn't know where we were. We arrived at the village, ok village with just 4 houses, and one restaurant with goats in the door. We did not stop, of course no roads, all tracks. We headed to the beach, again wow, windy, very, very windy but such an amazing beach. We cannot imagine the place in summer, with higher temperatures and nobody around. Because we were alone, and we again don't lie, alone, alone, alone. There was another car apart from ours, but we think it was KITT as we did not see the driver or any Knight driver around. 10 Km beach, nobody around, sun, the wind was a pity but we did not mind. You do not need to go to Maldives or the Caribbean to see in white sandy beaches, crystal water, they are also in Fuerteventura!!

Unfortunately, although we tried to get all the beauty of those places for you, the photographs do not show exactly how they are. Please, go to picasa and see them.

Monday, 19 January 2009

Fuerteventura: Segundo Dia!!

Fuerteventura: Second Day!!

El plan para nuestro segundo día fue de lo más tranquilo y relajado, básicamente el plan era no hacer na de na. Y eso es lo que hicimos, después de dormir unas 12 horicas, nos levantamos y fuimos a desayunar, y qué desayuno!! fruta, zumos naturales, tostadas, tortilla francesa, huevos fritos, chistorra,... ya os lo podeis imaginar, una pasada de comida, de hecho creo que demasiada comida. Así que después de llenar la tripa nos fuimos a dar un paseo por la playa, aunque estaba vez el paseo fue un poco más corto ya que empezó a caer un agua muy muy finita,....venga lo reconocemos, empezó a llover!!! en las Canarias!!! pero bueno duró poco tiempo. Viendo el panorama decidimos irnos de compras hasta la hora de comer y por la tarde nos fuimos al spa del hotel durante unas dos horas entre sauna, distintas duchas, piscinita con chorros de agua, jacuzzi,..(no es por nada, pero salvo las duchas y los chorros de agua es lo mismo que tenemos en Nottingham). Para terminar nuestro dia tan productivo nos pusimos guapos y nos bajamos a cenar. Como os podeis estar imaginando practicamente nos pegamos el día comiendo!!!. La verdad es que los dos necesitabamos desconectar de todo, olvidarnos de ordenadores y dedicarnos a no hacer nada, y creo que lo conseguimos!!!

Os dejamos con unas foticos para que podais ver el caminito que recorriamos para bajar a la playa y cómo era de grande la playa.




Our plan for the second day was the most relaxing and calm, basically our plan was doing nothing at all. And that was we did after sleeping around 12 hours, we got up, went down for breakfast, our first breakfast in the hotel, and again such a fabulous breakfast: fruit of all kind, smoothies, toasts, omelettes, fried eggs, bacon, chistorra, ... you can imagine a proper full Spanish breakfast, no baked beans. In fact, we thought it was too much food but we ate as much as we could. After filling our bellies we went for a walk to the beach again, although this time the walk was shorter than the first day because it started to rain. Quite strange in Fuerteventura, but do not think of the English mist, cloudy day, no, no... it was just light rain for 20 minutes. Therefore, we decided to go shopping till lunch and in the afternoon we went to the Spa of the hotel for two hours, sauna, jacuzzy, pool with streams. To be honest, it was very similar to the one we have here in Nottingham, so we did not enjoy it very much but we relaxed which was our purpose for the day. At dinner time, we got dressed properly, not with the bath suits, and we went to the restaurant of the hotel for dinner. As you can imagine we basically spent the day eating. The truth is that we needed to switch off, forget about computers, about work, and we managed to do it!!


This time the photographs will show you the path to the beach, and others views of the beach so that you can realize how big it was.

Sunday, 18 January 2009

Vacaciones en Fuerteventura: Primer Dia!!

Holidays in Fuerteventura: First Day!!



Hoy, Domingo por fin llegamos a Fuerteventura!!!! El viaje fue un poco largo ya que nos levantamos a las 3 de la mañana para coger el avión que salía de East Middlands y después de 4 horas de vuelo, llegamos a nuestro deseado destino: Fuerteventura (la isla más antigua de las Canarias).

Como no podía ser menos al llegar al aeropuerto nos recibió un sol espectacular y 20 graditos a las 10:30 de la mañana, increible!!! (cuando dejamos Nottingham estaba lloviendo y hacía frio).
Después de pasar el control de policia (que policia nacional más majo y más "canario" había...) y coger nuestras maletas nos fuimos a por nuestro cochecito para poder ir a nuestro hotel, el cual estaba en la zona de Jandía, al sur de la isla. Así que, con el super C3 azul cielo, nos dirigimos a la única carretera principal que hay en la isla atravesandola de norte a sur (FV2).

De camino al hotel pudimos ya comprobar y ver con nuestros ojos los distintos paisajes que tiene esta isla, todo ellos preciosos. Una de las cosas que nos sorprendió es que la mayoría del terreno es Espacio Natural Protegido, y como tal, es completamente natural. Gracias a ello, Fuerteventura es una de las islas más virgenes y salvajes de las Canarias, y se nota, vaya si se nota. Había veces que parecía que estabas en el desierto con dunas de arena blanca, otras parecía un paisaje marciano, todo rocas y piedras y la única vegetación que hay son palmeras, cactus enormes y aloe vera.

Después de una horita más o menos llegamos a nuestro destino, nuestro hotel, Iberostar Fuerteventura Park en Jandía, y después de comer (por cierto, nos invitó el hotel, qué majos) y deshacer las maletas, no pudimos resistir la tentación y nos fuimos a dar un paseo por la playa que teniamos enfrente. Y qué playa!!! arena blanquita, agua transparente, sol, y eso sí mucho viento!!! (de ahi el nombre de la isla, fuerte viento: fuerteventura), y nada, andando, andando llegamos hasta el pueblo más cercano Morro Jable, que se encuentra situado a unos 5 km. del hotel, y andando por la playa!!!! Y después del esfuerzo, recobramos fuerzas en la cena y nos fuimos prontito a dormir, que entre el madrugón, el viaje y la caminata acabamos un poco cansadicos!!!!

Y esta vez sí que os recomendamos que veais las fotos en el link, esperamos que os gusten tanto como nos ha gustado a nosotros todo esto, aunque es cierto, que al natural es mucho más fascinante e impresionante!!!!!



Today, Sunday we finally arrived at Fuerteventura!!, our holidays and belated honeymoon!!! The journey was a bit long as we had to wake up at 3 am in order to take the plane in East Midlands at 6am. After 4 hours flight, the plane landed in our dream destination: Fuerteventura, the most antique of the Canary Islands, the most natural one, less touristic, our first canarian experience!!

As it could not be otherwise, no sooner did we arrive at the airport, we were welcomed by an incredible sun and 20 ºC at 10.30am, incredible and fantastic!! We had just left Nottingham in rain and 2 ºC.
After passing through the police control, with such a nice and canarian policeman, asking about the flight, welcome us and wishing us a good visit (nothing compare to the English ones and their non-sense regulations), and fetching our suitcases, we went to get our rented car to go to our hotel, which was in the Jandia beach, in the southern part of the island. So... with our tiny and cozy blue-sky colour C3, we started our trip towards the hotel driving the main road of the island which goes from north to south (FV2).

As soon as we left the airport and the village where it is located, we begin noticing the different landscapes of the island, all of them beautiful and marvellous. Specially Cesar really enjoyed not seeing green, just brown and red of the desert and rocky mountains. Apart from that the fact which surprised us the most was that most of the island is Natural park, and therefore those areas are protected, without buildings or very, very few, no roads, only country tracks, they are nature in pure essence. Because of that, Fuerteventura is one of the most natural and wild canary islands, and you noticed that, it can really be noticed. Sometimes it seemed as we were in the desert, full of white-sand dunes. In other cases, it seemed as mars, all full of rocks and the only flora were palms, cactuses and aloe vera.


After one hour driving, we arrived at the hotel, Iberostar Fuenteventura Park at Jandia, and after lunch, (by the way, they invited us for lunch, so niiiccee) and unpacking, we could not take it anymore and went to the beach, and what a beach!!! Blue sky, white sand, transparent water, and wind, very windy. Because of the strong wind, the island is named Fuerteventura, Fuerte=strong, hard, Ventura=wind. And like that, we started walking, and walking on the beach and went to Morro Jable. This is the closest village to the hotel, about 5Km of walking distance on the beach, all the time on the same beach. Just our part is 5 Km long and about 200m wide, but the actual beach is more than 20 km long and goes up till Costa Calma when the tide is low. Morro Jable is a fishing village, which has been conquered by Germans!!! Among about 300 people in the hotel, 95% were Germans and the same with the village and the south of the island.
After the walk and the exercise, we got our strenght back with the dinner, spanish dinner, and quickly to bed because we were really tired of the journey and the long day.

This time we really recommend you a look to the photographs, because they are really fantastic and hope you like them as much as we do. Although it must be said that the beaches are better on live...


Monday, 5 January 2009

Cumpleaños del tio César!!!

Uncle Cesar's birthday!!

Hoy era el cumpleaños de Cesar, tío de "mi Cesar" ;-) y para celebrarlo nos invitó a todos a comer. Comimos muy bien y nos lo pasamos estupendamente, lo malo es que Cesar y yo nos tuvimos que ir pronto a casa ya que teníamos que hacer las maletas porque al dia siguiente iniciabamos rumbo de vuelta a la isla, es decir, a Nottingham. A pesar de eso, estuvo muy bien ya que así pudimos despedirnos de toda la familia Caballero al completo!!! os dejamos con unas foticos de la comilona.



Today, it was Cesar's birthday, but not "my Cesar" but his uncle whose name is Cesar as well. He invited all of us to have lunch in a restaurant. The food was very delicious and we had fun, although Cesar and I left earlier since we had to pack our suitcases because the next day we came back to Nottingham. In spite of that, it was a good time and in that way, we could say goodbye to all the Caballero family!!! we leave you with some pictures.


Friday, 2 January 2009

Cena en casa de Laura

Dinner in Laura's.

Después de estudiar que mejor cosa para desconectar que ir a cenar a casa de una buena amiga: Laura. Por fin, pudimos conocer su casa, que sinceramente nos encantó!!! cenamos estupendamente y fue una velada muy agradable y divertida. Y por supuesto en veranos iremos a probar una de sus barbacoas en su impresonante terraza!!! que envidia!!!!



After studying all day, we went to have dinner with a very good friend: Laura. Finally, we could see her house and to be honest, we love it!!!! It was a lovely and funny evening and the food was delicious. We decided that we have to go back to do a barbacue in her enormous terrace next summer!!! we were so jealous!!!


Bartolo ayudandome en mis trabajos!!

Bartolo helping me to write my essays!!!

Es lo malo que tiene la vida del estudiante, que siempre hay que estudiar o hacer trabajos, como es mi caso. Menos mal que tuve una gran ayuda, mi gato Bartolo se lo tomó muy en serio y aquí podéis comprobar lo concentrado que estaba!!!!



The bad side of the student's life is that you always have to study or in my case, write essays. Although I am so lucky becuase my lovely cat Bartolo helped me a lot!!! Here, you can see how concentrated he was!!!

Thursday, 1 January 2009

Nochevieja 2008!!!

New Year's Eve 2008!!!

Desde aqui os deseamos a todos un Feliz Año 2009, que todos vuestros sueños e ilusiones se hagan realidad en este nuevo año. Nosotros celebramos la despedida del 2008 y la entrada del 2009 primero con nuestras familias y luego con los amigos de fiesta!!! os dejamos con unas fotos en el link Picassa para que veais cómo empezamos el año!!!




We wish you a Happy New Year 2009, and all your dreams and wishes come true in this forthcoming year. We celebrated the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009 with our families and friends with a party!!! we leave you with some pictures in the link Picassa and therefore you can see how we started 2009!!!



Simply Javi.......