Beach day

I woke around 0630 and was planning my stay by 0700.  Ii worked through options for doing excursions by bus to see if it was feasible, otherwise I’d look at renting a car.  I had hoped to make a trip to the centre of the island, Tejeda.  This proved too difficult with infrequent buses.

Stuffing my breakfast into my face, I decided that I’d do a shorter excursion to Playa Mogan this morning instead. The ride is much shorter (45 mins) and buses are frequent.

I arrived at Playa Mogan’s station and walked into the beach and town area.  Just like Playa del Ingles, it was still dead.  I guess people stay up late and sleep in.  I had expected perhaps some old historic buildings of architectural interest but everything was contemporary.  I was back on the bus in less than half hour and back in my hotel about 2h from when I had stepped out.

I grabbed lunch at a sandwich bar and kept cool in my room until about 1400 when I took the bus to Faro de Maspalomas.  While the temperatures are beautiful in the shade, it was far too hot to walk there.  But walking back should be OK I thought.

From the lighthouse I walked left towards Playa del Ingles.  The open space gave way to stretches of beach umbrellas and loungers.  Eventually the landscape changed and it became the clothing-optional area of which a portion was also a gay area.  It seemed to be clothing-optional for the remainder of my walk.

I paid for a seat and umbrella (EUR5).  After a while I threw caution to the wind and had my first ever skinny dip!  It didn’t feel too different from being at the gym changing room but it was just a lot bigger and also open air!  Quite liberating actually.

The water here was nice and clear.  Cold at first but refreshing soon after entering.  The sand was golden and darker in parts and seemed to be churned up a fair bit by the strong surf.  After a second dip, I had had enough.

Rather than backtrack to the lighthouse and beyond for the bus I thought I’d walk back through the dunes. It took about 40 minutes (as opposed to 30 to the bus).  But it was pretty hard work; much tougher than I expected walking o the dunes and in the sun.  I feel sorry for the Jews who were lost in the desert wandering for 40 years!

After a wash back in the room, I walked to the Yumbo Centre and finally had my octopus salad (ensalata de pulpo) plus a side of wrinkly Canarian potatoes (papas arrugadas) with mojo sauce.  The spuds are served boiled and lightly encrusted in fine salt.  They didn’t taste too different from baby new potatoes in New Zealand.