Misc: The sand dunes

Since Fuerteventura is very much a desert island, there is an abundance of sand dunes. The sand is this incredibly fine, soft, clean stuff that feel so great between your toes. I guess there is a lot of four-wheeling and dune buggying that goes on in various places on the island. I just thought it was beautiful to see the stretches of rolling dunes that meet up with the ocean. Plus it made it very easy for me to pretend that I was actually in Africa on the Sahara desert.

Mr X and I played around on them for a bit one day. In some places the dunes have some pretty steep vertical drops so we would run and jump off of them.




If you are starting to notice that we are wearing the same thing in every picture, its because that's all we had. We originally hadn't planned on going to the Canary Islands so we didn't bring anything but winter clothes. We had bathing suits and our workout clothes substituted for beachwear just fine. Plus our apartment had a washing machine. More on the apartment tomorrow though...

Food in the Canary Islands

When Mr X and I first arrived in the Canary Islands we were both really looking forward to a break from German cuisine. It was going to be nice to devour something other than sausages and other pork products. No more gravy overdoses or sauerkraut or German salads, etc. (Not that I'm saying that German food is gross - It's not - we were just looking forward to a change.)

So here is a small sampling of some of the typical things you might find to eat in the Spanish islands:

I'm not sure on the exact name of this but at restaurants it was referred to (on the Spanish menu) as a Spanish Tortilla, but if you looked at it on the English menu it was called a Spanish Omelet. Basically it's some sort of this potato and onion pancake-ish thing. I liked it a lot so I had it a few times.
We picked up some famous Spanish olives at the grocery store. They were powerful tasting but delicious. Kids probably wouldn't like them much.
This was from the "tapas" menu, because when you are in Spain you have to try tapas, right? Well anyway, this was goat cheese that was from goats from the Fuerteventura island. I was expecting it to be a bit more harsh but it was mild and delicious, I really enjoyed it.
Speaking of goats - right after we finished off the goat cheese, Mr X decided he'd eat the whole goat too. So what you see on his plate here was called "cabrito frito" - or "fried baby goat" - isn't that awful?!? (The name is catchy though....cabrito frito) I was expecting it to be something akin to a slice of veal. But no, it was a plate full of pretty much just goat spine. Blech. Mr X gave me a little piece - I was kind of bothered by the fact that there was still goat hairs on it here and there.

I have to tell you about one other thing that I ordered while there. I was trying to be adventurous so I opted for a very authentic Canarian appetizer one night. On the menu it was simply called "gofio" but it wasn't simply gofio. Gofio is sort of a corn or wheat flour, but in this particular dish they mixed the gofio with fish stock until it made a thick paste. It pretty much looked like re-fried beans. Then they give you a dish with a very powerful yellow onion cut in wedges so you can scoop out the gofio paste and eat it. Canarian chips and dip, I suppose. Anyway. After one bite it was obvious to me that my palate wasn't refined enough to be able to handle this dish. But I felt bad and didn't want the waiter/cooks/etc to think I hated it. So I got Mr X to have a couple bites, after which he flat out refused more. So I gritted my teeth and forced myself to keep eating it. After about 6 or 7 bites of the stuff my stomach rebelled and I felt as though I might toss it all back up on the table so I quit. My stomach hurt the rest of the night and then I was sick in a "Montezuma's Revenge" sort of way for the rest of the trip.

This was a pastry that I got from a French pastry shop that we found in El Cotillo. I wanted something that I knew was going to be delicious and hairless that wouldn't make me sick and when you want that kind of treatment, French pastries are a good solid bet. Yummy.

Fuerteventura Oasis Park

One day during our stay in the Canary Islands we decided to check out the Fuerteventura Oasis Park. It's a huge park that contains a zoo and a beautiful botanical garden.

But the primary reason we went to the Oasis Park was for the Camel Safaris. I don't think I've ever seen a camel in person, especially up close. I was pretty excited about the whole thing. I was pretty impressed with how they sat, with their legs all bent up funny underneath them. (See the second camel pic below.)

I was caught off-guard by the height of the camels. They were really tall! I don't know what I was expecting - I guess maybe that they'd just be like an odd shaped horses or something. I was also surprised to discover that they don't have hooves like horses either - they are these soft padded ...things... I don't even know what to call them. But they were pretty cool. My brother had told me that camels are nasty and they spit. These camels didn't spit at all but they were pretty gassy and that was gross since Mr X and I were the last people in the line of camels. All in all we had a great time on the camel safari. Here's a few pictures:

Naturalists

I know I mentioned in a previous post about the naturalist beaches on Fuerteventura. Well they certainly weren't kidding. It really didn't bother me too much for the most part, as long as it was from a distance but the occasional close encounters were a bit unpleasant. Mr X was just appalled by it all in general. After lengthy discussions about public nudity and specifically the variations of acceptance between different cultures, I came to the conclusion that Mr X actually would be able to tolerate public nudity so long as it was only allowable by extremely good-looking young ladies.






All along the beaches they would build these little circular rock barricades (from the wind) for the sunbathers. They were really quite effective. Plus there was the added bonus that it kept the naturalists hidden from view more than they otherwise would have been. The trouble is that you couldn't always tell if they were occupied or not unless you walked right up to them. So it was always bothersome to tentatively walk passed one only to discover that it was full of saggy brown boobs and balls. The worst was when Mr X actually walked passed one and witnessed a bit of 'afternoon delight' being had.



This guy liked to take strolls every 30 minutes or so and he'd go pick up two rocks and do bicep curls while he walked in full view of everyone. Mr X was convinced that this guy actually wanted people to look at him. I snapped a picture because, if Mr X's theory is correct, then this guy would have been all too happy to pose, right?

Fuerteventura, Spain

Our first day in Fuerteventura required a some exploration to see what was around in El Cotillo, the town in which we were staying. We got up and had some breakfast and then went exploring. The first and most important item of business was to check out the surf. We were pretty excited about the possibility of surfing since it had been so long (1 year and 3 months to be exact). Mr X was pretty excited when he saw the beautiful water with great surf, few people and a nice off-shore breeze.

Upon further inspection we noticed that the waves were probably around 7-10 feet. Since it had been such a long time since I surfed, and even when I did I shyed away from really big waves (I like perfect 4-6 footers), I chickened out. Mr X, being the ever brave man he is and a lover of surfing, didn't even consider backing away. So we rented him a board. We got the nicest, newest 9' longboard they had and Mr X headed out.

I was hopping along all the sharp lava rocks trying to get in a good position to take pictures of Mr X in all his surfing glory but it was hard to get any because the waves were too big in front to see the surfers past the breakers very well. But I did get this one:

I was just glad Mr X was alive and well.

Nürnberger Christkindlmarkt

The Christmas market in Nuremberg was loads of good fun last night. So much so that we are considering going to another Christmas market tonight in a smaller town that's just a quick car ride away. We saw all of the things we were hoping to see and more as we wandered from stall to stall. We timed it perfectly as well, arriving around 3pm and leaving around 6pm. When I say we timed it well it is because it didn't rain a drop until we were about to leave and then it began to pour. (It's too warm for snow right now and that's unfortunate because it has been raining so much this past week that if it had been snow I'm sure we'd have well over a foot of accumulated snow at this point. Too bad.)

When we got there the sky was just beginning to darken and so the pictures of lights weren't that great. I kept meaning to get this again in the dark but everything else was so distracting that I forgot.

This is the market area at night. There were loads of people there. From what I've read/heard over two million people from all over the world come to this particular Christmas market every year. I believe it since I heard several different languages being spoken.

This was one of the booths I liked. They had these festive paper star lights and all sorts of fun candles and such. There were many more just like it because all of the booths sell similar wares: prune men, candles and lights, angels, Gebrannte Mandeln (candied almonds/nuts) and chocolate covered delights, straw and wreath decorations, ornaments, all the bread and cookie products, jewelry, lovely wooden handicrafts, cheeses, wurst and other traditional foods, and of course the Glühwein and other hot beverages.

There are beautiful carriages drawn by Clydesdale looking horses carrying people around the market.

Here is a picture of the wooden crèches, just a few of the many items made from wood that we saw.

These are some of the Zwetschgamännla I was telling you in my earlier post. They have prunes for arms and legs and dried figs for their bodies and walnuts for heads.

This was one of the stands that sold the various hot drinks and the Glühwein. It smelled pretty good so we got some Glühpunsch instead. We weren't sure exactly what it was that we were getting but we didn't really care because we just wanted the mugs that came with the beverage. Every year they have special mugs made just for the Christmas market in Nuremberg. You pay about 2.50 euros as a deposit for the mug (and then the drink itself is 2 euros). At the end of the night you can return the mug to get your deposit back. We just wanted to keep our mugs to take home as a souvenir so we just kept ours. If we go to the Christmas market in Amberg tonight we are hoping they have their own special Amberg mugs and if they do, we'll get some of those too. As for the punch, it was really tasty.

Mr X and his mug.

Lebkuchen, Magenbrot and various Stollen. (Breads and gingerbread cookies, etc)

These were some of the more strange chocolate covered items. I'm not really sure exactly what's in those pigs and mice, but they looked like hard work from an inventive mind so I took a picture of them.

These were the 1/2 meter wurst that were being sold. They were crazy-long! We couldn't help but stare. I saw a lady buy one and I was all excited for a second until they cut it in half and stuffed it in a roll for her. I was really hoping that she would be attempting to eat some giant sausage wrapped in the middle with a tiny little roll. I was all ready to take pictures of the event. *sigh* Oh well.

This was called a Kartoffelpuffer. Mr X got an order of them. They were like 3 little potato pancake things that you dipped in some sort of apple marmalade. Strange but surprisingly good.

In any case, I'm really looking forward to the next market tonight.

Next destination...

Mr X and I are getting ready to head to our next destination on Saturday. We'll be making a quick trip to Spain's Canary Islands. We leave Saturday morning and I'm so excited for several reasons. First off, Spanish is the official language so there's a good possibility that we won't feel quite so dumb since Mr X is fluent. It will be nice (for at least one of us) to be able to understand what people are saying finally. Second, the weather is quite mild and so it will be much warmer there than it is here and I'm ready for some cozier weather. Third, the fact that the Canary Islands are so close to the coast of Africa allows me to pretend that I'm actually going to Africa instead of Spain...or maybe just Africa and Spain all at once. (No slight intended towards Spain in any way of course) But what I am looking forward to most of all us that I'm heading somewhere new that I haven't been to before.

So for those of you that don't know exactly where the Canary Island are located, here's a picture. I confess that I wasn't entirely sure where they were, I knew they were off the coast of Africa but I thought it was further north, very close to Spain.

(They are those tiny islands between Western Sahara and Morocco)

And this is the view from where we will be staying (on the island closest to the African coast).

Mr X and I didn't know we would be going someplace that wasn't freezing cold so I guess we'll be taking our long pants and sweaters with us because that's all we have. But from what I hear, there are a lot of "naturalist" beaches there so if all else fails we can just strip to our birthday suits and strut our newly acquired love-handles and saddlebags (at least in my case) all over those sandy beaches. (Just thank your lucky stars that you won't have to witness this atrocity. And don't worry, no pictures will record this awful event.) I will be taking my computer but I'm not entirely sure if we will have Internet access while there so if you don't hear from me after Saturday, we didn't have access.

Anyway, back to the present. I've got to get ready to go to the Christmas Market. (I'll fill you in tomorrow on that outing.)

German Christmas Traditions

Tomorrow Mr X and I are going to the Nuremberg Christkindlmarkt. It is one of the largest and oldest Christmas markets in Germany with about 180 wonderfully decorated wooden booths. These booths hold all sorts of traditional holiday items such as crèches (Nativity scenes), Zwetschgamännla (figures made of decorated dried plums - said to bring good luck), Gebrannte Mandeln (candied toasted almonds), Lebkuchen and Magenbrot (different types of soft gingerbread cookies), Christstollen (an egg bread with candied fruit), Glühwein (hot mulled wine), Eierpunsch (an egg based warm alcoholic drink) and all sorts of homemade crafts/toys/books/ornaments/etc. According to history, Christmas markets in general originated from those held here in Germany and Austria.






German Christmas (called Weihnachten in German) traditions are a bit different than those in the US, as expected. For example, they generally don't decorate their homes nearly so extravagantly. On December 6th they celebrate what is called St. Nikolaus Eve. The children place a shoe outside the bedroom door which gets filled with presents and treats from St. Nikolaus. If they are naughty they get twigs instead. Families exchange gifts on the night of the 24th and then they have two more holidays, the 25th and 26th (called 2nd Christmas Day), which follow. Traditionally they will attend a midnight Mass on the 24th. They are very big on the Advent Calendar and Advent Wreath (Adventskranz) here. The Adventskranz usually has 4 candles on it, with one being lit each Sunday before Christmas starting 4 weeks out, of course. The Christmas Tree (Tannenbaum) is put up closer to Christmas Day than in the US. In some parts of Germany it is tradition to go to the houses of friends and family to admire their Christmas trees. You ring the doorbell and when it is answered you can see the tree, after which you say, "Ein schoener Baum!", which means "A very nice tree!" At this you are usually offered some sort of brandy-drink for your tree-admiring efforts. Visits are kept short because there are many friends and family members with whom this scenario needs repeating.

I am sure there are many other traditions that I haven't a clue about...these are just the ones I know or have heard of. I will let you know how the Christmas Market experience was on Friday.

Fulpmes, Austria

Mr X and I had a really nice time snowboarding last weekend. When we went a few weeks ago, we went to a town called Neustift, which is 10 or 15 minutes away from Fulpmes, towards the Stubai Glacier. This time around we opted to stay in Fulpmes and try a smaller ski resort. Schlick 2000 is the name of the place and we really liked it. It was nice because we could walk to the gondola from our hotel with our snowboards in a matter of minutes. The resort was far less crowded and it drew a much more local group of skiers and snowboarders. Oh, and it was warmer and more protected from the wind. The best part? Lift tickets were much cheaper, about 20 euros each. Yay!

Here are some pictures from the weekend: