In 2018, I got the wonderful opportunity to work abroad. For my summer placement, I was in Crete, Greece (see my other post) and for my winter placement, I was in Lanzarote, Spain. The whole experience of leaving home and going to live in a foreign country was utterly bizarre, there were some definite highs and lows but I would go through the whole experience again, without a shadow of a doubt. The winter placement however, was more difficult to transition into, a lot of my colleagues knew each other already and it was hard to mesh into these tight-knit groups, but slowly I started to make new friends and enjoy my new adventure; below are just some of my highlights from Lanzarote.
Side Story - Gang: The picture above was the street that I lived on in Lanzarote and to get to work I would have to walk 15 minutes down the hill to get to the office. Some of the houses and front gardens in Lanzarote are stunning, I love plants so seeing all these massive cacti and succulents was fascinating, one street in particular was most memorable. I have to say the houses there seemed pretty affluent too, one house had 2 golden dog statues 'guarding' their front door and a driveway big enough to park at least 3 cars. But there is another reason why this street is so memorable for me; one evening me and my friend T.K were walking back to our villa afterwork and we were carrying some grocery shopping too. Whilst walking through this street I spotted a beautiful fluffy white cat and naturally I wanted to pet him/her, so carefully I walked closer and they didn't seem to run away infact, she walked closer to me so I squatted down. The next moment T.K who was standing infront of me, urgently whispers,"Michelle, we have to go! NOW!", I was ready to launch into a speech of 'why, we're not in a rush' but the moment I looked behind me, there were about 6-7 other cats surrounding us and very slowly closing in on us, much like when a hunter has locked sight onto their prey. They had spotted my bag of groceries. I love cats but that was not a cute moment at all, we very quickly speed-walked out of there and from that day I bothered those cats no more. I'm convinced the white cat was the leader as he or she was always chilling on the biggest and highest rock.
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Los Charcones Natural Pools in Playa Blanca; this place was beautiful and easily my favourite place in Lanzarote. Natural rock formations filled with clear water to form swimming pools and there were hardly any people there. The only difficulty may be finding the place. It does come up on Google Maps but you'll have to drive through a road that is only half-completed and then park your car quite far away, as the next part is a hike through a deserted land filled with rocks and what felt like, squishy remnants of a volcano. Your only points of references is a deserted hotel (if you Google 'abandoned hotel Playa Blanca', there are many interesting stories/theories linked to it but I'm going with the rich German story) and a lighthouse but I promise you, it is worth it!
Side Story - 'We'll pave our own paths!': To get down to the pools you're faced with some formidable rock formations to climb down. I'm scared of heights so to be faced with the height plus these pointy big rocks was a challenge but nonetheless we eventually made it down to the pools. Later when we were heading back up the cliff we saw a couple, who seemed to be leisurely strolling down the cliff. I certainly did not look that at ease when I was climbing down but when we looked closer, it was because they were walking on a clear-cut (and safe path) to the pools! This was a 'doh' moment if any, however our motto starting from the squishy earth dessert was 'we'll pave our own paths' so we did.
Side Story - 'We'll pave our own paths!': To get down to the pools you're faced with some formidable rock formations to climb down. I'm scared of heights so to be faced with the height plus these pointy big rocks was a challenge but nonetheless we eventually made it down to the pools. Later when we were heading back up the cliff we saw a couple, who seemed to be leisurely strolling down the cliff. I certainly did not look that at ease when I was climbing down but when we looked closer, it was because they were walking on a clear-cut (and safe path) to the pools! This was a 'doh' moment if any, however our motto starting from the squishy earth dessert was 'we'll pave our own paths' so we did.
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| The abandoned hotel Playa Blanca |
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A small beautiful pool with palm trees scattered around. The rumour is, only the King of Spain is allowed in this pool (yes, there were staff milling around making sure no-one enters the pool).
On one of our days off together, me and a friend decided to go on an easy hike, as the only form of trainers I had with me were my Vans and she didn't want to do anything strenuous. However, we had no clue where to go and so 'thankfully', another friend of ours suggested the Secret Garden of Lanzarote. With a name like that, how could we not be pulled in! She also reassured us that it would be an easy hike, as the information from the internet said so. We parked our car at Playa Quemada and started the hike from there. Let me tell you now, this hike was anything but easy! There were some clear pathways but others were not so clear and frankly can be dangerous if you are not careful. Two of us slid and fell down at some point (yes one of these people were me, of course).
Hiking through these cliffs took us about 2.5/3 hours each way, the journey felt like a wave, you climb up to climb down and then back up again. It was terrifying for me at points but I can't deny the views were amazing too and the feeling of triumph after the hike reminded me why it is that I enjoy hiking. Just remember to bring water, SPF and to wear proper hiking boots or at least trainers with a good grip. The website we used to find the place was Lanzarote Information - Secret Garden.
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On one of our team events we were lucky enough to go on a yacht excursion, a day sponsored by one of our suppliers. The experience included an open bar, lunch and a swimming stop. There was also the option to ride a jetski with an instructor, which I had to try. I really enjoyed it but the ride was way too short, I will definitely try this activity again when I get the chance to.
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Plane-spotting in Playa Honda, there are not many places where you can get this close to planes without being arrested. You can actually see in detail, and very much hear the planes landing and also taking off, over the fence in ACE airport but be careful not to get too close, as the power of the engine whips up a mini sandstorm. I remember the exact date I went plane-spotting and that was January 1st 2019, it was meaningful as I was nearing the end of my placement there but also what a beautiful way to start the new year; it is an experience and memory that I will never forget.
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That ends my post, I do hope you enjoyed reading my highlights in Lanzarote. I know this was pretty short especially for the fact I was in Lanzarote for 3 months but it was winter season and the atmosphere was not really for me. Within the company I was with, we had a saying, you're either Team Greece or Team Spain and it was true, everyone seemed to have a preference for one of them and I just happened to be the former. Anyway thank you for reading my post (•‾⌣‾•)Ùˆ ̑̑♡
