Section 06: Las Hayas, Parque Nacional Garajonay, Laguna Grande, Rason de Bruma, Las Creces – Las Hayas – Arure
So, after not sleeping at all, we were up early enough to catch the bus to Las Hayas. A bit of an adventure, you basically stand around until it arrives or you lose patience and call a taxi. đ And yes, you have to signal the drive when you want to get off – since there is no signage it’s easiest to keep your gps running and press the button once it looks like you’re close to your stop.
In Las Hayas, our first objective was getting breakfast and we did that at the fantastic Casa Efigenia. Lovely people, lovely place, lovely food. Side note: What is really embarassing and sad at the same time is the fact that more or less the only folks not sticking to the Covid-19 rules are the bloody Germans. They should all be shot. On sight.
Back to topic, walking up from Las Hayas into the parque nacional was super beautiful. Once you hit the rainforest, it feels as if you were on a different planet. And it’s sort of upside down from most other regions – usually, the forest stops once you reach a certain altitude. On La Gomera, it’s the other way round – below ca. 900m, everything is superdry and no forests. Once you reach the ca 1km high plateau in the middle of the island, you’re engulfed by the rainforest. It’s a fair bit colder up there and always moist and wet. We got lucky and had a perfect day with a few rays of sunshine peeking through the canopy and no rain.
On the way back, we stopped for more cake at Efigenia’s and then walked down to Arure. I was soooo glad that we had booked another room down in VGR. I would not have survived another night in this shit bed. Or more precisely, the bed and the room would not have survived another night with me. đ The bus did not show up, so we took a taxi and were pleasantly surprised that the emergency last-minute booking I had made (the only room available, actually), turned out to be a fantastic apartment right on the shore. Spacious room, comfy bed, close to a very good ice-cream place and bakery. Bliss.