Last week in Lanzarote on our way to Fuerteventura

 Back on Ester after six weeks at home.

 Having trouble getting back to writing.  It took too long for me to get started.  I know that once I start, the writing flows and I enjoy the process.  Messages sent from "disappointed" followers who are waiting for new reports are stressful, but also very encouraging, so keep going ☺️

 I wrote at length about visiting Israel. I hope it was not too long for you.  For us, this is the way to preserve feelings and thoughts when they are "fresh" and unprocessed, otherwise they my lose their authenticity.  The memory is sometimes deceptive.

 We returned after a relatively long period.  Ester waited patiently where we left her, the marina in Arrecife, Lanzarote. The feelings were mixed.  On the one hand, we returned home, to Ester, and to a town that was already well known after spending here a month.  On the other hand, the friends on the pier (in the neighborhood) continued on their way, which emphasized the need for people around us to feel "belonging."  Now we have to start again: fill the fridge we thawed, unpack backpacks, remember the little things that were already our daily routines.  It's hard for me to break down what exactly it is made up of, and what exactly needs to be "restarted."  Among other things, this is the being: the agenda, nutrition, the division of time between the days of boat work and the trip and adventure.

 The weather that greeted us was cooler than we expected.  Cloudy skies, pretty strong winds, and I'm not really equipped for the cold.  When the wind blows and the sun hides, there is a dry Jerusalem cold that penetrates the bones, even though the temperatures, as promised, overall do not really drop.  The range throughout the year is 18-25 degrees, with no significant difference between day and night.

 As the weeks went by, things started to settle down.  The pots I could not return "home" from Samuel's shift were replaced with new ones, which gave a boost to a sense of settling down.  It’s interesting how important this is to me.  We met Samuel, who was cute and smiling, helped with procedural matters that required Spanish, and told us how happy the flower pots were.  We left the marina early because of a "weather window" and could not say goodbye properly.  Samuel arrived the day we left with the flower pots and did not find us.  He was disappointed because he also prepared a surprise for us (do not know what…).  Well, he earned nice potted plants and apparently the plants earned a warm and loving home.  From the picture he sent one can get an impression of how happy the basil was and that in fact we could not really continue to take it with us.

 Not easily, after a bike ride, we found a nursery, and the green returned to our house…

Mint in the left hand
Basil in the right
Here is how they looked when we left

And this is the Basil after 6 weeks…

For this “tree” we need a new boat

Getting replacements

New “babies”
Thyme and flowers

As well as Basil and Sage
Still searching for Mint…

 Sandra was also waiting for us on the pier.  The flamenco singer from the stories in previous posts, with whom we befriended and kept in touch while we were in Israel.  During this time she moved to live on a boat in the marina, which she rents as a cheap way to support herself.  Beer together, delivery of dishes of Spanish stew she made, and also a recipe, added a little of the neighboring feelings we lacked.  On a farewell visit to our favorite restaurant in Arrecife (Andalusia), we were greeted with joy and surprise with my short hair, where we also enjoyed one last round of Sandra's performance.

 And since -

 Last trip in Lanzarote, this time to the vineyards area Shye and Eliana highly recommended.  Charming!  Huge surfaces of low horseshoe-shaped stone walls surround pits with highly developed vines.  Unfortunately we arrived immediately after being pruned, and did not get the great combination of bright and fresh green of vine leaves against the deep black background of the mountains.  The few untrimmed vines suggest the beauty that is expected when the vines are in full bloom.  This trip, in the right season, and several more trips are waiting to be completed in the next round in Lanzarote, which is expected to be in September / October next year.  Good to stay with a taste of more ...

A hike through the vineyards

From Uga to La geria

From a birds eye

You can appreciate the enormous number of volcanic craters

 We couldn’t stop taking pics

Of the horse shoe stone walls around each vine 

Thanks to Google

The dotes are the stone fences 

One remaining grape

Our favourite Lanzarote wines
They are much more expensive than the Spanish wines
But, from the pics you can understand how much work
Is put in each plant

 We left the marina on a day when the weather allowed sailing using the sails south.  While the rule in this area is northwesterly winds, in recent days we have encountered quite a few southeasterly winds, which carried with them haze from the direction of the Sahara.  Not sandstorms, such as those that occasionally plague the Canary Islands, but hazy air, visibility is not good, and sailing south is uncomfortable.

 This time window allowed us to leisurely reach the south of the island (half day sailing) and settle in one of the few bays for two nights on anchor, swimming (cold) and in proximity to nature, which we greatly miss when tied up in marinas.

Goodbye Arrecife

Notice that there is only one tall building on the island

Two nights on an or in Papagayo bay

 From this point a small three-hour jump, and we are in the north of the next island in the Canary Chain, the island of Fuerte-Ventura, whose literal translation is "strong winds"…

 As if Lanzarote lacked winds ..

 About Fuerteventura in the next post…

Our sail trip from Arrecife through Papagayo
To Coralejo on the north of Fuerteventura