Las Palmas, Gran Canaria

A picture of Maikel and Lucy on their balcony - you can see my boat in the background.
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It is Thursday morning, November 17th.

I am now on Gran Canaria, a Spanish island off the coast of Morocco, staying here with my old roommate Maikel, and his fiancee Lucy. Yes, the pictures show a perfectly sunny day - 25 degrees C (77 degrees F).

Heading for warmer waters

I arrived on Tuesday evening. My flight from Valencia to Madrid was delayed for 3 hours... meaning I missed my flight from Madrid to here. A 5-hour flight took 12 hours longer than flying from the US. They gave us no information in Valencia, so I was a bit cranky (and I only had a couple hours of sleep the night before). In the end they gave me a voucher for a 23 euro, very good, all you can eat buffet.

Yes, we got homemade lunch every day!!! Thanks Lucy!!!
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Straight from the airport we went where??? Yes to eat some new tapas.

On Wednesday I went around shopping for some things I need. After that I went to the south end of the island to see Maikels family. Dinner was tapas and beer. Everyone remembered me after the last time I was here 2 years ago... but they remembered me a lot thinner... there were lots of comments about how much I have grown in the wrong direction!!!... time to go on a diet.

I haven't mentioned it yet, but I have decided to sail from Gran Canaria to Antigua... across the Atlantic on a 50m-long tall ship. The tall ship is run by a charity whose purpose is to provide opportunities for disabled people to sail. http://www.jst.org.uk/ The idea is that I will get paired up with a disabled person, and we will learn to sail together... Something totally new for me, and I am really excited about it.

I will only be here for three days - it seems like my friends learning how to get rid of me faster and faster. I leave Gran Canaria on Friday (November 18th). The crossing could take up to 30 days. I guess I will make an update right before I leave.

(P.S. Tapa = Spanish appetizer. It is small dish of something as simple as olives or more complicated like stuffed mushrooms. It can really be a small dish of anything, I guess there must be hundreds of possibilities and each region has their own typical tapas. Usually for a whole meal a few dishes are ordered and everyone shares. I like that there is such a variety of possibilities and everyone gets to share.)