Canary Islands

Sea day- April fools day 4/1/2023

“It’s a vibe…. It’s easy….” IYKYK.

Life is so good. I’ve been able to get up to date on my blogs, and it always fills my heart. I love getting to share it for myself- I’ve said that this whole cruise so far. It reminds me of One Second Everyday, which most of you already know about (if you don’t reach out to me and I’d love to share more info with you!) But I’ve been in awe seeing the overflow of compliments and response to the posts and my writing. Having people take the time to read what I have to say is already heartwarming for me. It honestly makes me get a bit emotional. But on top of all that, people reaching out to me to talk to me about it, just shows me how much you all care.

So, from my heart to yours, thank you. I have a tattoo that says “ILYSIB”. I love you say it back. To me this means there’s so many ways to show people you love and care about them. It’s more than just words or a sentence. It’s checking up on your friends. It’s “This song made me think of you,” or “I’m going to Starbucks what do you want?” or, “Text me when you get home safe.” The list goes on. In this case, reading my blog shows me that you care.

To be honest, most of the time with the blog I don’t even reread it. I write it as a think it, or write details in the moment to expand on later, attach photos, and then simply share it. So, I know sometimes the flow isn’t perfect and the grammar and whatever else. But, this is casual writing it’s not a professional thesis. It’s meant to be fun, and taking the time to stress about perfection is not fun for me.

Anyway, tonight was fun. The ship put on a costume party and so many people went all out. There was drinking, and dancing, a dj, laughing, contests, chatting…. The perfect combination.

We ended the night with a group of us on the ship playing card games and drinking red wine. It’s been such a pleasure getting to know these talented, kind, and fun individuals. They are all so inspiring, and I love spending time with them.

Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands 4/2/2023

Finally, Europe. *sigh of relief*

Today, we had a casual day, with a lovely group of people (most of which we also played cards with the night before). We walked around the town, enjoyed the beautiful architecture, European style streets, and fun atmosphere of the fairly quiet city.

We went to the market and enjoyed the hustle and bustle of people buying all their fresh produce. It was so refreshing to be in a market where people weren’t badgering me to buy their things.

On our way to meet up with Andrew at a local restaurant, we saw some street musicians playing and they were great. It’s impressive to me that people can not only hold large, heavy and awkward instruments but also walk with them. AND PLAY AT THE SAME TIME. and play well.

Then we spent the rest of the afternoon at a cute restaurant, sitting outside, having tapas, and drinking local specialty beverages.

The best one was Barraquito, which was essentially sweetened condensed milk, a shot of liquor 43 (yum!) and espresso.

Of course, I also had a kalimotxo before getting back on the ship! When in Spain…

Side note, the WiFi was great here. The WiFi on the ship has been terrible (hence the delay in blogs). Spotify updated, and I was unable to update, which meant I couldn’t listen to my music. Even my downloaded content. This has probably been the worst part of the cruise so far, is not listening to my music. BUT! Today I was able to update, and I’m currently listening to my music as I'm writing.

Arrecife, Canary Islands 4/3/2023

Similar to the day prior, we had a very chill day of wandering the streets with no plan. And I mean this in the best way possible. Sometimes having a plan is nice because we can accomplish something we know we want to do. A check mark on the bucket list. Other times just enjoying being in a new place, with good company, and seeing more of what it’s like to be a local is really nice too. The buildings here reminded me a lot of Greece (even though I've never been). The buildings all seemed to be white with tints of blue.

After walking the city area for a few hours we found a nice cafe with good prices at the beach front. For those of you wondering, yes of course it was a nude beach because it’s Spain. But we focused our attention on some papas arrugadas (aka wrinkly potatoes) with mojo sauce. Mojo sauce reminds me of the red sauce at Bertos in Pocatello but not as spicy. It’s not a thick sauce, but lots of flavor. I washed it down with a lovely americano, which worked itself up to 2 pitchers of sangria to go around the table.

On our stroll back to the ship we got to stop at the fort and I dipped my toes into the beautiful water.

Once back on board we had a great big family dinner. 9 of us joined for a big bash to celebrate Thiago’s friend Antonia coming on board. I had some delicious pork, with black cherry frozen yogurt for dessert. I think being surrounded by all of our newfound friends, the laughter, the chatter, it was my favorite part of the day.

The night came to a close with some card games up in the Crows nest. We’ve been playing games in the evening a lot more recently. It’s a good way to be social and have quality time. It’s healthy for the brain and the tummy (no drinking haha!) and the wallet.

Cheers,

Tay