First of all the Best Wishes for the New Year, 2024. A year with new possibilities for all, we hope.
The temperature is dropping so the evenings and the nights are a bit fresh now. However, on a sunny day, many tourists and residents enjoy a dip in the sea or enjoy the sun. But you also have to be careful, aJellyfish, called ‘Portuguese warship’ came near the monkey rock because the wind had changed. A woman swam into it and suffered serious burns to her arms. She had to be taken to hospital.
Sea water can also also be healing. A man with multiple sclerosis (MS) regularly goes swimming. With great difficulty he descends the stairs and is sometimes helped into the water. However, in the water he swims back and forth several times with firm strokes. When he gets out of the water he can walk much better again. It’s really amazing to see what a swim does to him.
Forgot to mention last time. The photo of the Tarot card with tattoo was from ‘the golden Chi Tarot by Adryiana Hodge’.
Alan and Wendy
Alan and Wendy have sold their house in Charco. A big change for them. They will be travelling around for the time being. Below Alan tells his story.
Jellyfish, called Portuguese warship
POSTCARDS
Far fewer postcards are being sent these days but a series of brand new picture postcards have appeared in the supermarket that are really interesting. A real ‘Charco postcard’ is on sale now. With matching flipside. Thanks to Havo Hildebrand, and not only from Charco but more beautiful postcards from Lanzarote. Go and have a look.
The supermarket has put up a new sign. Also completely in style. Now we have to wait for the sign at the beginning of the village…
The Centro Comercial has also been refurbished. A new coat of paint works wonders.
Exhibition in Charco.
There is an exhibition of photography and sand paintings in Casa Regina. See poster.
AGENDA
*La Plazita is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Open from 12am -22pm. On Fridays music and delicious tapas.
*Lili’s Paradise opens every day at 12 am. Sun 4 pm – 8 pm music with DJ A Escorial , reservations : *34 629257645
*Tropical Restaurant Thursday evening Theo live 5.30-8.30 pm Reservations *34 685485907 open: 12 am -3 pm.
*Obona restaurant open Mon-Fri from 5 pm.
*Supermarket open 8.30 – 6.30 pm. Sun to 3 pm.
*Don Quijote every Saturday live music from 8.00 pm
*Cantina de Mala – open stage Sunday afternoon 1 pm
Recommended:
Centro commercial Charco, Massage from Fran: appointment by what’s app *34667259760
Restaurant: La Santa – restaurant ‘Alma ‘.
Learning Spanish
A new year also brings new resolutions. For visitors to Charco it may be nice to speak some Spanish. There is a lot to be found on the internet. (you tube) These sites helped me a lot:
*’Spanish with Paul’, English – Spanish. The 10 lessons of a mini course on You Tube contain simple lessons for the first steps in Spanish.
*’learn Spanish with Pablo’, Spanish – English, verbs, short sentences
*’Espaniol con Juan’, Spanish
If you already know a little more, it is nice to listen to Juan regularly. Presented with a lot of humour. You will then practise Spanish in everyday life through stories.
* ‘Use your Spanish’ with Salo
This is about sayings and conversations. All these lessons on You Tube are free or voluntary contributions.
Every day at our roof the great grey shrike,
Photo by Wim van Teeffelen. Thank you Wim.
CHARCO DAILY LIFE
It may happen that you live in Charco and are still afraid of water. For whatever reason you don’t dare to go into the sea and you can’t swim. Our friend’s fear ran deep. He didn’t dare get into the water and even putting his head under water in the hot tube was too much. From an early age he had an enormous fear of water. On his 60th birthday he got an offer from a fellow villager. ‘If you want, I can help you get rid of your fear of water.’ He did want that. They went out together every day. First to the duck pool. Step by step, stand in the water and later put huis head in the water. He progressed slowly. The idea was to try the Monkey Rock at Christmas.However, this stage was already reached two months early. He told me proudly that he had discovered that you cannot sink at all. ‘My body doesn’t want to go underwater at all unless I swallow water, but I’m actually always floating.’ That was an insight that had a liberating effect. He is now learning a basic swimming stroke, but his fitness needs to be improved. This also means cycling a few laps every day. This is how life can change when you are sixty. And they both have the greatest fun doing it.
HE’S BACK AGAIN
After a long absence, this beautiful work of art by Cesar Manrique has been put back in its place att the roundabout just before Arrecife. Everything shines and runs again after thorough renovation.
The deeper layers of Lanzarote
At first, Lanzarote seems barren and dull. If you want to discover the beauty, you have to dig a little deeper. Small differences in the colors in nature, the change in the weather, the rough and turbulent waves or a completely flat sea. The immense nature that surrounds you and that artists have known how to capture. And what affects us most is the social contacts. You can go to Lidl or Mercadona and do your shopping anonymously, but if you do your shopping here in Charco, you will receive a loving embrace if you want and the staff will try to learn your language. Sometimes a dance is also done in the middle of the store. Where do you find anything like it? This is also the case on Saturdays at the market in Haria. You are recognized and the people who meet also act as if they have not seen each other for years and they embrace with joyful cries. Well, I can imagine, especially for us northern, more down-to-earth Europeans, that it seems a bit overdone, but the surprising encounters at such a market still give a lot of joie de vivre. Every week we are amazed by the spontaneity, friendliness and sincerity of the people here and ‘the camareros’. Tourists are also affected by this. It’s not just a matter of going shopping. It’s groceries PLUS. That’s why we love this island so much.
King and Tineke.
ALAN AND WENDY’S STORY
When we arrived in Charco del Palo I was 50 years old, I am now 72 (not allowed to tell Wendy’s age) and now we are wondering where the hell did that time disappear to.We are moving, we have sold, a new adventure beckons, crazy, probably. People are asking us ‘what are you going to do’? We have a few plans but nothing exact at the moment. Most people our age are content with relaxing, sitting in the sun or watching daytime television, that is not for us at all.Twenty-two years is a long time to live anywhere but that’s how long we have been here. On the 30th of December I shall be on the boat to Cadiz and Wendy will fly to Malaga on the 1st of January.
We have always been spontaneous, buying two apartments in February 2002 during a holiday on an island we had never visited before will contest to that.We arrived a few weeks later in our car full of stuff and that’s exactly the way we will leave, if it doesn’t fit it stays behind.
In the twenty two years we have been in the village we have seen many people come and go. Many sadly have passed away but we will always have many fond memories of the people here.
There have also been some great times within the village, the first village fiesta was a huge success. The Tunera New Year’s Eve party was always a great night, but sadly when Internet and Television arrived things slowly stopped happening. People started to have evenings at their apartments instead of nights in the various bars and restaurants, but it’s great to see that some new blood in the village has resurrected some of the old village spirit.
For myself and Wendy we have always worked and we get quite upset when people say to us ‘Oh you are so lucky to live here’. We took a huge chance when we arrived, we had a small budget to reform both apartments and once this was done Wendy said to me we are fast running out of money. Peter’s Pub was without doubt the place to go, to meet people and to also have a good meal. And it was the Pub that was our saviour when Peter asked me if I could work three nights a week. With me working there and within weeks Wendy finding work at the airport we then had enough money to stay, but we always worked. Many people will remember the days Wendy ran the Pub at lunchtimes, with her famous Wendy burger and her bags that she used to make in her spare time. We still see people with the bags she made years ago.
Luck had nothing to do with us being here it was determination and hard work.
Nudelanza is probably something we will always be remembered for. I set up the web site in 2010 as an information site to help people coming to the village and it became extremely popular. Then of course the spin off and the village newsletter which I did for many years and which is in the safe hands of Tineke now. I can always remember the day I read about the shipwreck that happened in the village, researching the story further and becoming friends with the families who lost loved ones on the wreck. For me it was a fantastic piece of history.
David Cameron
Funniest moment for me personally, one evening at what was by then Reiners Pub some friends told us of an incident involving the then Prime Minister of England David Cameron, who having been told to mind his children swimming of the beach at Arrieta that there were a lot of Jelly Fish in the water. He along with his protection detail did get the children out but he stupidly decided to take another swim and of course he was stung quite badly. Wendy put the information onto her then Facebook page. How we have never been able to find out but her telephone rang, it was a reporter from one of the popular British newspapers asking about the Prime Minister. Wendy was in fact working and she passed the phone to me. I had had maybe one beer over the normal and started talking about what had happened.There is a fallacy that if stung by a Jellyfish the quickest way to give relief of the sting was to Pee on it, well I am telling the reporter this and he is lapping up the story. To make it worse I said there was an enthusiastic queue waiting their turn to Pee on the Prime Minister. Little did we know that the following day it made headline news in many of the British papers. In fact if you Google search ‘David Cameron, Jellyfish, Lanzarote it can still be seen. For weeks after I was looking over my shoulder waiting for James Bond to arrive! I never did like David Cameron and in particular the way he handled Brexit so maybe I was right.
The best bit about the village, is of course the people, those who live here and many of the holidaymakers we have met over the years. I cannot think of a Friday night at Peter’s or Reiner Pub when it would not be full to the rafters, everyone having a great time, they were the best days for us both.There are still to this day many people who we see every year turning up for their two weeks of winter sunshine. Be they German, English, Dutch or French we have made so many friends over the years. I hope they continue to come back year after year.
We shall be sad to leave the village but we want to do more. I said we are very spontaneous and to do what we are about to embark on many would say we are totally crazy especially at our age, but its a big world out there. Lanzarote after twenty-two years is now quite small. So as we head over to the peninsular and spend time travelling looking for a place to call home, it might be weeks it could take a year, but in doing so we shall enjoy the mainland of Spain. And a very big NO we are not moving back to the UK, its much too cold and wet. We would like to pass on our thanks and best wishes to you all for making the last twenty-two years very magical, may you live long and prosper.
Enjoy life today
ALAN AND WENDY
WALKS
Arrecife does a lot to be an active capital of Lanzarote. Now they have transformed the parking lot of ‘San Ginés in a winter happening. With a real fair and ice rink. When I was there, December 23 at the opening, the ice had not yet frozen. I don’t know whether that was successful later, but it is open until January 7. With a market and food options.
A nice walk is from the parking lot under the ‘Gran hotel. First you visit the ‘Islote de Fermina’ behind the Gran hotel. This has been open to the public since January last year, unfortunately you are not allowed to swim, but it is a gem by Cesar Manrique, created from a small fishing island off the coast.
Then you walk along the boulevard past the beautiful music dome to the Castillo San Gabriel on the right, where you cross an old bridge (from 1600). Opposite the bridge starts a shopping street with nice terraces and shops. Everywhere you go through alleys to surprising places. You continue your route by returning to the boulevard, just past the bridge there is a small church on the left. ‘Iglesias de San Ginés’ where there is a market on the square on Saturdays. Back to the boulevard you pass, a little further, ‘Charco de San Gines’, a small inland harbor with boats. A colorful whole. Then at the end is now the ‘Winter market and fair in the parking lot of San Ginés. When you arrive back at the’ Gran Hotel’ you can have a spectacular view at the 17 the floor. Even have A lunch or diner there.
Have fun walking.
Enough for this newsletter. I wish Alan and Wendy a very good, beautiful new place to live and thank him again for 12 years of providing information about Charco. We will miss you here.
