Oh admit it. It's completely breathtaking.
That's a picture taken from the top of Mount Teide - the highest point in Spain (~3,700 meters summit). We couldn't get all the way to the top because of the snow, and we had to take the cable car up to this point, but the view from here made it totally worth it. Look. At. It. Trust me when I say it's 100 times better in person.
The drive was pretty long, but the scenery was unbelievable. We drove through clouds and finally ended up above the clouds... Pfffttt.. what?!! Is that even possible....!
I'm partially glad that this excursion didn't include hiking, but at the same time, I would have liked it better if it was a hiking trip because look at this amazing sight! To see it from different viewpoints would have been awesome.
It wasn't such a tiring trip, but for some reason, us fellows took a short nap on the drive to lunch (with the exception of Allen, who kept David company during the drive). We first stopped at this family restaurant, which was closed and ended up eating at the restaurant near there. It was such a good choice. Possibly because we were all hungry. But the food tasted amazing. That's another thing I love here in Tenerife! There are family restaurants literally everywhere. EVERYWHERE. You know how hard it is to find that where I live!??! Back in White Oak or in Towson, there are chained restaurants at every corner. It's so difficult to find local restaurants. But here, it's so prevalent, and because they're local, the food doesn't actually have the same generic taste. We had conejo again yesterday and also today, and of course, they didn't have the same flavor as the one we first had. I love that!
This cool place we went for lunch today. I absolutely adore this type of setting- outside under these vines with the view of the sky and the mountains.. just. perfect. It was at this restaurant that Alyia had her first taste of conejo! I had blood sausage. It didn't taste quite as I had imagined it, but I liked it! And the desserts here (sorry, but I was too hasty in attacking them to take a photo) are to die for.
I find it really odd that some of these restaurants don't even have menus. They don't need to, I guess, because the locals usually have similar dishes, like meat, rabbits, potatoes, salad... but they're prepared so differently and that's probably the reason why there are many local ones. I promise you that if this was the case in White Oak, I'd give up chained restaurants for good!
I also love that we can order a couple of dishes and share them as a group because we get to try different things but also pick and choose whichever we like. Of course, I do this back home too, but usually with family or bestfriends. And even then, it's rarely done because it's odd to share things when you go to like The Cheesecake Factory or TGI Fridays... It just isn't the norm to share food with people whom you don't particular know well, but here, this tapas-sharing thing blends perfectly with the warm and friendly culture of the islanders. The places I've been to feel like home. I think that's just me though because I was raised in Viet Nam and the culture there isn't too different from here.
After lunch, we wandered the streets of Tegueste for an afterlunch-coffee. I'm not too much of a coffee person unless it's drowned in milk and sugar, so what else did I get but a hot chocolate - literally a bar of chocolate stirred and dissolved in hot milk... It was so good and creeeeeamy and rich! And to top that off, we got some dessert to take back to the Residencia.
Anyway, that was our weekend! Next weekend will be our final one :(
PS. Here are some more photos of pastries. Just can't get enough of them! That one on the right, by the way, is amazing. Not too sweet and just the right amount of nuts.
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