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Thursday, March 30, 2017

San Juan and Masca

Thursday morning M and one of the other frenchies staying at the residence went shopping in Los Christianos, looking for a particular fake haute couture handbag and other gifts & souvenirs.
The Los Christianos tourist shopping area is like not a place I take any pleasure shopping at, so I left them to it, and hopped a bus the other way, back to San Juan.
San Juan is somewhat touristy, but only slightly and not for the screaming-rich. It's mostly a place where local people live and shop.
First off, I go back to the trail along the coast that we glimpsed our first day here, but didn't explore. Good idea!




 
I rejoin my friends for lunch, and then we drive up to Santiago del Tiede, which is near Masca, the famous local jewel of a village, one of the must-sees of the island.


After a quick look around, we take the widing road toward Masca. At first it seems like a nice drive, but we were meerly in a lull in the traffic. It would indeed be a great drive if it weren't for all the people driving it!
It's a narrow, 2-lane road that makes a steep descent with frequent switchbacks. There are lots of pullouts, which is good, and they are all overflowing with cars and vans and tourbusses, which is just what you get when everybody is here at once. After making three stops ourselves, we turn around and go home. Sylvie, our kind driver and one of the Tenerife timeshare regulars, has been here more than once before so she's not really interested in battling the traffic all the way down to the town.
OK. We're happy to see what we see.



The really neat way to see Masca anyway is to take the boat from Los Gigantes, then hike up the fabulous trail that follows the gorge. Will have to do that next time!
 

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