[Zazu]

Here's our long awaited change in schedule. Fortunately, we have a late-departing tour at 9:15, so we don't have to rush our breakfast.

Our tour was the Tenerife North Coast and Pueblochico Tour, covering various sites on the north shore of Tenerife, one of the largest of the Canary Islands. Two busloads of us loaded up and headed out right on schedule.

We left the port and capitol city of Santa Cruz directly on some excellent roads (and impressive tunnels). La Laguna, the old capitol, was seen only from the expressway. Our stops included Icod de Los Vinos, home of the famous "dragon tree" (which looked to me like an ordinary yucca on steroids), Garachico (which had to be almost entirely rebuilt after the last volcanic eruption); and La Orotava.

The prime attraction at La Orotava is a theme park (to use the word broadly) called Pueblochico (or tiny city) <http://www.pueblochico.com>. True to that translation, it's a nicely landscaped garden with a variety of scenes in about 1/2" scale. From the neolithic indigenes busily pounding rocks to scale model aircraft taxiing down runways, it was a remarkable feat of modeling. I've done quite a bit of ourdoor modeling (not counting Disney), and I can assure you that each of the structures there would have won prizes in international competition. To have them installed outside and looking as good as they do is all the more remarkable.

Pity the lunch they served wasn't. Cold roast beef, soggy green beans, mostly melted vanilla ice cream -- if it weren't for the free wine I'd have complained loudly. Well, that and my Spanish vocabulary isn't really up to forming a good complaint.

We walked thru several downtowns (it was Sunday, so no shopping), visited several impressive churches, and generally annoyed the natives (three cruise ships were in port today). I was most impressed by the architecture. Not any one particular building, but more the sense of adventure, bold colors, and creative use of space. These are old cities, like many in Europe, and there was rarely a square inch left undeveloped.

Except for the bananas. The primary cash crop (only tourism and construction beat it), bananas abound in terraces all over the island up to some elevation where they stop thriving. These are not your typical Asian rice terraces made of mud, no, we're talking substantial walls of cut stone topped with cinder blocks to provide a bit of security while not blocking the breeze. The impression is of a people who fully intend to continue growing bananas for a good long time.

Except for the condos. That construction I mentioned? It seems mostly to be condos for vacationing Europeans (Americans form a tiny minority of visitors here). It also seems that they're being built mostly on old banana terraces, as they exist in tightly packed units with erratic boundaries. Close to town they are thick with the occasional banana terrace surviving; farther out the bananas rule. It reminds me of growing up 20 miles from Disneyland and watching Orange County build suburbs over the cow pastures.

Alas, our tour guide had a poor grasp of English (and the microphone), and he ran out of things to say long before the bus returned. Our bus driver, however, amazed me with his skill at negotiating tiny little streets, tight corners, and traffic without a scratch. Ain't sayin' how many tiny Kias and Renaults he scared up on the sidewalks though.

Remember my surprise at hearing Rocky Picture Horror Show music aboard a Disney ship? You'll never believe tonight's live celebrity performers: Boyz II Men! I don't have anything more to say, I really am speechless.