We all took showers, which were needed badly after the day/night we just had. We planned to meet downstairs at 6:30 pm to walk out and see some of the area. There was a huge promenade that ran along the beach and it was covered with people. We were met downstairs by the same group that brought us to the hotel plus Suzie, Jorge spouse, who is a language teacher who is fluent in English, German and Spanish (she was a big help) and also Victor, who is the Irish consulate for the islands as well as a business owner and the vice president of the Golf Association in the area.
We came out of the hotel and walked up on a group performing a folkloric dance.
As we spoke with the Rotarians, we learned that this was actually a political gathering. The local town and islands elections are a couple of weeks away and everyone is vying for votes. This dance was sponsored by a candidate that represents the “Compromiso” party…No one could really explain much about the party’s position other than it was a very liberal party. The entire group was really excited about this because in our emails before the trip, they learned that I was interested in politics…It is amazing how much these people really care about us…They learned everything about us before we showed and they want to learn more now that we are here…We knew that all of the Rotarians care about others without asking for anything but friendship in return but this first couple of days has shown us that the Rotary idea actually translates across languages. Amazing! 
We walked along the boardwalk talking and enjoying each others fellowship (trying to speak Spanish and helping them with their English) and then we were led to dinner at La Marinera, a beautiful restaurant that overlooks the ocean. We sat down for dinner and began to watch the sunset. We trusted the Canary folks to order dinner for us…We only asked that whatever they ordered was typical Canary Island food. They ordered appetizers which came out and scared us all. First we were offered little fish
– Chris made the comment that we didn’t know whether to eat them or fish with them. We all tried…Chris and Carla liked them…Tong didn’t say much…Catherine was too busy talking to comment and Nic and Bert put some mojo sauce on them, ate them and smiled. Next we were brought calamari and fish consomme which was less scary and very good. And then we sampled patata arrugodas (a small potato with lots of salt) which was also good and very authentic to the islands. As soon as we finished the appetizers, a large fish (see picture) was brought to our table raw for us to see. 
Jorge approved of this and a little while later, it came on three plates grilled including the eye balls (see other picture). This was a fish called Sama and it was suberb. 
We enjoyed some red wine with the dinner and had some great conversation. Desert was served in the form of espresso (much better than in the US) and ice cream sandwiches (similar to Klondike bars). Just when we thought we were finished, the restaurant staff decided that we deserved some sweet rum shots with whip cream on top. They brought extra, so Carla and Bert had two.
After some great laughs and some more wine, we decided to call it a night. We had our picture made in front of the bay and waddled back to the hotel. Chris, Carla and I tried to walk downstairs and find an internet connection but had no luck. Around 11 pm and not much sleep for the past 24 hours, we headed to bed. Bert was snoring before his head hit the pillow and we decided to sleep with the door to the balcony open. More on that in the next blog…
We came out of the hotel and walked up on a group performing a folkloric dance.
As we spoke with the Rotarians, we learned that this was actually a political gathering. The local town and islands elections are a couple of weeks away and everyone is vying for votes. This dance was sponsored by a candidate that represents the “Compromiso” party…No one could really explain much about the party’s position other than it was a very liberal party. The entire group was really excited about this because in our emails before the trip, they learned that I was interested in politics…It is amazing how much these people really care about us…They learned everything about us before we showed and they want to learn more now that we are here…We knew that all of the Rotarians care about others without asking for anything but friendship in return but this first couple of days has shown us that the Rotary idea actually translates across languages. Amazing! We walked along the boardwalk talking and enjoying each others fellowship (trying to speak Spanish and helping them with their English) and then we were led to dinner at La Marinera, a beautiful restaurant that overlooks the ocean. We sat down for dinner and began to watch the sunset. We trusted the Canary folks to order dinner for us…We only asked that whatever they ordered was typical Canary Island food. They ordered appetizers which came out and scared us all. First we were offered little fish
– Chris made the comment that we didn’t know whether to eat them or fish with them. We all tried…Chris and Carla liked them…Tong didn’t say much…Catherine was too busy talking to comment and Nic and Bert put some mojo sauce on them, ate them and smiled. Next we were brought calamari and fish consomme which was less scary and very good. And then we sampled patata arrugodas (a small potato with lots of salt) which was also good and very authentic to the islands. As soon as we finished the appetizers, a large fish (see picture) was brought to our table raw for us to see. Jorge approved of this and a little while later, it came on three plates grilled including the eye balls (see other picture). This was a fish called Sama and it was suberb. We enjoyed some red wine with the dinner and had some great conversation. Desert was served in the form of espresso (much better than in the US) and ice cream sandwiches (similar to Klondike bars). Just when we thought we were finished, the restaurant staff decided that we deserved some sweet rum shots with whip cream on top. They brought extra, so Carla and Bert had two.After some great laughs and some more wine, we decided to call it a night. We had our picture made in front of the bay and waddled back to the hotel. Chris, Carla and I tried to walk downstairs and find an internet connection but had no luck. Around 11 pm and not much sleep for the past 24 hours, we headed to bed. Bert was snoring before his head hit the pillow and we decided to sleep with the door to the balcony open. More on that in the next blog…
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