After an hour of practice and some bad coffee (haven’t had much of that here but today’s was not good), our teacher led us to the Cultural Center where we were to meet today’s host. Ingolf and Francisco, a Rotarian that we met at the meeting yesterday and a businessman in town that is working with this farm in various ways, were there at the appointed time and we headed off to a faro, where the schedule said that we would see a modern self contained Banana Plantation and get to know some of the sheep (please hold all of the West Virginia, Wyoming and Kentucky jokes…Bert has already told them). We drove out to the hills and as we approached the farm, we saw a 30 foot sheep figure in the distance. As we got closer, we realized it was a plant sculpted to be in the shape of a sheep. 
Francisco led us into the plantation and straight out with a tour guide to show us the organic banana farm. 
We walked through and were explained the process of how bananas are grown each year. The banana plants (don’t call them trees around here) are used for one harvest…each year the plant produces one stem of fruit and drops small seedlings in the ground around it. Once the plant has produced the fruit, it is taken down and one of its “sons” grows beside it for next year’s crop. Many seedlings fall but the farmers choose the strongest one and dig up the rest. In this farm, after the harvest is over, the farmers bring in sheep that eat all of the old debris from the plants and fertilize the new trees for the next year. The company is very proud of the fact that they have a full cycle of plant growth contained in their facility. As we walked through this never ending greenhouse type building, we see strawberries, eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, onions, papaya, radishes, corn and of course bananas being grown throughout the facility (Kim Erwin and the Clemson agriculture department would be proud…no bleu cheese anywhere though). 
The tour continued on to the back side of the land where we ran into the area where all of the sheep are kept. We walked up, were met by many “bahs” from the animals and even saw a lamb that had just been born and was already walking around. We were told by our guide that we would come back to the animals but we needed to hurry back up to the front for lunch. Lunch started with papaya juice smoothies which led into wine, fried cheese, salads, croquettes and the main course…Pelibuey (Ken, that is Spanish for sheep) served with potatoes and vegetables all of which is organic. Mr Sisilia, the owner, sat down at the table and talked to us a little about his travels in the US which led into a story about the Worlds Fair and some other stuff…which led Catherine to ask “how in the world did we start talking about the worlds fair?” The owner told us a few more things about the plantation and we were rushed back out to the back so that we were able to see the sheep before we had to leave. As we walked up to the gate, the worker opened it and all of the animals started running our way. 
In the corner, the man showed us a mother that had just given birth to two babies. Tong ran up to pet the little one (I know it sounds gross but they were completely clean). The mother was protective but allowed us to walk right up and see the babies. We are directed to another area where all of the young lambs are standing around and all of the sudden Jesus, the worker, opened another gate and all of the mommas came running up the hill to find their children. It was an amazing sight to see as each mother knew exactly which ones were their children and offered them some milk. After this group had calmed down and Tong had told them to “shut up” a few times, another four newborn babies were brought out to us. 
We each took turns holding them but Tong refused to put hers back down. She wanted to bring her newfound friend home with her but she was afraid Duchess (her German Sheppard) might not be too happy with that. Reluctantly, Tong let go of her amigo and then we headed out of yet another great experience.Ingolf and Pedro hurried us back to the cars where we were driven to Parque de Aquillas, a wildlife park where we would be watching a bird show. We grabbed a couple of drinks by the amphitheater and sat down in the sun to prepare ourselves for what the announcer called “the greatest experience in the world…Wow.” I don’t know about greatest experience in the world but the show was very interesting. They had bald eagles, cranes, vultures, peacock looking birds, condors and many more birds flying right by our heads and doing tricks in the air. After the show, Carla, Catherine, Chris, Ingolf, his wife and I decided to stay and look around the park more while Pedro, Bert and Tong headed back for a siesta. This was similar to a zoo but we were allowed much closer to the animals than any other zoo that I have visited. We saw penguins and crocodiles and hippos and monkeys and parrots and some alligators mating and leopards (one of which did not like me) and lions and tigers, no bears…oh my. The park was amazing and the group was excited to get to see all of the animals up close and personal.
Ingolf drove us back to our host families where we were able to take naps until it was time to head out for our evening activity. Around 9 pm, we met the girls out at the downtown area in front of the Arona Pyramid. Tonight, we were scheduled to see a sensational Flamenco show of Carmen Mota called Esencia de Amor. The show started promptly at 9:30 pm which Bert found odd because everything here has started pretty late on what he refers to as Tiempo Canaria. The first act was a dancing extravaganza similar to the step shows that are popular in the US. The second act is a classic love story (don’t read if you plan on going to see this show anytime soon): Geeky guy wants beautiful girl, girl falls for some other rich but worthless guy, guy buys a love potion (actually not anything but wine) from an swindler, guy sings some song and makes the girl like him although he thinks it is the elixir that is making her like him, guy plays hard to get to make the girl jealous, girl doesn’t like being jealous and accepts the worthless guy’s engagement proposal to make the other guy jealous in return, girl doesn’t go through with the wedding, guy sells his soul to the devil (or in this case to the army so that he can get money for more love elixir), guy takes the elixir, guy’s rich uncle dies and leaves him lots of money which makes all the girls in town want him, guy thinks it is the elixir that is making them like him, girl gets jealous because all of the girls want this guy now, elixir swindler tries to sell potion to girl, girl says no – I can win him with my good looks and charm and don’t need the elixir, guy and girl fall in love, they live happily ever after. It was actually a very good show, dancing was great, acting was wonderful and I enjoyed this evening out. I know nothing more about flamenco dancing than I did before the show but at least I can say that I saw it while I was over here…
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