Strike...

We boarded our “wawa” (bus in the local dialect) early this morning (after Carla was late because she forgot her sunglasses) and headed off to the northern part of the island. On our way, we saw an area called Nazareth where actor Omar Sharif once built a home as well as Teguise, the original capital of Lanzarote. There were 9 huge windmills at that end of the island which were brought in by ship, then transported by truck while all public roads were closed. These produce energy for the island. We made two camera stops; one at the Valley of the 1,000 Palms (there really aren’t 1000 palm trees down there – but I guess valley of about 450 palm trees didn't sound as nice) and the other at Mirador del Rio, where the water runs between an island and the coast and forms what looks like a river (rio). The tourism workers at this site started a strike today and most public tourist attractions on the island have workers standing outside with signs protesting for higher wages, more holidays, etc. etc. Catherine felt sorry for the strikers, so she shared some M&Ms with the poor employees. Me, being the human resources professional that I am, tried to negotiate so that they would get back to work and let us see the attractions on the island…I am not good at arbitration in another language. I think my way is much better than Catherine’s.
We walked down to the edge of the cliff where we could see La Graciosa (the small island accross the river looking part of the ocean) and Alfredo walked on the embankment (even though there was a sign forbidding him to do so) and was reprimanded by the security guard…Raphael immediately took up for Alfredo…Rotarians stick together even when they are wrong. We learned how the natives to La Graciosa would catch fish in olden days, take boats across to Lanzarote, climb the mountainside and then barter with the locals for vegetables with their fish…Most expeditions would take weeks before they were able to return to this small fishing village with supplies even though the trip was only a couple of miles long. After the lesson about the island and a few pictures, we walked back up to our wawa where Catherine and Carla made friends with some “cute” British cyclists who were practicing for the Ironman competition, held later this month on the island…Of course they did.