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All about the island of La Palma, in the Canaries.

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Monday, 8 February 2010

Puntagorda's Almond Blossom Fiesta

Puntagorda fiesta: almond blossomPuntagorda fiesta: almond blossom

La Palma isn't a big island, but it still takes almost 2 hours to drive from BreƱa Baja to Puntagorda. I found most of the blossom had been spoiled by the bad weather last week, but it was still pretty. (In a good year, the whole hillside turns pink.) Then I got sidetracked into visiting a friend's barbecue, and very nice, too. I finally got to the main fiesta just as they were packing up, at 10 pm. This is amazingly early for a Canarian fiesta, but they danced half the night on Saturday, and they all had to get up on Monday morning.

Puntagorda fiesta: Hippy playing a didgeridooPuntagorda fiesta: Hippy playing a didgeridoo

A lot of German hippies live in and around Puntagorda, and they seem to get on very well with the locals. Here's one playing the didgeridoo at the end of the fiesta.

Puntagorda fiesta: the debrisPuntagorda fiesta: the debris

You can see that people had a good time! One of the locals was embarrassed to see my photographing this, but I don't like rooms that are so tidy you're scared to sit down, and I think villages are supposed to get messy when they've had a good party. Besides, the street cleaners were already hard at work, and I expect it'll all be clean and tidy by the time I post this.

Puntagorda fiesta, La Palma: The last bar openPuntagorda fiesta: The last bar open

Even though the band had left, and most of the stalls were packing up, a few people still gathered round the last open bar. As usual, people were merry, but nobody was outright drunk, and nobody was annoying. In fact I got two offers of bed and breakfast, but neither gentleman took offence when I said that, sorry, I was going home to my husband.

Puntagorda fiesta: the last few revelersPuntagorda fiesta: the last few revelers

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1 Comments:

At 8 February 2010 at 14:16:00 WET , Blogger La Palma, Canary Islands said...

Hello Sheila, glad you enjoyed the barbecue;-)
Just a couple of comments.
The dancing and music went on all through the night on Saturday night, there was a break between 8.00 and 8.15 on Sunday morning when it all started again and carried on until Sunday evening when it has to stop before midnight.
There are actually very few hippies that live in Puntagorda, there are some that live in Las Tricias but the rest are often foreigeners (German) and travel from fiesta to fiesta.
The locals HATE them, and I mean that they REALLY HATE the hippies. There are complaints about them every year but the authorities do seem to want to do anything about them.
Unfortunately you saw the dregs of the fiesta, and of society.
By the end of today (Monday) everything will have been cleaned up, and Puntagorda can get back to its usually sleepy 'business'.

 

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