Semester 11 Chapter XIV: I Got The World In My Hands

Hey guys, so here we go again. Checking back from this sunny island. I hope everyone’s doing okay, I hope all is good with y’all and your loved ones and I hope everybody stays far away from nonsense and negativity. I’ve been doing pretty good myself this past week… Bit less diving than usual but a whole lot of teaching and some highly appreciated time off.. 

 

 

I have totally dealt with some things I’d been postponing for quite a while. Had some days off at the dive center so I actually had enough time and energy to do so. Friday, I copped a new pair of sneakers at this tiny shoe shop in my town. There aren’t too many shops here to begin with so when I noticed this one, which is actually located in my complex on the outside by the main road, I figured I might as well check it out. It’s a small family joint ran by this lady who actually speaks some English and we ended up chatting for a bit. Pretty lovely experience. And I left with a pair of snow white sneakers. Not the best color for my type of lifestyle but they were the only ones in the size I needed, they were for a good price and I really wanted to do business over there… 

 

 

Saturday, I took a long fucking walk around the hills nearby. I made it to Costa Del Silencio where I stopped by at this Indian store to get myself a SIM card. Yup, it’s official… For the first time since Shanghai, I have data in my phone. Jumping back to 21^st century. After that, I walked some more to Las Galletas, explored that place a little and made way back home.

 

The absolute highlight was Sunday tho. The girl from the dive shop has her sister visiting and the three of us planned a hike. First of all, her sister is cool as well… We grabbed couple of beers earlier in the week and the conversation just flows. Anyways, we met up in the morning, jumped into a car these two borrowed from one of their friends and went to Santiago Del Teide for some morning coffee and snacks. The café we went to happened to have vegan cakes on the menu. I got some caramel chocolate thingy and it was gorgeous. I don’t even remember what was the last time I had a cake beforehand. We then proceeded down to Los Gigantes to do the hike. I found this trail with two tunnels through the mountains.. They said that it’s pretty difficult for two reasons. The profile of the trek is challenging and it is not marked very well. Both things turned out to be truth. First part of went around the cliff high above the sea with nothing to hold on to and a very narrow trail. After about an hour and a half we ran into this walk-through in this massive rock that had a small door in it which was locked. There was no safe way to walk around that motherfucker so we just sat nearby, ate some food and talked, thinking the hike is over. With some help of people passing by, we figured that there is a way to climb up some more tho, so we eventually discovered the first tunnel. It is big enough just for a person to walk in it head down (nothing for claustrophobics) and it is like 1km. Pretty impressive. Watching the small light at the end which wasn’t really moving any closer for quite some time had a certain mystique to it. Then we proceeded into the hills which was fucking beautiful but we were also running out of time with the daylight and the second tunnel was nowhere to be found. Luckily, at the end we managed to find it too and made it safely back to the civilization. The last thing we had to do was to cross a private property with this cute donkey roaming around. We weren’t entirely sure if the guy was friendly or protective but since we all made it, I think he was really just nice. What a hike tho! About 10km, the views were spectacular and there was the perfect amount of adventure… Awesome. We concluded the day with some drinks in Costa Del Silencio. Vibes at their best. 

 

As for diving, I finished this open water course with this Latvian guy. For his final day, we went to Abades and we saw two turtles, a ray and a cuttlefish. Super nice. I’ve been also teaching a bit more than usual and I got some new gigs for pretty nice rates. Shit’s proper these days. Plus I did some more proofreading work for my pops.

It’s yet another Monday morning, I’m listening to some Jazmine Sullivan, sun is about to come up and I have plenty of beginner divers to take care of today. Me and the girl are going to accommodate 7 open water students. It’s gonna be a challenge but I’m pretty optimistic about it. And I’m also pretty sure I’m gonna have some serious talk with some people in the dive shop. Cause I’m done tolerating certain shit… And I can’t wait for it. Oh, and I’ve also caught up with some more of my loved ones. Good stuff. Overall, it’s all good over here. Sending love to all of you. One! 

 

Highlights:

• The hike.
• The fact I have data.
• Diving.