A Study in Sands

Those of you suffering the long, grey winter in Vancouver will probably want to skip this post.

I HAVE to tell you about the two best beaches on Tenerife.

The first was the one that I frequented the most, just a 10 minute bus ride from right outside my hotel. Playa de Las Teresitas is a man-made beach on Tenerife, and so the only one (so I've heard, I didn't see all of the beaches) without black sand. In 1973, the city brought 4 million bags on sand over from the Sahara to make this beach. They also constructed a breakwater to protect the beach, so it's popular even for the locals just to come down and swim laps (it's 1.5km long).

The next beach I discovered because I happened to meet two new friends on the way to the bus station! Otherwise, I probably wouldn't have gone, only because the bus to that beach stops right by Las Teresitas and I would have just gotten off there. Vacation = lazy.

Playa del Roque de Las Bodegas is a black sand beach, and absolutely gorgeous. There's something weird about seeing yourself covered in black sand. Especially when you're getting on the bus and trying to hide from the bus driver that you're covered in it and probably about to leave half the beach behind on the bus. Overall, a great day!

So now I can say that I've been swimming in the Atlantic. Oh, and for those of you who hate me after reading this, you might be comforted to know that despite washing my hair daily, I STILL find the odd piece of sand in my hair.