The first stop on our trip was Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands! When we were planning our trip and saw that it was less then 60 miles off the coast of Morocco, we knew we had to make a stop there. Thanks to Jacobo, an old friend from college who is from one of the other islands in Canary Islands, we were prepared with a list of places to go, things to do, and restaurants to indulge in.

Our flight from London was filled with happy chatty vacationers, many of whom had tons of tips to give us for enjoying the island because unlike us, they weren’t first timers. It threw me off when people started asking which hotel we were staying at. I don’t think anyone meant any harm by it at all, just vacation camaraderie, but I definitely don’t make a habit of telling people where I’m going to or staying when I travel. So we may have given some slightly wrong information a few times when asked. Nonetheless, it made for probably the most jovial airplane environment I’ve ever experienced. I would feel pretty safe betting money on the fact that every single person in that plane was going on vacation. Very exciting. The guy sitting next to us even said, “Yeah, Fuerteventura is a very British island because so many of us go there as tourists.”

Our hotel was a nice little place in the middle of the island built out of volcanic stones. We had some delicious local wine for about 3 euros on our first night there. I forgot how cheap wine can be in Spain. Oh yeah, though closer to Morocco on the map than Spain, Canary Islands is part of Spain. I can’t tell you why or how, but it’s part of Spanish territory. Spanish is the main language spoken there, but almost everyone we came across spoke English too.

The next morning, we drove about 30 minutes to the town of Corralejo and Corralejo Natural Park, where you can find smooth and silky sand dunes running right up to the clear water that fades out in varying shades of blues and teals. Stunningly beautiful, the weather a cool 75 degrees (though add in the sun to this literal desert island and it feels like 95). We put on our hiking shoes and made our way over the dunes to the beach. We took off our shoes, so we could walk along the beach a bit and let the cold water cool us down. Kurt had his go-pro clipped on to his shirt so he could film as he walked. We had only gone a few steps when we noticed a completely nude couple walking unapologetically towards us. Hahaha. I forgot this was Spain. Kurt quickly turned off his go-pro and we continued to enjoy our walk down the beach. I estimated about 25% of the people were at least partially nude; Kurt said it was only about 10%. He’s usually way better at estimating numbers than me, so he’s probably right, but I’m still going with a quarter. It’s always kind of freeing to be somewhere where people go how they want and no one seems to care either way.

Around lunch time, we went back into town and headed towards one of the restaurants our friend had recommended. It was super crowded and the servers seemed overwhelmed. I asked if we could get a table for two and the head guy said somewhat shortly in Spanish, “You have to have a reservation.” We estarted to walk away, but then I turned back. Why not make a reservation for dinner? I waited a little bit awkwardly in between tables for him to make eye contact with me again because he was clearly busy and there wasn’t really a great place to stand that was out of the way. After a few minutes of being ignored, I went up to the bar slash kitchen where a bartender was sitting and the servers were grabbing their tickets/dishes. I asked if I could make a reservation. She was really nice and was in the middle of helping me make a reservation. One of the servers didn’t see me standing there and almost ran into me with his plate. He was super peeved. And the first guy who told us they had no space turned back around and came up to me and sorta yelled at me that I couldn’t stand there. I’m in the way. Hangry and annoyed, I said firmly, “Estoy haciendo una reserva. (I’m making a reservation.)” I have no idea which language the rest of the conversation was in because I felt worked up at that point since I both felt bad for being legitimately in the way but also annoyed and justified because I was simply trying to make a reservation to eat at their damn restaurant later in the day with one person who would actually help me make a reservation. My sweet husband who was born in the wrong generation because he LOVES making phone calls rather than any other means of communication be it text, email, online, etc. said, “We should have just called,” but that was before realizing we didn’t have a phone plan that allowed phone calls within the Canary Islands. But also it’s super intimidating talking on the phone in your non-native language, so I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bit happy that wasn’t an option. Haha. In the end, we did successfully make a reservation for 8pm that night.

We found our way to a different restaurant down the road towards the other side of the island that our friend had suggested which was in a much less touristy area and seemed filled with lots of locals. Their traditional Canarian Papas Arrugadas and Mojo Rojo (wrinkled potatoes with garlicy, peppery Canarian red sauce) was awesome! I could eat that as a side dish every day! Then we headed towards the other side of the island to some beaches near El Cotillo our friend recommended.

Piedra Playa and Ezquinzo had totally different vibes than the tourist-filled beaches we saw in the morning. I’m sure these beaches were tourist-filled too, but it felt more local. Lots of dogs. Lots of surfers. Lots of kite surfing, wind surfing, water sports. The water was still amazingly clear, but more rocky rather than sandy. And it was low tide, so you could enjoy some of the tide pools. Really great.

Later in the evening, we drove back to Corralejo for our dinner reservation. Wow, that place was poppin’. This was absolutely where all the tourists go. Some of the plazas had singers singing mostly English songs. During dinner we heard Dolly Pardon, The Beatles, and Justin Bieber to name a few.

The food was delicious and was worth the trouble to get the reservation. We tried some moray eel and octopus for the starters and had a seafood paella (as one should do in Spain) along with an entire bottle of wine. Delicious. We spent the rest of the evening strolling around the town before driving back to our hotel. We were joking all evening that Corralejo is the Waikiki of Fuerteventura, and then we walked past a shop called “Waikiki” and couldn’t stop giggling about it. Probably funnier with the wine.

All in all, we would definitely recommend the Canary Islands. I would personally love to visit some of the other islands as I’ve heard they each have something a little different to offer.

Next up: On to Morocco!!