Arrecife, Lanzarote, Canary Islands

Today we had to wake up early because we had our Moon Trekking and Lava Walking excursion. We ate breakfast in Raffles and then got ready and met in the Stardust Theatre, where all the excursions met, to go over everything we needed to know for the day. There, my dad met a couple from the United States (of course he did) whose daughter was going to be in HGTV's show, International House Hunters. The couple's daughter had just moved to Barcelona from Texas with her British husband and they had bought their place and contacted the TV show with their story. During the time of the cruise, they were filming the part of the show, and when the cruise got done, the homeowners have a little "party" at their house where they want family members and friends to be, which is why the parents were on the cruise! A few nights later my dad gave them his email to let us know when their show will be airing so we can watch it!

Once our group got called, only 14 people, we disembarked the ship and loaded into two vans. Our tour guide was driving the other van and his partner, who wouldn't hike with us, was driving ours. They said it was about a 30 minute ride to the national park, but that was in Spain's time. The ride was about an hour but it was a gorgeous one indeed.

When we got out of the vans it was a little chilly. We were in the middle of nowhere, really the middle of nowhere, and we were surrounded by by volcanoes all around. Our driver left with her van, to return when we were done trekking but our guide left his van parked there.

We began our trek on the outside of the first volcano, stopping along the way to walk about the lava. We had to make sure to stay on the path because on our left was the volcano, covered in the sand that was spat up, and on the right side was the lava. If you walked on the sand, which was against the park  rules, your steps would be visible for a very long time and you would be ruining the natural beauty of the park. The lava was very dangerous as well because you had no idea how deep it went and if you fell on it, it was like glass shattering. 

Here is what the lava looked like! The only life form that is able to grow so far, even though these explosions happened in 1730, over a course of 6 years, are fungi and a few plants here and there. 

Here we found the Timanfaya National Park sign!

Me in the lava with my gorgeous sunburn from Funchal! Only took me one day and about 5 hours in the sun to get that beaut. Eventually we would climb both of those volcanoes in the distance. 

We trekked on more and got to see flowing lava and walk through lava (on a path, of course) and much much more! Pictures tell more than I ever could of the beauty of this national park.

Dried lava that was flowing and my dad bending down to touch it!

Family photo.. in the shadows!

The next thing that we got to do was walk up in the lava flow where the walls ending up connecting and making a tube! We had to split our group into two because of how little space that there was in the area.

When the other group was going, I sat on top of the lava flow that actually turned my white shorts black! BOOO! But I did get an awesome panorama view of the landscape from this part of the park.

When the other group finished up in the tube we continued on our journey. We climbed more volcanoes and craters and then we reached a point where we could wait if we wanted to because we would be backtracking there. I left the backpack near a rock because there was no point in carrying it up the trek if we would be back. Here are some pictures from this hike upwards! Also from here you can see how the volcanoes form in a line.

This is the volcano that we started our trek on, on the left side. We would finish on the right side, walking along the edge, and eventually climbing to the top and back down.

When we returned back to the backpack, I went up the hill to grab it and then go. I saw a lizard there so I started to take pictures and see what it was going to do... and then all of a sudden it started to climb on my shoe. I remained calm for a little bit but next thing you know, its on my leg and I shrieked in fear! Everyone turned around and looked at me in fear because they thought something bad had happened to me, but thankfully it was just a lizard incident. 

Once I caught up with the group we continued on our trek and came to a point where the tour guide showed us the inside of the lava that is thrown from the volcano during the eruptions. They are shiny and form crystals. In larger chunks, they are salvaged and sold are parts of jewelery in the stores in town. There are two different kinds, black and green.

Our adventure continued and we went to another high peak where if you fell, you would be done for. 

We also go to see another tube, this one a lot bigger, and even where parts of it fell in because it got to be so heavy. 

More volcanoes, and even me standing in front of a mini volcano!

Then we started on our adventure back to the where the van was parked. On the way we stopped and talked about everything that the volcano spits out during an eruption and he showed us examples of each all in the same vicinity of where we were standing. Here is a picture of lava.

The final shot of the volcano that we walked on, in a complete circle, all the way around.

Dried up lava flow.

Signs of life in the volcanoes!

The last thing that we did before returning to the vans to go back to the ship was stop and look at an aloe plant. Because our tour guide couldn't find his knife, he just ripped a leaf and showed us that you don't need a needle and thread in case your shirt or skin rips because the leaf naturally makes it. It was quite the phenomenon to see! 

After seeing the needle and thread demonstration we went back down to where the vans were parked and had to wait about 5 minutes for our van to arrive because she was running a little late. (Our tour guide had called her when we were hiking so she knew what time to come at.) Here is a final shot of a the panorama view!

On our drive back to the ship we saw a volcano that was bright red! It is because the sand or the dust that was shot out from it was red. Sometimes they are blue too!

We also stopped at the side of the road to look at the gardens that people have. Wine grapes are being grown here and the walls are built to block the wind from knocking over the fragile plants.

Here is another more shot of the island that we took on our drive back to the ship!

Once on the ship, my dad took this picture. It is a good shot of what the island looks like. It is not your typical island because it has black sand beaches and volcanoes everywhere in this part of the island. We ate lunch in the Raffles Court on deck 12 and then we separated to do our own things. 

While my dad was walking around my mom and I laid out and tanned and I even went in the hot tub for a bit. It was really nice and warm outside and we took advantage of not having any wind because the boat was in port. My mom and I also went for a swim in the swimming pool, which was filled with salt water. It was pretty busy because it was a nice day. We were probably soaking up the rays for about 3 to 4 hours and then we decided it was probably time to go and get ready for dinner.

There is a worker from every port who must be on the cruise ship when the ship is docking and leaving port. This is the worker (cannot remember the title that they are given) that is on the orange boat after we left port in Arrecife. 

Dinner time! Tonight we decided to eat in the Garden dining room because my mom hadn't eaten there yet. For my appetizer I ordered wild mushroom quesadillas with fresh guacamole! YUM! My mom got the baked french onion soup (I think?) and my dad got a fried crab cake. For my main course I had gnocchi with a cheesey sauce and topped with tomatoes. I must say, the gnocchi at Victoria's is much better! My mom and dad both ordered the New Orleans style steak and shrimp. I got to try some and it was very tasty. For dessert I had a chocolate raspberry truffle cake, my mom had cheesecake and I am pretty sure that my dad did not order anything because the desserts in the buffet were more appetizing to him. 

When we finished up dinner we went to the show in the Stardust Theatre, Showtime: Duo Aumary, which was two dancers, a male and female, who did the ribbon thing hanging from the ceiling as well as lots of lifts with each other. The woman also did tricks on a hula hoop that hung from the ceiling and she was extremely flexible. One of the singers also sang and got to go for a ride on the hula hoop.

After the show we got our pictures taken just for fun. When we were done taking photos we wandered the ship. We eventually sat down on deck 7 and my mom and I decided that we wanted to go watch the show again, so we did while my dad sat at a table and listened to music. That took up enough time until there was a Signature White Hot Party in the Galaxy lounge. You were supposed to wear white but I showed up in my black dress, classy. It was a dance party the whole night and there was a DJ playing music from the 2000s! Finally something that I could sing along to. 

When the dance party was over, we went back to our rooms and called it a night! The towel animal tonight was a lobster! My dad accidentally sat on it before we took a picture so this was our best attempt at fixing it and making it look perfect.