2004-12 Gran Canaria: The Kids' Wish

Visitors have been advised to drink bottled water for as long as I can remember. I'm not sure whether the water system now is up to modern health codes, and everyone around here has an opinion, so we stick with local water (bottled in Firgas county).

I cut a bunch of the bottles, big and small, into tops and bottoms for the kids to play with in the bath. This has been a great success. Today the kids came up with something unexpected (to me, at least): branding. After the labels came off some new bottles the kids decorate themselves and call us in to see.

They do quite a job on the tub as well. (Because there was still some glue in the paper, I had to re-wet them to get everything off the tiles.)

Finally we're ready to visit one of the most-requested kid destinations: the C. C. Yumbo playground. On the way the kids see the trampolines tied up and twisting in the wind.

Finally we're in the playground. Things have been getting mighty vertical hereabouts, as both kids scale to new heights. Here Isaac and an Irish playmate make it atop the structure and lord over others from the summit.

Lila can't quite make it to the roofs but here she is looking down at me from a height of about three meters (about nine feet). Rose has taken to hanging back and letting me do the spotting, so terrifying is Lila's climbing prowess. She keeps yelling "I'm okay, Mama" when she notices Rose's reactions.

The day is still young, and so the kids persuade us to head over to the C. C. Cita play area. € 3 gets each kid on two play structures, the train, and the trampolines for an afternoon. The mini-golf is an extra € 1.80.

(This time around the Euro very strong and the US dollar is very weak. A Euro is about USD 1.50.)

Above was the ball-filled two-story play structure. It has about a dozen compartments, a slide or two, barriers and other obstacles. Here's the train with the ball structure in the background. (One of the parents told us there's a ten-meter version of the ball structure in Germany. I'll have to try and track that down for our next trip.)

Here's the trampoline area. Four adult-strength trampolines separated by blue safety cushions. Last year the staff were rather picky about having everyone pay a Euro for each five minutes on the trampolines. This year they've given up (at least for us). As in most places on Gran Canaria, the staff have very little turnover, and from visit to visit they recognize us and are pleased to be remembered.

The day done, we head back to Atlantis I. The kids bathe, we shower. All dress nicely for dinner at Restaurante Laurentino, in San Fernando. Today we have a new addition to our group, a guest of Heinz, from Praha (Prague, for we name-impaired Americans).

This time I had to explain the pigs legs to Lila; last year it was only Isaac who was interested.

But this year it was Isaac who made the leap from asking about them to wanting to taste the pata negra. So while the two of us waited on our barstools the head camarero sliced a bit for us to taste. Eating meat is one thing, but watching as someone slices a bit from a leg and hands it to you is something else entirely. Isaac loved it.

This hard-to-grok panorama was to show the unusual clientèle of Laurentino's this evening: four tables of families with children. The huge group behind us had at least five children. It was boisterous. And of course it's the one evening that our kids didn't need the extra noise to mask their exuberance: they were studious and rather quiet with their coloring books.

The best moment for the kids was when the table behind us handed out sparklers to celebrate (either a birthday or the holidays; I can't remember which).

I was much happier with the food this time around, probably because I stuck with local foods. It's still awfully expensive, and generally I'd stick with less costly choices like La Cabaña Park, San Bartolomé de Tirajana (only a few minutes away by taxi)...

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