The Gate To The New World

Written in Arrecife, Lanzarote, am 30.03.2010

700 kms over the islands of Gran Canaria, Teneriffa, La Palma and Lanzarote

When I came to the Canary Islands last November, I would have never believed that my intermediate stop would turn into an extended exploration of the island. I had initially come to quickly search for a ride to the Carribean. Instead, I discovered a true hiking paradise with a surprising variety of landscapes diverging heavily in geology, climate and vegetation even though all of the islands are of volcanic origin.

Now, four months later, I look back on an active time, which has forced me to intensely think about my way and has required some important decisions. On my hikes over Gran Canaria, Teneriffa, La Palma and Lanzarote I met some very interesting people, who inspired me to continue my way in serenity. The following is a report on these encounters. My everyday hiking life is not the focus on this occasion. The reason being that I wrote a number of articles about my island hikes for magazines during my “office” break in Las Palmas. I do not want to tell the same stories again here. I will let you know, of course, when those articles are published but here are some exclusive stories for you.

In search of a boat
It was high season in the sailing port of Las Palmas, when I arrived in Gran Canaria at the end of November. The pontoons are filled up to the last spot by sailing boats of all sizes, types and countries of origin. Everyday some take off and new boats come in. The port is a true meeting point for people on big voyages. Some of the sailors have already travelled for years and decades around the globe – simply living on the water. The Canary Islands is the gate to the new world. The route taken by Columbus on his westward travels.

The "Sailors Bar", which enjoys a monopoly position in the sailing port, is a locale for sailors to hang around, but also for several adventurers who have come together from all around Europe to attempt to hitchhike over the Atlantlic. Some of them, like the likeable Catalan Jordi, have already been looking for weeks for a berth on a boat. Others are more lucky and find a ride within a couple of days. It is a question of being in the right place at the right time.

Looking for a berth on a ship is exhausting. This is partly because on one round over the piers I meet only a few sailors who are on board at that time and because I do not feel very comfortable in the role of the solicitant, especially because I cannot offer sailing experience. But the other hitchhikers are in the same position, and when on a hot tiring day our motivation has fled, we cheer each other up with some funny conversation or a fresh croissant from the bakery.

77 countries in 7 years
In the port I meet Roland from Switzerland, he is also looking for a ride. For seven years he has been travelling with his big "pace" flag to collect signatures for world peace. He has already visitied 77 countries in Europe, Asia, Oceania and Africa, now he is going to South and then North America, where he will present his petition to UNO in 2012. I invite Roland for a coffee, and he tells me about his incredible trip, which he has undertaken to a large extent without any money. "Global peace is possible", he says about his vision, "if everybody who signs the petition sticks to this conviction and  spreads the word, then a big part is already realized". A wonderful moment of inspiration after the tiring search from boat to boat.

Difficult questions
After an unsuccessful week I need a break and I decide to walk across Gran Canaria. From my first day on the island I have been looking forward to explore the mountains in view on the horizon in the South. The French captain Tomas has offered to give me a ride on his boat to the South of the island in order to check my seaworthiness. The wind is strong on that day and the waves big, I am badly seasick on the rocking boat. A nice foretaste...

After six days I am back in Las Palmas. I again try my luck, but day after day I feel more depressed. The whole story is not "flowing" as I had planned. In addition to my difficulties in seafaring (no sailing experience, and seasick) some doubts arise as to whether I should travel so far at all. What do I really want? Shall I really go to South America? A long journey for somebody who does not use airplanes. Or is it better to stay in Europe? Do I have the choice? Difficult questions! Tired from the boat search I focus again on hiking and take the ferry to Tenerife.

A perfect day
On my hike over Tenerife over two intense weeks I experience many wonderful moments. It is difficult to decide which has the most impact on me. However, the geographic highlight of those two weeks can be seen from everywhere - also from the other islands. The Teide. The 3718 meter volcanic peak is the highest mountain of Spain. I need to wait several days until the weather allows me to ascend. It is the first time that I have been on such a high mountain! The stunning panorama has a strong impact and touches me deeply. After the Teide I am finished with my walk over Tenerife, and I decide to hitchhike to the recreational area of Los Llanos. In Tamaimo I get a lift from Beth and Rich, a young English couple who have arrived a year ago to start a permaculture initiative. They are going to Los Llanos for a night out at a bar with live music which only opens once a week. There is no doubt that I am going to join them.

The bar is exactly the type of bar you look for when you are travelling. A crowd of young, open-minded people, who come together to relax, chat and make music on this Sunday afternoon. Selfmade tapas are offered at the terrace where the sunset over La Palma can be watched. Inside the bar, there is a rousing percussion session going on. It is the perfect evening after a perfect day, everything seems to be in the flow again. I meet Robbi, who has inherited a house from his father in "Icod the los vinos". He tells me about his "Finca alternativa", where, with his wife Nia,  he is realizing his life’s dream: live ecologically and pass on the spirit. It sounds interesting, so I visit the couple two days later. 

At the “Finca alternativa”
Robbi shows me their ranch, where he organically cultivates all types of fruits and vegetables for their own use. The oranges are ripe and I pick one from the tree. Yes, THAT is how an orange tastes! In the back corner they have a guest house which Robbi rents to ecologically interested tourists. In addition to this, twice a week he opens the little bar on the ground floor where he offers selfmade organic “tapas” to the visitors, mostly friends. That brings in just enough money for other expenses. Nia has a doctorate in Traditional Chinese Medicine. She produces biological medicaments and cosmetics in her medical practice (do you mean naturopathic remedies and medications?). She is also interested in Tenerife’s local natural remedies. She has already catalogued 83 of the traditionally used medicinal plants. When Robbi and Nia talk about their “projecto” - a life in harmony with nature, their enthusiasm is contagious.

Back in Las Palmas
It is mid-January when I come back to Las Palmas. The hikes over Tenerife and especially the following 11 days over La Palma have exhausted me. I decide to take a break and I rent a little room in the idyllic old town of Las Palmas. Lartaun, the owner and flat mate offers me an old computer, and I set up my “office” in the living room at wide open terrace doors. I work busily on some stories of the hike. Some friends, which I know from the port, invite me to Marzagan, a suburb of Las Palmas. That is where Barlan has established a center for Yoga workshops on a ranch. But this time there will be no Yoga session, but a “Temaskal”.

Temaskal
We arrive at the Finca in eary afternoon and Barlan shows us the site. Like Robbi, he is following his life´s dream: live ecologically and share the spirit of Yoga. He has built an atmospheric Yoga room, whose exit leads directly into the gardens. “The waste water is completely recycled”, he explains and demonstrates his processing plant, which he uses to obtain high quality dung for his small organic farm.

In the evening the moment has arrived: Temaskal. It is an old cleaning ritual from Mexico, which has its origins in the Mayan culture and is still in practice nowadays. The two Mexicans Levi and Jorge, whomI had met the week before, have already finished all the preparations. Keeping to tradition they have constructed a dome-shaped tent with blankets and tarps, held up by a support made of wooden branches that have been tied together. Simliar to a sauna one goes into the tent, where fire heated stones are brought in. “These sweat lodges exist in many old cultures, they are considered to be the first hospitals of the world”, Jorge explains. “It is a mixture of physical and mental lavation. The point is to renew the oftenly forgotten connectedness of humans with earth and to thank nature for its rich gifts.”

It would be unable to describe in words the full symbolic richness of the Temaskal. Altogether the eight of us spend more than three hours in the tent during which time Levi shifts the red-hot glowing stones four times. Heat and vapor makes us sweat heavily. At times we cool our skin with Aloe Vera leaves. Led by the drums we sing many old songs in the indian Nahuatl language, which gives the ritual a special magic. Everybody is allowed to rise to speak, if something comes into his mind, for that which he would like to express his thankfulness. After the intense ceremony I am exhausted, but I enjoy the deep feeling of ease and relaxation while we rest under the full moon. It has worked, I feel absolutely at peace with the world. Soon I fall tired into my bed.

Surprising Lanzarote
After a total of seven weeks in the “office” in las Palmas I feel like walking again. In the meantime I have discarded my Carribean plans and instead decided that Morocco will be my next destination. It is too early in the spring to experience the the mountains of Morocco, so I decide to make a stop in Lanzarote. Right from the beginning I feel absolutely comfortable on this incredible island, which surprises me by being completely different from the other islands. It has volcanic cones in all colors from red, brown, green and white, with a maximum height of 600 meters and all are  completely treeless! It does not rain a lot. Just the constand Passat wind, whose humidity is accumulated in the poros brash, which makes it possible to grow their famous wine. Unhurriedly I hike over the island in two weeks before I take the ferry to the small satelite island of “La Graciosa” north of Lanzarote – the location of another crucial encounter.

Island of luck
It rains as I set off to hike around the island. That does not worry me, as I already know that the sun will be back in a number of hours. The island is small, and the next day I am once again back in the main village of “Caleta de Sebo” with its 500 inhabitants. Life is easy-going here, there are no paved streets and the only vehicles are a couple of jeeps. They say that this is how all of Lanzarote was 30 years ago. A few sailing boats are in the port, and I attempt to obtain a berth on board. Perhabs somebody is casually sailing to Morocco.

On the second boat I inquire at I meet Brice, a Frenchman as old as myself, who is living on the water with his wife Alice and his two little children. “Yes, we are planning to go to Morocco”, he tells me, “and principally there is no reason not to take you there. But I want to talk to Alice first. Come back later.” Impatiently I return to the boat in the evening. “All right”, Brice says, “we will go in eight days.” There is no need to say how happy I am about this opportunity!

Over the next two days I help Brice to build a new kitchen for the boat. It is a good opportunity to get to know each other. Alice and Brice moved onto the boat last year. “We want to see our children growing up and teach them ourselves”, Alice explains. “That means we have to make ends meet with money from some casual jobs, but the quality of life as a family has increased enormously.” I am impressed by Brices serenity. Day after day he works with his own hands on the boat. It takes as long as it takes. The kitchen shelf we are working on is second hand from another boat. “A new shelf would be too expensive”, he says, “and besides that, the joy in the finished shelf is way bigger if you do it yourself.” Yes, in the evening I am proud of the job we have done. I has been a pleasure.

A leap into the dark
Now we are preparing for departure in Arrecife, the capital of Lanzarote. An eventful time on the Canary islands ends, I feel ready to sail to a new continent. It is not South or Central America, perhabs the right time will come someday. But is it important, where will the hike continue? The most important goal of my hike has already been achieved: a maximum of happiness with a minimum of consumption. The encounters with Roland, Barlan, Robbi and Nia, as well as Brice and Alice have strengthened my will to continue my way and to work on the realisation of my dreams. No doubt, an ecological life in harmony with the planet is possible.

“Dreams, visions, hopes are not only constructs we make up to escape from an exhausting, monotonous and depressing everyday life and to put ourselves mentally and emotionally in a better world”, writes the German quantum physicist and laureate of the alternative nobel prize Hans-Peter Dürr. “No! Dreams, visions and hopes are the necessary first steps on the way to create our future ourselves. We can do and change a lot more than we think commonly.” Quantum physics have shown, that the mechanistic world view is outdated and that the foundation of the world is rather based on mind than on matter. “The substantiality is not a rigid reality, is is full of possibilities – and it is inside us. It can be modified by us and created newly.”

I am convinced: If we get rid of the selfmade barriers in our thinking, we have already achieved a lot. Just like Roland, who strongly believes in the possibility of world peace and who tries to take away the doubts of others with his voyage. Or like Columbus, who strongly believed in the possbility of a sea passage to the west, and who fearlessly sailed from the Canaries into a new unknown world. It is open to all of us, today and anytime: the gate to the new world.

Yours, Reinhold.

Some Impressions