Staying at the Rivendell in the Caldera: 22nd October 2020
I called Alison at the Rivendell Centre to check if the road to Rivendell centre had reopened after the storm. She said that the road down to the base of the Caldera should be open and I was welcome to stay with them. I checked out from Pension La Cubana and drove over the top of the island to town of Los Llanos where I took the small road into the basin of the Caldera.
I stopped in Los Llanos to stock up on food from the supermarket as the hostel is self-catering. Just as I started to drive down the road I came across a barrier saying the road was closed.
I called Alison who said it should be OK for me to drive down and it was only closed to for hikers but suggested I check with the guard office a little further down. I spoke with the forest ranger who said it was closed but as soon as I mentioned Alison’s name he said it was OK for me to drive down the track to the car park at the bottom of the Caldera but warned me to be careful as the storm as brought down small rocks which were still on the road. The road was very steep with many hairpin bends. I made it down to the bottom and parked in the carpark at the start of the hiking route Barranco del as Angustias. Alison came down to meet me in her 4×4 jeep. I transferred all my bags to the jeep and then she drove along dried river bed to the track leading up to the centre. She explained that on Tuesday the river bed was full of water after the storm and so it would not have been possible to visit the centre.
The jeep then climbed up a really steep track to the centre were I was greeting by a menagerie of rescued animals including four dogs, five cats and many chickens.
I was introduced to their latest rescue which was a rabbit then had found injured on the roadside two days before. They had taken it to the vet who said it was unlikely to survive as it was likely to have had heamarragic fever but after a shot of antibiotics it seemed to be recovering although had lost movement in its rear limbs. Despite being very ill it was eating well feasting on mangos and papaya that were grown at the centre.
I was shown around the centre and the gardens where they grow organic fruit and veg.
The hostel has a shared dormitory which was on a balcony over the kitchen dining area in the main house.
Alison’s daughter Rosie and Clara a volunteer working at the centre then took me for a walk along the Barranco de las Angustias (river bed) through the Caldera. We were accompanied by the four dogs.
It was a beautiful walk in the late afternoon sunshine. The scenery was amazing walking along the small river through canyons and large boulders which were carved out of the canyon.
The geology of the area was very interesting with many different types of volcanic rocks which had been eroded from the steep cliffs.
The walk was tricky in places as the storm and washed away the trail which hikers normally follow. When we almost reached the end of the trail we came across a major landslide caused by the recent storm.
As we approached we could hear small rocks still falling from the sides of the canyon so we quickly climbed up the other side of the barranco where there was a hiking trail higher up where we could safely start our return back. The sun was starting to set as we returned to the centre.
In the evening the skies were clear and so I experimented photographing the moon and stars. The island has some of the clearest skies anywhere and the largest telescope is located on the highest part of the island just north of the Caldera. I was able to take some amazing pictures of the moon and was stunned by the detail that you could see on the moon’s surface.
I also took some interesting pictures of the night sky but was unable to take a good image of the colourful milky way as the moon was too bright even though it was less than a half moon.
