Today we visited the “Grandma Island”—the oldest of the
Canary Islands. This island is old but the
construction on this island is the newest of all the Canary Islands. They are just starting their tourist
industry. The major roads are single
lane roads in two directions and in good shape because they are relatively new
and not heavily used. Our bus was brand new and just arrived in the islands
yesterday.
They had a small earthquake a few days ago. Some of the
volcanoes on the island could be active. They aren’t sure.
The islands rise and fall because of earthquakes. The newest
island in the chain has had thousands of major quakes and is just above sea
level. If it grows another 180 feet, it will officially be considered an
island.
Rosario is usually brown but they have had many times the
usual amount of rain this year. Water is their biggest shortage. They used to
grow corn but, now, everyone their fields in order to plant and so stone walls and
floors are common. They have no trees so
buildings are made of concrete.
The residents call themselves Canarians. They are originally
from Spain but many Canarians have moved back and forth from Cuba, Venezuela
and San Antonio, Texas! Strange, but true. San Antonio was settled 400 years
ago by Canarians who were sent there by the King of Spain. They have a student
exchange program with San Antonio. Columbus stopped at the islands and took
some Canarians with him on the voyage where he discovered America. They were
poor sailors and were terribly seasick but they were good swimmers.
Today we sampled Gofio sweet bread. It’s pretty amazing
because it’s not cooked in any way. It can be made from that grow wild
and also sweet corn and garbanzo beans. The flour is roasted before being
ground very fine. It’s brown flour rather than white and as fine as powdered
sugar. We watched a woman mix up the
sweet bread in about ten minutes. She put a little salt in the flour and then
added sugar, oil and water. She mixed it up with her hands. She said that
everyone says it tastes like peanut butter. The taste and consistency reminded me of the peanut butter candy that Maria Nygard makes. It looks simple enough that even I
could make it. Here is the guide explaining the process.
From a website called https://bakerim.com/gofio/
