The sun didn’t shine today, but it was warm with a light breeze. Steve had arranged a visit to Stephen Hill’s workshop, to discuss options for joining a guitar making course. We met Alessandro, his assistant (Stephen is currently in Switzerland), and Steve will hopefully be able to return to La Herradura to join a month-long masterclass in guitar-making next year.
We decided to explore the western end of the bay and find the Playa Calaiza which is apparently easier to reach by kayak than by land! The route took us through some rather sad remains of expensive villas built in a collection of ‘urbanisation’ programmes started in 1995. Between 2005 – 2007 many problems came to light including uneven road surfaces, land slippage and cracks in retaining walls. Since that time, there has been a continuing wrangle between local government, developers and home owners about how to deal with the situation. From the start, engineers had advised against some of the developments and structural integrity of the plans.
The beach, once we found it, was deserted as might be expected due to the challenging access and we enjoyed a couple of hours watching the waves crash against the rocks with seabirds circling around the cliffs and swooping into the waves. We treated ourselves to a meal out for St. Valentine’s night – the chosen restaurant was closed but we returned to Chiringuito El Bambú, and sat on the beach terrace since all the inside tables were already booked.
