PUERTO DE LA CRUZ, TENERIFE , CANARIES Wednesday, March 21

Jon and I might have thought we were back in Portugal or the Azores today, at least during the hours we spent walking the city of Puerto de la Cruz. We walked “people streets” as we would call them there, streets set up just for pedestrians, no vehicles, benches to rest, trees for shade, cafes with small tables spilling onto the walkways, store after store of high fashion Spanish designs and local handicrafts and souvenirs.

Our goal was the city market that is called “Nuestra Senhora de Africa” (Our Lady of Africa). It was a ring of specialty stores – bakeries, fruit stands, vegetable stands, butchers and flower stands in the middle. We stopped for tiny expresso coffees, of course.

We were very impressed with the beauty of this island nation, the Canaries. Volcanic origins here pushed jagged mountains into a chain of seven islands where Spanish is the language. They are in-line with the Saharah, so sand from the dessert blows onto them.

We have not been very successful finding other Americans on board even though a nice Scottish couple we shared table with yesterday said there are over 500 Americans on the ship. We listen for them in the elevators, around the tables, but have only found two ladies from California and only two families on the camel ride.  Seems like such a few if there are so many others. But we met a delightful couple of Christians from South Africa.

I finished a novel set in Edinburg, Scotland, and picked up three non-fiction books at the ship library: Half the Sky, turning oppression into opportunity for women worldwide, The Go-Giver and Ecological Intelligence (Daniel Goleman). We do have time to read. It’s vacation time!

“Waiting, trusting, and hoping are intricately connected, like golden strands interwoven to form a strong chain. Trusting is the central strand, because it is the response from God’s children that He desires the most. Waiting and hoping embellish the central strand and strengthen the chain that connects us to God” (paraphrase Young, 16).

This triple chord is pertinent to us. God has taught us to trust Him again and again. This trip is part of waiting on Him and hoping in Him. We DO feel quite connected to Him.