We made it a Year!

Wow does time fly! And the older I get the faster it goes (obviously) but I still can't believe Sunday that 14th was my one year wedding Anniversary! Life has changed so much in this last year - I stopped working at T. Rowe, got a Graphic Design degree, moved to London, traveled to at least six different countries, and became a wife! There is nothing like a transatlantic move to test your marriage, but I think Andrew and I have finally gotten the hang of things :) 

To celebrate, we went to Fuerteventura - one of the Canary Islands. We flew the lovely, and my ever so favorite, Ryanair. The flight was just under four hours in the tiny seats that don't recline. We also had a departure time of 6:30 AM which meant we were up at 3:30 AM, getting in our hired car at 4 AM and arriving at Standstead (because Ryanair doesn't fly from Heathrow) at 5:30 AM. EXHAUSTING! I tried to sleep on the way there, but it's really hard when you can't recline the seats...


But we arrived safe and sound and then had to find the rental car. This was an amazingly inexpensive holiday so we were pretty pumped! And because Orlando rent a car was practically 11 euro a day to rent, it was the biggest POS you've ever seen. The lady says "the car is on empty so bring it back empty." Never encountered a policy like that. The guy in front of us got "the car is full, bring it back full" - I'm pretty sure they don't monitor it.. There were all kinds of dents and dings and part of the front of the car was falling off, but the lady sent us on our way without blinking an eye! There was no radio, the car was basically bare bones. We did make it to the gas station so at least that was a good thing since the car was literally running on fumes! Then it was off to the northern city of Corralejo to our flat.

Fuereteventura was not at all what I pictured! I had no idea how volcanic it was going to be. There were stretches of absolutely nothing but rocks and desert-like terrain and then, out of no where, it turned into sand dunes. It was really barren too, with small concentrations of built up areas that I guess were considered towns? And the weirdest part is that even during the barren desert stretches, you'd see the random motor home van way out in the middle of it that had set up shop. Didn't seem like a very homey environment to me! 

I was REALLY happy with our Corralejo choice because it actually felt like a honest town.  There were so many hotels in the middle of nowhere. We were able to stock up at the grocery stores for breakfast and lunch and get all the Haribo candy I could eat! London doesn't have the same candy as back in the States - no candy I have ever heard of really. So when I saw the gummy bears, pink and yellow peaches, and the sour gummy belts, I went nuts! It was GLORIOUS :) 

In Corralejo, we stayed in a beautiful flat on the beach. There was nothing but clear blue water and sand. Being a part of Spain, we were privy to a lot of topless and nude sunbathing... apparently the group this appeals to most is the over 60's who are overweight! I have some images that will certainly haunt my memory for quite some time... they are burned in there! 

One of the goals of this vacation was to do some kiteboarding since Fuerteventura literally means "Strong Adventure" in Spanish. I enrolled for a two day course that started on Tuesday. Alex was my instructor and including me, there were 3 guys and 3 girls involved. Alex did not like me one bit. I laugh in inappropriate situations - when things are hard, when things hurt, when I'm uncomfortable...it's my automatic response to many things. So I guess I must have been laughing during my kite work on the beach because he kept yelling at me to take it seriously and it wasn't a joke. I will say, I took everything very seriously because on wrong move of the kite and I was yanked halfway across the beach. An hour into the session (girls taking turns on one kite, the guys on the other) I have mastered the feel of the kite. I know how to launch it pretty much on my own and adjust accordingly so I can stay still and run the drills necessary to prepare me for the water work. Because I was so good with the kite, I got to preform my skills and then Alex made me switch so the other girls could practice. They were not as good with the kite and therefore needed more time out of it. So in the five hours of day 1, I think I touched the kite for less than an hour and a half. Pitiful. And because the other girls were so bad, Alex spent most of the time with the boy group. I was so pissed, I walked the 45 minutes home in the cold wind, absolutely fuming. Probably a good move since I felt much better once I finally made it back. 
 
Andrew kiteboarded that same day, but there wasn't a lot of wind so he said it wasn't that great. I'm sad it wasn't that great for him because the wind never really picked up enough for him to try again the rest of the trip. He's a big boy and requires a lot of wind to play! I opted out of day two (although I REALLY like the kite stuff) A) because I couldn't imagine another day of being yelled at by Alex, and B) the body drag portion was further out in the water because of the rocky coastline and if I was going to do a lot of observing, I really didn't want to be in a little dingy on the waves. In the last few years, even though I love love love boats, I get horribly seasick... even snorkeling in wavy waters makes me yack. Lovely right? 

So we spent the rest of the holiday in the sun and eating our faces off! Seriously, the food was fantastic! My favorite tapas place was called Tapa.itas and was Italian inspired tapas. We had lots of croquettas (my absolute FAV) - the fish ones were the best, and meat and shrimp and bruschetta, and stuffed peppers, and fried goat cheese. There are a lot of goats on Fuerteventura so we had some of the best, freshest goat cheese I've ever tasted! The very best part of this little Italian tapas place, though, was their Tiramisu. Served in a giant glass, it was so creamy and delish and perfectly light. I had this twice while there. The other nights, we walked to the other end of Main Street to the Crepe man for dulce de leche and coconut crepes, or at least that was my combo :) There was also a Tony Romas on Main Street. We ate there just because. NOT amazing! 

One of the final things we did was take a 2-hour dune buggy tour. Andrew drove and I rode in the passenger seat. There were two other buggies in the tour. Unfortunately, this was the coldest day of our trip so I was covered in towels the entire time, which worked out quite well since everyone got absolutely covered in dust! Not two minutes into the tour, we had to stop because our buggy would not go up the hills! So we were brought another one. It was really rugged terrain and a unique experience.

So it was a perfect holiday and very reminiscent of our honeymoon. I have a fabulous hubby that I love very much! Can't wait for the many more anniversaries to come!