Mundo Aborigen
When you year after year travel on holiday to Gran Canaria, it's offen the same holiday offers you meet every time, restaurants, activities and beach, but have you ever thought of how it all started...
There are about 5 million tourists traveling to the island each year, but only the few people know how it all started, how the first people lived, how they were doing everyday and tools they had.
All these questions can be answered at Mundo Aborigen, which is a faithful copy of how the first people on the islands lived. On a 110,000 sqkm freelands museum on the way to Fataga, you can walk around in such a village. It has over 100 figures of natural size and there are a lot of small houses that show the daily life of these small, busy people.
There is also a demonstration of how the shepherd used long sticks to get down the mountainsides.
They also have animals and they are quite harmless.
You can walk around the park on your own but be aware because it is’n an easy walk and some plases can be quite hard for walking.
In connection with the park, there is also a small museum that you shouldn’t miss. From the park there is a great view of Playa del Ingles and t is possible to buy a small refreshment in the cafeteria.
Mundo Aborigen is open 9 AM to 6 PM and it is on the way to Fataga, about 6 Km, from San Fernando.
Bus nr. 18 Driving out, not often, but there is a possibility if you are not driving yourself.
Romantic cave house situated in Artenara
Romantic cave house situated in Artenara, Gran Canaria, surrounded by nature trails, flora and fauna. In its cozy interior is equipped with two bedrooms, living room with TV and Canal Satellite Digital, dining room, fully equipped kitchen and bathroom with tub.
So if you have ever been called a troglodyte, your holiday here!
This tour is not so far away. We start from Puerto Rico at 20:00 and go directly to Salobre which is behind El Tablero.
When we arrive there will be a little introduction of the place, it's history and the family behind.
We find a place to sit and will be served different tapas. When you eat local tapas you eat in a local manner... that means that you don´t get your own plate, but you take from big plates in the middle of the table and share with the others next to you and periodically you just move around the plates, so you get the chance to try all the tapas. It takes a long time to eat tapas and it´s eaten not only because you are hungry, but also for fun and see your friend and family, so it´s normal to spend a few hours
Around 21:00 two men begin to play music that helps aids the digestion and helps the last of the food go down,This is a completely different and a super cozy evening and of course. If you can find the rhythm you are of course welcome to have a dance.
We can help with transport if you sign up for this trip. Food and drink are at your own expense, and we will also be there so we don´t miss anything.
Hopefully we will see you for a fun and different evening.
This trip is about 140 km long and will take the most of a day but don't worry we will make sure that there are a few good breaks along the way. The market in San Mateo closes at 14:00, so you have to leave in the morning from home to get the most out of the trip.
We drive towards Las Palmas on the highway and pass the airport, then we turn to Telde where we drive through the town and follow the road to Valsequillo and San Mateo.
All the way from Telde we will pass through interesting and beautiful green areas with a lots of flowers and trees. Especially the big "Weeping willows" and "gum trees" (those we know as houseplants at home) which stand along the streets throughout the trip.
When we have come through "Las Vegas" - yes we are going far way around - then we will see the many almond trees that are recognizable by the black strain.
The tour continues through a few small towns and soon we can see San Mateo down on the right hand side.
In the local restaurants you can enjoy a lunch or just quench your thirst, and on the square to the halls - on the other side of the road, there are often various events or dancing to live music and we are all welcome to have a dance.
Our next stop is at the vantage point "Bandama" where we can see the volcano crater, where apparantly there still lives a hermit, and from Bandama you can see the all over Las Palmas including the golf course " Bandama" and on a clear day you can see all the way to Fuerteventura.
This island is a non-stop celebration
Folk Festivals in Gran Canaria
The arrival spring marks the start of celebrations throughout the 1,500 square kilometres of Gran Canaria. And this is no figure of speech.
The island, divided into 21 municipalities encompassing neighbourhoods, towns, and villages, quickly found a million reasons to celebrate once it found out that the weather wouldn’t spoil the fun.
The screech of a rocket shooting into the sky will tell you that someone, somewhere, is having a great time. Join in the fun. Buy a straw hat at any stall, order anything at any roadhouse, and join the celebration wave. Let your hair down!
Need an excuse to join up?
Any will do, although there are several reasons for Gran Canaria to spend summers with music and street dancing. On the one hand, we have the calendar of saints’ days, with a large number of saints and virgins who find true and selfless devotion in Gran Canaria and receive offerings from the hands of hundreds of followers dressed up in typical island attire. Pilgrims try not to lose their balance among the large baskets filled with vegetables and sea produce, and the sound of timples (similar to banjos) and guitars.
A group of neighbours playing and laughing in the festivities in Agüimes Festivities in Honour of San Juan on the beach at Las Canteras.
The most important festivity from a sacred standpoint is that of the Virgen del Pino, held on September 8th, in Teror. Within a setting of traditional balconies, laurels, and ancient monkey puzzles, thousands of devotees place a myriad of offerings at the feet of the image. These offerings arrive on wagons and carts flanked by the best of ancient dress and Canarian folklore. On these special days, a wave of pilgrims begin a night walk to town from all cardinal points on Gran Canaria, some to fulfill promises, others out of pure and simple joy.
The other reason may be that the light of Gran Canaria brings joy to everyone. Months of joyful celebration with a blend of gatherings, sports tournaments, sun dances, open-air film festivals, and traditional music concerts on an island that really knows how to enjoy itself. And this is no figure of speech either. Boy laughing in the clay throwing festivity.
The festivity of El Charco
How would we otherwise explain all the fun derived from a celebration drenched in mud, as during Santa Brigida’s festivity? How could it not be fun to watch half the town throwing water at each other in buckets or by other bizarre means, as happens in Telde? Have you not taken part in the celebrations held by fishermen in honour of the Virgen del Carmen?
Such festivities abound throughout the island. But there is still more, for there is also a third reason. In his or her own special way, each islander identifies several of these festivities with the customs of the ancient Canarians. The best known of such traditional celebrations is that of La Rama, which reaches its greatest moment in the Agaete village. During La Rama festivity, a large crowd bearing large branches picked on the hills at night marches towards the sea to the tune of lively and joyous musical bands.
Giant-headed figure on stilts leads the way in La Rama de Agaete Fishermen honour their patron saint in the festivities of La Virgen del Carmen
The merry procession lasts all morning until the crowds reach the coastline, where the sea is embraced with a modern rendering of what is believed to be an ancestral rain dance.
El Charco - celebrated in the town of San Nicolás - should be attributed to the same pre-Hispanic origins. Every September 11th, at the cry of “Now!” and with the firing of a rocket, hundreds of people carrying baskets enter a large pond by a beautiful cobble beach to catch the slippery spiny loach fish with their bare hands. The spectacle in itself is somewhat amazing, as amazing as an island that, perhaps due to its fine weather or its people, has always got a smile on its face. It would be possible for a determined tourist in Gran Canaria to hop from celebration to celebration while barely touching the ground.
Finca Cordal, museum and events
Museo de la Zafra, the hard wearing of tomato plants
Las Salinas De Tenefe, salt extraction of the Atlantic Ocean
Las Canteras besch, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
Ticket distribution overview, easy and no queue.
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