La Palma

La Palma, also San Miguel de La Palma, is the most north-westerly island of the Canary Islands, Spain. La Palma has an area of 706 km2 making it the fifth largest of the seven main Canary Islands. The total population is about 81,863 of which 18,000  live in the capital, Santa Cruz de la Palma and about 20,000 in Los Llanos de Aridane. Its highest mountain is the Roque de los Muchachos, at 2,426 metres, being second among the peaks of the Canaries only to the peaks of the Teide massif on Tenerife.

In the center of the island is the Caldera de Taburiente National Park; one of four national parks in the Canary Islands.

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The British introduced in 1896 the cultivation of bananas on La Palma. Today, over 3,000 hectares produce more than 100,000 tons of bananas each year. Every banana plant has its own flowering season. The harvest is all year round. From a flower in six months up to 50 kg heavy, man-sized fruit stands with 150 to 300 individual fruits. The perennials are picked as a whole green, transported away, washed, chemically treated and packed. After about 10 years, a banana tree needs to be replaced with a new one.

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From my accommodation I set out almost daily for hikes and/or explorations, always with my camera in my luggage.