Dunas de Corralejo Half Marathon

Today there was a half-marathon in the dunes. Unlike some other local events, this one at least managed to make me aware of its existence - for example, by displaying a large banner by the entrance into Corralejo from FV-1, with, amazingly, a wrong date on it. The banner said 31 October, the half-marathon was today, on the 30th. I strongly suspect that decided to re-use last year's promotional materials without any changes. But anyway, by some googling I've found their website and confirmed the date. Just hope nobody turns up for running one day late, that's quite a handicap.
After looking at the route of the run (big loop around the dunes), I figured that I can first turn up for the start, then get on my bike (literally) and go along FV-1, meeting them on their way back. First part of the plan went swimmingly. There was a small hiccup later on, but it was a good plan, anyway. Below are some more pics and some notes about route.

events of unknown nature and birdwatching

While we've been staying on Fuerteventura, there always seems to be somethings going on and almost always that mysterious something is not very obviously advertized, so it's practically impossible to find out any details. Or maybe I lived in England for too long, and got used to the fact that every tiny local event will announce itself well in advance. Today, for instance, there were at least two of those somethings going - one a watersports event in the harbor, and another skating (?) one in the skatepark. What were they exactly, I can't say. I just can say that I like this boy's helmet very much

El Cotillo - La Vaca Azul and our container's moving (apparently)

In El Cotillo, we ate in the restaurant called La Vaca Azul (The Blue Cow). I am not entirely sure what's the origin of the name, and they specialize in fish, really,  but they do have a blue cow on the terrace upstairs as a visual support.

El Cotillo and sudden sign of life from Canon

Yesterday there was another holiday, kids didn't go to school, and we went to El Cotillo. This time, instead of heading straight for the beach, we went around the village, which didn't take very long - it's a very small place. It was sunny and hot (surprise, surprise), and pretty much empty, apart from an area close to the marina, where restaurants were fairly busy.
Given the bright sun/strong shadows, prevailing squarish architecture and sparseness of vegetation, Fuerteventura tends to show nice limited-color abstracts everywhere, and El Cotillo is not an exception.

Puerto del Rosario - cow on the roof, new dress and my lens's still missing

We went to Puerto del Rosario again on saturday; Timur, who is very unlike Yuri in this respect, demanded some new clothes. I also bought myself some stuff, including rather funny little dress below (photo taken by Kirill). In my defense I can say it was on sale, plus our container is still out there somewhere (!), so we have to survive with a very limited wardrobe.

a woman in dunes (I want to break free)

A real-life "woman of the dunes" that I am now, I gotta start every single day with sweeping. The same fine white sand that makes Fuerteventura's beaches so beautiful makes my floor gritty and unpleasant to walk on, and we all like to walk barefoot.
Today, after I put on my shorts and short top, I thought that that they'd combine nicely with my sweeping broom. A short photosession followed, with Kirill doing the actual shooting

Have a look if interested

growing basil and other things

Those are tiny basil plants that are now growing in a pot on our sunroof. I am surprised - I thought when bringing them outside that they might not be happy about so much sun. It appears I was totally wrong.

Unrelated pics follow

short-lived croc

Today, at flag beach again, this young couple decided to build their own piece of sand art. They choose a nice spot for it - damp sand a little away from the waves edge. It was a crocodile, and it was just starting to shape up nicely when the tide started to come in.

town abstracts

Some semi-abstracts snapped around the town. Enjoy

sand art - professionals

Couple of days ago I've posted a picture of sand iguana on Corralejo flag beach. Now let's have a look at how professionals do it :) I must say I was really impressed with the skull. Less so with a pyramid below, but still impressed.

Plus the guy who made a pyramid has interesting tatoos.

Have a look

Fiesta del Mar (queueing for)

We went towards the port of Corralejo to see what was on offer at Fiesta del Mar. We knew that it was starting at 10, but I can't bring myself to get up this early on saturday, so by the time we got there, it seems that fiesta was all about queueing (funny spelling innit).

It was not, of course, even though it did look from the distance that a mass christening was occuring on  one of the boat slides. The queues were for free watersports - normally quite expensive. We saw sea kayaking, jetski and what looked like a start of snorkeling trip. There was probably a lot more stuff happening. and of course there were freebies from sponsor - green straw hats especially noticeable

A few more wet pics follow

We finally found a way of planting our plastic windroses wherever we want. All you need is a large-ish volcanic stone with a through hole from a local beach. We are probably not meant to remove "beach material" here either, but every single garden I looked into uses those stones, so I guess it's ok.

More unrelated pics below

pomegranate and cactus

Today we started to talk about plants and what can and can't grow round here with Rosa. I was mostly interested in whether it's worth buying and trying to grow a small orange tree (there are some in our local garden center/shed). I am still not sure about the orange tree, but Rosa is also very interested in things that grow, so she shown us a some of her current favourites around the site - small pomegranate tree (even given us one tiny fruit of it) and a beautiful cactus blooms that will last just today. Don't know what cactus that is - maybe there are some experts reading, identification will be appreciated. The flower is about 12 cm in diameter, very pale magenta/pink, the bloom is taller than the rest of the plant

Cactus pictures to follow

visitor that walked by herself

 Meet our new neighbour. She moved in, with her accompanying humans, a couple of weeks ago. Two weeks seems like a long time for a cat, but she's still confused as to which house is hers - or maybe doesn't really care. We tend to sleep with windows open, so she feels free to drop in any time.

Couple of unrelated pics follows

sand art

What to do in the dunes if you forgot to bring your book :)

parque natural - flora and some fauna

One of the species of Salsola (saltwort) that is flowering at the moment on the verge of parque natural across the road. My attempts to identify it to species weren't particularly successful so far - I am divided between Salsola vermiculata, which seems to visually fit better, and Salsola divaricata - I am not sure how significant is the difference between yellow and pinkish color in this case. The attraction of thinking that it is Salsola divaricata is that this species is endemic to the Canaries.

Macro and some more nature shots follow. Warning - there's a very big caterpillar in there, open with caution

underwater

At the moment Timur doesn't just jump in the pool holding his nose closed with his fingers - he even swims under water like that.

He already had three days at school. He doesn't understand much Spanish yet, but fortunately, there's another boy in his class, who speaks both english and spanish. He's helping Timur out with difficult bits (which is pretty much everything right now, apart from drawing and having a snack)

butterfly car

 Looks like someone else is missing butterflies, too.

Tomorrow primary school starts. It feels odd, as if our kids are going to school for the first time ever again.

Assorted pics follow

butterfly

schools and saturday walk

This week, on the 1st September,  we made one more step to settling properly - went to the both schools where kids will go and filled in/picked up various forms that need filling. The secondary school visit went a lot easier - the administrator spoke English quite nicely. Primary school admin's English was rudimentary, worse than our combined Spanish, but even with him we achieved understanding - by repeating everything a few times. Interestingly, his approach to making himself understood by people who clearly are struggling (us) is not to speak slower - rather louder. But we got there in the end - or so we thought till next morning, when Kirill's mobile rang. Apparently, there was a duplication of paperwork, and somehow Timur's record was showing that he already was studying at school here. The funny bit was that it was the same no-English guy who rang. By the end of conversation, when everything finally was sorted (fingers crossed), Kirill spoke with three different people, with better and better English each time.
Anyway. Some pictures from today's walk. Enjoy