Tuesday – April 29, 2025
There are over 500 varieties of aloe but there are only 4 that can be used on or in humans (this according to the lady at Aloe Vera Exclusive). Today as part of our excursion on Fuerteventura Island we stopped at a business that grows aloe vera plants on 5 acres. They extract the fluid from the leaves of these plants and product body care products from them. You’ll see plenty of photos of the plants and what the clear fluid inside those leaves looks like. Take a few minutes to visit their website to learn about the uses for aloe vera. We had a tour of the facility and our guide cut apart a leaf to show what it contains and how the valuable “meat” of the leaf is collected and processes. We also took a couple selfies while there.
Today’s excursion was scheduled to be 8 hours and out time in port was to be 9 hours so we weren’t going to have any free time after the excursion. Fuerteventura is one of the Canary Islands not far off the Northwest coast of Africa. Our guide Sabrina explained that these islands were the stopping point for travelers going to and from Europe to North and South America. Until the early 1800’s they were a favorite stopping point also for pirates. People living on the islands were not on the coast but inland to make it less inviting for pirates to plunder them. Around 1820 things changed when mainland Europeans saw the value of starting businesses in the islands. At that point housing and businesses began to appear on the coast – especially the Eastern coast which is protected from the full force of the North Atlantic Ocean. Currently tourism is the main source of income for this island and the others. So here we were stopping to help the people of Fuerteventura and Puerto del Rosario.
First stop on this excursion was the aloe vera company. It was interesting to learn about these plants that can live for 9 months without water. We were told the only way to be sure to kill the plants was to give them too much water. We had such a plant in our house and I believe that is why we do not now – too much water. Jan always went to the plant when she would get a burn and use the gel in the leaves to relieve the pain and encourage healing. Perhaps we’ll look for a starter plant when we return home and try again.
The island of Fuerteventura was created by volcanos – most of they over 20 million years ago. There are a few (6 or 7) in the North that are younger (20,000 years). The bulk of the island has soil that will support plant life but the rocks near the younger volcanos haven’t broken down yet so you don’t find any plants growing there. All over the soil is rocky. I noticed rock walls everywhere. It reminded me of England but the rocks here were much smaller. You’ll see a couple photos showing the types of walls you find on this island.
Our next stop was a small village with an interesting church. I don’t recall the name of the village and tried to find the town on a map but didn’t succeed. We viewed the church then stopped at the village municipal office to ask were we might find an ATM. The man in the office pointed us to a bank that has an ATM in the lobby. We want to give tips to our individual cabin steward, main waiter and assistant waiter. MSC collects an amount per person per day and they determine how it should be split between service staff – not just the cabin steward and wait staff. We needed to find an ATM so we would have Euros for those individual tips.
We headed to the bank, inserted a credit card and found you need a PIN after you insert your credit card (we haven’t used ATM’s much). By this time we needed to head back to the bus to travel to our next stop. On the way I called the credit card company to find out how to get a PIN. The connection was lousy and I finally hung up because I couldn’t get the automated voice at the other end to understand what I needed. We arrived at our next small town (Betancuria) and began searching for an ATM. I got on the phone to obtain a PIN, got the PIN and attempted to use the machine. All the instructions were in Spanish. The ATM was outside the tourist information office so we went inside and asked if anyone could help us with the machine. A young man came out to help. He said the machine had recently been installed and he would help. Don’t know what he did by he got the screen to show how to pick the language. We picked English and started answering questions. This machine was specifically for persons having bank accounts with local banks. We found that you must also look around the ATM to see if there is a Mastercard, VISA or other banking system logo present that would indicate the machine would accept a credit card. So much for this ATM.
We walked to the square in town that had a church (which you had to pay 2 Euros per person to enter – we did not). Jan and Kelsey found that to use the restroom they needed 1 Euro each. Learning more with each town we visit.
Back to the bus and off to visit the famous Majorera Cheese Museum. The island has 120,000 goats and those goats produce lots of milk which is made into lots of cheese. We were offered samples of a cheese that was 2 days old and 6 days old and a shot glass of rum mixed with honey. We tried the cheese and passed on the rum. Cheese was mild. Not a cheese expert so don’t know how to compare it with what you would find in Wisconsin. The museum was strange in that it also had a windmill and cactus garden. Kelsey liked many of the cacti so you’ll see photos of those in today’s media.
Hop back on the bus and off for lunch. Didn’t record the name of the restaurant. When we arrived there were no other customers. We (about 50 of us) were shown to a room in the back where wooden tables were set for 5 on a side then the tables were slid together so there was no room for those between tables to move about. Nothing happened for some time so I decided I didn’t want to be penned in. I left the table and went to wait in the entry to the restaurant. Jan told me they had some kind of soup (some beans and perhaps potatoes), tomato wedges and bread followed by chicken pieces. I was joined in the entry by another traveler who didn’t want to be packed into that room. As we waited 3 more buses arrived with similar passenger counts and seating inside the restaurant. Perhaps that is the way people on Fuerteventura are used to eating – I am not.
After lunch we started a trek to the Northern portion of the island and an area that has undergone big growth in the last 20 years – Corralejo. This area of the island was created when the 6-7 young volcanos erupted 20,000 years ago. No plant life in the rocks – just lots of rocks and beautiful sand on the Northeast corner of the island. Due to the winds that sweep the area from Northwest to Southeast, it is also an ideal area for kite surfing and windsurfing. We drove on the South end of the developed area passing many condo communities and came to the beach. You could seem many (over 50) kite surfers ahead each with a different color kite. We drove along the beach until we came to a low dune, got out and walked to the top of the dune to admire the water – many colors of blue. From that location we could see the islands to the North of Fuerteventura – Isla de Lobos and Lanzarote. There is a selfie with those in the background as well as a photo without the tourists. Long ago Lanzarote was connected to Fuerteventura so it is looked on as the sister island.
We boarded the bus and began the ride back to the ship. Shortly after boarding the ship began to sail away. There is a time lapse video as we traveled parallel to Lanzarote.
The entertainment this evening was a “Best Of” from the Musica in Maschera presentation. Kelsey furnished photos from their selections.
By the way, Kelsey likes cats. She saw one at the cheese museum and a photo of the cat is included with today’s media.
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