I'd like to say that I spent
one hundred percent of
my ten day stay in the city
of Santa Cruz de Tenerife;
but I cannot.

I took an entire day to have
my siesta, after a full day
into the night, walking and
consuming more than a few
cocktails while listening
to a Spanish D.J. playing popular
music in a karaoke bar.

I'm feeling it the next day...
which doesn't happen any more,
except I felt this last night, the next day.
I don't mean ill over a toilet bowl
or anything, 'cause I was hungry all day.
What I mean is having the "Fuzzy Brain"
kind of thinking, all day.
Head in the fog, one could say.
Must have drifted down from England.

But brave and stupid, as I can be,
I decided, after the sun was bedded,
to once again, walk those historical,
uneven, ankle twisting, cobbled streets,
just to see what I could see.

One should really pay more attention
to the route that one takes.
Some may say, you could get lost.
I say simply, help.
You could end up in a zone,
never expecting to find a way out.
For hours I walked in circles,
except I was making the circle larger
on the outside of it.

But not to panic for I knew I was
still in the city of Santa Cruz.
I just didn't know what direction to take.
At times, when up on the high end of
a hill, I could see the Atlantic Ocean
that surrounded this island, so I knew
I was still where I had landed.

I eventually, too tired to breathe enough
to get my legs working anymore,
hailed a taxi.
Sure way to get back to the hotel
so I could go straight to bed.

Only one day left for me to say
my goodbyes to the brief friendships
I had developed, while being served
my dinners or receiving directions
to the places I wanted to visit.

I stayed close to home so I could
retire early, then rise up on time
for the early bus ride that took me
to another city, on the opposite side
of the island.
A place where you could see the sunsets
from sitting anywhere on the beach.
Beaches with black sand.
And horrific tides that send the waves
crashing down with the extreme extensions
of reaching you on the beach and with
the power to knock you over;
but that's another episode to be told.

So I said goodbye to Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
I enjoyed getting lost in your city!!
So many people that go above and beyond
to help you out. I'm glad that I met them.
But like any other place in the world,
there's always a rotten apple hiding somewhere.

And I met him, in the next city, after
the big wave hit me!

Ole and Gracious!!