Today our plan was to hike out of La Caldera, pickup our car and head to Puerto Naos beach. I woke up very early and I couldn’t fall asleep any more on these stones. Also spikes kept falling on my face. It was around 8:30 am when I actually got up to stretch. My back was hurting and felt like somebody was beating me with sticks and stones all night. Maybe they did? Who knows. I fell properly asleep only around 2:00 am last night even though I was very tired after the half day hiking. My consciousness slipped into sleep when the full Moon has risen and the wind has stopped blowing to my face like crazy.
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Actually, nobody slept well, because of the wind during the night and very hard ground! So do bring inflatable mattress or a sleeping mat as we didn’t have any!
I ate my two tuna cans for breakfast. Then we gathered all trash to a plastic bag to carry out from La Caldera as there is no place to leave your trash. On my way out I also picked up some figs from the tree again. They were so sweet!
We left through the small gates next to visitor’s centre. They are normally closed if there is a danger of flooding. First view was breath taking. With some cloud in the mountains.
Then passed via arch of cacti, which also looked very interesting.
The further we went the more beautiful it got. The sky was so blue with some feather clouds. It looked like Calima is gone.
You could see how much down we had to go down to reach the barrancos.
At some point got tired taking pictures and just enjoyed the views going down. Also because had to watch where I was going as in some places it was quite steep and spikes on the road, so very easy to slip as I did the previous day.
The road in one place split into two: one for regular hikers and another for experienced only. Two went one way and we two the experienced hiker’s one. It was a bit scary I must say as the road was so narrow and you could see steep edge going down. Basically that is the path we were walking through in a below image. Path barely visible.
I could see Idafe rock in the distance at the top of the volcanic rock. Idafe Rock is a strikingly scenic formation in the Caldera de Taburiente National Park, sculpted by intense erosion between the Almendro Amargo and Rivanceras ravines, rising uniquely to about a hundred meters. Once a significant site for aboriginal worship due to its distinctive profile, its inaccessible walls now protect interesting rock flora, particularly various bejeques. Thanks to its isolation from main trails, this natural monument remains in an optimal, untouched state of conservation.
We’ve all got reunited in around 500m after walking that path.
Cascada de los Colores
Once we’ve got down we headed to see the Cascada de los Colores. It always looks super pretty in the leaflet pictures!
Cascada de los Colores (Waterfall of Colors) offers a truly unique visual spectacle. Unlike typical waterfalls, its rocks and the water itself are stained with vibrant hues of green, yellow, and orange. This striking coloration is a natural phenomenon caused by the high concentration of dissolved minerals, particularly iron, and the presence of algae and moss on the rock surfaces. Reaching this picturesque spot usually involves a hike through the Barranco de las Angustias (Ravine of Anguish), which requires walking along the riverbed itself.
To get there all you need to do is to follow the yellow water stream. Almost like Dorothy following the yellow brick path to find the wizard of Oz.
Some tourists ues those iron covered rocks to leave the marks on the other rocks all around. Imagine if everyone would do that? All we would just see some weird drawings everywhere. I hope it will get washed away by the winter rain.
You could see how much iron is in that water! You could even smell that iron if you touch it.
The waterfall wasn’t so impressive as I remember it. It is much better when it is a bit more water flowing, which is in late fall or winter.
Last time when I was here we could shower in the waterfall. Now there was barely any water at all, jst a small stream on the left side. Well it was still a spectacular view.
Getting out of La Caldera
Going back to our path (as it was around 500m out of our path out) we turned right to another waterfall, which was very nearby.
That one had more water. No one wanted to swim as it was’t so hot outside in the morning.
We were hiking quite fast to get out from Caldera as everyone was dreading for food and some time in Puerto Naos beach in the Sun.
Suddenly we walked into a proper river. I completely forgot about it. It was next to the water dam. I think there is an abandoned hydro power plant. Not sure if it is in use anymore. We’ve managed to cross that small river without getting wet, but it does require some balance when hopping through those stones. It was also quite shallow and it gets much deeper in wetter seasons.
Further we just followed barranco to get out of Caldera. The river stream was appearing and sometimes disappearing below the sand.
In wet season, sometimes it is hard to pass it through without getting wet. Sometimes instead of walking barranco you have to take the harder path of going up and down on the side of it.
Close to the end it gets quite hard to walk barranco so you have to go up anyway. Nice views from there as you can see the water canals/ Pity I forgot to take a picture of them. I think Los Llanos is drinking the water from those canals. Of course, it gets treated before.
Everyone was so happy when we saw the end of barranco and the parking lot! All just jumped into the car and we drove off from La Caldera back to our apartment.
Puerto Naos beach
We’ve stopped just for a short change of clothes at our apartment. Also dropped our hiking boots into flip flops and headed to the beach at Puerto Naos. Couple pictures of Puerto Naos from our Apartments La Muralla pool.
We were quite hungry after hike. We passed couple of restaurants on the way, but they didn’t impress us. I found that there is a good and cheap Arepa’s place, but we couldn’t find it. In the end we sat the restaurant by the beach facing the sea called Restaurante Las Olas. It was 3:00 pm already.
The food was good. I had a pork with vegetables. A bit more expensive than normal, but still reasonable prices. Total bill for 4 was 47.67 EUR including drinks.
I felt feverish today. Probably because I got cold at night while sleeping. So I took some Paracetamol. The capsule blends in well with the table cloth in the picture 🙂
The service was a bit slow in the restaurant, so we’ve decided to have a dessert elsewhere. Also we were planning to go to the beach afterwards. Straight after we finished eating and paid the bill we went to the place called Beach Bar Puerto Naos for dessert.
I’ve got this amazing ice cream with strawberries for 4.90 EUR and a Barraquito for 1.80 EUR.
One thing that surprised me was that in the bar there was a sign saying that legally incompetent people cannot enter it! First, I thought it was some sort of discrimination, but later on I found out that there were gambling machines inside, so I guess that is the restriction law for the casinos. Anyway, it still looked strange.
After the desert we headed to the beach.
The beach in Puerto Naos is a bit stony and hard to access the water because of the bigger stones on the ground. There are small patches of sand though, which makes it easier to enter. So do bring your swimming shoes! Also there couple of chiringuitos close to the beach – small bars selling drinks, so we could buy some beer.
There was not many people at the beach as it wasn’t particularly hot, but all of us had a lot of fun sitting on he stones and letting the waves to splash at us.
Tomorrow we had a long list of things to do: Charco Azul, Nogales beach and Las Nieves.