Tenerife and El Teide March 2013

Enjoyed a short holiday with lifelong friends in Costa Adeje, Tenerife towards the end of February/early March 2013. Unfortunately we experienced unusual and adverse weather conditions with pouring rain and gale force winds towards its end. The cable car ride to the top of El Teide was quite a thrill, although only a happy few going through the bureaucracy of obtaining a permit are allowed to climb the last 200 meters to the summit. There are some staggering statistics about El Teide and the Canary Islands. Aggregated lava layers lie at the root of Tenerife's existence and reach some 7.500 meters above the sea floor, thereby ranking it as the third highest volcano in the world. This formation process started some 8 million years ago and continues still today. Due to the imminent danger of new and life threatening eruptions the volcanoes on Tenerife are under intense and continuous surveillance. Its destructive character and proximity to densely populated areas caused a United Nations Committee to designate El Teide a Decade Volcano, thus encouraging further studies, promote public awareness and to mitigate ensuing hazards should an eruption occur. The neighboring group of islands are also of volcanic origin. La Palma is considered to be potentially very dangerous. A rift crossing and separating the island is expected to result in a major landslide during one of the next eruptions. This landslide will undoubtedly generate a mega tsunami reaching the US east coast some eight hours later with 300 feet waves causing such unimaginable ravage and destruction that the consequences of the 2004 boxing day tsunami would pale into insignificance. Nonetheless nature - especially on higher grounds - is abundantly varied and in areas devoid of vegetation one cannot escape the impression that El Teide erupted only a mere couple of days ago. Truly impressive and an island worth visiting.