Santa Cruz de Tenerife: My Beautiful 23rd Birthday!

I love being an Aquarius. I love being a member of the greatest sign of The Zodiac and how the universe is in the age of us, but sometimes I hate our weather. We are innovators, creators, free-spirits, but January/February weather does not properly reflect this energy if you have to wear a jacket. Unfortunately I do not live in Australia, so my birthdays are not usually filled with sipping strawberry daiquiris on the beach surrounded by hot foreigners, but this year it was! For my fellow water bearers living in Europe during our sensational season, consider your next birthday celebration in Spain’s Canary Islands!

Where I Stayed

I stayed in Santa Cruz, the capital city of Tenerife, located on the northeast part of the island. The Canary Islands is composed of seven main islands, with Tenerife and Gran Canaria being the most populous.

Hostel Review: El Jostel

El Jostel, located in the city center, is one of the cutest and cleanest hostels I’ve stayed in! I tend to choose hostels based on how social the atmosphere is, and this was the perfect combination of cleanly and friendly. The rooms are clean, the showers and sinks are in separate parts of the bathroom, and not once did I ever feel musty.

The area has a few parks, a ton of different stores and supermarkets, and is near different restaurants and bars. Even if you don’t go to the beach or any other part of the island, there is still enough to do during your afternoon downtime.

Weather

Sun, rain. Rain, sun. Sun, rain. Drizzle, drizzle, sunshiney, rain, rain, SUN. Living the island life for three days made me reminiscent of my time in Fiji, but I forgot how bipolar island weather is. Friday, my day of arrival, it rained on and off all day, but February 16th, the blessed day, it was all sunshine and pineapple juice after 11 AM.  Saturday’s weather was perfect for an afternoon swim at the nearest beach, Playa de Las Teresitas. This is the kind of mood I’m trying to be in for the remainder of 2019, out of the damn cold.

 

What I Did

Playa de Las Teresitas

As mentioned, the nearest beach in Santa Cruz is Playa de Las Teresitas. A short bus ride on the 910, twenty minutes later you’re soaking up rays on la playa. The beach is walkable, but big enough to hide your loneliness  do your own thing. There are a ton of cafeterias and bars along the beach, so food options aren’t lacking. The bars are reasonably priced as well (compared to other Spanish beaches like Barceloneta). 

Auxiliar Meetup: Tenerife Edition

I went to a language assistant meetup from Facebook at this cool, secret Indian buffet located inside someone’s apartment. I don’t feel comfortable giving their location because I’m no snitch and I don’t want to ruin their hustle, but the food was very plentiful, authentic, and delicious for only 12 euros. I don’t really have a lot of other language assistant friends in Madrid (I have none), but it was cute seeing Tenerife’s little aux community and how everyone pretty much knows each other, despite being scattered everywhere on the island. I have like two days to decide whether I want to renew in Andalusia or the Canary Islands, but flight tickets back to the continent, and how it will drain my pockets, is pretty much my only deciding factor. But ugh. The weather was so perfect, I don’t even think I’ll want to leave back to cold ass Europe.

Nightlife

I really can’t tell you because I passed out by midnight in my hostel on my actual birthday, but around the corner from El Jostel were an array of bars open, and the Friday and Saturday night atmosphere was actually more lively than I expected. I had plans to head to south of Tenerife, more specifically Playas de Las Americas near Los Cristianos because apparently that’s where all of the happening nightlife is, but it would have been a couple hour bus ride and I was not trying to be stressed over transportation since I always somehow get lost (hence the name of this blog). When I return I promise I’ll come back with tea.

1993 Upper Deck #23 Michael Jordan

I’m not that old (yet), so no 1993 for me, but 1996 millennial here– and can I just say that my birthday was spectacular?! This is supposed to be my year of greatness, and although I don’t really have anything profound to say about this concept yet, here are some of my favorite selfies I took while on my trip.