The Lanzarote Holiday That Changed My Life
There we were in a 14-person passenger van on our way to an eco-retreat in Baja Mexico, each of us approaching the trip from a different perspective. For four Brits among us, it was their first Mexico holiday. The same was true of the student from the south of France. There was a girl who was born in the Philippines, and the rest of us were from Western US. We’d met for the first time climbing into the van, and we’d spend the week together. On our two hour drive to the eco-camp in La Paz, travel stories became our icebreaker and ecotourism became our currency.
It had been a long four years since our Lanzarote holiday, and our trips had never been the same after that. The van was split—half had experienced the Canaries and had fallen in love with the sparse landscape during their own Lanzarote holidays, and the other half hadn’t heard of it until we recounted our experiences.
My husband, Steven described in our itinerary in detail. Steven can barely remember where he set his shoes, let alone the countless places we’ve traveled around the world. Yet there we were, recounting every step of our visit to the Canary Islands.
The trip had changed us for the better. It started with our luggage getting lost for seven days, somewhere between Madrid and Gran Canaria. Thankfully, it hadn’t landed in the ocean. Our entire time on Lanzarote, we had only the outfit we’d picked up on our transfer through Gran Canaria and our airport attire which wasn’t particularly fresh smelling.
1. We’d become accidental minimalists and the benefits were hard to ignore.
Instead of deciding what to wear from my overpacked suitcase, I spent mornings wandering the grounds of Finca de Arrieta, petting donkeys and gathering eggs at Cluckingham Palace, while Steven picked up fresh bread from the provisions shop right on-site. We dipped our toes into nature tourism and loved every second.
Since I had no brush or no curling iron, it was straight to the beach after breakfast for a quick dunk and a sunbathe. I started to understand why the Brits used the words “Lanzarote holidays” to describe this vacation—it certainly felt momentous in it’s quiet simplicity.
With no makeup and no sunscreen, I embraced my face. It was a hat and sun-kissed cheeks kind of stay, and turns out it suited me well.
These small changes made a big difference, collectively they gave us back an hour or more each day for six days. In six hours, we took a day trip out to Isla Graciosa where we rented bikes and road the rugged landscape all the way around the island to a completely isolated beach. Ecotourism left me breathless.
2. We embraced eco-friendly travel as a way of life.
Granted, my husband was born and raised in Bend, Oregon, where we now live, so we were ripe for it. That said, there are many lessons we learned at Finca de Arrieta that came home with us:
Conserve water by taking shorter showers, this tenant of ecotourism couldn’t be more simple. The water we’d shower with was collected in a bucket at our feet, and was used to water plants (the soap provided was non-toxic and biodegradable).
Dine outside, snooze outside—spending more time in nature guarantees more love for it, too. There was nothing better than breakfast on our patio and we re-instated hammock naps shortly after arriving home.
Practice sustainable tourism by driving an eco-friendly car. When we returned home, I traded my car in for a Prius-C.
Plant a sustainable garden. Inspired by Jardin De Cactus and the rows of agave along the northern end of Lanzarote and the wine country of Yaiza, we went big back home: we ripped up our grass and xeriscaped our lawn, complete with winter-hardy cactus and locally foraged obsidian. Our vegetable garden feeds us plenty from June to October. Bend, Oregon is actually a high desert, and we’ve inspired a few of our neighbors to rip out their grass as well.
3. We became eco tourists.
It started with Finca de Arrieta. Next came a vacation rental steps from Hanalei Bay in Hawaii, where all we needed were bikes to cruise around the beach town. Let’s not forget that ecolodge deep in the Belizean jungle. We spent three weeks exploring the Mediterranean with little more than backpacks. That trip included a six-day camper van adventure across Sardinia while I was five months pregnant, but that’s a story for another day.
On our recent eco tour in La Paz, Mexico, we stayed in canvas tents along the Pacific doing turtle conversation, whale watching, and even had a chance to swim with whale sharks along with a team of marine biologists and former-poachers turned conservationists. It was truly remarkable, and all the while we shared stories from Lanzarote with our fellow eco travelers.
Travel has forever changed for us, thanks to Finca de Arrieta and our Lanzarote holiday.
We’d never been big on the mainstream tourist attractions (although we made an except to watch FC Barcelona in all of their glory at Camp Nou), and our time in Lanzarote solidified that our preferred pace was quite simply our own, in rhythm with the natural world around us.
4. We redefined our travel rhythm.
We had the freedom to explore local landmarks, in this case the works of Cesar Manrique which dotted the islands in careful sync with the landscape, free from crowds, free from lines topped our list. We’d always opt for self-guided itineraries and free time to explore what was right in front of us.
We dined in local restaurants—like the “taco shack” on Arrieta Beach that was anything but a taco shack—the paella was divine. We savored fresh fish and grilled pulpo too numerous and succulent to count in Lanzarote’s tight-knit fishing villages. All washed down with local wine—Malvasia of course—and incredible sunsets, like the El Golfo sunset that’s forever etched in our minds.
We became even more enamored in regional Spanish cuisine, bringing recipes like patatas arrugadas, camarones al ajillo, red mojo, and verde sauces to our restaurant back home.
We generally steered clear from crowds—while Lanzarote might be best known for Playa Blanca, we kept to the northern part of the island, only going so far as Yaiza for wine tasting before returning to our peaceful paradise, Finca de Arrieta.
So how does our Lanzarote holiday end?
When our luggage finally arrived, it was time to scoot to our next destination: Barcelona. I’ll never forget opening up that suitcase in our cramped city-center hotel room.
I turned to Steven, “I can’t believe I packed 5 pairs of shoes, what was I thinking? I don’t need all of this stuff. It’s carry-ons from now on.”
Steven never looked at me with more love in his eyes.
To read more about our Lanzarote holiday, read I Left My Heart in Lanzarote.
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