Our second stop in the Canary Islands was the island of Tenerife. This was our favorite stop of the trip. We arrived at the port of Santa Cruz and hopped into one of several open air jeeps with a driver and a guide. We traveled caravan style, up the spine of the island on narrow, steep roads. Our route snaked up through towns, then farms to the Esperanza Forest of eucalyptus and pine trees. The ride was fast and bumpy and in the open air jeeps we had the wind in our faces and beautiful views on all sides. After a stop at a scenic overlook where all was lush and green, we got back into the jeeps and continued to climb higher. The green landscape turned to gold, brown and grey with our surroundings turning to lava as we moved closer and closer to Mount Teide. Our next stop was the National Park of Las Canadas which covers the enormous interior crater of the mountain from which the cone of Mount Teide was formed. It covers an area of 13,571 hectares. We saw the lava fields of the Ucana Valley, including the Mirador del Dedo de Dios, a lava stone formation that looks like a finger and is therefore called “God’s Finger.” Our route back to the ship took us up and over the island. We found ourselves above the clouds looking out over the island and to the sea beyond. It was quite a site. We returned to the ship and as we sailed away from Tenerife, we were treated to a beautiful sunset.