El Bufadero Y Paseo de La Garita

Vol.3

Quick Facts

Fun meter: Glad we did it with friends
Adventure: Beach
Where: La Garita, Gran Canaria
Type: Coastal Path
Time: 1+ hour
Level of difficulty: Eazy peazy
Good for what ages: from stroller to wheelchair
Cost: Free
Access: drive right up
Hint: The blowhole is most active at high tide with waves.

An Overview

La Garita is a super cute tiny beach town. It has nice beach front restaurants, very cool artwork, a fancy paved trail with lots to see. My favorite was the geyser / blowhole, but my friends and I had tons of fun climbing on rocks, messing around with the exercise machine and the playground. And I saw a horse!!! Which is weird, and maybe not normal. The trail goes a long time but we didn’t get too far. I really wanted to climb on the sand dune at Playa Del Hombre, but we all got hungry after 30 minutes, so we walked back and hand yummy lunch instead.

How to Get There

La Garita is on the eastern side of the Gran Canaria, just off Highway 1. You can basically follow the giant statues. Mushroom statue. Then Pioneer Statue. We parked at the CEIP public school’s parking lot which had space on the weekend. From there, it was a block down to the beach.

La Garita Sea Walk Trail

The paseo of la Garita is a nicely paved trail that goes along the coast. It is flat and great for everyone. You can take your baby stroller and your grandma’s walker. We put my brother on a skateboard with the adults and Lizette, Elena and I walked and played truth of dare. There is a lot of art along the path. Big old statues, small wall painting. To be fair, the adults mostly paid attention to all that. We just like hanging out and climbing on stuff. I like that you can see the ocean the whole time and explore.

Tile Symbol on the Path

Dad asked me to look up the symbol on the path so I can teach you some history and culture. I thought it was a nose. Sojourn thinks it is a butt. But nope. Elena and Lisette’s dad says ancient people believed the symbol on the path helped them have lots of babies. I don’t really get how a picture of a nose helps with babies. And let’s be honest, I don’t actually care. If dad really wants to know more, he can look it up himself. Moving on.

Learn more

El Bufadero: The Blowhole, or The Geyser, or The Water Spout, or Girls, Get Away From That Thing Right Now Its Dangerous …

The rocks on the beach shoot water high into the air like a geyser. I liked climbing on the rocks with my friends but the waves were big so we could not get super close. There are a lot of tide pools that I bet at low tide would be full of cool critters to explore. I met someone on the beach in front of my home later that afternoon who said when the waves are calm and the tide is low, you can go down into the hole at la Garita and swim out the cave to the other side. But that sounds WAY TOO DANGEROUS. Don’t do it. You and I both know better. But he did know how to find Abalone shells and Octopus when we went swimming, so he knew what he was talking about. I’ll share his photos in another article.

Exercise Machines & Playground

The exercise machines are just toys for adults and now they all belong to us. That’s right, here Kids rule. The machines swing back and forth, go up and down, and twist all around. Lizette was determined to do the splits on the top of the exercise machine, but we don’t have any photos of her awesomeness, because her mom gave us a whole lecture about not splitting open her noggin. We wandered from the exercise place to a proper kid playground. It has swings, tiny kid slides, a rope bridge, bouncy things, and benches to jump on. It was perfect for my brother.

The Secret Menu

We decided to eat at a pizza and pasta restaurant with a nice table right on the beach. It was hot, so we made the adults sit in the sun while we sat in the shade. Pro Tip. Canarians like Tapas. Those are tiny plates with little bites of food for sharing. No matter what kind of food the restaurant has on the real menu, it almost always has a secret tapas menu. You can order tiny wrinkled potatoes (Papas Arrugadas) with a red or green garlic sauce called Mojo. I loved the cheese slices, but there weren’t enough for everyone to have more than one piece each. And we got my favorite fried peppers. Don’t worry, they are not spicy. Just yummy. Gofio is a local Canarian grain they put in everything. Its not yummy and let’s just leave it at that. Sojourn LOVED the garlic shrimp and Elena ate the octopus head, with brains and everything. Which was gross, but I like the tentacles. So even though we went to a pizza restaurant, no one ate pizza. We took photos but honestly kinda forgot to do it right when dishes came out. So the shrimp vanished before I took a photo. But check out all that garlic.

Spiced Gofio
Not My Favorite