Fuerteventura don’t have middle ground: love her, and can’t stay away from her, or hate her, and don’t want to come here anymore.

Fuerteventura seduced me effortlessly: it happened in just 6 days between November and December, even windy and cloudy, where I fell definitely in love.

I’m not talking about a crush on her: I fell in love wisely, with an overpowering feeling.

I was enamoured by her indifference, self-confidence, since she’s not a kiss-ass, she’s not a teaser for the tourism industry.

I love her for her talent to surprise me with several beautiful views, for her tenderness when she decides to offer me clear and bright days.

UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

Since the very first day I’ve figured out that to love her I have to accept her as she is, even if she wakes up in a bad mood and blows her wind on my face (thus, preventing me to opening my car door), or her big waves, or her currents  (making a challenge with me while swimming), or her sand, squeezing everywhere (sometimes I fail to rinse it even under the shower).

The paradox is that her “primadonna” extravagance makes her even more attractive.

 

NOT ATTRACTIVE FOR ALL

Many people told me:

“Fuerteventura don’t have middle ground: love her, and stay away from her, or hate her, and don’t want to come here anymore.”

I totally agree: those who expect never-ending bathhouses, open bar 24×7 with massaging lawn chairs, drinking and dancing all night long, will not be found of Fuerteventura.

People who hate sand and wind and only love shopping in never-ending malls, people who don’t want leave the hotel, doesn’t love this island, and probably will not come back here.

On the contrary, nature – lovers, sporty people and who is able to appreciate awesome landscapes where beauty is moving, or curios people willing to try tasty food based on goat cheese, meat and fish, will fall in love with Fuerteventura, and will return here many times.

JEALOUSY

As several lovers I’m jealous,

I get angry if I hear people disparaging my lover, or disrespecting her, polluting or dirtying her.

I can’t stand when some people get to bully my island throwing the stub into the sea.

I suffer thinking of how many people every day do reckless things like this, the consequences of which will survive for a lot of years.

I trust in the strength of the nature, in her patience, in her wisdom: I now that she will be able to defeat, to overcome and to forgive the human barbarism.

Anyway the planet earth has already overcome bombardments of meteorites, solar storms, glaciations, volcanic eruptions, tsunami, tectonic plates in movement; she has assisted to the extinction of numerous animal kinds, some also apparently stronger and powerful than the human beings.

Let’s give her time, she knows how and thing to do for her own good.

 

There’s more life in this desert than in a whole neighbourhood. It’s a matter of understanding.

For more than 40 years I’ve lived in big cities, where cement predominate.

We have the green of the parks of course; better luck the blue of the sea, but the main colour is grey anyhow.

Here in Fuerteventura grey doesn’t exist.

There are endless shades of yellow, red, orange, ochre, turquoise, green, white, blue. There’s nothing grey at all.

NEW EYES

That’s the reason why I had to teach my eyes to see again. Like a newborn, whose sight improves day by day.

So weird, but at first I couldn’t work out those never ending shades of the desert.

It looked flat to me; I wasn’t able to observe properly.

Now, I count any slight tone even a small stone.

WHAT A LIFE IN THE DESERT

Before moving here, I assumed the desert was an unwelcoming environment, unsuitable for life and dangerous too.

Just a landscape for taking photos, or a chance to attract visitors with desert safari tours, BBQ dinner in the beautiful desert (fake) camp and why not, camel trips.

Our desert here is something else.

It’s an enchanting dimension: is such an alive, cozy and peaceful world.

There’s more life in this desert than in a whole neighbourhood. It’s a matter of understanding.

There are creatures whose unfinished thirst for life makes them flexible and adaptive to our dry climate.

EVERY SINGLE DROP COUNTS

The desert temperature range offers a poor quantity of water, but enough to fat plants and bushes.

Botanical masterpieces, creating with their bloom quite a rural landscape during some months in the year.

No matter how much sand the wind blows on these plants: their thirst of life always comes to light.

Seldom rain triggers the miracle of life, fast and powerful: plants grow and blossom in a very short time, following an accelerating cycle to enjoy plenty of water for such a short time.

I observe them tenderly with admiration.

I envy them a little, since they are able to exploit what is offered, without regrets.

They know what best suits them, they don’t need any advice or operating manual.

They do their thing, no matter who’s watching or judging.

There, the human being jars; his presence is useless or dangerous, if he is not moved by the pureness and perfection in nature and desert life.

Landscapes and feelings who are the best gift that can be received, and nature gives me it every day, not only in Christmas time.

In Fuerteventura every day the sky offers a different masterpiece, a never ending show.

No words can describe the endless tones composing Fuerteventura’ sky.

Certain mornings I wake up early, and simply walking on the beach can assist to sunrises so exciting to seem a dream.

While it is rising, the sun is able to paint with colours that the man cannot reproduce: the sky is dyed of infinite tones of rose, blue, and yellow, red, turquoise.

And the same happens in every sunset.

I look to the horizon, and my view is clear and open, free from buildings, factories and roads, and it opens in front of my eyes a masterpiece of perfect chromatic games, in sublime harmony between them.

Clouds seems brushstrokes of a skilled painter, and create sinuous forms in the sky.

Every morning and evening I feel gratitude for this beautiful landscapes: these feelings are the true ones and more precious gifts that can be received, and nature gives me them every day, not only in Christmas time.

A camera is not able to reproduce this beauty: I smile when I see other human beings assisting to the most beautiful sunset and sunrises of the world, trying to photograph this perfect landscapes, to immortalise them in their mobile phones.

I would like to tell them to do not obsess looking for a perfect pic: they only have to open their eyes and enjoy the marvellous show, recording this images in their own brain, feeling free to enjoy the authentic and powerful emotions that only Nature can offer.

 

Flying a kite is an amazing and instructive way to spend my time: helps me to feel like a child.

Hundreds of professionals and amateurs of kites since 1987 are gathering in November to the Burro Playa of Fuerteventura, where dunes of white sand meet the endless tones of blue of the sea.

From 9th to November 12th we have been able to admire the amazing kites flying in the blue sky of this beautiful island: plenty of colour, able to already increase the incredible charm of this beach, situated in the Natural Park of the Dunes of Corralejo.

 

In flight from 30 years

The festival is now at his thirtieth edition: its resonance increased to turn it into the internationally recognized event that is now, an international event, to which you/they have they participate impassioned of kites coming from the whole world.

For all through the event and it was possible to assist to the flight of kites of different typologies, forms and colours pouting over the blue sky of Fuerteventura.

There have been exhibitions of classical and static kites, besides the traditional fight among kites Rokkakus.

The festival is happening on weekend to allow tourists and residents to enjoy the rich program of the event, that includes a laboratory of flight of kites for children and a suggestive night-time exhibition.

 

To feel as child

Flying a kite is to me a must amazing and instructive way to spend my time, above all if you compare it to lie on the sofa with a tablet in hand.

This is good both for young and old: flying a kite, even fighting against a strong wind, in my opinion is an antidote to boredom, to idleness and indolence. But above all is for me a factory of images and cheerful feelings, smiles and memories that I store in my brain, ready to come back to my mind when I need to feel as a child.

 

Now I learn to appreciate the marvellous opportunity to spend every day with those who matters, taking care of my health, my passions and my talents.

For many years, while I was working on my office in various cities in Pianura  Padana, I dreamt about walking all day long on the golden sand of a beautiful beach.

Certain days of hard and stressful work I felt myself sad and demotivate; I kept finding myself staring at the table calendar, full of sea landscapes situated on my desk, imagining me to appear on the picture..

I cannot find words able to explain the feeling of absolute happiness that I lived on my first day at the beach, just arrived on “my” island.

It didn’t seem me true; I slipped in and out of the water (a little bit cold telling the truth) and those “purifying baths” given back to me tons of enthusiasm that I thought were gone lost forever.

But just after 10 days of ablutions my brain, used to study and work hard for over 35 years, starts sending me worrying messages:

“And now? What do we do? The day is long, must do something constructive! Cannot waste time!”.

In a few words I felt me as a beached whale, I almost suffocated out of my natural habitat.

How is precious than discover my real essence? What is it more valuable than to become “manager of my time?”
Nothing compares to the successfully feeling of being able to decide how – and above all with whom – spending my own time.

The days following my arrival here were been exciting, but also extremely challenging because I completely underestimated the effects of the “kick back ” of my choice.

I spent more than 3 months to get used to my new rhythms and to become the happy girl appearing on the image of the table calendar.

Now I learn to appreciate the marvellous opportunity to spend every day with those who matters, taking care of my health, my passions and my talents.

But don’t you think that it has been easy: I learn to appreciate loneliness and how managing the enormous and precious heritage of days with no appointments, with no duties.

I know people filling their days just to avoid a single minute of spare time: they live perpetually pursued from the clock and, even complaining about that, after all they are proud to define themselves “victims of labour.” And really none of them is President of the United States or Pope, on the contrary they are simply employees like I was.

Being always super busy allows many people to legitimate themselves, to show their own utility, and perhaps also to exorcize loneliness.

If you doesn’t fall in love with yourself, if you are not independent from other people’s judgments and from the external conditionings, you’ll be finding yourself loosing your time, sometimes so scared to be alone to stand with wrong people, or doing unless things.

Now I go to the beach with gloves and a bag where I collect butts and other litter left by unconscious persons.

Time ago, walking on the beach of #parconaturaledelledunedicorralejo, I saw a man throwing the butt of his cigarette into the sea, as if it was been the most natural thing in the world.

I asked him to pick it up and throw it in the trash bin, or buy a pocket ashtray. He answered me to mind of my own business (he has used definitely offensive terms).

I wonder “how can a person make such a barbaric act?”

“What drives a person to profane such a wonderful place, to show so little respect for nature? ”

The #nationalgeografic already argued in 2015 that “from the numerical point of view, cigarette butts are the single most abundant rejection on earth. On a global scale, they are dispersed in the environment more than 10 billion every day. Every single butt can contaminate 3 liters of sea water: the filter is intruded with toxic substances, which take from 5 to 20 years to be disposed of by sea in natural form.

There seems to be biodegradable butts as well: this does not allows throwing them into the sea.

NO MAS COLILLAS EN EL SUELO!

I like to remember a Spanish organization called “Movimento no más colillas en el suelo” whit almost 16,000 followers on his Facebook page, promoting initiatives that I agree with; one of them is engaging dozens of volunteers to collect cigarette butts for a whole day on the beach at La Barceloneta, in Barcelona.

In only 8 hours, they collect more than 20,000 butts: they fill them with 8 transparent 5 litre containers and deposit them at the entrance to the beach.

Seeing these containers full of butts is disgusting and impacting: the initiative aims to raise awareness of the population, hoping to convince every single smoker who has the responsibility of his cigarettes, and that little is enough to avoid serious damages to the environment.

LADY PAOLA

I read of a lady collecting butts from the beautiful beach of Varigotti, close to my hometown Genoa. Her’s name is Paola, and some Italian newspapers talk about her.

Mrs. Paola made me reflect: now I cannot stand and to turn to the other side when I see waste on the beach.

And she inspired me: now I go to the beach with gloves and a bag where I collect butts and other waste left by unconscious persons.

If you don’t understand and solve the real reasons of your discomfort, they will chase you everywhere.

There is no need to catch a plane to learn to marvel once again, to see the world through the eyes of a child.

What you now think is a hard and cold winter, that gets into your bones and that you get to hold only because it takes you to the spring and the summer, can give you again the same emotions, beautiful and new, that you felt as a child, when you saw snow for the first time.

After all, many winters are able to amaze because of their beautiful and charming landscapes, and know how to gift with much more intense emotions and memories than many springs.

Wouldn’t you like to be surprised again and being able to feel new emotions every single day? That would be great, wouldn’t it?

Why couldn’t that happen to you?

The good news is that your brain remained the same of that happy days, and you can train it to live all the emotions you desire, and to avoid those that make damages.

IT DOESN’T MATTER WHERE YOU ARE, BUT HOW YOU ARE (AGAIN…)

If you don’t understand and solve the real reasons of your discomfort, they will chase you everywhere.

CHANGING LIFE WITHOUT MOVING

Maybe when reading my books, you would come to visit or maybe to move yourself to Fuerteventura: let me tell you that this island doesn’t fits for everyone.

Its wind, its sand, its location in the middle of the ocean is not going to make it easy for you.

 

In my books I explain how I have prepared the best strategy for me.

 

You know… it doesn’t matter where you are but how do you feel: moving somewhere else is a very serious thing to do, that would not work for many people.

I explain as well that for a couple to move together can be a challenge.

Despite that it might seem fascinating to “start from scratch” on a new, unfamiliar place, without a real and careful planning this could be a change, but for WORST.

To think “to know everything” and launch into projects or maybe invest all your money without having a good strategy, can lead you to very negative consequences, which you will have to face for many years to come.

 

If you want talk with me about your change, email me at lauracarbonecv@gmail.com !

 

Thank you and see you soon!

Laura