On the track of signs from the past, we walk from Las Tricias, through the idyllic scenery of the north-west of La Palma.
Like a lost paradise, there is a blend of exotic farms next to thousand-year-old dragon trees and almond tree orchards.
The Buracas Caves with their pre-historic petroglyphs, send our thoughts back to the time of the original island natives, who lived in a society that was culturally close to the stone age.
A lovely track leads gently down among country cottages. The rustic bar next to the church is the nerve centre of an exotic community of outsiders who share their time with the locals. We walk down a stone track that crosses the fields. You could almost say that we are sharing the everyday life of the people of this happy spot, in the glimpses we get through each half open door or window.
Lovely colonial style stone buildings with pitched roofs and wooden balconies are grouped together forming centres and squares on the edge of the Izcagua Gorge. Doña Acerina catches sight of us in the distance and awaits our arrival to offer us toasted almonds. We continue downhill until we reach the old Gofio Mill (Gofio is the local flour made from grinding toasted cereals such as corn or wheat) set on a promontory from which you can see the whole north-west coast.
In the distance, on a hill, we discover a copse of thousand-year-old dragon trees in the form of gigantic candelabra. The path continues to descend toward the gorge, where we can see caves that are now inhabited by new settlers.
With the bright blue sea in the background, we reach the Buracas Caves, where we can see the marks of the ancient inhabitants of La Palma; the Benahories, in their petroglyphs.
We can see interesting hieroglyphic figures in the shape of spirals, engraved in the stones that hold all the enigmas of these ancestors.
