Tenerife Misadventure

On our second day in Tenerife, We decided to head out on an excursion to the Pyramids of Guimar. They are across the island from Playa de Las Americas. I had seen the website and pamphlets about the pyramids. They all lacked directions on how to get there. Now I know why.

We asked the receptionist at the front desk of our hotel. He didn’t know but he told us that if we walked up to the bus station, someone there could tell us. So that is what we did. The station was not too far away, maybe a 15 minute walk. We ask the woman at information. She explains that we cannot take the bus all the way there. We take one to a spot she circles on our map of the bus routes and then tells us the number of the other bus we need to catch. We buy bus passes with the amount she recommends that should cover a round trip.

We get on the first bus. Simple enough. Pleasant ride. We get off where we were told which is at a stop on the side of a highway. We wait for about half an hour for our connection to show up. It doesn’t. We flag down the next bus that shows up and ask the driver. He says we are waiting in the wrong spot. We need to walk down a highway ramp to get to the stop. So we do. Then we do not see a stop. We walk in one direction and find one. We wait there. Then a bus pulls over. We ask. He says we need wait at the stop across the street. So we cross the street.

Our bus rides past us and the driver points ahead. We are at the wrong stop. We walk alongside the highway to get to the other stop. We find the other stop and wait there for at least 45 minutes in the sun. Then our bus shows up. It takes us the bus station in the town of Guimar. The driver tells us to take a local town bus that will take us closer to the pyramids. The town is small and depressed. Everything is dilapidated and there is a lot of messy, unfinished construction. We get off the bus where they tell us to. They driver points and says the pyramids are that way, “arriba” meaning up. The bus leaves. There are absolutely no street signs or signs to the pyramids. We walk up towards the direction he pointed in. There is nothing and no one besides construction. Someone sees us and realizes that we are lost. He tells us vaguely how to get to the pyramids. They at least a 20 minute walk away. They are closing in 30 minutes. We decided to head home.

We take the local bus back to the town station and wait for our first bus back. We need to buy more bus passes because the amount, the woman told us does not completely cover this journey. We take the first bus back. We walk up the highway ramp to catch our second bus. The first one whizzes by and we miss it. We wait much longer than expected in the stop on the side of the highway, freezing. This failed journey takes 7 hours.