For Christmas and New Years we went to Fuerteventura, and this time Maya was one and a half years old. For this trip we were lucky enough to have brought my mother along, the idea being that we could go out and have some fun together without Maya. We ended up not going out a single evening, but we did have a lot of fun during daytime. Felipe went surfing and I trained Brazilian Jiu-jítsu with a local club, which was awesome!
The Canaries during this time of year is perfect for us northeners that need a break from the winter darkness and cold weather. It’s around 16 degrees during night time and a bit above 20 during the day. And most importantly, no rain. Perfect for a toddler that doesn’t particularly enjoy being immobile in winter boots and overalls (does anyone?).
We rented a flat on the ground floor with a terrace and access to a swimming pool. The pool wasn’t heated, but it was good entertainment anyway, and the common area adjoining our terrace was big enough for Maya to run around on and small enough for us to keep an eye on her. We placed a small paddling pool on the terrace for her to play with during the day and in the evening we used the barbecue. The paddling pool, as almost all toys she plays with on our trips, was purchased locally for around 5€, and left with the locals when we went home.
For this trip we brought a stroller with us, with was great for bringing stuff with us to the beach. As previously mentioned Maya isn’t always a big fan of sitting in the stroller, but when she didn’t want to we carried her in our arms or with the help of our toddler sized Lenny Lamb full-buckle.
Felipe went surfing almost every day. The first week he joined a school and they took him out to different places surrounding Corralejo. When he saw that the waves would be good at the beaches close by he decided to just rent a board and go on his own. The line up was quite crowded, but as it is a popular tourist destination there weren’t many locals claiming their right, and he managed to have lots of fun.
I train Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at home, and when I found out we were going to Fuerteventura I immediately contacted the local school. It turns out there are several, and also on the other islands, but that Canary locals are terrible at publishing information on the internet, so it’s hard to find out beforehand. I only found one Canary BJJ school, and that was the one I ended up training with in Corralejo. Anyways, the locals were very welcoming and some of then even picked me up to go and train in a nearby village one of the days.
As lessons usually collided with Felipe’s surfing, my mum stayed at home or went to the beach with Maya. They dug in the sand, felt the ice cold water with their toes and had plenty of fun together.
For Christmas Eve we went to the local church for Christmas service in English. Maya ran around charming everyone, whilst my mother ran after her, trying to not disturb the faithful.
Toddler friendly eats
I’m not going to mention all our meals, but as we had a few very good experiences, I’ll mention these:
We went out for paellas a couple of times, at this place called Jamoneria Caracandado, which we loved. It’s a small, very local type restaurant, which is open during the whole afternoon, as opposed to most restaurants that close between lunch and dinnertime. As Canary/Spanish people often eat dinner very late, this didn’t suit us, because Maya gets very tired around 7pm. We did go out a couple of time a bit later than this, though. We had pizzas at a place called Vivi 100% Italiano. The pizzas are excellent, and although they only open at 6:30pm, they do have a play room that was very popular with Maya and the other kids that were there. It filled up very quickly after opening, so I recommend booking in advance, especially if you’re going to be there later than 6:30.
BabyPacking 
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