Practically at every photo session, the first question I hear from clients is what I do in Tenerife and why specifically Tenerife.
What can you do here?
For many, it's a dream to live on "paradise islands," feel summer all year round, and have a pool right at your doorstep.
The only obstacles on the path to realizing these dreams are work-related questions—what to do here, and also how to organize everything to move here?
We (my husband and I) don't exactly belong to that group, and we weren't driven by such motivations.
There are several reasons why we ended up here.
Some of them I don't feel the internet is the right place to talk about.
If you're interested, I'm happy to share these in more private conversations.
However, after spending several years here, I have my own thoughts and I notice advantages that I hadn't even thought of when coming here, and I'm very happy to write about those on the internet ;)
Local People's Culture
Apart from the obvious advantages like beautiful views, beaches, and year-round sunshine, what I really like and notice has an impact on who we are is the local people's culture.
I deliberately don't write about Spanish or even Canarian culture here (Canarians don't like being called Spaniards—they feel distinct, and not without reason.
After a few days in mainland Spain, you can see huge differences in language, food, way of being, and even clothing).
I'm not talking about any of these cultures because what happens on the island is some total cultural mix :) There's a mass of people from South America here, which is why I love this place, people from Africa, from Cuba, and from many, many other places in the world.
Omnipresent Chill ;D
After spending several months in South America, we had the opportunity to observe and get to know the culture of those people—their optimism, casualness, cheerfulness—and I have the impression that these are exactly the qualities that dominate in the Canaries.
Of course, to keep things realistic—it has its shadows ;) Waiting in queues, inability to find answers on how to do the simplest task at the office ;) Often this cultural gap leads to frustration and irritation—it's not easy.
But aside from these inconveniences, omnipresent Chill reigns here :D
In the long run, I think this more relaxed approach to life has a beneficial effect on a person's overall well-being.
What shocked me at first here was that when you visit what we generally call "locals," the hosts don't spend the previous 3 days cleaning and cooking 10 dishes to host you.
Of course, I'm exaggerating here, but what I mean is that in Poland, at least in my experience, many of us are prisoners of "what's proper."
Of course, it's proper and necessary to clean up.
It's nice to prepare something good.
But unfortunately, many of us (especially women) have eternal stress about whether we've taken good enough care of the house, whether there's not too little food, and whether someone will notice that the curtains were washed last spring.
It's very exhausting.
Here there are certainly such people too—I'm not saying there aren't.
These are still very general statements and descriptions, but I think that in general terms, this is how it looks.
And I'm very happy about this general freedom in this place.
Island Diversity
Another really cool thing is the ability to reach places like those in these photos by chance.
In Poland, we lived in an area from which it was far to everywhere.
To the sea 8 hours, to the mountains the same, to Mazury too.
Visiting beautiful, interesting places was always associated with an expedition.
Here, thanks to the fact that the island is small but very mountainous, there are several climates, and the views are very diverse.
From desert-like to jungle-like :D In an hour we can change views by 180 degrees.
That's exactly what happened in this case, when I was returning home after a photo session from the north of the island, and we decided to get off the highway for a moment to check a new place on the map. We arrived here.
This was one of the most beautiful places we've seen on the island in these 5 years.
You might think—maybe you don't know the island well? ;) I have the impression that you'll never be able to get to know this island completely.
In the first year and a half of living here, we drove 47 thousand kilometers by car ;) We really traveled and explored a lot.
It's just that this island is so diverse and big because of the mountains that there are endless numbers of trails, beaches, and nooks.
Here comes a series of portraits now :D My husband and I tried to take a photo of me xD
You can lead a simple life anywhere, just as you can complicate it anywhere.
But in some places, it's simply easier.
The lack of chase after material things, focusing on the pleasure of life, going to the beach with family, not attaching so much importance to arranging apartments, houses, buying new cars—this is something that catches the eye when living in Tenerife.
Some people don't like this; I've even heard several times that they're not aesthetes because they have ugly cars or buildings—and there's something to that.
But maybe they have time to play with their children and go to the mountains?
It's all a matter of personal choices and priorities.
But the only thing you can't buy or get back is time ;)
Are you investing well? ;)
