Why San Marcos in Tenerife North is the place for me

At fiesta times the music from the village stage I can hear easily, and in the dark I can see the lights from the festival easily because I live in an apartment block that overlooks where the main square and cultural centre are located.

But otherwise San Marcos is generally a quiet and peaceful place with only three shops - the Supermercado Lourdes supermarket two floors above me in the Edificio Lourdes block I live in, and a general stores and a chemist on the sea front.

San Marcos has a regular bus service that can take you to the nearby city of Icod de los Vinos and that is where I go if I need a bank, post office or a better selection of shops. There is also a bus station in Icod with services to the rest of the island and it is a really great place to begin bus journeys in Tenerife.

San Marcos has a couple of pyramids too. The better one of these is on a banana plantation down a side road and is about 15 minutes walk from where I live. I remember exploring the area when I first moved here and my excitement at spotting a pyramid as I strolled down the country road.

The road they are in is called Camino de la Suerte which translates as the "Pathway to the Luck", and I certainly felt lucky finding local pyramids near where I lived.

San Marcos beachfront is about 10 minutes walk from where I live and is a very popular place with the locals. The black sand beach is in a sheltered cove surrounded by cliffs and is ideal for swimmers and sunbathers.

San Marcos is a fishing village and you can often see the little boats bobbing gently on the sea. In the evening there are often spectacular sunsets and I like to watch them from my favourite restaurant here - Italia in Bocca - where I enjoy a pizza and a Dorada Especial beer.

Sometimes at fiesta time they set up a little stage on the seafront walkway and also they celebrate festival times on the beach, especially on the night of San Juan.

Locals flock to the village on that special night and there is a procession, fire-jugglers, dancers and fireworks. Candles light up the dark beach packed with people.

In the cliffs of San Marcos there are caves, some of which were used by the ancient Guanche people, who were the original inhabitants of the island before the Spanish conquest. The cliffs of a ravine,or barranco as they are known on the island, is a popular site for rock-climbers and you can often see young men scaling the rocky cliff-face.

There are also wonderful views to be had of Mt Teide that overlooks Icod and San Marcos. In winter the mountain is often covered in snow and looks magical as it gleams in the sun or moonlight.

Yesterday evening I went down the bay for a meal and drink at my favourite eating place here and on the way down a couple called out a friendly "Hola" to me. At Italia in Bocca as soon as I arrived, all the staff addressed me by name and I enjoyed my Pizza Campañola with mushrooms and black olives washed down with a Dorada as the sun went down.

At another table there was a Spanish family and they had a little pug dog that was sitting at one of the seats with them and being treated with helpings of pizza too. The dog was as much a part of the family as any of the people and I thought how lovely that was, and how it should be.

On the way home I stopped for a short while to watch a Hummingbird Hawk sipping nectar as it hovered over a purple-flowered Bougainvillea, and once again I thought: "Why would I want to live anywhere else but here in my home in San Marcos?"

Copyright © 2012 Steve Andrews. All Rights Reserved.