how to live like a local in callao salvaje, adeje

One four-hour flight and three-hour coach ride later, we had finally made it to Adeje. Exhausted and hungry, my travel companion and I just wanted nothing more than to sit back and relax in our Airbnb. It was a last minute trip abroad, and despite hearing horror story after horror story about the company, we were willing to give it a go for the sake of having somewhere to stay. And so, we trek up the hill to our temporary apartment, try to get into reception, and - there is no Airbnb waiting. Ringing our host and conversing in Spanish, we were just able to pick out six simple words - "I don't have anywhere for you". With our host suddenly refusing to take us in, despite paying for the week in advance, we were left with nowhere to stay - quite fitting at Christmas with the whole Mary and Joseph no room at the Inn sorta thing. No hotels, no bed and breakfasts. By that point, it felt like we needed another holiday to recover from this one. Luckily, my family lived here for many years so were known by the locals, and after several hours of temporarily being homeless in Playa Paraiso, a bar-owning couple in Callao were able to take us in. Promoted from tourist to temporary local, we were ready to fully indulge in the sunny, slow-paced life of Adeje.

Where to Eat

Sansibar Ajabo 

Literally half the meals we ate in Adeje were eaten here, as it's so insanely gorgeous. For breakfast, it overlooks the ocean and you can see the hazy island of Gomera in the distance whilst eating traditional tapas (think morcilla and pimientos de padron). In the evening, they cover the open sides and roof so that it's more of an indoor eatery, and you get to watch the chef cook over the open barbecue in the back. They do the most divine mojo (red pepper or green parsley and coriander), and the younger waiters are pretty tasty themselves. Also, there's a HiperDino not too far from here, where you can easily buy six Milka Tuc and demolish them within an hour because you can't get them back in Wales. Just me?

Delfin

The walk to this place is one of the best bits, as you weave through white walls by the seaside until you get to the actual restaurant where again you can overlook the ocean by the rocks. Here I tried roe for the first time (fish egg masses) and it was weird, but also kinda okay. They do all the typical Spanish food like Chuletas de Cerdo and Papas Arrugadas, but also things more suited to a wider audience. The couple running it are lovely, with the woman a lass from England and her husband a typical Spaniard with the bushy moustache and thick accent. Every now and then when they're less busy, you can hear Come Dine With Me play from the kitchen as the chef competes with the stars.

Otelo

Otelo specialises in their local Canarian chicken, and has been running for so long that even my family remembers it from when they lived here over twenty years ago. It overlooks the Barranco del Infierno, meaning that it has possibly the best view in the whole of Adeje.

What to Do

Whale and dolphin watching

This seems like it would be a really touristy excursion, and whilst yes, there are a lot of tourists, the locals also love getting out for a few hours on a tacky little pirate ship eating paella and spotting some bottlenose dolphins and shadowed whales. Whilst I was insanely seasick doing this, I also enjoyed it a lot. On a lot of the boats also, a highlight is jumping off the boat into the ocean and swimming with whatever you happen to find in the sea (it's the same as a lot of excursions on islands in Greece and the like), which can be great when it's warmer as it's pretty chilly in the Atlantic in the winter. If you happen to be aboard one of the ships that show off tricks with the seagulls as a plus, it can be weird as hell but also strangely entertaining.

Visiting mountain villages

Taking a day out to visit places like Orotava is well worth it just to explore. Especially up in Garachico, the views can be incredible. I visited someone who lives in Los Gigantes, and if I were to stay in Adeje again I'd definitely consider this particular area, as the views from the roofs are incredible (think, apartments gripping to the mountains as they hang over the marina and ocean) and it's more full of locals than tourists (like Los Christianos). If you want to move away from the two-for-one cocktail billboards and want to walk by terracotta and moss houses and fishing shacks, the mountains are much better to explore than the ground.

Go hiking

It's so much better in Winter where you won't sweat off your skin (think 25 degrees celsius in the dead of winter, thirty as it warms), hiking is a close and personal way to explore the island. I think one day last week we were out walking for a good six hours, and whilst it's exhausting, it's also definitely worth it. I was hoping to catch some kind of colour whilst out, but unfortunately I still fit in more with the obnoxiously white and pink tourists that you could spot from miles away.

Take a boat to Masca

You can walk to Masca, but with a three hour trip just to the beach, it's much more worthwhile going by boat. Apparently the view is also pretty amazing from the road, but you'll have to find that one out yourselves. Masca looks a lot like the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu, just with a slightly more temperate climate and less tagged Instagram photos.

Where to Drink

Pearla Gris

I'm slightly biased here because my family knows a lot of people working here, but regardless, it's still a place to check out. In fact, I spent my New Year's here listening to some pretty good 1960's entertainment and laying it easy sipping green teas - but everyone I knew there can vouch for the good red wine. The food is also good if you happen to go for an event or a big night, with massive cooked meals and good live entertainment.

Route 66 

Again, I'm probably biased here just because I adore the live entertainment (incredible bands with incredible music), but I was here for both my 14th and 19th birthday, and on the latter, drank so many Canarian Cocktails that I fell incoherently in love with a band member and spent a good hour after the set probably mumbling about life in Wales. The people are great, the entertainment is great, and it's close to a lot of residential areas and hotels, meaning it's easy to get back from. It has been my favourite bar to go to the few times between that I've visited the island, and is located near another great view of the island from the road.

Mad Hatters

We stayed with the owners of this bar, but found that it was such a cute little place that we visited a bunch of times voluntarily simply because the atmosphere was great. Whilst more of an English bar, it's a chill place to unwind and play some darts. The people running it and working for it are also some of the nicest ever - one gave me a gorgeous necklace for my birthday, which I wore for days on end until I had to pack back up to get to London, and the owners Maz and Shaun are lovely - they'd have to be to let us stay with them (in a house with two massive Canarian dogs and a gorgeous roof for hanging out on).

Who to See

The Black Hole Tenerife 

I am forever in love with this band, despite how the members are all probably at least double my age. I saw them four years back, and have since wanted to keep flying back to the island just to watch them every time they came up on my Facebook dashboard. I went to watch them the night before my birthday as they weren't playing on the 30th, and the lead singer did the classic "I hear it's someone's birthday?", before launching into a slightly more alternate version of the well-known song. They sing rock and blues and I'm honestly still madly in love, especially as between songs you'll hear them chat briefly to the staff and other band members in Spanish, every now and then insulting a drunken English lass or that guy in the back that won't dance in their home tongue, which is highly entertaining.

The Jersey Boys Tenerife

Super touristy but also super fun to watch. Whilst you'll get a bunch of random Mancunians and lasses from little Welsh Wales jamming to their music, you'll also find your local Enrique or Nico tapping their feet. They're one of the most involving bands up on stage, and manage to get a bunch of people up to dance as they jump around synchronised in their bright red blazers covering popular songs from the 60's to early 00's. Mega fun to watch them play out a gig, I definitely recommend catching a set.

Lisa Mac

The sort of performance you don't want to see whilst recovering from a hangover, she'll probably call you up on stage to dance with her. I didn't stay for her whole set, as I wanted to chat with people rather than get dragged up digging my nails into the ground to the front of the room, but it was fun watching other people get humiliated as the room gradually got less and less sober. Entertaining, even if not something I would like to get forced into myself.