It is common for the locals to be late for half an hour or more. If you have been waiting for a person for an hour and decided to tell him everything you think about this situation, you will only hear “tranquilo” in response – “relax, take it easy”. The lack of punctuality does not come from the selfishness, but from the path of life of the Canary Island. There is practically no season change, and the crops do not need much of attention. That is why the motto of the islanders is “everything you can postpone till the midday, you can do tomorrow”. By the way, the people of the Canary Islands do not consider themselves Spanish, and sometimes they like to discuss how good the life was before the Spanish came to the island. But there is not a sign of separatism here. The people of the Canary Islands are very peaceful, generous, and mild.
The siesta in La Palma, as on the other islands of the archipelago, is highly cherished. Most of the shops, cafes, souvenir shops, banks, and other places are closed from 1 p.m. till 4 p.m. For the people of the Canary Islands siesta is divided into hours – for food, love, and sleep. Despite of a small percentage of passionate Christians, the tradition for not working on Sundays, which was brought by the Spanish, is widely spread. That is why a Sunday is not the best day for shopping, because almost everything will be closed. By the way, if you speak Spanish, be ready that in La Palma they speak more mild dialect, using a lot of unique phrases, typical only for the Canary Islands.
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