A Mountain Paradise

Earlier this week we visited Masca which is a small mountain village on the West Coast of Tenerife. You can actually take a taxi boat to a beach below and then hike all the way up to Masca and back, which should take you about five to six hours. We however got a late start and decided to just drive there instead and then hike half way down the trail and then back. Which actually turned out to be the smart thing to do as we ran into quite a few fellow hikers on the way who were dripping wet  and looking pretty exhausted with glowing pink skin from excessive sun exposure.

I’m not exactly in bad shape but a six hour hike seems a bit like overkill to me. One wonders what exactly compels people who haven’t seen a gym in ages to decide that the best way to enjoy one’s vacation is to undergo a torturous physical ordeal in the heat of the blazing mountain sun. All in all we spent about four hours frolicking along beautiful vistas taking many stunning snapshots along the way. Back in the days I used to drag along a Canon DSLR camera with a set of lenses (which weighed a ton) but these days I actually prefer my iPhone, especially for taking landscape shots. The one above was taken with the iPhone’s pan function – which basically is the poor man’s way of simulating shooting with a wider lens. Of course what you don’t get are various ƒ-stops but I suspect we may see professional lenses for mobile phones in the near future.

Alright, I’m squeezing in a bit of business while Mrs. Evil isn’t looking. The bulls seem to be running the tape now as we’re solidly in bullish territory. Yesterday’s FOMC spike higher has been retraced overnight and I’ve taken out a small long position with a stop below that diagonal (I didn’t draw).

If you’re wondering if I regret taking out some downside insurance before heading into my vacation then my answer is a resounding no. In hindsight it was too early – of course – but given the configuration and momentum at the time it was the right (and cheap) thing to do. And as I stated back then – I’ll be rather happy watching those premiums expire worthless as it’s much easier to bank coin trading this advance higher. I’m aware that some of you disagree and prefer quick wipe outs. But in my experience very few people here are ever able to pull the trigger at the right time and get out before the obligatory counter reversal. Volatile markets can be extremely profitable – yes – but only if you are skilled enough to ride that bucking bronco 😉

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Yesterday afternoon my wife received a whatsapp message from a friend in Valencia who was complaining that it was impossible to sleep with noise of all the Falleros partying through the night into the early morning. Meanwhile I was sitting on my roof last night watching the moon in absolute silence. I’m not even kidding – there was not a single sound to be heard, it was almost unreal. Perhaps it’s the volcanic rock all around us that aids in absorbing the type of sounds nature usually produces (i.e. blowing wind, chirping of insects, etc.) but I don’t remember ever finding myself in place that was this quiet, not even out in the Californian desert.

Well, I’m scheduled to be back in Valencia this Sunday. And quite frankly I’m itching to go back to work. Twelve days is about as much vacation as this market megalomaniac can stand 😉