Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Crown of Kings / Roscón de Reyes
Roscón de Reyes (Crown of Kings) from Pasteleria El Aderno (they really are the best) that is the traditional desert for January 6th. Roscón recipe here.
"So, what's so special about the roscon? Well, there are usually surprises inside the roscon. Traditionally, the baker wraps a porcelain figure of a baby in aluminum foil and a haba or dry bean and places them in the dough just before baking. Whoever finds the baby in their piece will have good luck and be the king of the party, while whoever finds the haba must pay for the roscon. In Spanish, the saying is: “Si es el haba lo encontrado, el Roscon pagaras; mas si ello es la figura, coronado y Rey seras…”, Lisa Sierra explains.
In fact, in all the roscones I'd had from the Pasteleria El Aderno, in Tenerife, you'd find a whole set of three porcelain figures, of the Three Kings.
Monday, January 05, 2009
Robbery with biting ... only in Tenerife
This headline from the Canarian Police website, reports a case of "Robbery with biting". This happened (could only happen?) in Tenerife, in a pet shop in Cabo Blanco, Arona. The report continues, "Years spent working with animals and, in the end, who bit the shop assistant, wasn't one of the pets, it was a robber."
Civil Guard officers from Playa de Las Américas detained a 36 year old man who stole 80 euros from the pet shop's cash register and bit the arm of the shop assistant, when she attempted to stop him from taking the money.
[Photo: of a perfectly innocent Presa Canario dog by untipografico]
Christmas may be long gone where you are, but the main events in Tenerife are yet to come tonight and if you can't manage (or can't be bothered) to go out to one of the many Three Kings Parades all over the island, the parade in the streets of Santa Cruz is being televised by Televisión Canaria. But hurry, the program started at 7.15 p.m.
It's possible to watch it from outside the Canary Islands via the internet here.
And here's proof that Teide had snow at the year end too - which is held to herald a good harvest to come. With the way that the island gets water, through a network of underground galleries in the mountains, it only stands to reason that a goodly quantity of snow to melt to refill them, will mean water for crops ...
While Andrea Montgomery will tell you about The Changing Face of Santa Cruz, husband Jack shows us the grub in an equally developing Playa San Juan.
Meanwhile, Tenerife Matters went off in search of the best nativity displays on the island over the season. In Santa Cruz they discovered a " ... somewhat of a curious affair with Jesus being born in a cave set in the middle of a seriously overpopulated Canarian town where crowds of tiny residents go about their daily business dressed in traditional costume." A realistic one then.
Colin Kirby shows us a pretty picture of the Christmas lights in the plaza in Los Cristianos, but tells us, for New Year, "The La Noria bar area in Santa Cruz made an ominous move, introducing a 20 euro ticket to get into this popular zone," and continues that he hopes it's "not the start of the ticket only do’s that ruined much of the New Years Eve fun for revelers in the UK years ago."
The better news that Colin had for us was that CD Tenerife won their first game of 2009, to go joint second (4th on goal difference) in the Spanish Second Division, just two points behind leaders Salamanca. Things could get even better next weekend when Tenerife are away to 3rd place Xerez on Sunday morning.
Joe Cawley, the award-winning travel writer, copywriter and author, has his 5 minutes of fame (well, 1-and-a-half at least), being interviewed about Tenerife in a short film. And here's the excellent film, Another side to Tenerife. It gives me hope.
Could 2009 be the year when, FINALLY, the knowledge that Tenerife is a LOT more than a downmarket package holiday resort, reaches its tipping point and becomes known to a mainstream, English-speaking audience?
The Mirror carries a story, Tenerife has year round appeal, which is mostly about Siam Park, but does follow with information about other, more natural attractions, particularly Teide, Garachico, Teno and, of course, Masca.
Tenerife born DJ, Real El Canario, releases solo disk
Puerto de la Cruz native, Real el Canario (MySpace), who many of us remember from Braham's & Listz, Vampi's and Soul Train in the 90s and 07's Dancefloorkiller, Love Will Save The Day, featuring Daughters Of Soul singer, Jasmin Tusjadia, has launched his first album, Llegaron los olvidados (GOFIO LTD). Buy it via eMusic.
"The absolute driving force of the Eclectic Sound," 34 year old, Ezequiel Val Real, who's lived in Amsterdam for almost a decade, is probably better known in Germany, France, Greece or Turkey, than he is on his on his own island, although he travels to his city of birth frequently, where he has a recording studio.
The album is a mix of hip-hop, funk, electronic and latin rhythms. Real's lyrics speak the uncomfortable truth about life in the barrios (poor districts) of the island, about the gastronomy; potatoes and gofio and Canarian customs.
Which leads us nicely onto the food section ...
It is the New Year, making me think of new things, new foods and specifically new potatoes. Which leads me nicely to my newest new potato experience, namely Canarian Wrinkled Potatoes or - much more poetically - Papas Arrugadas.
Supposed to be an economic crisis; people are supposed to be buying less, but Christmas still manages to cause gridlock in Santa Cruz. Yet, the sale of cars in the Canary Islands sank more than 50% (which, given the enormous number - 69 per 100 inhabitants at the last count in the Canaries - sounds like good news to me. I guess owners of car dealerships probably disagree.)
The price of petrol in the Canary Islands dropped 7.7% in December, that of diesel fell by 10%, but the police website highlights news that price of petrol in the Canary Islands can vary by as much as 21.08%, depending on which petrol station you go to. They also say that Tráfico are going to get still tougher with controls in 2009 and that some of Tráfico's price rises are as much as 257%.
Illustrated, pointedly with a facsimile copy of one of those scraps of paper with a picture of a dead president on it, 20Minutos tell us the Canary Islands specialize as a transit destination for foreign investment. That sounds terribly like the money doesn't stay, but just gets "laundered" or something in the archipelago, but I doubt any newspaper would print anything so potentially truthful!
Finally ... Not only do the The Daily Mail want to scare you back within the confines of your hotel on holiday, now they want to keep you off the golf course too, whether at home or abroad, according to this report from Anorak, which says scientists claim that golfers who use titanium clubs risk damaging their hearing. This is not terribly good news for Tenerife, which as everyone knows, as golf courses became the fashionable way to attract "quality tourists" (euphemism for the ones with a pot to piss in), has created the propensity to stick 'em everywhere, converting the island into a huge golf course with a big hilly bunker in the middle.
Image: by Mataparda. A Bird's Eye View of the Golf Club, from an absolutely fascinating 1934-1936, state produced tourism leaflet on Tenerife.
Sunday, January 04, 2009
Tenerife's Oldest Three Kings Parade
The commentary on this short video made in Garachico in 2008, tells you (in Spanish) that the town's Three Kings Parade is the oldest known one celebrated on the island. It's also recognized as the most spectacular and colourful in Tenerife, lasting more than 3 hours, as the procession stops to perform small works of street theatre all along the route to reenact the familiar story.
The Three Kings from the West ...
Starting from the Quinta Roja manor house (built by the Marquis in the early 1600s), set among banana plantations the Three Kings travel through the village of San Pedro de Daute and down into Garachico from the west - the opposite direction from the traditional one - making this something of a novelty too.
Accompanying the Three Kings mounted on camels are; pages, Roman soldiers, torch bearers, Roman guards on horseback and standard bearers ...
As they approach the San Miguel castle, which has been converted into Herod's residence for the day, they're spotted by the vigilant guards on the battlements who sound their trumpets.
The Three Kings then dismount and ready themselves to meet with Herod.
Once on their way again, the Three Kings make their procession along the Calle Esteban de Ponte and other streets of the town, to eventually return to the plaza Glorieta de San Francisco, where the live nativity has been set up in front of the Los Angeles church, the town hall has been dressed up as a palace for the kings, with a fancy facade, canopies and three thrones. Even the frontage of the former San Francisco convent has had faux battlements added to it for the day.
These well-rehearsed events follow a similar format every year, with a live reenactment of the entire Christmas story that usually employs a varying number of real live animals (that don't always do what's expected of them) and a cast of, well, several dozen.
The whole show is brought to a climax with a huge firework display, after which the three kings START their job of dishing out gifts to hundreds of kids, as pages call out their names.
As we detailed before, the Three Kings start their journey at around 7 p.m., reaching the main town for the meeting with Herod at around 9 p.m. The rest of the procession and show takes at least another couple of hours, so it's a real value for money - especially since it's free - night out for all the family.
Do get there early if you're going by car and want to park anywhere near the town. Another thing Garachico lacks are restaurants that open in the evening where you could while away your time whilst you're waiting for the procession, but the best vantage point is the Cafetería y Dulcería Avenida, opposite the castle anyway.
Apart from serving you a drink or a coffee (as well as sandwiches, snacks and cakes), you'll be within sniffing distance of the camels once the Three Kings arrive, as they dismount on that side of the tree-lined island in the road!
This is the other great advantage to the event in Garachico, it's big enough to be spectacular, is done to a professionally high standard and draws a relatively large crowd, but it's still small enough to be intimate, so you feel part of it.
There aren't many other places, in Tenerife or elsewhere, where the kings still arrive authentically on camels (in many places it's on floats); not everywhere has the perfect selection of old architecture for the various locations either, which, along with being the oldest, combines to make Garachico's Three Kings Parade the best on the island, if not in the whole of Spain, in my humble opinion.
Images from Los Reyes in Garachico 2007, about which there is more here.
If you don't make it to the parade for this year, why not book ahead for next? The date of this celebration doesn't change - it is always held on the eve of Epiphany; the night of January 5th. If you stay at the Hotel La Quinta Roja, ask for a room at the front of the hotel, overlooking the plaza Glorieta de San Francisco and you'll have "ringside seat" to watch the entire event from your own room.
Cavalcades of Kings throughout Tenerife
On Monday, January 5th, there'll be Three Kings Parades in every major town (and a few minor ones too) on the island. For the kids it may be, but there's not a child under 99 who isn't currently excited at the prospect of the imminent arrival of Los Reyes and, secretly hoping that they'll bring them something. So it isn't a case of whether you go to see a Three Kings Parade, it's to which one.
As Andrea Montgomery says, "It might seem strange to those of us who are used to handing over gifts on the 25th December, but if you think about it, it makes more sense to hand over gifts on the same day as the three wise men bestowed their gifts on the baby Jesus."
Whilst the big spectacle in the football ground in the capital, Santa Cruz, will undoubtedly be the biggest, there's bound to be a parade close enough to wherever you are and you may prefer to choose from any of these listed:
Adeje: Starts at 7.30 p.m in the Calle Grande (main street) up in the town. The parade will have floats, Disney characters and lots of other surprises, as well as the arrival of the Three Kings from the Orient themselves.
Candelaria: Starts 7 p.m. from the Plaza de La Hornilla to Plaza de la Patrona de Canarias (where the Basílica de Candelaria is.)
Garachico: Victor in Garachico says that an ambassador from the court of the Three Kings visited Garachico about a week ago (to pick up letters / wish lists) and that the Cavalcade of the Kings is not far off, so we know it's planned to take place as in previous years. It's usually advertised as starting at around 7 p.m., but that's the time the "caravan" starts off in the outlying village of San Pedro. They Three Kings generally arrive down to the castle on Garachico's seafront to meet Herod at around 9 p.m., they then parade around the town, ending up in the plaza in front of the town hall for a live nativity, with fireworks to follow.
Granadilla: Their Majesties leave from the church at the top of the town at 6 p.m. , in procession around the main streets of the town centre and later receive the children and dish out gifts in the municipal sports centre.
Guía de Isora: 7 p.m. in procession around the main streets of the town, accompanied by the local town bands, floats, Disney characters ...
Güimar: From the Plaza de Fátima at 6 p.m., together with the Herald Angel and their respective pages, they take the route of; Avenida Venezuela, Calle Beltrán de Lis and the Avenida de Santa Cruz, to end up in the Plaza de San Pedro.
Icod de los Vinos: Starts 7.30 p.m. from the Plaza del Calvario, around the streets of Icod, accompanied by their court. The Herald Angel makes the announcement in the Plaza del Calvario; the kings meet Herod in the Plaza Luis de León Huerta and terminate by adoring the baby Jesus in the live nativity in the Plaza Andrés de Lorenzo Cáceres (by the church, next to the Drago.)
La Guancha: 7.00 p.m. Traditional procession of the Three Kings around the streets of the district to arrive at the church square, where there will be a reenactment of the nativity, after which their Majesties receive the kids.
La Laguna: For the 7th consecutive year, The Three Kings will arrive at the North Tenerife airport of Los Rodeos, on board an Islas Airways flight. Their ETA is 16:30 hours and, it is hoped that, as in previous years, there will be thousands of kids there to greet them. There is car parking at the old terminal if you wish to go, where, from 4 p.m. onwards, you'll be taken by free bus to meet the kings and be brought back to the terminal again afterwards. Later, at 6.30 p.m. The Three Kings will commence their traditional cavalcade around the historic centre of the city - from the Plaza del Cristo, Nava y Grimón, Consistorio, Herradores, Calle Carrera, on camels, accompanied by floats, marching bands, etc.
La Orotava: the Three Kings parade on 5th January, will be leaving from the municipal stadium towards the Plaza del Ayuntamiento at 8 p.m.
La Victoria de Acentejo: Starts at 8 p.m. in the Calle Pérez Díaz.
Los Cristianos (Arona): The procession starts from the esplanade in the port of Los Cristianos at 7.15 p.m. and goes along the Avenida Suecia, to end up in the Plaza de Los Cristianos.
Puerto de la Cruz: As we mentioned before, The Three Kings had asked to be allowed to arrive from the Orient by sea to Puerto de la Cruz this year, so their procession, will start from the old fishing port at around 7 p.m. and, from there, proceed around the Plaza del Charco, Calle La Marina, Calle Santo Domingo to the Plaza de Europa. This year there will be a live reenactment of the Christmas story along the route and they're even installing giant screens at various strategic points so that people can watch the events. (Photos of the parades in Puerto 1999 - 2008, visit Reyesmagosweb and click on Cabalgatas.)
San Miguel de Abona: At 6 p.m. The Three Kings make their offerings to the baby Jesus in the church, after which they tour the main streets of the town, accompanied by bands, Disney characters and more to the cultural centre.
Tegueste: The Kings' cavalcade starts at 8 p.m., followed by sacramental order of worship by the Holy Magi on the porch and balcony of the town hall.
Vilaflor: 5.30 p.m., starting from the Church of San Roque to St. Peter's Square where the Adoration of the Magi will take place and, from there to the Recreation Centre where children will deliver their letters to Their Majesties.
As they did for New Year, buses and trams will run all night of the 5th / 6th.
All of these events (with the exception of the one inside the stadium in Santa Cruz, which has a nominal charge made in aid of charity) are FREE.
Friday, January 02, 2009
The Three Kings ... coming to Santa Cruz
It's almost time for every kid (between the ages of 0 and 99) to get excited about the annual visit of Los Reyes (The Three Kings), who bring the gifts on the eve of the epiphany.
Tickets go on sale on Friday to see the Three Kings arrive - by helicopter - to the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez López in Santa Cruz on Monday, January 5th. With 22,486 seats, it'll be the biggest night of the year. Entry costs just one euro (you can donate more if you wish as the money goes to 7 local charities in the city), with a maximum of 6 tickets per person.
Following the usual program, an hour long show should start at around 5 p.m., the Three Kings arriving in the stadium at 6 p.m. and their cavalcade around Santa Cruz streets beginning from there at 7 p.m., ending up in the Plaza de Candelaria, for Adoration at the nativity at around 8.30 p.m.
It costs nothing to watch the procession through the streets and plazas, of course, which takes the route from the Heliodoro Rodríguez López stadium, through the following streets; San Sebastián, Plaza República Dominicana, Avenida de las Asuncionistas, Ramón y Cajal, Plaza Pedro Schwartz, Galcerán, Méndez Númez, Pilar, Villalba Hervás, La Mariana to the Plaza de España.
The procession of Kings Melchor, Gaspar and Baltasar, includes marching bands, Romans, Jews, pastors, carts full of sweets, horses and flocks of sheep and goats, says this report (as well as probably every Disney & Sesame Street character.)
Events are rounded off with a fireworks display.
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Secret Tenerife's New Year Honours go to ...
News that the sun was shining yesterday in Tenerife, with not a cloud in the sky and it was hoped that the more rain and strong winds forecasted for the islands hold off for the New Year celebrations. Seemingly, that wish was granted and, we have it on authority that the latest forecasts indicate that the rain intends to stay away for at least the next week.
Airports across the Tenerife province were all operating normally yesterday after many flights had been cancelled or delayed and, access to Mount Teide via El Portillo on the TF-21 road has been reopened after it had been closed on Tuesday, due to rockfalls caused by the last few days' rains.
Canary Islands' First babies of 2009
Were, first a little girl, born at 2 minutes past midnight in the Hospital Universitario Materno Infantil in Gran Canaria. Lucía Kresic weighed in at 3.93 kilos and measured 53 centimetres. Her mum is Slovenian and her dad is Croatian and a cousin of Sergio Kresic, the former trainer of UD Las Palmas football team.
The second birth in the archipelago, took place at 1.30 a.m. in the Hospital Universitario de Canarias (HUC), in Tenerife. A boy, to be named Samuel, who was born to a German mother and Spanish father. Ironic that both new babies also had foreign parents, given the following item ...
Institutional Racism raises its ugly head again
Antonio Castro, President of the Canary Islands Parliament, is reported to have opined that if they don't wish to consume more land on the islands, then other measures will need to be implemented, such as "prohibiting immigration or controlling the birth rate" (via Miguel at Canarias Bruta, who entitled his post "Happy 2009 with condom to hand.")
How exactly, Sr. Castro thinks he might control the natural urges of the entire population of the Canary Islands, I've no idea, but the message that words like prohibiting immigration sends out to the public is an appalling one.
My opinion, based on experience, is that this statement will be like a red rag to a bull in inciting more fear and loathing and increasing the perceived "threat" of the islands being overrun by outsiders. And, whilst I know that we European citizens are no longer "officially" foreign, if you think that makes any difference to the attitude of some ignorant individuals, then you're being very naive.
We're relieved the year's first [foreign] babies weren't born on incoming flights.
Direct flights to Miami will commence in the Spring, LosGigantes.com report that the Air Europa direct flights between Tenerife and Miami are to start at the end of April or the beginning of May, not at the beginning of the year as was first planned and, the weekly flight will operate from the North Airport, not from the South. (Photo: Ken DeJarlais)
La Orotava points the way
The town centre shopping streets in La Orotava are to get improvements, thanks to government grants, for street furniture and signage.
And you don't get much for 100K these days as the money is for the installation of 5 posts (on which there'll be tourist information signs, we must assume), pointing out to the visitor where to find things like the town hall, the municipal library, small hotels, gardens, plazas, cultural centres, artistic monuments, museums and other places of interest.
New Year Price rises in detail
Price increases in basic services, effective today, are, it's reported, above the inflation target of 2 per cent, except in the case of butane and natural gas (not that there's any of the latter in Tenerife yet, other than in Siam Park), where tariffs are being reduced, by 1.88% and 3.6% respectively.
However, electricity prices are rising by 3.5% and postal services by 3.22%.
Ordinary letters (up to 20 grams) within Spain rise to 32 cents, while those to Europe (and your postcards to the UK) will cost 62 cents. To other international destinations, the price has been frozen at 1.66 euros. Parcels sent nationally will cost 3.31% more, whilst the cost of sending them abroad is rising by 2.84%.
Elsewhere, it's reported that a 4% rise in water prices approved by the council in La Laguna has been criticized as being disproportionate. At least it wasn't the 5.3% rise they'd initially announced, but I suppose this means residents can expect rises in the price of water passed by other town councils [sic].
And in my first whine of the year at the British press' totally divorced from reality treatment of Tenerife (it's no wonder "the UK is the least trusting of information in its newspapers"), The Telegraph yesterday published an interview with Darren Gough (who apparently is a former England cricketer and Strictly Come Dancing champion), who says of his worst holiday:
"One place that I wasn't too keen on, if I'm going to be honest, was Tenerife. If you go on a lads trip there it's not so bad but, unless you're going to spend thousands and thousands of pounds, it's not private enough for a family holiday. There's lots of younger people there drinking and it's not really for me. When I go abroad I like to try the local cuisine but the restaurants in Tenerife seemed to only offer British food. It wasn't my cup of tea and I'm not in a rush to go back there."
What is patently obvious from what he says, is that like the vast majority of package holiday Brits, the eminent Mr Gough, clearly didn't break his balls to go tripping the light fandango around any part of the island outside his resort, where he would have seen that it is not at all as he describes.
For 9 years of my stay in Tenerife, I almost never came across an English speaker, much less British food, but that aside, there's a plethora of rural houses that don't cost thousands and would certainly be private enough for a family holiday. Gough is clearly bowling the island a googly and it's just not cricket!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
A somewhat damp close to 2008 in Tenerife
As the weather alert in the Canary Islands is declared over, it's been a case of "lovely weather for ducks" to end the year in Tenerife. Following the orange weather alert which advised people on the island to stay indoors, gales and heavy rains caused the closure of a few roads, including one carriageway of the Tenerife south highway and, airports on the island also suffered some important delays due to the bad weather. Here are images of the rainy day on December 28th, in gorges around Santa Cruz. (The beautiful mountain landscape is indeed a bit damp, but so very, very green.)
Lots of people, both tourists and locals, watch to see if Tenerife's Mount Teide has snow on it for a White Christmas excursion up the mountain. This year, it seems there was, although it was also reported that mountain access roads were closed on Christmas Day because of sheets of ice, while La Gomera had tornados! It's good news for agriculture - and there's an old saying on the island about a good harvest to come - if there's snow on the mountain at New Year. As this image shows, there was a light covering of snow on December 28th. No doubt, with more having been left by the heavy rains in the last couple of days. (Photo: Jøran Pecher.)
The official weather man is forecasting a colder start to the New Year than is usual in the Canary Islands and 2008 has already been declared "the least warm year of the 21st Century." Don't forget that what's called "cold" in Tenerife is not cold as you and I know it. Last report had rated 19.9ºC as "extremely cold".
But, while rain might close the odd road, it wont wash out a party and, in any case, the good news is that fine, clear weather is now expected for the 31st.
San Silvestre Lagunera
I'd wondered what it was when I saw that archway go up in La Laguna last year, now the "mystery" is solved with the news that the annual San Silvestre Lagunera (Saint Silvester's Day Roadrace) has beaten it's own record with some 1,200 runners participating in the twenty-seventh edition of the race around the principal streets of the historic centre of the town on Wednesday, December 31st.
Where to find New Year's Eve Parties ...
Parties will be held in just about every venue and town square across the island - it might be easier to tell you where they won't be - so just follow the crowds, the noise and the fireworks. If you're on the south of the island, the party in the church square in Los Cristianos is usually rockin' ...
Described as Gran Fiesta de Fin de Año, the fun starts in the plaza in Los Cristianos from 11 p.m. (until dawn), with two orchestras; "Sensación Gomera" and "Corinto Band", party bags, fireworks and more surprises.
Meanwhile, Televisión Española will be bringing in the New Year from the area around the Ermita de San Sebastián in Adeje and that's Costa Adeje (the posh way of saying it's up the better end of Playa de las Américas, so you won't have far to go (map).
In Santa Cruz, television channel Televisión Canaria will be broadcasting the chimes from the emblematic Iglesia de la Concepción in Santa Cruz.
The customs at New Year are to wear your very best, new clothes and to eat 12 "lucky" grapes (Uvas de la Suerte), one grape on each stroke of the clock.
And, as we mentioned earlier, there will be be uninterrupted bus and tram services right through the night of New Years Eve for revelers.
Other year-end news in Tenerife
If you missed it earlier, Ricardo Melchior, the President of the Tenerife Island Corporation recorded a Christmas and Happy New Year message in three languages this year. Here's the English version and a transcript.
Numbers of tourists visiting Tenerife were down 6.46% during November, bringing figures to the end of the 11th month to 0.78% more than in 2007. Bad news if you were looking for growth, not so bad when you see that numbers have still more than equalized those of last year. The Canary Islands have launched a £1.26 million European promotional campaign to entice more visitors and prove the islands have more to offer than just sun, sea and sand …
Sail on the last working Royal Mail ship in the world, the RMS St Helena, which sails from Portland UK to Cape Town and back, via Tenerife. Once St Helena Airport on the south Atlantic island of Saint Helena - most widely known as the original resting place of Napoleon Bonaparte - opens (originally due to be completed by 2010, but is now expected to be completed by 2012/2013), the RMS St Helena will have reached the end of its working life. Saharan Vibe blog has a great post about both the island and the ship.
The population of Spain at January 1st, 2008 was 46,063,511, over 5 million of whom were foreigners. In the Canary Islands the total population had reached 2,075,968, 50,017 (2.47%) more than the 2007 figure.
Give With One Hand, Take Away With the Other:
The relevant ministry is increasing the minimum salary in Spain to 621 euros a month in 2009 (yeah, not a lot is it?) But, water, energy, transport and telephone are all going up in the Canary Islands from January 2009.
Duty free allowances changed on December 1st and from 1 January 2009, the other goods allowance will increase again from £300 to £340.
Flu has reached epidemic proportions in 7 Spanish communities, among them the Canary Islands.
ChargeBox mobile phone charging units come to the Canary Islands in January. Distributor, Avances Tecnologicos (A&T), will deploy 25 units across the archipelago in the new year, and hopes to install 100 by the end of 2009.
And heath services have activated their plan to give press coverage to the first babies born in Canarian hospitals in 2009. (Assuming that those first New Year babies are born in hospitals and not in the streets like the Christmas ones were!)
And that just leaves me to wish you all a Feliz Año Nuevo
... and remind you to write / pronounce that with the ~ tilde (squiggle), lest your greeting be misunderstood as having to do with this impolite fighting talk.
(Año, "year" in Spanish, ano, "anus" in Spanish.)
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Thinking of Moving to Tenerife?
2009 is just around the corner, time to resolve to do things differently or in some way improve your life in the coming year. Well, for all of you who, like us, decide that it’s time to leave the bad weather, the ailing pound and the stress of trying to keep your head above water in rip-off Britain and head to Tenerife’s (normally) sun kissed shores, here are a few pointers that will help you to get the best possible start to your new life.
Weather Alert: High winds and rains in Tenerife
The government in the Canary Islands has declared a state of orange alert in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife due to forecast storms with high winds and rains. Winds of up to 90 kph may be experienced on high ground.
Advice from security and emergency services, includes avoiding leaving home, particularly the elderly. They also remind you to park vehicles somewhere where they're protected from the wind and rain.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Public transport for the Holidays in Tenerife
On Wednesday, Christmas Eve, trams in Tenerife's capital, Santa Cruz, will be running normally during the day, until 6 p.m., when frequencies will begin to reduce until service ends at 9 p.m. The last trams leave the Intercambiador in Santa Cruz or the La Trinidad terminus in La Laguna at 8.30 p.m.
The tram service will start running again at 8 a.m on Christmas morning.
There will, however, be uninterrupted services right through the nights of New Years Eve and the Eve of Los Reyes (night of January 5th) for revelers.
You'll find a similar situation on the buses. Transportes Interurbanos de Tenerife (Titsa) have announced modifications in frequency of services on Christmas Eve, again winding down to a stop at 9 p.m. On December 25th, January 1st and 6th, bus services also restart at 8 a.m., to follow their usual fiesta timetables.
