Wednesday, April 30, 2008

A few Tenerife tidbits

You'd almost think that nothing much was going on in Tenerife, but I'm sure it is. It's just that I've been caught up with other matters (and am likely to be for some time), so this is the "hit and run edition" of some of the more strange and (potentially) interesting things to have happened on this island lately ...

Amy Winehouse' Dad in Tenerife

The latest in the turbulent life of who the Daily Star calls a "pop wreck" - never in a million years thought I'd be citing them for accuracy - Amy Winehouse, is that her dad, Mitch, 57, who is a cabbie, had to cut short his holiday in Tenerife to go and scream asterisks at his daughter. Escaping our heatwave, for yet more heat, eh?

San Marcos Church in Tegueste, dressed up for the Romería. Photo: Juantf74Romería de Tegueste

This Sunday just gone, though the news was slightly overshadowed by the La Gomera fire and the heatwave, heralded the first of the summer season of romerías, the colorful fiestas where people and animals dress up in their finest traditional costumes and take to the streets to make music, eat, drink and generally be merry.

The Pilgrimage of Tegueste

Modelling for Mexico

The model village in the Ototava valley that recreates many emblematic Canary Islands' sites and buildings in miniature has branched out internationally. Pueblo Chico's model makers have been busy making models of Mexican wonders for, Discover Mexico, in Cozumel. The new park cost 6 million dollars to develop and Canarian investors hold 30% of its capital.

Midnight Train to Güímar

Three geologists say yes a north-south tunnel in Tenerife is viable. (The cynic in us observes that it's amazing what geologists will say for money, but actually, we are in favor of more public transport and less cars.) The intention is for a train to link the Güímar valley with the La Orotava valley. President of the Tenerife Corporation, Ricardo Melchior's vision is not just for north and south trains, but for a a whole round the island train layout. Choo choo!

Pyrotechnic Potato Prices

We all know that the price of food is rising sharply everywhere, but here on the island of Tenerife, the price of the 'umble spud, has "exploded" over the last few months, to put them at over 1 euro (83 pence) a kilo. In the four months of the year to date, potato prices have risen by 7.2% in the Canary Islands, while in Spain as a whole, the rise was only 0.9%.

Tenerife international film festival

Did you know that there had been a Tenerife international film festival on April 25th? No, nor did we, which has to mean this is one of Tenerife's best kept secrets to date. We cannot imagine why, nor why they would not be interested in international entrants, as Lisa Marks discovered when her "repeated requests to speak to their festival coordinator and press contact fell on deaf ears."

Tenerife Aeorbus Airport Bus route

Titsa (the Tenerife Bus Service) recently announced a new bus service from the Tenerife Sur Airport through Los Cristianos, Playa de Las Americas and onto La Caletta, offering possible savings on taxi prices. More info and map ...

Three Palms in Santa Cruz R.I.P.

Frankly, we weren't quite sure what to make of this solemn piece of news, written in the style of an obituary, which says that personnel from the Parks and Gardens Department of Santa Cruz town hall had to retire three palm trees that had perished.

Prepare to weep, as we read on to discover that the reason for their elimination (OMG, the poor things were "put out of their misery"), was because they had not survived after being subjected to being transplanted.

They were of the species, Phoenix canariensis (Canary Island Date Palm). Each left a widow and several cuttings (OK, I made that up) and will soon be replaced with three other examples of the same species. It'll never be quite the same!

Meanwhile, La Hijuela del Botánico de La Orotava: the botanical garden behind the town hall in La Orotava and that was once the market garden for the former convent of San José, has been declared as a Bien de Interés Cultural (of Cultural Interest) in the category of Artistic Garden. This Historical Garden oasis was created in 1788 on the initiative of the VI Marqués de Villanueva.

More than 20% of visitors to Tenerife are Canarian

More than 20% of visitors to Tenerife are Canarian, according to this report. That is, people who live on one of the other 6 Canary Islands, come here to Tenerife for their holidays. Can't be that bad then, can it? :)

For their benefit (and everyone else's I should think), the island is considering an all encompassing transport card, similar to the BONO bus (that already covers the tram and gets museum discounts), but that would also cover inter-island public services, the cable car, discounts in crafts shops, etc.

Nevertheless, it was tourists from the Spanish mainland who "saved" the statistics in March. Tenerife put up 506,572 guests in that month, an increase of 3.6% over the corresponding month in 2007, but the increase in the Spanish market was 21.8%, with Easter holidays falling in March.

Still 390,054 of that total were foreign visitors, although (translating literally), Brits and Germans "registered negative behavior". Yes, they probably did, and the numbers of you lot were lower (10.7% and 8.7% respectively) too!

Happily, foreign tourists spent 8.9% more in the first quarter of this year.

El Palmar church reopens

Last Saturday we missed the reopening of the little church, Iglesia de la Consolación, in El Palmar that had been undergoing extensive renovations (and they sent us such a nice printed invitation too), thereby passing up the golden opportunity to rub shoulders with the outspoken and controversial Bishop of Tenerife, Bernardo Álvarez; the President of the Tenerife Island Corporation, Ricardo Melchior and Aurelio Abreu, the mayor of Buenavista, among other "personalities." So bishops and politicians are personalities now?

Puticlubs y Putas de Tenerife

From vicars to tarts. Warning: Not safe for work link Puticlubs y Putas de Tenerife. Alterning.com - a guide to "nocturnal clubs" - provide a short list of whores and whorehouses in Tenerife, but they're star rated (on girls and price)! We feel sure that readers could add a few clubs and ratings to the list. :)

Very Slow Exposure

Once again, Grafcan, the public company that has supplied images to Google, is being criticized because the photos in the new version of Google Earth, are from December 2006 and, the question is asked, do they want to hide something?

Air Europa pilots to strike

It's been announced that the 527 pilots of Air Europa, which operates inclusive tour services between northern and western Europe and holiday resorts in the Canary Islands and Balearic Islands, are to park up their planes on the tarmac immediately after the puente de mayo (May bank holiday), partly in protest against the creation of new airline, Universal Airlines. Strike action is planned for Monday to Friday, 5 to 9 May, and will be repeated weekly, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, indefinitely, from June 1st, if they fail to reach an agreement.

Holiday Extras' Nick Purdom, writing about Low fare flights for winter (I know, it's hardly summer yet), says "Thomsonfly claims to offer the most comprehensive range of flights from UK airports to winter sun favourite the Canary Islands, with flights starting from £54.99 one way."

You'll find extra snippets of Tenerife news here ...