Christmas is for kids in Tenerife

"To the disappointment of children and romantics - and the relief of bookmakers - there is virtually no chance of snow falling on Christmas Day in the UK this year.", report The Guardian today. But what about the chance of a White Christmas in Tenerife? The forecast at Weather Underground, says there's a chance of a thunderstorm on Wednesday night (which could upset Santa's travel plans) and a 30% chance of precipitation. With the "polar" temperatures  (relatively) that Tenerife has been experiencing lately, that could indeed mean waking up to a sprinkling of snow on Mount Teide for the annual Christmas Day trip.

But do try not to get lost and go prepared! Guardia Civil Mountain and K9 Rescue teams have had to help no less than three walkers who got lost in the mountains this weekend in Tenerife. An Italian tourist was rescued from between the Pico Viejo and the peak of Teide, unhurt, but with a mild case of hypothermia. The other two, residents of La Orotava, were found safe and well, but had become lost on a forest track, in the evening, without warm clothing or torches.

Tenerife Celebrates El Gordo wins

As the kids from the San Ildefonso school sang out the winning numbers, the annual Christmas Lottery didn't forget the Canary Islands entirely for once. The Number 1 and oldest Lottery Administration in La Laguna distributed a total of 9,750,000 euros in prize money on one of the 5th prizes - the number 36199 - with a 50,000 euro (or £50,000) payout per ticket (the strip of 10). Individual décimos (10ths), of which 1,950 were sold there, win 5,000 euros each.

The first prize was won by ticket number 32365, but none of those were sold in the Canary Islands. Sales of Xmas lottery tickets were down 2.79% this year.

And the magician Xerax, apparently correctly identified the winning lottery number. A few minutes after the draw (just enough time to write the correct number on the card?), the locked box that had been suspended in mid-air from the Cabildo building, for the last week, was  lowered and opened, revealing, yes, WOW, gosh ... the number 32365! (Sorry, if I fail to be impressed!)

You can get everything in a service station these days

More news on the Christmas Baby born in Icod de los Vinos yesterday, reveals that the littl'un, a boy, was born in the petrol station (either the Cepsa pictured, or the Shell down the road, I guess) after the parents, both German, had stopped to fill up for the journey to hospital. Mother and baby are pictured here with the police officers who had helped in the birth.

What were the odds that a second baby would be born in Tenerife, in similar circumstances, on the same day? This time, a little girl was born, at 13.26 on Sunday afternoon, on the main road in Guía de Isora. A member of the family received instructions by phone. Both are doing well in the Hospiten Sur.

Firemen visit the kids in hospital

If you're a kid and you're sick in hospital at the moment, you could have been having a pretty grim experience, but one thing's for certain, you won't have been lacking in visitors. Today, firemen were to visit the kids at the Hospital Universitario Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria (HUNSC).

Just for fun, they were going to be rappelling or abseiling down the building like Spidermen and doing a surprise demonstration with foam.

This is on top of the visit from the CD Tenerife football team on Thursday and, Papá Noel (Father Christmas)' on Friday, in an open-topped car, loaded with sweets and gifts, escorted by municipal police officers from Santa Cruz and members of the Tenerife Chapter on their Harley Davidsons.

Negative results at year end

Tenerife is to close 2008 with negative results, says this report. Tourist figures had been 1.4% up by the end of October, but the corporation are forecasting "a bad month", this month with a few less visitors than last year.

By the end of November, the number of foreign tourists to visit the Canary Islands was 8.5 million, just maintaining the level of the previous year.

At least CD Tenerife football club is closing the year with a victory and, they are just two points away from the promotion zone. So close! Remember when Tenerife played the giants of the Spanish first division and of Europe? 

Monarch adds flights

Monarch is increasing its scheduled flying program to the Canary Islands for Summer 2009, with extra flights from From Manchester to Tenerife.

Monarch also recently introduced a complimentary hold baggage allowance of 10kgs for infants. Customers booking to travel with infants will receive their standard allowances of 20kgs of hold baggage and 10kgs of hand baggage, but infants will also now qualify for a 10kg hold baggage allowance. This can be taken in addition to pushchairs, prams and car seats, which will continue to be carried free of charge. Bookings via Monarch Holidays.

And tomorrow, at the recently opened Tenerife Espacio de las Artes (TEA), in Santa Cruz, there's to be a workshop for children on Cosmic Christmas.

Permalink | (1) Comments | Post a Comment

 missy wrote (on December 23, 2008 11:30 AM)  

Is there really snow on the mountain? Oh I miss it so much! God knows when I will get again as like everyone else money is tight and also they have cancelled the winter flights from our local airport!! ARGH!

Anyway hope you have a lovely christmas and a great new year, love missy xx

check out my new blog frugal missy!