Friday, January 09, 2009
This week in Tenerife
Tenerife Gets Tilt-Shifted
With all the real model nativity villages to see over Christmas, it's probably not necessary to make photos of Tenerife look like "fake" models, but they're still fun.
Here's another Tenerife tilt shift image and a couple of La Gomera. (For more on Tilt-shift photography, Tilt-shift miniature faking, Let’s get small. I made the "model" of Santa Cruz above with TiltShiftMaker.com Via: Boing Boing.)
Weather alert (actually, I think it's only a yellow "pre-alert", i.e. don't panic, yet ...) for rains that could become heavy in isolated parts and snow on the mountains above 2,500 meters, but that includes pretty much all of the Teide National Park, so expect access to be restricted. Rains with the risk of snow this Friday in the Canary Islands. Temperatures of between 15 and 19C are expected.
The access to Teide via La Esperanza had only just been reopened the other day, after it had been closed due to ice on the road from last time. In Tenerife, 15-19 C is "extremely cold", although we have to mention again that it's hardly the arctic snap / mini ice-age / global cooling that's currently gripping UK viewers.
The Tenerife Symphony Orchestra kick off the concerts for the 25th Canarian Music Festival in the Tenerife Auditorium in Santa Cruz tonight, Jan 9th.
Almond Flower Route
Make a date in your diary, as the 12th Edition of the "Almond Flower Route" walk in Santiago de Teide is to be celebrated on February 7th.
The walk starts at 9 a.m. that day, but you need to pre-book, by calling 922 863 127, exts 234 y 235. Other than that, the details are pretty much the same as in previous years. Get a taster, complete with birdsong, in this short video.
Another Side to Tenerife
You know, the one we've been telling you about for years ... but what did I say the other day, that this year might be the year when this news reaches the mainstream. Well, the campaign itself is obviously interesting enough to have got the attention of leading magazine, Marketing Week. Keep pluggin'
Rain of Hope for the Three Kings
There was a "rain of hope" to receive the Three Kings in Santa Cruz (it rained), although I don't quite know why as, apparently, even Wise Men are being hit by the credit crunch these days: with news that "the kings didn’t arrive by helicopter but were driven into the CD Tenerife football stadium by the local fire men."
There was a slight change to routine in Los Cristianos, where the kings arrived at the ferry port and made their way in a large procession of dancers and musicians to the church plaza this year, rather than outside the cultural centre. The Three Kings parade in La Laguna had to be suspended because of the rain, but the Three Kings "delayed" their return to the Orient and visited Tenerife hospitals.
And ... an expert proposes eliminating the fiesta of Los Reyes to shorten the school holidays. What the hell is s/he an expert in, "playing Scrooge"?
Know Your Mushrooms
Three people have been poisoned after consuming wild mushrooms in Tenerife. Two received treatment for gastrointestinal problems after collecting an unknown species of mushroom in La Esperanza. The other case involved, Amanita phalloides, commonly known as the death cap that had been picked in the area of La Conejera in Santa Úrsula. The patent had to undergo a liver transplant.
"Canarian politicians remain committed to demonstrating their stupidity." More on Canarian Parliament President, Antonio Castro's idiotic pronouncements on banning breeding and immigration and, why his arguments don't stand up. For instance, new building can hardly be said to be the needed solution when, it's reported that 117,627 homes were vacant in the Canaries in 2007.
The Auditorium in Los Cristianos is to be tarted up out of the state coffers.
Tenerife ports close the books on a bad economic year in 2008.
The fiestas are over, back to real life. Long live Carnival!
