Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Rebandas de Carnaval
In much the same way that the British traditionally eat pancakes on Shrove Tuesday to use up items in the kitchen before Lent begins tomorrow, this is the Canarian equivalent.
Ingredients:
1 'yesterday's' Canarian loaf (pan normal) - any crusty white bread like a French stick or baguette will do just as well, 1 egg, 1 cup of milk approx., Sugar, Sprinkle of ground cinnamon.
Method:
Slice the bread into 1/2 to 3/4 inch slices and discard the ends. Beat the egg, milk and cinnamon together in a bowl then soak the bread slices briefly in the mixture. Lift them carefully and fry gently in oil in a shallow frying pan, turning once. Remove when golden, arrange on a plate and sprinkle with sugar.
This a great way to use up stale bread at any time.
Labels: Carnaval 2006
Santa Cruz Carnaval Parade Suspended by the Bad Weather in Tenerife
Keeping an eye on search terms that visitors use to reach this site, leads me to believe that the top items of interest are the Carnaval in Santa Cruz and the weather in Tenerife.
With the "Coso" Apoteosis del Carnaval, main parade, supposed to have been happening this afternoon in Santa Cruz, I can tell you that the same God who decides the weather for August bank holidays in Britain has been at work here in Tenerife today. It is generally the case that it will rain at least once during Carnaval week, but this is the first time in my 14 years on the island that I have known the weather to be so uncooperative as to cause the suspension of events.
The islands continue on alert because of high winds again - currently reported to be around 80 kmph. Waves have reached heights of three to five meters in Tenerife, whilst on the north coast of El Hierro, reached a record height of eight meters.
In Santa Cruz de La Palma, 24 inter-island flights had to be cancelled. Over here on the north west of Tenerife it has been tipping it down with buckets of rain this afternoon and, by my standards, it is freezing at around 12 degrees centigrade.
Reports in the local media confirmed that the main parade of Carnaval has been suspended today and it is hoped that the parade will now be held on Saturday, March 4th, instead.
Have a thought for those poor girls in their Brazillian style bare-bottomed costumes and, with all the feathers they wear, they were probably worried about them catching avian flu!
Tags: Tenerife, Canarias, Canary Islands, Carnaval
Labels: Carnaval 2006, Tenerife Weather
George W. Bush has just ordered the bombing of the Canary Islands
To quote this item at the Tallahassee Democrat:
"In an attempt to thwart the spread of bird flu, George W. Bush has just ordered the bombing of the Canary Islands."
I assumed this comment on their anonymous forum was a joke, albeit with equal good taste and tact to a Danish cartoon and Erika Peterman, Associate Editor of Tallahassee.com assures me that "The writer definitely was being sarcastic!"
Meanwhile, as local politicos are trying to convince us that there is no bird flu risk as the islands are "not a stopping off place for migrating birds." (and they're failing miserably, as far as I am concerned), of course we do know the islands are a stopping off place for not so secret CIA flights and that particular cat was released from its bag by Tenerife spotters. Disconcerting, no?
Normally, I'd rate GWB's chances of finding the Canary Islands roughly on a par with his ability to find WMD, however, perhaps George Bush DOES read Scribbles from Tenerife, after all?
Tags: Tenerife, Canary Islands, Canarias, Bush, Avian flu, Bird Flu
Met warns of Canary presa danger
Holly the Hound, who contains some Presa Canario and German Shepherd amongst her 57 varieties, probably is capable of licking someone to death.The Metropolitan Police force, concerned for the safety of its officers, has issued a warning to ensure they are up to speed on what police chiefs consider to be a highly dangerous animal.
The presa canaria, the native Canary Islands breed of dog, is coming in for more unwelcome publicity overseas after it was revealed it has been taken up in a big way in the UK by criminals to guard their interests and intimidate their rivals.
Met warns of Canary presa danger
Related links:
Presa Canario Canary Dogs
Canary Dog (Perro de Presa Canario)
Getting Pickled in North Tenerife
If residents of the Parque Rural de Teno and its areas of influence don't want to visit any one of Tenerife's 5,325 bars to get pickled, they can try making their own pickles, jams and liqueurs.
As I mentioned to the Tenerife Scribbler this afternoon, there is not one newspaper vendor in the valley, but, come to think of it, I can point you to a good handful of restaurants and umpteen bars. There is already a booming local wine trade, now they are encouraging the making of homemade hooch.
Clearly, this place has it's priorities right.
Anyway, from the 2nd to the 30th March (from 4 to 8 p.m.) at the Farmers' Market in El Palmar, the Tenerife Island Council is running a course on making Conserves, Jams and Liqueurs.
Students will acquire practical knowledge of artisan methods of elaboration of; not just jams and marmalades, but also savory conserves such as chutneys and sweet and sour sauces, as well as rescuing some forgotten recipes from the ancestors, like that of aguardiente (a sugar cane hooch, that I understand is somewhat akin to meths) and other traditional liqueurs.
That certainly should get some activity going in the area!
PS: The plum jam I made last year turned out great. So did the fig jam I made the year before. At least it tastes fine, but maybe I should go on the course, because I may have mucked something up in the process. It has purging qualities that FAR exceed anything Syrup of Figs could do for you! :)
El Cabildo organiza un curso de conservas, mermeladas y licores en el Parque Rural de Teno
Eat, drink and be merry in Tenerife
They might not all be gourmets’ dreams, but with 9,580 bars, restaurants and cafeterias, Tenerife leads the way by a mile in the Canary hospitality sector. A recent report from the regional tourism ministry shows that half the total of such establishments in the Canary Islands are to be found here in Tenerife, giving a whole new meaning to the phrase spoilt for choice.
Eat, drink and be merry – Tenerife is tops!
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Fly to Tenerife with Google Earth
Recently, someone called 'Rednick' at the Google Earth Community posted a really interesting collection of placemarks and showing many views in Google Earth of photographs taken by a famous French photographer Arthus-Bertrand. The placemarks are the locations of about 130 photographs from a collection called, appropriately enough, "Earth From Above"
The interesting thing about it is that in this post about it on the Google Earth Blog, the example photos they use are here in Tenerife and, indeed, somewhere no more than a couple of miles from me. It is the view of the Montaña de Taco with a reservoir in the top, next to Buenavista del Norte.
The level of detail of this area in Google Earth is particularly high, as you will see if you "fly" here. Once you get to the Montaña de Taco in Google Earth, following their instructions, just make a left up between the mountains you'll see on your left and you'll soon find your way in to the El Palmar valley.
Matching Photos to Google Earth
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Two new routes from Monarch
Monarch Scheduled has launched its winter 2006 timetable with the news that the airline is to begin two new routes.
The low-cost operator will begin three flights a week to Tenerife from Gatwick, starting on October 29 and on the same day begin two flights a week to Lanzarote from Manchester, which means that Monarch offers more flights to the Canary Islands than any other low cost carrier.
Two new routes from Monarch
Santa Cruz Carnaval Queen 2006
The gala ended only about half an hour ago and the quality is not great because these were taken right from the TV. Still, if you've never seen this spectacle before, it will give you some idea and particularly the size of these costumes.
Labels: Carnaval 2006
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Santa Cruz Carnaval 2006 Events
This is, by no means, a complete list of all Carnaval events, but those which, I believe, to be of most interest to an English speaking visitor and generally casual onlooker. Labels: Carnaval 2006
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
21:30 - Gala for the Selection of the Carnaval Queen 2006
This colorful event, to be held tonight in the Centro Internacional de Ferias y Congresos de Tenerife will be televised internationally. It is probably best seen on TV too, to see close ups of the costumes. This gala is really the last in a long line of selection processes that have already taken place to choose the best dance troops and musical groups, etc. These also set the order they should participate in the forthcoming parades.
Friday, February 24, 2006
20:00 - The "Announcing" Parade of Carnaval
Now that all the participants and winners have been chosen, this parade announces the start of Carnival celebrations proper. There is a firework display at the end of the parade.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
16:00 - "Coso" Apoteosis del Carnaval
This is THE main parade of Carnaval along the Avenida de Anaga and Avenida Marítima alongside the seafront and port in Santa Cruz. Fireworks again follow, scheduled for 21:00. This parade will also be televised internationally, details here.
Wednesday, March 1, 2006
21:00 - Burial of the Sardine
How does one explain this? It is a sacrilegious, surreal and sarcastic parade where you are likely to find men and women dressed up as Catholic clergy and men dressed up in drag as "wailing widows". Just in case you think that you've run into a cross-dressers' convention or a Gay Pride march, it is not. They all follow the funeral procession of the poor unfortunate effigy of a huge sardine, which symbolizes the "death" or end of Carnaval (well, sort of) and start of Lent.
There is a good description, in which you will discover the secret of Carnaval and, particularly the Burial of the Sardine in this article in the Guardian, Carnaval Queen.
Saturday, March 4, 2006
18:00 - Coso Infantil
This is a separate main parade for all the junior Carnaval participants, the Kid's Parade, in which the place of honour will be held by the Reina Infantil (Junior Queen). Click here for photos of this year's winner and her court. Though perhaps a little more pedestrian than the grown-up parades, which you may prefer also, I think this is one of the best days.
Sunday, March 5, 2006
10:00 - XXXVI Concourse of Classic Cars
Or, "Old Crocks Day", as I like to colloquially name it, which is particularly apt this year as it falls on my birthday. :) Look for the old crocks, the vehicular ones, not myself, in the Plaza de la Iglesia (Church Square) and Calle La Noria. After assembling, they will make a very noisy circuit of the city streets.
There is also a Gran Fin de Fiesta del Carnaval 2006 party at 17:00 and, of course, a farewell firework display, which is slated to begin at 22:00. If the Burial of the Sardine didn't really mark the end of Carnaval, does this? Well, to repeat myself yet again, only sort of! All it really means is the end, for this year, of the Carnaval celebrations in Santa Cruz. It all just moves along to Puerto de La Cruz, Los Cristianos and just about every other town on the island for at least another couple of weeks.
And, since there is always next year's Carnaval to plan, dances and songs to rehearse, costumes to have 1000's of sequins and feathers sewn on ... I really doubt that Carnaval ever ends.
More information:
Times, of course, in the Canary Islands, are always very approximate, however, with the advent of televising most of the main events, they are getting more precise.
A full list of events (in Spanish) can be found at the Official Carnaval site. There are other small parades and, of course, dances in the streets most nights starting at 23:00 on Friday - now that the judge decided they could go ahead.
There is also the nightly fun fair and have a heart for the snack food stall holders that you will find, mostly around the central Plaza de España. They will have paid up to tens of thousands of Euros in the auction to secure the prime locations and the pleasure of overcharging you! But, it is a party, after all. :)
How to get there on the bus.
Can't make it this year?
If you are planning ahead to come to Santa Cruz Carnaval in a future year, you can always count on the "Coso", main parade, being on the Shrove Tuesday. Once you have the calendar for the year in question, this should be easy to find or work out.
It is also a fair bet to assume that the announcing parade will be held on the previous Friday night and the Gala for the selection of the Queen, on the Wednesday, two days prior to that. The the Kid's Parade, likewise has always been on the following Saturday and the Old Crocks on the Sunday.
The one to watch is the Burial of the Sardine, which has been known to be moved and held on the following Friday instead.
Tags: Tenerife, Canarias, Carnival, Carnaval
New volcano research moves closer to predicting eruptions
Research into how volcanoes erupt led by Durham University’s Earth Sciences Department is taking volcanologists a step closer to being able to predict when and on what scale volcanoes will erupt. The team chose four European volcanoes to study for the project that represented a broad range of types of volcanoes in terms of size, frequency and intensity of eruption, from Stromboli with frequent relatively gentle eruptions, to Teide and Vesuvius with medium scale eruptions to Campi Flegrei representing the larger end of the scale.
New volcano research moves closer to predicting eruptions
Discover the cultural jewel of The Canary Islands
The world certainly is waking up to the fact that Tenerife has much more to offer than sun, sand, sea, sangria and everything else that begins with an "S" and often ends in tears! :)
FemaleFirst.co.uk (via Webchats.tv and promoted by the Tenerife Tourist Board), will be hosting a live webchat with Adrian Mourby on Wednesday 1st March 2006 at 14h30 to discuss the hidden treasures Santa Cruz and La Laguna have to offer to the discerning traveller. Details can be found here:
Discover the cultural jewel of The Canary Islands
In the last ten years Adrian Mourby has had four books published, written and presented various series on Radio 4. Adrian now produces opera and other musical events. He has acted as international and architectural correspondent for Opera Now magazine, lectured for Martin Randall Travel and Travel for the Arts and won the Sony Silver Award for Creative Writing on Radio. He has also written various travel pieces for the likes of The Daily Telegraph and The Independent.
Canary Island Pine Trees Find a Home
Canary Island Pines in front of Mount Teide. Photo: jimmyroq
The University of California, Berkeley is the oldest of the UC campuses and serves as the flagship of California's public university system.
There's a Special Report by Ron Sullivan this week in local newspaper, the Berkeley Daily Planet about Canary Island pines at Berkeley, some of which can be spotted in groups around the UC campus. They and a number of other Canary Island native species are certainly a long way from their original home!
Of course, you can see the Canary Island Pine (Pinus canariensis) in it's native habitat here in Tenerife.
Sullivan mentions the denseness of the red heartwood of these trees - so dense it sinks in water - and to see an example of the uses this wood is put to, look at these Heartwood Cloisters at the former Fransiscan convent in Garachico.
The role of these pines in the water cycle, catching rain and driving it down to the underground galleries, is indeed an important one. You really don't begin to understand how important trees are, until you see this process modelled, which you can do at the former plantation, Bananera - Jardines del Atlantico (at Busanada, Nr Los Cristianos).
For my money, this friendly little park and garden should be at the very top of any visitors' list of places to see in the south of Tenerife, because, once you have done so, you will have a much greater appreciation for everything else you visit later.
As for birding. Well, I can think of nowhere better than the Parque Rural de Teno and here in the El Palmar valley - where I am serenaded by hundreds of native canaries daily as well as spotting a huge variety of other small birds and birds of prey (my friend jokes that I have become a "regular twitcher").
And, of course, this valley is also one of the last places to see the Phoenix canariensis, Canary Island date palms at home.
NB: For a high resolution version of the above image click here.
GPS waypoints for birders
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Cat in Los Vinos, Tenerife
CAT IN LOS VINOS - TENERIFE
Originally uploaded by on the road2006.
Leslie recently snapped a little doggie in a window, watching the world go by, in Puerto de la Cruz. And here is a dear little cat doing much the same on a sunny day in Los Viños.
It is so very true that Canarians like to spend time at windows or on balconies and simply watch the world go by. This does also seem to hold true for the animal population.
My next door neighbour also suggested that most locals wouldn't mind, indeed would be glad to appear in photos. And these two, it seems, are positively posing!
Carnaval On The Busses
Going to the Santa Cruz Carnaval in person?
Apart from the fact that parking is a joke in Santa Cruz at the best of times and it is obviously safer to leave the wheels at home if you intend to imbibe a beverage or two, actually, half the fun of an outing to Carnaval can be had on the bus.
Oh yes, I can cast my mind back to the year that, dressed as a musketeer, complete with high boots, cape and big hat with a feather, I passed a few enjoyable minutes engaged in a plastic sword fight on the bus with a complete stranger. :)
Every year, Tenerife bus company TITSA (no, that is NOT the Spanish branch of Trotters Independent Trading) lay on extra busses for Carnaval dates, including the famous 111 Playa de las Americas route, running right through until 4.30 a.m.
Download a special Carnaval 2006 timetable (PDF) here.
Labels: Carnaval 2006
Tenerife Carnaval on the Tele
Many of you not in the Canary Islands may be interested in discovering what our spectacular annual Carnaval is all about and, thanks to the international channel of our local TV station, tvCanaria, I think you should be able to see for yourselves.
Tomorrow night, Wednesday, February 22 sees what I believe is the biggest event with the widest appeal - that of the Gala for the Selection of the Carnaval Queen 2006.
The truly magnificent, outrageous and enormous, colorful costumes are well worth seeing and you really don't need to understand Spanish to be able to appreciate them.
Locally, this is being shown live at 9.30 p.m. On the international channel, it appears that it will be going out later, at 01.30 a.m. GMT (i.e. Thursday morning). That would equate to 2.30 a.m. in Central Europe, but still appear to be 9.30 p.m. in Venezuela where the broadcast is primarily aimed, 8.30 p.m. US Eastern.
You should be able to look up the details of Wednesday's programming here, once it is published.
In Europe, you can find tvCanaria on Astra:
Satélite: ASTRA 1E
Diameter of antena: Canarias 90 cm, Europe 60 cm.
Transpondedor: 34
Frecuencia: 10.979 MHz
Polarización: Vertical
Symbol Rate: 22.000
FEC: 5/6
In America, via Hispasat:
Satélite: Hispasat 1C
Posición orbital: 30º W
Download frequency: 12.172 MHz
Polaridad: Horizontal
Symbol Rate: 27.500
FEC: 3/4
Service name: C. Canarias TV
More details of frequencies and stuff here.
I am assuming all of that will mean something to those of you who have satellite TV. Does it show that I do not? I shall be watching, via a wire coat hanger! No, I'm not kidding. :)
On Tuesday, February 28th (Shrove Tuesday), the "Coso" Apoteosis del Carnaval or main parade will be taking place and I am certain this one will be televised internationally as well. The parade begins at 4 p.m. GMT in Santa Cruz, but I don't yet know the timing of the international broadcast.
If you get to watch any of this from "the outside", do let us know what you think of it and, if you can explain this better than I can, please do so by posting a comment!
Labels: Carnaval 2006
Airtours NEW Short Breaks
Airtours have recently launched a new range of short break holidays for summer 2006. If you don't want to take a full week or two week holiday this Summer but want to get away, an Airtours Short Break could be just what you're looking for. They have a wide range of accommodation available - from Prestige hotels, Summer Sun properties and Local Flavours accommodations. Flights are available from Gatwick, Manchester and Birmingham for either a 3 or 4 night break.
Destinations include: Tenerife from £279 per person.
Airtours NEW Short Breaks
Monday, February 20, 2006
Shopping in Tenerife
My local store here in El Palmar, with its home delivery service and being almost unique in the fact that they open on Saturday afternoons, is one of the most shopper-friendly of it's type.
Beyond that, I couldn't help but laugh loudly with recognition at many of the things that Leslie has observed about the often frustrating Canarian shopping experience in this article.
Suggesting that, "Canarian shopkeepers don’t enjoy over contamination of customers.", because it creates them work, Leslie says, "Generally speaking, the older the area, the more entrenched is this attitude. Such shops have become rare in the tourist dominated south, but are still common in the north." Barring those couple of exceptions of unusual forward thinking mentioned above, I can certainly confirm this.
In all fairness, they work very hard to be helpful and will get almost anything a customer wants at Las Cuevas, so long as their warehouse carries it, but this is rare. So far though, they don't stock such "modern" items as a can of baked beans.
And, half the things you want have to be served and you have to ask for them - even a simple thing like potatoes. You can guarantee that in the time it takes them to go off out the back to get them, been stopped on the way to be told the latest news about poor old Sra. Perez' bad foot and served three other customers, the spuds will have grown eyes! :)
If three customers is overload, wait until you get three customers and a delivery man in all at once!
There have been times when it got so out of hand, that I just go behind the counter and start weighing, pricing and serving customers myself and I am highly honoured that they trust me - a foreigner - to do so and, at least things are better since they moved to new premises a couple of years ago. There are some open shelves now and their time is no longer shared between the shop out front and a drinking bar in the back room.
Don't get me wrong, I love going to Las Cuevas for a chat, to catch up on all the local news and gossip, etc., as much as the next person, but there's a limit. The truth is that I never call in if I'm in a hurry. It's futile. The event must be planned as a minimum half-day excursion. It's like going to a club or day-center that happens to sell things on the side.
I really wouldn't want to change anything about it, but, of course, it does mean that I only call in there once a month or so to replenish fresh produce. Like everyone else on these islands, I do bulk shopping trips to one of the big malls that offer prices, choice and opening times to suit me.
Go down to Buenavista and you are back to the old system: after 1 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon, it's a ghost town.
The only shop that opens all day Saturday and all day Sunday is the bakery, Pastelería Aderno. They do a roaring trade.
They also own a bodega and the company has just opened a refurbished finca as rural tourist accommodation. You would think that other local business owners might grasp that their results just might be tied into their efforts, wouldn't you?
Buenavista del Norte is hardly a tourist hot spot, but it does attract a few and more all the time now we have Buenavista Golf, designed by the great Severiano Ballesteros, so there must be people wandering around there wondering what to do.
While my mother was here at Christmas, we discussed the idea of going to Santa Cruz, but in the end decided that it was just too much trouble to get up before dawn to get there and have enough time in the shops before they closed at lunch time.
For the capital city of an island dependent on tourism and a major port, the attitude of retailers in Santa Cruz is something that I just can't understand. As Tenerife News say, in Ghost town cruise blues, "How much sympathy do whingeing retailers deserve when they refuse to move with the times?"
Worlds Biggest Mountains
Mauna Loa, Earth's largest volcano on the Hawaiian Islands, measured from its base some 5,000 m (over 16,000 ft) below the ocean surface to the highest point at 4,170 m (13,680 ft) above sea level, totalling over 9,000 m (> 30,000 ft). Mauna Loa is about 36 m (120 ft) lower than its neighbor, Mauna Kea.
Earth's third largest volcano is, of course, our own Mount Teide here on Tenerife, which stands 3,717 m (12,195 ft) above sea level and approximately 7000 m above the adjacent sea bed.
The "curiosity" is that since Mount Everest is situated on top of the Tibetan plateau, already at 3,600 meters, then measuring from there, Everest is "only" 5,230 meters high.
All three big volcanos are taller mountains on this basis.
Source: Hawai: la montaña más alta
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Tenerife is in fashion
"Tenerife is in fashion because it is constantly being updated, revitalising its offers, events and attractions. In 2005 Tenerife had a record of 1.5 million Spanish visitors, 6.24% more than in previous years.", say Tenerife News.
An abundance of striking new architecture, groundbreaking attractions and international events are adding to the already incredible diversity of nature and scenery.
Among the coming events is the first International Congress of Carpet making, which will take place in June 2006 in La Orotava. Tenerife is renowned for its sand and flower carpets, and this year La Orotava will host carpet artists from all over the world, such as Mexico, the US and Tibet among others.
Tenerife is in fashion
Saturday, February 18, 2006
Tenerife swimmers participate in lifesaving championship in Australia
Twelve swimmers have been selected to represent Tenerife at the world lifesaving championship taking place between February 10-26 in Australia. The team, from Real Club Nautico of Tenerife, is sub champion of Spain, and will compete alongside another 200 teams (7.200 participants) from all over the world.
Tenerife swimmers participate in lifesaving championship, Australia
Friday, February 17, 2006
Canarian Delegation to join the San Antonio Birthday Celebrations
Celebrations for the 275th Anniversary of San Antonio in Texas will culminate with a performance by tenor Plácido Domingo.
Meanwhile, a delegation, including government representatives, artists and academics from the archipelago will also be present in the city, an historical symbol of Canarian emigration.
Texas can look forward to seeing the area around the San Fernando cathedral covered in sand and flower carpets, in the style of those made here for Corpus Cristi and La Orotava.
San Antonio se prepara para celebrar sus 275 años con nutrida visita canaria
Carpet of flowers set to bloom near San Fernando Cathedral
Restaurante Molino Blanco
Speaking of the high-life in Tenerife, Leslie from Scribbles from Tenerife mentioned the Restaurante Molino Blanco, where he took the wife for a Valentines dinner on Tuesday.
Leslie says the restaurant is one of the better known ones. Well, I, for one, wasn't aware that there is an old style windmill and a building that recreates an old country house with a "Patio", slap bang in touristy Las Americas!
There's plenty of them here in the north and they are real.
But you should see the clientele they draw:
Famous personalities such as legend Jose Feliciano, international singer Luis Miguel, American singer Mariah Carey, Mexican band Maná, Mexican singer Paulina Rubio, among others …
Including a singing Tenerife Scribbler. Well, at least they've survived something worse than Mariah Carey then! :)
(Hey, before you crucify me over that last comment, I happen to think she has an amazing voice, but something Greg Edwards said on Soul Spectrum last week, highlighted the reality. She has released masses of records, but can you actually remember one of them? Quite. If it was quality, you would have.)
All joking aside, it is good to see that the south is providing some "typical Canarian" flavour amongst it's recent efforts at an image clean up, even if it is recreated. This, sadly, was rarer than rocking horse poo last time I set foot in the resort. :)
Invasion of the Wrinklies
The local press is still mulling over the statistics on immigration in the islands and one newspaper, El Día, introduced a new angle by publishing figures relating to the elderly foreign population over which – as consumers of the over-stretched public health service – there is a growing sense of unease.
White flighters add to immigration stats – and how
Ed Note: I don't really see why this is causing unrest: it is well documented that populations are growing older all over the world, so this is very likely also be the case among the local population, as well as the foreigners. Besides that, as I understood it, any OAP who retires here, without ever having worked in Spain, would have to provide their own health coverage in the form of private health insurance.
Tenerife palms face red beetle menace
Another report confirms the threat to Canary Islands palms.
"Remember the bad old days of Dutch elm disease and the havoc it wrought on the British landscape? Well, there are fears that a similar ecological disaster could befall the archipelago’s palm trees, thanks to another imported insect, the red palm weevil, a bug which is already getting its teeth into trees in Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria."
Tenerife palms face red beetle menace
The high life in Tenerife
The Paper Blog reports that they are launching a new column, to be called Elegancia that will be promoting the high life in Tenerife, i.e. fine dining, fab shops, beautiful hotels - all the glam things the island has to offer. "After the bad press we have received in recent months, it's time we hit back with some positive advertising for this wonderful island which has so much to offer to so many different tastes.", adds Tasha Laming.
From Blackpool to Tenerife
Linking two very different holiday destinations comes a new budget airline service – from Blackpool to Tenerife. Jet2.com plans to sell one-way tickets from £60 (including taxes) on a twice weekly service beginning in November and has plans for introducing a daily connection from 2007.
From Blackpool with love
Greenhouse gas lunacy
Canary Islands emissions go through the roof: The sub-tropical, bucolic image of the archipelago that the Canary authorities are so fond of promoting was in tatters this month when news broke of how greenhouse gas emissions from these Fortunate Isles have escalated by a staggering 81% since 1990.
Greenhouse gas lunacy
7 year old girl dies in fire at Tenerife home
The blaze started shortly after midnight last night at the family's three storey home in the town of San Juan de la Rambla (Tenerife). The dead girl's parents explained that they were unable to rescue their daughter whose bedroom was some distance from theirs.
7 year old girl dies in fire at Tenerife home
More African Boat People Arrive in South Tenerife
Yet another patera, this time carrying 37 illegal immigrants, arrived on Tenerife’s south coast in the El Médano area last week. Tenerife News report, "One surprising feature of this landing has yet to be explained, however. Among the detritus on board the patera were plastic shopping bags from a well-known Canary supermarket chain and Spanish brand foodstuffs. How they came to be there if the boat had come, as is thought, from Mauritania, remains a mystery."
Kinda makes you think they are getting supplied and assisted somewhere at sea on the way, doesn't it? Which seems to suggest that there is someone friendly to or part of the trafficking network "management" here on the islands.
South Tenerife sees another patera arrival
¡Que Aproveche!
GC Philo, a Philadelphian living in Cádiz, Spain, says, "There’s nothing I hate more than seeing a group of Americans here in Spain, who are probably on vacation for less than a week, standing in line to order a Whopper from Burger King."
He also rightly says that "One of the most important things about going to another country and experiencing its culture is having an open mind. It’s a different place and, seeing as you’re only going to be there temporarily, you should try to absorb as much of the local atmosphere as possible."
Oh, I wholeheartedly agree and find it quite sad also to see hoards of British visitors queueing for their Burger King burgers, McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken and a myriad versions of the good ol' traditional English Breakfast and Sunday Roast.
If that's what you want, go to Blackpool and buy a sunlamp!
And I do know that you will get the English breakfast in Blackpool, because the son of some Canarian friends of mine recently went there with a party of disabled kids. He is currently studying to be a doctor at the University Hospital in La Laguna and came back with the awful impression that we Brits eat the most unhealthy, greasy, fattening, calorie laden things.
Was he so very wrong? :)
Meanwhile, here in the Canary Islands, there is also a vast selection of new and interesting flavours to try, if only you will. Honestly, they are not all disgusting and inedible as they look.
Anyway, back to GC Philo's excellent, informative and decidedly amusing guide to Spanish food, ¡Que Aproveche!, which veers you away from the familiar paella and jamón serrano into the "uncharted waters" of slugs, barnacles and sea urchins.
Most of all, he advises, "... don’t write off all Spanish seafood just because their cuisine includes a sea creature that you know exists only from old pirate films and Mutiny on the Bounty."
¡Que Aproveche!
A Walk Through The Cosmos
The Museum of Science and Cosmos in La Laguna, Tenerife, will be holding a photographic exhibition titled “A walk through the Cosmos” until March 12. The 40 photographs were taken by Luis M. Chinarro, who works as an astronomical observer at the Teide Observatory, which belongs to the Astrophysics Institute of the Canary Islands (IAC).
A Walk Through The Cosmos
Glorious Garachico
Suddenly the weather changed. After weeks and weeks of grey days, driving rain and most unlikely cold, the Canary sun surprised us all by shooting over the escarpments of the Cordillera and tinting a supremely snowclad Teide morning pink.
But there was a surprise waiting for them at Garachico's Hotel San Roque that made them feel "whirled back to the late Forties in the UK" and, not necessarily in a good away. Unless you're staying there and want to keep the place to yourself.
Glorious Garachico
Canary vets on bird flu alert
The regional minister for agriculture has endorsed the words of Spain’s agriculture minister, and called for calm in the face of the most recent outbreaks of avian flu in Nigeria and Italy.
They say that Spain’s African bird trade ceased several years ago and thus considered it “highly unlikely” that an infected bird would arrive “dead or alive” in Spanish territory.
They go on to say that, "The archipelago does not possess any marshland like other regions of Spain and is therefore not a stopping off place for migrating birds."
Canary vets on bird flu alert
I only hope they are right. But am I not convinced. Do you think it could be because I watch "seasonal" birds on migration stopoffs from the windows of this very room, maybe?
Whilst I will not claim to be a bird expert, I reckon I know a swallow swooping and diving when I see it. Here, that action heralds the start of summer before it travels north. In England, we used to see this as a sign that summer was ending.
Nevertheless, although I fully trust my own eyes and instincts, I don't expect you to do so. Therefore, I looked around the net to see if I could find any reports to back it up.
Here is just a small selection:
Two spotters "spotted a wintering flock of Skylarks" at Amarilla Golf on the south of Tenerife. The islands of El Hierro and La Palma, they tell us are, "excellent for North American stragglers, especially in September/October." And, "The same that has been said about North American stragglers on Hierro and La Palma can probably be applied to Gomera." At Pico de la Zarza in Fuerteventura, they advise, "watch out for frequent flocks of Uniform Swift or for migrant or vagrant songbirds in the various types of "man-made" vegetation that make this place look so lush." They go on to say, "Furthermore, the Canaries attract dozens of North American stragglers every year, especially the more humid western islands, while the dry eastern islands hold a few North African desert specialties and can be good for western Palearctic migration."
Canary Islands Dec/Jan 1999/2000 by Henning Fedders & Frank Rheindt
In this report from September 2001, a dead osprey, ringed and with a transmitter, turned up unexpectedly in Fuerteventura. It's previous location had been off the NW tip of Spain.
The EURING Migration Project report "Recoveries of White Storks ringed in Europe are spread between southern Sweden, Cape Town, Canary Islands and India."
This report from Rare Birds in Spain talks about the life Recovery Centre of the Tenerife authorities (Centro de Recuperación de Fauna Silvestre del Cabildo de Tenerife) taking in or recovering vagrant and migrant birds. It goes on to say, "The arrival of African origin depressions that reach the Canaries from Mauritania, Sahara and Morocco coasts are behind the presence of many of these vagrants as well as some European migrants given winds coincide with their migration periods."
From the World Wildlife Fund: "Because of the short distance to Africa, the Canary Islands are visited every year by many migratory bird species that fly south in autumn in search of warmer places and go back to Europe in the spring."
Canary Islands dry woodlands and forests
Far be for me to suggest that the authorities could be deliberately telling us porkie-pies in an attempt to avert panic and salvage chicken profits ... But, I rest my case.
Thursday, February 16, 2006
EU gives workers freedom to move
The European Parliament has approved a law allowing service companies new freedoms to operate their businesses across borders. One politically contentious clause was axed in the final maneuvering, but supporters of the law said it still represented a concrete step forward since under the new rules companies would no longer be required to establish a separate subsidiary when they expand into another country.
Governments would also have to provide an administrative "one-stop shop," including electronic registration, so companies would not have to trail around different areas of local bureaucracy, which companies had complained was a serious deterrent.
(That latter provision alone, I am certain, will be cause for much serious celebration from among compnies wanting to do business in Spain and the Canary Islands. :)
The law now goes to the European Commission in Brussels, which must draft a new version based on the Parliament's decision before submitting it to national governments for approval, likely later this year.
EU gives workers freedom to move
Courses in Drawing and Painting in Buenavista del Norte
A total of 40 students participated in courses of initiation and perfection of painting, promoted by Buenavista del Norte town hall and with the direction of a graduate in Fine Arts.
Classes are split into various levels of experience and age and, formed workshops where students learned the secrets of different types of painting, the materials used and basic techniques of art. Enrollment was still open at the date of the report (Feb 12th) and the cost is just 20 Euros per month. Sessions are held in the cinema from Mondays to Thursdays.
Must take a look. It occurs to me that this area is so inspiring to a budding artist anyway and art, being basically visual, would be something one could participate in, even with limited Spanish.
Be nice if they made this a regular event.
Curso de dibujo y pintura en Buenavista del Norte
Sculpture in Honour of Las Libreas
The town hall of Buenavista del Norte is to erect a statue in honour of the dance of Las Libreas del Palmar, a dance which has survived thanks to the efforts of the local residents and which is part of the main annual fiesta in the village.
In this manner, the corporation wishes to pay homage to the whole of the valley of El Palmar. The sculpture, the design is still to be determined, will be located in an historical area to provide a permanent symbol of this jewel of island folklore.
The origins of the dance of Las Libreas del Palmar are very confused, but according to oral tradition, symbolize the struggle between good - represented by the dancers - and evil, presented in the form of a figure of the devil. Three pairs of dancers perform the ritual, three of whom dress as women, who with accentuated jumps and gyrations and hands aloft, dance to the son rhythm of the traditional tajaraste drum.
Promueven una escultura en honor de Las Libreas del Palmar en Buenavista del Norte
Bridge Collapse Also Affects the North
The mayor of Buenavista del Norte, Aurelio Abreu, has voiced his concern over the apparent lack of investment in roads in Tenerife after a bridge collapsed in Los Menores, between Adeje and Guia de Isora, which is making life extremely difficult for workers who live in this area to get to their places of work in the tourist areas on the south of the island.
Abreu said that there are many people who travel every day from the north to the south to work and that the alternative routes are not sufficiently able to handle the weight of traffic.
He says that the hundreds of workers resident in Buenavista del Norte have been suffering greatly since last weekend, from the innumerable traffic jams, which mean that some have arrived late to work, or they have to get up even earlier. (Note: it is a 1 1/2 to 2 hour drive under normal conditions.)
The risks of accident increases through lack of sleep or in the rush to get to work on time, he underlines, stating that, as spokesman of the feelings of many people in the Isla Baja area, the bureaucratic process needs to be speeded up to close the island ring road and mitigate these problems.
Abreu: "El problema de Adeje prueba la falta de inversiones en carreteras"
Political Energy
The latest example comes from the Canary Islands, where civil servants, politicians, business men and port authorities seem to have been fiddling with licenses for new wind power areas.
Political Energy
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
The Smoking Wars
Unless you live under a rock, you will know about the introduction of an anti-smoking law in Spain in January of this year.
Personally, I think the issue has turned into something akin to a drawing room farce. Like actors exiting stage right, it is all a case of coming in one door and (mostly) going out the other ...
The Spanish Cockpit say that, "the law is simply shuffling the geography of where smoking takes place."
Leslie at Scribbles from Tenerife says "... going ‘out’ for a drink must now be much more literally interpreted. It mainly involves standing outside bars and sitting outside restaurants."
And now that the UK has voted for a ban on smoking in all pubs, clubs and restaurants in England from the summer of 2007, one critic hits the nail on the head:
"One of the problems with the ban when it comes in, will be that people will move into the street, they'll smoke more at home, and it could end up being counter-productive."
Which could all be excellent news for Tenerife tourism.
If you can't smoke in your country, come here.
Up here in the north, the weather is nothing like that in the south. It's nothing like as bad as the UK either, but we do have less bars with outside patios, especially in non-tourist areas, so there seem to be more of them who allow smoking inside.
In most places, whilst, at least both smokers and non-smokers alike now have the "equal opportunity" of dying from the effects of inhaling exhaust fumes, factory emissions and a whole lot of other pollutants out on the street - all far more toxic than can be generated by a whole bar full of chain-smokers - in many countries, they can opt for pneumonia instead.
No matter how "bloody chilly" Leslie thinks it is, what we have now is perfectly normal weather for Birmingham. In June.
It may not be what we'd call hot, but standing outside, unless wet from the Atlantic, is unlikely to cause hypothermia.
PS: Leslie has also started a series of regular posts with honest (he's daring) helpful information for tourists to Tenerife. He's definitely right about packing umbrellas and buckets. If it rains any more up here, we'll all be growing rice in paddy fields!
The Tattooed Banana
Absolutely nothing to do with Tenerife, other than the fact that the island grows an awful lot of bananas.
None of them, to my knowledge, however, are tattooed, but I could be wrong. This one looks - almost - to have the same kind of swirls that have been found in Guanche rock carvings, so who knows? Maybe the Loro Parque's next attraction will be this Bananaphin:)
The Tattooed Banana
Cakes disguised as burgers help men who are ashamed of sweets
Men ashamed of sweets? What a weird notion, but it's funny they should mention it, because it gives me the opportunity to say that the problem doesn't seem to exist here in Tenerife.
Somehow, I very much doubt it bothers guys in South America either, if this cop considering a vast array of sweets and chocolate at a kiosk in Argentina is anything to go by.
There's been a myth going about that men in southern Europe are more "macho". Depends on exactly how you define that word, but I would actually say they are the opposite and that they are much more comfortable with their sexuality.
It is not at all unusual to see two men of any age, obviously heterosexual men; maybe work colleagues or friends in cafes together. And, if what they want is an ice-cream sundae or the layer sponge cake with cream and "girly pink" icing to go with their coffee, that is exactly what they'll have. Shamelessly.
Afternoon cake eating isn't nearly as common in Spain as the near religious 4 p.m. German ritual of "cafe und kuchen", but it's pretty close if you consider the numbers of excellent Pasteleria on this island. There's at least one in every town, but for my money, Pasteleria Aderno in Buenavista is still the best.
Icod de los Viños is full of cake shops with seating that serve coffee, at various points in the high street. Shopping, thus consists of walking down one side of the street and stopping in the cafe at that end, then walking back on the other side, calling in at others at this end, which gives me plenty of opportunities to notice the people who frequent them.
And men go shopping without a woman "dragging" them!
The guy with the girly pink cake, I saw in a cake shop in Guia de Isora. He was in his 20's and there with another young man (didn't see what he was eating) and neither looked ashamed. Indeed, they looked perfectly relaxed and treated it as normal. And, it dawned on me then that this probably wouldn't be the case if they were in the UK or, so it seems, in Tokyo.
So, guys, if you're coming to Tenerife on a "blokes only" holiday and you like sweet things, take advantage. "When in Rome ..." and all that. Nobody will think you are a "poofter". :)
Tenerife harbour development results in mass mailing to EC Ombudsman
The European Ombudsman, P.Nikiforos Diamandouros, has opened an inquiry into whether the European Commission acted within its legal authority by not pursuing the Spanish authorities for their decision to authorise the development of an industrial harbour in Granadilla, on the island of Tenerife (Spain).
According to the complainants, the Commission, arguing that there were no alternatives, had concluded that the Spanish authorities did not violate EU law, notwithstanding the negative environmental impact of the project.
The Ombudsman has received around 5,000 complaints about this matter, the largest ever mass mailing to his office. In view of the large number of complaints and the significant public dissatisfaction linked to this issue, he decided to open an own-initiative inquiry. All of the material concerning the inquiry has been posted on the Ombudsman's website.
Tenerife harbour development results in mass mailing to EC Ombudsman
No frills flights to start for Tenerife
No-frills airline Jet2.com today rolled out plans to launch a twice-weekly scheduled service from Belfast to Tenerife this autumn.
The airline said it would be the first time that the Canary Islands had been served by a scheduled carrier from Northern Ireland.
Commercial director Steve Lee said fares would start at £55 single including taxes, and that flights would operate on Thursdays and Sundays from October 5.
No frills flights to start for Tenerife
Valencia police drafted in for Canary Islands carnival
In an extraordinary move yesterday, Socialist Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso removed 50 policemen serving in the Valencian Community and ordered that they should be sent to the Canary Islands to reinforce the police presence there during the carnival celebrations.
Valencia police drafted in for Canary Islands carnival
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Recuperating Teno Woodlands
View of part of the Teno Rural Park. Photo: Diario de Tenerife
This month, the Tenerife island council aims to start work on recuperating the woodlands around the Parque Rural de Teno, by planting 30,000 sabinas or savin in English. These are a small tree or bush Juniperus sabina, with scalelike leaves and light-green fruits. It is sometimes cultivated for the tops and young leaves, which are used in medicine as a powerful diuretic.
The Canarian sabina is a small tree that reaches 10 meters in height and grows in the semi-arid, transitional regions between the coastal areas and the zones of laurisilva (subtropical cloud forest endemic to the islands) or pine forest.
The numbers of sabinas were greatly reduced by human intervention in previous centuries, owing to the need for wood and to clear land for agricultural use. Currently there are very few examples left on the islands and those are principally found in the islands of El Hierro and La Gomera.
These savin trees and a smaller number of other species, that have been specially raised in island nurseries, will be planted in a 53 hectare plot within the Parque Rural de Teno.
The initiative is designed to restore areas that, in the past, were covered with this type of vegetation.
A study was carried out, financed by the European Union, analysing the characteristics of other woodlands of this type in Tenerife and La Gomera, in order to understand the ecology of the species and the dynamics of the formation of these woodlands and carry out an effective recuperation.
The Cabildo now aims to carry out a complete program of restoring these woodlands, for which they have obtained assistance from the Programa LIFE Naturaleza. They also intend to publish the results of the program through videos and books to show that not only can it be done, but how doing so helps maintain traditional activities.
Other works are being carried out in relation to this, including resurfacing of various mountain tracks, among them the one to the Monte del Agua and between Las Portelas and Erjos.
El próximo mes se inicia la recuperación del bosque termófilo
Adjudicadas nuevas mejoras Forestales en el Parque Rural de Teno
Internet Car Con
Residents from the Canary Islands are among around 100 people believed to have become victims of a suspected internet con that led them to paying a 15% deposit on luxury cars that were never delivered.
Internet Car Con
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Should we lock up our Cats in the Canary Islands because of bird flu?
When bird flu reached Nigeria, comments on local TV station, tvCanaria echoed some of my concerns about the proximity.
Now that bird flu has also reached various points of Europe - with the Canary Islands being geographically between these two latest sites of infection - and, the possibility that the disease has been carried by migratory birds, I feel there is more reason for concern and, particularly with regard to cats.
It is not my wish to be alarmist or to spread fear, but Cats Can Catch and Spread Bird Flu, which I believe presents special risks in the archipelago because of large populations of stray cats, many smallholders keeping their own few chickens, ducks, etc., and the numerous birds - some of which are protected or in danger - that either live in or vist the islands.
For a more in-depth discussion, you may wish to read this article, The Final Reason to Keep Cats Indoors.
UPDATE: Monday, February 13th
My suspicions were confirmed by an item on tonight's national news on TV, which showed a map of the migratory routes of birds (didn't catch the name of the bird), that will be travelling north from Nigeria in March. One route came directly over the Canary Islands, then to the Donaña national park in southern Spain, before going across Spain to Ireland.
This doesn't mean infected birds will arrive nor that they WILL bring the virus, but it does mean that birds from an infected area will be passing, which must surely increase the risk.
And: Nigeria bird flu plan 'failing'
In another item, it was mentioned that Spain has 5 million vaccinations ready. I don't suppose anyone knows exactly how many might be needed, but what I do know is that would be only enough to cover about 10 percent of the population.
Saturday, February 11, 2006
Santa Cruz Carnaval Goes Ahead
Good news for the Carnaval in Tenerfe's capital as Santa Cruz' Mayor, Miguel Zerolo, expressed his satisfaction yesterday at the judge's decision to find against the recent claim brought by a group of residents, asserting that the Carnaval is illegal.
No details given as to what grounds the judge, Jaime Guilarte Martín-Calero, used to throw out the case, however in a press conference, Zerolo said that the judge had acted wisely against the "hot potato" that should never have reached court and, that residents can celebrate Carnaval "as our parents and grandparents did, with no problems whatsoever."
El juez desestima el recurso que pedía la suspensión cautelar del Carnaval la capital tinerfeña
Labels: Carnaval 2006
Canary Island Palms Under Threat
Canary Island Date Palm in El Palmar
Something particularly worrying to the valley of El Palmar, where many of the last few remaining, native, Canary Island Date Palms (Phoenix Canariensis) exist in the Canary Islands, would be any potential threat to their health.
Yet it has been reported that on January 27, a ship, which originated from Valencia, unloaded ten containers in the port of Santa Cruz, loaded with palm trees. Two days later, as a precaution, the government prohibited the importation of palms into the insular community, as a result of a plague of red palm weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus) that was detected.
Port authorities wanted to return the ship to it's port of origin, however the ministry responsible for agriculture estimated that "no impediment exists" to the entry of the plants.
La palmera canaria, gravemente amenazada
Un escarabajo colorado y mortal
Radar vigilance pledged after people traffickers alter course for Tenerife
Tenerife is now in the eye of the boat people storm, as Wednesday’s arrival of boat, packed with thirty African immigrants, the fourth in a fortnight, confirmed. Not only that, the style and sophistication of the vessels has improved almost beyond recognition: fiberglass rather than rotten wood, and GPS now seemingly standard onboard equipment.
People traffickers alter course for Tenerife
Teide from Cruz de Gala
I mentioned the peak of Cruz de Gala in the north west of Tenerife, in the last post. Well, here are some more photos from around the area (and other parts of the Canary Islands), taken by folks fit enough (or mad enough, depending on your opinion) to cycle up some of our vertiginous inclines. It never occurred to me that this could be an "extreme sport".
They say, "Few maps mark this dramatic steep road to the Cruz de Gala peak, altitude 1,354 m. It starts at the Puerto de Erjos (1,117 m) in north-western Tenerife. The volcanic cone of Mount Teide can be seen when looking east."
Teide from Cruz de Gala
Tenerife Garden Ornaments
Typical Garden Ornament in rural Tenerife
Most people have gnomes - though I will never understand why those tacky things have come back into fashion everywhere.
We even saw some garden gnomes in the window of the new flower shop in Buenavista del Norte. Here, up in rusticsville though, we have had something a little more robust decorating our garden for the last couple of months. A cement mixer!
Well, for garden read something like paddock, but I am loath to call it "land", as that suggests something that may be empty and, as you can see from the height of the weeds, aided by all the recent rain, it is far from it. Then the word "field" infers something that grows useful things and, apart from fruit trees that mostly take care of themselves, it is not that either.
Garden, therefore, seems to be the "wrong" word that fits!
Finally, yesterday, two men from the town council with a lorry and JCB came to hoist our "picturesque ornament" away.
It had been left here long before Christmas, after the council had been carrying out works on the water tanks in our lane (they also kindly left a load of sand and gravel that I have been slowly raking out onto the usually muddy drive surface. : )
The cement mixer, they told me, had been forgotten.
Yeah, of course, it's just the kind of thing you mislay, isn't it? 
The El Palmar "Cat Ladder"
Amongst items of general refurbishment, the work involved building this concrete "staircase" - which we have named the "cat ladder" because mine run up and down it and it reminded me of the fish ladder or salmon ladder in Pitlochry, Scotland.
In fact, if you generally like the highland and rural areas of Scotland for scenery, you probably wouldn't be disappointed with the more remote areas of the north of Tenerife either.
Cruz de Gala (1,354 m) from the Santiago del Teide side.
Just above the El Palmar valley we can even boast (what appears to be a mere "hillock" here compared to Teide's massive (3,718 m) peak), the Cruz de Gala, which, at 1,354 m as against Ben Nevis' (the highest peak in Britain photos) height of 1,344 m, makes them - as near as damn it - equal.
Changeable weather and the proximity of the Atlantic are a couple more things the two have in common!
Getting back to the "cat ladder", since the photo above was taken, metal posts, which will support a, presumably, wire fence have been placed along it at regular intervals. But why? This mystery has been playing on my mind for months.
Apart from my cats - who run up and down on the flat tops of the water tanks all the time - and myself, I occasionally cross them - looking for the cats - nobody goes near those tanks.
So with thoughts verging on paranoia, I wondered if it was me they wanted to keep out. Nah, a wire fence will not deter the cats. We found that out when Betty scaled one three meters high to get into the goat pen up the road. One of the goats chased her all round the perimeter of the field, until she decided she'd had enough of that game, scaled the fence again, swung over the top and shimmied back down.
Like Spider Woman, just hanging on by the claws! :)
Well, the mystery was also solved yesterday and it's a sad day to learn that the reason is more sinister. Apparently, orders are that all of these installations must now be fenced, because there are people who might want to put something - like poison - in the water. What a sick world we live in.
Friday, February 10, 2006
Twenty-Five Thousand Without Water
We've all read those DIY disaster stories where someone drills through a cable or a pipe while trying to put up some shelves.
Well, matters got a little more serious yesterday in Santa Cruz, when a water main was broken, leaving 25,000 residents of the city without water overnight, during works on the tram line.
The exact cause is not yet known, although it happened after a wall had collapsed, thought to have been as a result of the heavy rains.
Tras la rotura de una tubería, 25.000 personas sin agua en Santa Cruz
The Tranvía de Tenerife (Tenerife Tram) is due to go into operation in March 2007 and will provide an alternative means of transport to unite Santa Cruz with La Laguna. Work on the tram line began in 2004. Journal of the works during 2005.
It wont be the first tram to cover the route. In 1901, a tram was inaugurated that ran between the Plaza de España in Santa Cruz and the Plaza de la Concepción in La Laguna. The line was extended as far as Tacoronte in 1904. In 1927, the company were in financial difficulties, but it functioned until 1951.
The Tranvia or Metro, official sites: http://www.tranviatenerife.com
http://www.metrotenerife.com
Discover Teno 2006
The Albergue de Bolico, together with the town hall of Buenavista del Norte, have organized a series of guided walks - one per month - around the Teno area during 2006.
The next walk is on Sunday, February 19, 2006, with the route covering Abache. It might be a good one to start on, because the level of difficulty is marked as LOW. Duration: 4 hours.
Full details and booking (in Spanish only).
Baking Courses in the Teno Rural Park
Agricultural Market El Palmar. Photo: Diario de Tenerife
Under an island employment plan, the Island Council are organizing courses on bread and cake making at the Agricultural Market - part of the Rural Park's management office complex - here in the El Palmar valley, near Buenavista del Norte.
On Monday and Tuesday mornings, between February 20 and April 18, participants, principally from around the area of the Parque Rural de Teno, will be able to learn artisan methods of making bread and about traditional cake and pastry making.
Pupils will learn about the traditional breads, cakes, pastries and deserts of the area including; the different types of bread, creams and fillings, pastry, cakes, rolls, etc.
Thankfully, I don't need a course to eat them! :)
El Cabildo organiza un curso de repostería y panadería en el Parque Rural de Teno
NB: A Farmers Market is held approximately every other Sunday (every first and third Sunday, I believe) in El Palmar.
You'll find some wonderful local produce: fruit and veg grown in mostly organic conditions, plus homemade cakes and sweets, as well as local arts and crafts. Take the turning off the main road through El Palmar (TF-436), opposite La Montañeta, towards Teno Alto and the market is just there on the right.
Secret Teneife Gets IBSN
Stop the presses for this announcement of grand importance. Secret Tenerife has today obtained it's very own Internet Blog Serial Number, hereinafter known as its IBSN.
The matter first came to my attention through Victor Ruiz' blog, Linotipo, which links to the site where you can register and obtain your IBSN. The site also explains, in English, the how and why the project was born on February 2nd, 2006.
Oh, but choices, choices ...
What IBSN number should one select?
In the end, I decided to use the same formula that Miguel Acín Garro used at Taller. That is, the first eight numerals correspond to the date of the first post on the blog - its effective date of birth - in the case of Secret Tenerife, February 5, 2004. The less said the better about last two digits, the year of mine.
I suppose this is, in part, a protest. It is also a bit of fun, but I also feel that it could have it's legitimate uses.
If, as Victor Ruiz suggests, the initiative is going to be a success, then (using the date numbering formula above), readers could become familiar with the concept, which gives a blog a little credibility by showing the longevity of your work.
(I'm not sure what the longevity of the blogger imparts!)
Beyond that, you can make other uses up as you go along. Maybe coding the IBSN into some place in the META tags of your blog will allow you to track something or other, if only to see where your pages are being ripped off elsewhere!
Bird Flu Getting a Bit Close for Comfort
The Canary Islands health ministry has said that they are prepared against a possible avian flu pandemic (we hope), but this still remains a worry, especially if the cases in Nigeria are found to have been spread by migrating birds.
Dr David Nabarro of the World Health Organization (WHO) told the BBC the virus "might be quite widespread". "If it's in Nigeria it might also be in other countries that are less well-equipped."
BBC report: Nigeria plans huge bird flu cull
Thursday, February 09, 2006
Internet Comes to Teno Alto
For the last month or so, the 100 residents of the remote hamlet of Teno Alto, near Buenavista del Norte, have been able to access the internet. The service has been made possible via the island Internet Rural project, promoted by the Island Council (Cabildo) and with collaboration from the town hall.
A monitored center has been set up in the old school in the village and kitted out with "the latest technologies on the market", the report says. Services offered are internet access, as well as related items such as printing and data storage.
After centuries of only goats and subsistence farming and, only relatively recent access to roads and electric light, one has to wonder what some of the older villagers are making of it.
Ah, progress. You can't escape it anywhere! :)
Internet llega a los 100 vecinos del barrio de Teno Alto en el municipio de Buenavista del Norte
Garachico Funiculi' Funicula'
Here is a project that, if it receives public support and comes to fruition (I hope it does), will be both fun and useful for the town and port of Garachico - a funicular railway.
The aim is to connect - both socially and physically - the coastal area and town center of Garachico with other urban areas of the municipality; San Juan del Reparo, Genovés and La Montañeta, via a cable transport running up the La Culata cliff.
The Garachico funicular railway, which would be funded by a 6 million Euro private investment, has a planned capacity of 35 persons and would have arrivals and departures every minute and a half from the Parque Puerta de Tierra and the mirador in San Juan del Reparo - with discount prices for locals.
Of course, it would also provide a lovely entertainment for visitors to the town too, without being too impacting on the environment. (La Culata is a protected area, but is in a partial state of abandonment and ripe for a bit of renovation.)
The funicular in Garachico would be run by the company, Teleféricos Tenerife, who already run the cable car on Mount Teide. And there is another precedent for such a cliff railway on a volcano: the Vesuvius funicular, railway and chairlift, which inspired the well-known song, Funiculi' Funicula'.
Since it was an Italian, the banker from Genoa, Cristobal de Ponte, who founded Garachico in 1496 - and whose bust you will actually find in the Parque Puerta de Tierra - this seems highly relevant. Do you think he would have approved?
El gobierno local se plantea unir el casco y las medianías con un funicular
Garachico, su planificación urbanística y su modelo de desarrollo en el primer cuarto del siglo XXI
San Antonio Marks 275th Birthday
San Antonio city officials today announced plans for '275 days of celebration' to mark the 275th anniversary of the establishment of San Antonio and the construction of San Fernando Cathedral, the oldest standing structure in Texas.
Mayor Phil Hardberger told an event at the cathedral to mark the anniversary. "... a year before our first president was even born, there were 56 settlers from the Canary Islands, sent by the King of Spain, had already founded this great city."
San Antonio Marks 275th Birthday
Notes & Links of Interest:
The small town of "La Villa de San Fernando" was founded on March 9, 1731 by a group of 15 families who travelled to this remote settlement from the Canary Islands at the invitation of King Philip V of Spain.
The San Fernando Cathedral
The cornerstone of the church building in the new village was laid in 1738, making it the first parish church in Texas. The patronesses of the church were those of the settlers and soldiers in the area: Nuestra Senora de la Candelaria (Our Lady of Candlemas), a patroness of the Canary Islands, and Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe (Our Lady of Guadalupe), the patroness of what would later become Mexico.
San Fernando Cathedral History
Joaquín Leal was born in 1746 in the Villa de San Fernando (San Antonio) to Bernardo Leal and Lenore Delgado who were Canary Islanders and among the villa's original founders. His grandfather, Juan Leal Goraz, had, by royal decree, led the colony and was the first alcalde mayor of San Fernando.
Joaquín Leal (1746-1813)
Original Residents of Texas
Five Spanish Missions were founded in the area by the Canary Island settlers, one of them was the San Antonio de Valero Mission, later known as the Alamo.
Handbook of Texas Online: SAN ANTONIO, TX
Teneife's Puntoinfo Site Redesigned
Probably the best information site on Tenerife, the Tenerife Island Council (Cabildo)'s own Puntoinfo website, has had a complete facelift. Click here for the English homepage.
The web development may have been carried out by the Santa Cruz based firm, Orange S.L., who are linked from the site.
Puntoinfo has always been one of my preferred sources of reliable and accurate information about Tenerife and now looks beautifully modern too. Their English translation is natural.
The Tenerife Island Council (Cabildo) aims to use this site to present a cultural, social, historical and organisational view of the island. The site has been designed to answer most of the enquiries visitors may have, and to provide information for any resident wishing to enhance their knowledge of Tenerife.
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Ethnographic Museum in Masca
The Ethnographic Museum in the village of Masca received 8,700 visitors in 2005, according to this report from INFOICOD.
To me, that seems to be a surprisingly low number, considering the numbers of visitors to the island overall and the traffic jams you can find around Masca. It is also well down on the numbers that visited the small museum, located in the center of the village, during 2004 - some 10,848 people. The majority of those visitors in 2004, were mainland Spanish and German.
Nevertheless, these numbers make it one of the most visited attractions in the Isla Baja area, which leads me to conclude that people, especially English speakers, simply do not know enough about the areas outside of the main tourist zones and all the wonderful, natural attractions they offer.
We shall continue to try to inform.
The museum has rooms dedicated to basketwork and other traditional, local crafts, plus a kitchen and bedroom, kitted out with a variety of objects, mostly donated by local residents, showing how life used to be in the area. There is also a large collection of photos that show ancient villagers' way of life.
The Masca Museum, which has been in operation since 2002, is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Saturday.
El Museo Etnográfico de Masca recibió durante 2005 un total de 8.700 visitas
Casi 11.000 personas visitan el Museo de Masca en 2004
Hunt the Tourist Office In Garachico
It's not something I'd needed, but since I've walked the streets of the town (in the non-prostitute sense) so many times to almost know them like the back of my hand, you'd imagine that I might have stumbled across it before, but I had not.
And, if I hadn't, what hope does a lost tourist have? :)
Apparently, Garachico's tourist information point is currently hiding in the ’El Limonero’ crafts center in the cobbled street, Esteban de Ponte, parallel to the seafront. But don't worry too much about memorizing that piece of information.
Because, a permanent tourist information office is soon to be opened in Garachico. The installation - a kiosk in the port area, where there is a car park and an ample influx of tourists - is already built and is just awaiting the appointment of staff.
Garachico's new tourist office is due to be opened "before the summer", which will - hopefully - coincide nicely with the likelihood that the town will receive extra visitors this year for the third centenary of the fateful 1706 eruption in May.
Antes del verano se abrirá una oficina de información turística en el muelle de la Villa y Puerto de Garachico
Tranquil in Tenerife, Despite High Winds, Heavy Rains and Thick Fog
Well, it would be. When is it ever anything but tranquilo? :)
Relatively anyway, though some precautions need to be taken. Canarias 7 report today that, in Tenerife, there is a lot of wind, cold and fog in the north, overall in the area of the Los Rodeos airport, where several flights have had to be cancelled.
The situation here in the El Palmar valley is identical, although it is only dog walks that have been affected. Actually, we got off relatively lightly during Tropical Storm Delta, but we seem to be paying for it a bit today, with sheets of rain being blown at us, randomly, from the north, the south and the east.
And getting in any crack they can find, in any direction!
At the Parador hotel in Las Cañadas del Teide and in other high altitude areas of the island, very strong winds of up to 150 kmph (over 90 mph) have been registered.
More snow is expected at the peak and the sea is very rough.
The media were again, both last night and this morning, giving advice over the current bad weather alert.
As ever, that advice includes:
* Don't go out at all, unless you really, really have to
* Batten down anything that could move
* Don't walk near old buildings or building sites
* Don't drive through flood waters
* Avoid mountain roads with a risk of rock falls
* Stay away from the seafront and beach
Do they actually tell the tourists that last one?
Yeah, I know we all used to be obliged to go on the beach in a raincoat, in the pouring rain, or else you would never ever do so, on childhood summer holidays to Clacton or Weymouth, but the up to 4 meter waves forecast here for today may put a slightly different angle on the matter. It is dangerous.
Jornada relativamente tranquila en Canarias, a pesar de los fuertes vientos
Labels: Tenerife Weather
Antique Photos of Tenerife
Maybe I live too much in the past, but I think an understanding of history helps us to better understand where we are at today and, one of the most fascinating ways to look at the history of the last century and a bit is by browsing through old photos.
To me there is something quite magical about the black & white, sepia toned and hand coloured images of days gone by and, in seeing exactly what a fellow human being must have seen through their viewfinder all those years ago.
Fedac.org (a foundation for the development of ethic arts and crafts), maintain a wonderful archive of historic photos of the Canary Islands at Fotosantiguascanarias.org, where the images are free to download for your PRIVATE enjoyment.
These images principally come from private collections and old postcards and show a face of the Canary Islands that most of us 'Guiris' will never have seen with our own eyes.
The site is in Spanish, so you will most likely want to start here, which is the master list of albums. Just click links from there.
Compare, for instance, this view of Santa Cruz, taken about 1890-1895, with this one taken around 1937-1939.
They are not taken from quite the same place, so that the now familiar Cabildo building, the obelisk in the Plaza de España and other large buildings around the city square would not quite show up in that first shot, even if they had been there.
But they were not there, which can be confirmed by looking at this view, taken from above the city, in around 1890-1900. The two church towers were the only tall buildings in the town.
It is quite clear from these that, in those first 30 or so years of the 20th Century, not only did all the municipal trappings of a proper city appear on the waterfront and in the city center, but the city also grew exponentially up the hillside beyond.
Ever wonder if the islanders really did wear the typical costumes you now see only at Romerias? Try this photo of "country people" - a man and two milk maids - from 1890-1895.
Here also is a wonderful collection of old photos of Garachico, the first, presumably hand coloured, dating back to 1893.
Compare this 1920's view from above Garachico with one I took from pretty much the same place within the last decade. There is less expansion than in larger towns, but it is there. Among the most notable differences are the trees in the foreground, swimming pools and the football pitch - plus wads of streets!
Development and growth are inevitable changes through time and will always have their reasons, both for and against, but at least one can still see and compare the before and after.
Beware though, it's highly addictive and very easy to spend a whole morning browsing the site - as I just did! :)
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Looking To Have Whale Of A Time?
The brand new "Orcario" is to open at the Loro Parque in Puerto de La Cruz on February 17th, with a giant 120 meter pool to house the four killer whales recently brought to the park from SeaWorld in the United States.
It is the biggest whale installation in Europe and will position the park amongst the most important in the world.
The whales' carers and instructors have been working with a group of whales at SeaWorld in San Antonio, Texas for the last two years. Work on the "Orcario" began in June 2004, next to the current dolphinarium, and also includes a amphitheatre for the public, covered with a giant curved awning.
An even bigger splash for top Tenerife tourist park
Loro Parque abre el día 17 el mayor y más moderno ’orcario’ de Europa
Tenerife's Natural Amphitheater
Accuweather (via Forecastfox) are kindly promising us "Winds gusting past 50 mph" tomorrow here in Tenerife. I have news for them, those winds arrived already today!
At one point this afternoon, whilst out walking the hound, I was hit by a huge gust that nearly took me off my feet and I was half expecting the dog, who weighs considerably less than I do, to have gone flying on the end of her lead like a kite. :)
(Don't worry, this isn't going to turn into another of those rants about how unprepared the island is to deal with these obvious effects of global warming and climate change.)
No, it reminded me about something that you'd have to live in this valley or visit under just the right conditions to experience.
The acoustics.
There can be few places quite like it on earth.
As you can see from the satellite image above (borrowed from the nice people at NASA), the El Palmar valley - the inverted D-shaped indentation surrounded by mountains in the middle of that image - forms a giant, natural amphitheater.
Consequently, you hear the wind before you feel it.
Everything can be quite still where you are standing, but you can hear the roar, like the sound of the ocean, only amplified.
At one point today, I really thought there was a jet plane crossing overhead, until the movement of the vegetation got closer to me and the noise stopped. Planes don't do that.
It was LOUD and, both eerie and fascinating.
One of the best times to hear how sounds carry around the valley is when the fiesta is on in Las Portelas, on the higher slopes of the valley. That is in the summer, in July, I think.
As with most fiestas on the island, it culminates in a firework display, provided by the Los Realejos firm of Pirotecnia Hermanos Toste, founded in 1788 (read about them in the Western Sun), to whom my next door neighbour is related.
(They also inform me that the family firm recently entered into a contract to export fireworks to the UK.)
What happens, when the fireworks bang away in rapid succession from up in Las Portelas, is that the sound echos and ricochets off the walls of the mountains and creates an effect like a really noisy train rushing around the perimeter.
And I don't know which is more exciting: the sights or the sounds. Personally, I think the valley would make a great location for an - uncensored - Rolling Stones concert. :)
Some Things Never Change
The Church and Library in Buenavista del Norte as it is today.
Click here to see an old b&w photo of how it used to be.
It is a fascinating comparison. The only architectural difference is in the church tower, which has been extended at some point.
Although the church was recently renovated and re-opened in 2004, after a fire destroyed it in 1996, that alteration pre-dates the recent work. Otherwise, it has been kept as is.
The building on the left that is now used for the library has also been renovated, but again, without altering the facade.
Even the houses behind are still exactly the same.
What's missing is the square, with it's railed formal gardens, pavements, mature trees and the central bandstand kiosk-bar. That was built around the turn of the 20th Century, which may date this photo to around or older than 100 years back.
And what doesn't change?
The men congregating for a chat. Oh, they may be dressed less formally today, but you'll still find them hanging about around squares like this everywhere, chucked out in age-old tradition, while the Missus cleans the floor or cooks the dinner. :)
Cheese Contest In Teno Alto
I tell you it's all action around these parts! So much so that the "big news" in the local press for the area currently is the prize giving for cured, semicured and fresh goat cheeses.
Yeah, I know, I am being somewhat sarcastic.
Don't get me wrong, the fact that there is no news, other than pedestrian pursuits of this ilk, is EXACTLY why I like it.
Prizes are deserved, because the goat cheeses from Teno Alto are superb. In my opinion they are the best on the island and, I'm probably not alone, because when my local store has some, usually only one day a week, it gets sold out in a trice.
The place to try it is in one of the small bars in Teno Alto, which I did with a couple of friends last year. We intended to have dinner, but the fresh cheese - which was lightly flavoured with the fennel that the goats graze on, free range - and just as fresh bread was so good, we just ordered seconds of that.
Goes down a treat with the locally produced red wine.
Buenavista del Norte town hall, headed by mayor, Aurelio Abreu, puts a lot of effort behind initiatives to conserve the ancestral cultural and agricultural traditions of the area. At the event, in which both plaques and monetary prizes were given to the winners, he also paid homage to the farmers who took part in the Fiesta of San Antonio Abad on January 28th.
El Ayuntamiento rinde homenaje a los ganaderos y agricultores de la zona
Noticia: Éxito de participación en el Concurso de Cata de Quesos del barrio de Teno Alto
Thailand Comes To Tenerife
The countdown has begun to the opening of what will be Europe's largest water park. Due to open in Adeje, Tenerife, in December, Siam Park is owned and run by the same family responsible for Tenerife’s current top theme park, Loro Parque, in Puerto de la Cruz, and anyone familiar with that attraction will know they can expect the Kiesslings to come up with another quality winner to add to your list of must-sees in Tenerife.
Thailand Comes To Tenerife
Monday, February 06, 2006
Download of the Day: Stellarium
There can be few places in the world with such magnificently clear night skies as there are here in the Canary Islands.
This also explains why we have two observatories of major importance; the Teide Observatory in Tenerife and the Roque de Los Muchachos Observatory on La Palma, both under the auspices of the Canarian Astrophysics Institute.
But even looking up at the sky with the naked eye here, as I do nightly, one can see an amazing display of stars that never fails to impress. Call me silly if you like, but the stars even look closer than they do from further up the hemisphere.
It is dead easy to spot the shapes of "familiar" constellations, however, it is a lot harder to remember what they are called!
So, this burgeoning astronomer is currently downloading:
Stellarium: a cross-platform (Windows/Mac/Linux) open source (gratis) program that brings the sky to your computer’s monitor, letting you know exactly what you’re seeing in the night sky.
Stellarium Astronomy Software [Sourceforge] Via: Lifehacker
Saturday, February 04, 2006
Tenerife - Europe’s Most Tropical Carnival
The most celebrated or vibrant festival is the Tenerife Carnival, which occurs each year in Santa Cruz prior to Lent and encompasses the whole island with the most magnificent festivities. It is Europe’s biggest street party. This show is so spectacular that it is said to rival Rio in size and glamour.
Carnival 2006 promises to be bigger and better than ever. The theme is tribal fever and the main week of parades and dancing in the streets will be from 22 February to 1 March.
Tenerife - Europe’s Most Tropical Carnival
Dodgy Translations
A XXX rated salad, a submarine hedgehog and a herd of 5,000 bison rampaging across England's New Forest ...
What are these, the latest Sun headlines? Monty Python story lines? No, just the world bent out of shape by linguistic error.
By popular demand, well, OK, one request, I thought I would share with you some of my favorite moments from my linguistic clanger collection. Actually, I don't believe the list is that enviable, but these have caused the odd giggle.
My own piece de resistance in mangling a foreign language wasn't in Spanish, it was in French. Chatting with an au pair in England - she was French - we discovered that she also spoke a little bit of German, as do I, but not much English.
We further discovered that there was one word we both knew in all three languages. A very useful word really too - Shit.
Well, my French is not that great, so my next comment, meaning to say, "you don't SAY shit in front of the children", actually came out as "don't shit in front of the children".
I am sure she wasn't thinking of doing any such thing!
If there is one piece of advice I can give you for when you will inevitably trip over your new tongue while learning a language, is not to let your errors worry you. Just like a stage act, the show must go on. People generally understand what you meant to say and nobody much is ever offended these days.
(Give or take the odd cartoon episode.)
I shall never forget two old ladies, whom we dubbed "Hinge and Bracket", that we met in Benidorm (of all places), back in 1978. They were enjoying watching the flamingo dancers, while drinking shangri-la, according to them. :)
Spanish is filled with lists of what are called "false friends" - that is words that look like what you think they are going to mean, but which mean something else entirely. One famously - to regress to the scatological theme - being constipado. Which, means to have a stuffed up nose, as in a head cold.
Obvious really, wasn't it? :)
False Friends - Spanish Words That Are Easily Misunderstood
Do a Google search for "false friends" and you'll see that this phenomenon is by no means restricted just to Spanish.
For serious students, Wikipedia has a more technical article on the concept and a multilingual list of false friends here.
Getting back to the clangers ...
As you may (or may not) know, MOST of the time you can safely change a masculine word in Spanish (one that ends in an O) into it's feminine equivalent, simply by changing the last letter to an A. Of course, there are exceptions to this.
So there was the time that a friend of a friend once asked her future mother-in-law for "ensalada de polla". Well the ensalada (salad) part is OK. Pollo is chicken. Unfortunately, polla is not hen, that is gallina. Polla is a part of the male anatomy that one does not normally eat as part of a light summer lunch.
Well, at least not in company of one's future mother-in-law. :)
Screwing with the natural habitat ...
One of my favorite linguistic clangers comes from my days at the newspapers.
What animal is spiky and does a lot of damage to the seabed?
A scuba diving hedgehog, maybe? Well, only maybe. The story, which originally ran in the local Spanish press, talked about the plague of erizo that were damaging the seabed around the south of the island, and indeed erizo is the Spanish word for hedgehog.
But, I had never seen a hedgehog in the south of Tenerife anywhere, much less in the sea (we do have 'em, on land, in the north), so out came the dictionary. Ah, erizo is also the translation of sea urchin, so that would be our plague.
Logical really, both being spiky.
This isn't a problem, in context, but it does mean that you have to read the entire context to get the right meaning.
The funny part is that one of the other English language newspapers obviously didn't read the entire context, because, a couple of weeks after this, their translation of the story appeared, complete with a picture of a hedgehog.
Theirs didn't have a snorkel though! 
Photo Credit: U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service
But, to be fair, even the professionals have off days.
Spanish national news agency EFE used to provide the newspaper I worked for with stories translated into English.
One alarming report claimed a herd of some 5,000 BISON were laying waste to the New Forest in the south of England.
This caused us a laugh, but we knew what the problem was. In Spanish, B's are pronounced a bit like V's and vice versa.
What was really running around the south of England in its thousands were VISÓN, which when translated into English are MINK, let out of a fur farm by animal activists. Still damaging pests, but I think you'd notice the difference if you met one.
As luck would have it on this occasion, we had "our man on the spot", no more than a few hundred yards from a cattle grid into the forest, in New Milton. My late father; always a man capable of maturely assessing a situation and acting accordingly.
He did indeed report the sighting of one bison in the vicinity.
In the bathroom: a wash hand bison (basin).
Labels: Lost in Translation
Friday, February 03, 2006
Pico del Teide gets its Own Symphony
After American, Gregory Fritze, won first prize for music composition in the Biennial Symphonic Competition in Santa Cruz. Fritze' composition is entitled Pico del Teide, composed in B flat, which is named after the largest volcanic mountain on the Canary Islands, third largest in the world.
Pico del Teide filled with music
Gas Natural to takeover Endesa
This is certain to have implications over the Canary Islands energy provider, Endesa-Unelco.
"The Spanish government has given approval to Gas Natural's 22.4bn euro ($27bn; £15bn) hostile takeover of fellow Spanish energy company Endesa."
Madrid backs Gas Natural takeover
Tenerife artist to get Hollywood treatment
Mozart might be the main attraction globally this year as far as anniversary celebrations go, but there are plenty of events planned to take place in Tenerife later this year to mark the upcoming centenary of the birth of the island’s most famous painter, Óscar Domínguez, in La Laguna.
Tenerife artist to get Hollywood treatment
To see examples of Domínguez' work go here.
Info about Oscar Domínguez at Wikipedia.
There is also a longer writeup and biographical information for the forthcoming centenary - in Spanish - at TacoronteGuia - Primer Centenario Oscar Domínguez
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Sweets of Canary
Don't get me started on one of my pet peeves. Well, OK, if you must.
In the Canary Islands, it seems, no there definitely is, a policy to give jobs to locals before foreigners.
Understandable, you might say. Legally, particularly in the case of fellow EU member citizens, this isn't allowed, but the fact is that as a foreigner, even if you have perfect Spanish and submit a job application to a Canarian owned company, you mostly just get ignored.
This avoids companies from making any open admission to their policy, in writing, and thus suffering its legal consequences. But, whilst I am sure there are many people who do not know about this going on, or deny it, otherwise it's an "open secret".
And there is one area where this policy backfires big-style.
That of translating into English.
My Spanish is sometimes better than the locals, but I am not daft enough to write or translate into Spanish, except for my own personal correspondence, because Spanish is not my native tongue and the result will inevitably come out awkward.
(Well, I don't claim my English is perfect either, but that is a whole other story. Thank goodness for spellcheckers!)
I am all up for trying to use Spanish on a day-to-day basis, because this is the right thing to do to fit in (in fact, it's all I speak these days and I keep losing English words as a result), but if I ever had to produce something vitally important in writing, in Spanish, I'd have it double-checked by a native Spanish speaker. This seems the logical thing to do.
The official diplomatic and business rule is that one should only translate into one's native tongue. One should speak or write in one's native language, then, if there is going to be any misinterpretation, it can only be at the receiving end.
This doesn't seem to bother the Canarians, as anyone who has ever tried to read the results of many a non-native English speaker's efforts of translating into English will attest.
The example of one Canarian produced English language (using the term very very loosely indeed) newspaper springs to mind.
Yes, if you understand Spanish and thus the errors that are most commonly made, then you will understand what was trying to be said. Otherwise it's pure entertainment.
In that particular case, I just could not help but offer my services and, in verbal response, was told quite bluntly that they have to employ Canarians for the job. Seems short-sighted to me, but it's futile to argue with this "wisdom".
Another howler was an advertising billboard on the side of the road that joins the south motorway to the north, which proffered the enticing delicacy, "Sweets of Canary".
My weird imagination wondered if these were little birds on a stick, maybe with a toffee coating, or very very small sweets indeed i.e. sweetbreads from said unfortunate songbird.
Bet that would take his pitch up a couple of octaves! :)
The company in question probably paid pots of money to have that stuck up there in huge letters to advertise, what I presume are their traditional "Canary Islands' Sweets".
As advertising goes, I suppose that at least it was memorable, but for all the wrong reasons. Frankly, I'm surprised it hasn't caused road accidents from laughter. Or maybe it has?
Menus everywhere contain similar examples of non-edible things to the point that I have given up on trying to translate their English and, the phenomenon is now carried on at many a Canarian website that offers a clumsy English version.
My aim is not to ridicule. I would truly like to help, but the opportunity is seldom afforded me. Anyway, I am not picking on anyone, this is just an example (and by no means the worst) I saw the other day and can thus remember off the top of my head. Read the English version of the Casa de Los Balcones website and you will see what I am talking about.
It is sort of English, probably automatically and therefore literally translated. You can understand it, but it is long-winded, clumsy and very very dry. We would not write English like that, especially not to SELL the attractions of something.
Oh, if only they would ask a native English speaker to check.
It's not like there is any shortage of us capable of assisting!
Of course, you could say, leave things as they are, or we will lose a valuable source of entertainment, but that is hardly the point. Canarian companies need to compete in the world and their image, currently, is not one that is conducive to this.
Much as I understand the policy of giving jobs to locals in preference, even if, strictly, it is illegal, the result, in this case, is that not being flexible leaves Canarian companies looking like a bunch of amateurs to their international audience.
What reminded me of all this? Ah yes, Leslie has another linguistically baffling example in his post on Canarian Culture, which contains a bonus primer on the “My one’s bigger than yours” division in the local political organization, plus a very well-observed run down on the history of the culture to boot.
It does give you some insights into why this custom has come about, and, as Leslie says, "The ability to compete globally requires the very homogeny that erodes the culture."
The culture is one of the most important things that these island have to offer and it should be preserved.
But progress cannot be avoided and Canarian people want and deserve to improve their standards of living as much as anyone else. And, that can't be achieved without some sort of economy that relies on outsiders and the outside world.
It is this refusal to employ foreigners that actually causes the erosion. A Brit who knows he is not going to find employment is going to make his own. He'll open yet another English bar, causing the image of the island to be yet again polluted.
You end up with Las Americas, where a Canarian can't buy a beer in his native language and those visitors who would like to experience something of the real island flavour, can't find it.
What Canarian companies should do is to use the resource - us ‘Guiris’ - they have at their fingertips, for their own gain.
Labels: Lost in Translation
Price war over Spanish cigarettes
Anybody notice any difference since the introduction of the new anti-smoking law in January? Well, I wouldn't because I hardly ever go out and do not have a place of work, but there have been reports that numerous small bars that had opted for no-smoking at New Year, have done a 180 degree turn and gone back to smoking because they were losing custom.
Amid the apparent failure of this effort, the tobacco companies too must have felt some effects, because currently they are scrambling over each other to cut prices.
Unlike Leslie at at Scribbles from Tenerife, I have no intention of giving up my last vice. Heck, I save too much money.
Besides, if the evil weed is good enough for Prime Minister Jose Louis Rodriguez Zapatero - who has already been accused of breaking the law - then it's good enough for me. :)
Price war over Spanish cigarettes
Canary Islands swamped
One of Tenerife’s highest profile politicians has called for an immediate halt to the granting of residency for non-EU citizens in the Canary Islands. Paulino Rivero, president of Coalición Canaria, admits that his party’s proposals for saving the archipelago from being swamped by over-population, has led to his party being labelled as xenophobic, racist even. But he remains adamant that the situation calls for drastic solutions.
Stop the squeeze!
Union calls for Canary climate change strategy
It’s not just environmentalists who are expressing alarm over the possible effects of climate change in the Canary Islands. Now the influential trade union Comisiones Obreras (CC.OO) has added its weight with a damning report in which it urges the regional government to form a committee of qualified experts with a brief to analyse the likely economic impact of such future change on the islands given the negative effects it will have on two of its most important sectors: tourism and agriculture.
Union calls for Canary climate change strategy
