Friday, June 30, 2006
Garachico Craft Fair, July 1 & 2, 2006
This weekend's date for your diary - well certainly for ours, I think - is the Feria de Artesanía de Garachico (Garachico Craft Fair) to be held this Saturday and Sunday, July 1 and 2, in the Plaza de la Libertad, right in the center of the north Tenerife town.
In previous editions, the fair has gathered together around 70 crafters, plus typical stalls where visitors can taste the local Canarian gastronomy; cakes, sweets, liqueurs, honey; fruit, flowers, plants, etc., as well as book stalls with books by Canarian authors and themes. The fair will also have traditional toys and games and various performances of Canarian folk music.
Feria de Artesanía de Garachico
Tenerife's Sergio Rodríguez to play in the NBA
Tenerife born professional basketball player, Sergio Rodríguez, is to play in the US National Basketball Association (NBA) next season for the Portland Trail Blazers. He was drafted 27th by the Phoenix Suns in the 2006 NBA Draft, and then traded to the Portland Trail Blazers for cash considerations soon after his name was called. In the next few days, Portland will offer him a contract for two seasons, with an option for a third. Rodríguez is expected to go to the US next week for the medical and to sign on the dotted line.
It is reported that the Trail Blazers will have to pay just under €500,000 to release Rodríguez from his present contract with Madrid team, CB Estudiantes. In the first season, Sergio will earn €740,000, rising to €760,000 in the second and €780,000 for the hypothetical third season.
Sergio Rodríguez jugará en los Trail Blazers
"Todavía no me lo creo"
Interesting observation: With Mount Hood overlooking Portland (a dormant stratovolcano, just as is Tenerife's Mount Teide - and only 288 meters difference between their heights), the scenery at least should make Rodríguez feel at home. He might find it a bit cold and wet compared to his native island though!
Masca to get Special Protection Plan
One of the most popular places to visit in Tenerife is the pretty village of Masca, reached by rollercoaster roads to where it is nestling in a deep gorge in the Teno Mountains, in the district of Buenavista del Norte, Tenerife.
This week, representatives of the insular administration visited the historic site to verify its current state, in large part, upon the request of the residents' association in the village.
The Island Commission for Historic Heritage, who visited on June 27, is part of the Island Corporation and is made up of representatives from the University of La Laguna, The Royal Academy of Fine Arts, the College of Architects and the Canarian Association of Historic Building Owners, as well as the Bishopric.
The other motive for their visit was to reactivate the elaboration of a special protection plan for this fragile area of the Teno Rural Park.
La Comisión de Patrimonio se traslada hasta Masca, en Buenavista del Norte
Tragic Double Death in Tenerife
Earlier this month, local media carried the tragic story of a mother and son who had both been found dead in their home in the town of Los Silos, north Tenerife.
The son was found, having hanged himself from the rafters, at the foot of his mother's bed. It was initially thought that he had taken his own life after she died, being unable to face life without her. Results of the autopsy, now reveal that the son had ended his mother's life by asphyxiation, before taking his own.
The mother, María Esther Luis Alegría (75) had been bedridden for around five years, after undergoing a kidney transplant that was rejected. She had been attended day and night by her son, Sergio Hernández Luis (44), who was, himself, partially disabled. The two, María Esther appearing as if sleeping soundly, had been found by a neighbour who had called every morning to fetch prescriptions.
Such excess of dedication to a sick relative, so often on the part of a son or daughter, whose own lives, work and future are placed on indefinite hold while they become absorbed in the sickness around them, ends up creating two patients, as appears to have been the case with Sergio Hernández Luis.
El joven hallado muerto en Los Silos supuestamente mató antes a su madre
Tenerife Downloads: Brochures, Wallpaper & Map
The Tenerife Tourism site have a selection of downloads at this page, which you might find interesting.
There are eight wallpaper images to choose from, which include some of the usual suspects, such as Pico del Teide (The Peak of Tenerife's, Mount Teide).
Or you can choose a colorful view of the rocky coast and marine depths, the mystical, misty world of the ancient laurisilva (subtropical cloud forest endemic to the islands), or perhaps Icod de los Vinos' famous drago tree, silhouetted against the sunset.
The images are only 800x600 screen size, but, what they lack in quantity, they make up for in quality.
As well as the wallpapers, at the same page, you can also download various general and specific PDF brochures about the island, such as; Tenerife and the Sea brochure, Tenerife Golf brochure, Tenerife Natural brochure, Tenerife Select brochure and an 11 Mb zipped file of a Tenerife Map.
Tenerife Downloads: Brochures, Wallpaper & Map
Tenerife at London's Luxury Travel Show
The Luxury Travel Fair, organized by the prestigious magazine, Condé Nast Traveller, presents the potential tourist with the most exclusive destinations in the world. The the UK's first luxury travel fair is on in London now, from 29 June - 2 July 2006, at Olympia.
The Tenerife Island Corporation, via Turismo de Tenerife and their luxury brand, Tenerife Select, is at the show to present the island's most exclusive offerings and, is the only Spanish destination being represented.
Tenerife Select brings under one banner, an important group of hotels, restaurants and leisure companies with high levels of excellence.
Tenerife será el único destino español en la feria londinense Luxury Travel Show
Arthur set to hit heights on training trip
Tenerife Boxing: European and Commonwealth super-featherweight champion Alex Arthur is heading for Tenerife for altitude training. The Edinburgh fighter will make the trip with his mentor, ex-WBC super-bantamweight champion Wayne McCullough, as soon as the IBF decides who his opponent will be in an eliminator to challenge IBF world champion Cassius Bayloi.
Arthur set to hit heights on training trip
Tenerife link from Aberdeen and Durham
Scotland-based airline Flyglobespan is launching two new services to Tenerife – from Aberdeen and Durham Tees Valley airports. The routes will begin in November, in time for people to get some winter sun at the Canary Islands destination. Tickets will be priced from £49.99 one-way, including taxes.
Flyglobespan offers Tenerife link from Aberdeen and Durham
Flights to the Canaries from £34.99
Book by midnight on Friday, June 30: Thomsonfly has released 10,000 seats to the Canary Islands at £34.99 one-way including taxes. There are flights to Tenerife from Doncaster, Bournemouth, London Luton and Gatwick, Cardiff, Newcastle, Birmingham, Nottingham East Midlands and Manchester.
Thomsonfly Via: Cheapflights
Lost in Translation
We're well known for getting the signs and the translations right here in Tenerife (not). This sign is for an Industrial Hostelry (Catering?) Service in a place called Terrassa, where they obviously have no idea what their initials mean in other languages. Don't forget Tenerife also begins with a "T". Oh, it could so easily happen! :)
Image borrowed from here (they have more too).
Labels: Lost in Translation
Win Flights to Tenerife with Monarch
LOW cost airline Monarch has recently announced it's to launch brand new flights from London Gatwick to Tenerife, with three flights a week operating from October 29 this year. To celebrate the launch of this exciting new route, the Mid Sussex Times has teamed up with Monarch to offer one lucky reader the chance to win a pair of return flights to 'the island of eternal spring.'
Contest details and rules can be found here
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Canary Islands Population Growth Unsustainable
Fifty thousand people come to live in the Canary Islands every year, 20,000 of them from outside the European Union. This population increase, according to the "official figures", has brought the population density to 528 inhabitants per square kilometer, a figure only surpassed by Madrid and an increase that Canary Islands President, Adán Martín, considers to be unsustainable.
There are those, however, and logic seems to follow their argument, who have been saying this for years and maintain that, once you take the large tracts of land in the islands that are not inhabited (and that are unable to be inhabited) out of the equation, the real population density in the inhabited areas of the Canary Islands is similar to and is well on its way to overtaking that of Japan, Singapore, or Hong Kong and, close to that of the Maldive Islands.
Martín, responding to questions from an opposition (Popular Party) spokesman, said that his government is conscious of the increase in immigration, but that the rate of arrivals has not decreased in the last five years, independently of the measures taken to control the situation.
While the opposition spokesman recognized that the immigration phenomenon is a complex problem, which has it's origin in the imbalance in the world, he also laid blame to what he called the "foolish" policies of the Socialist central government.
For my own part, pointing fingers and blaming - which seems to be all the opposition can do - does nothing whatsoever to to solve anyone's problem and it is hard to see how it can be central government's problem (for a start it predates their term) that there are "haves" and "have nots" in all parts of the world, who see emigration as their only hope of survival. This is not the Canaries' problem. It is not even Spain or the EU's problem: this is humanity's problem.
The question is, will we ever have the wisdom to solve it?
Adán Martín afirma que el crecimiento de la población actual es insostenible
Tenerife was tops for Clinton
Former president Bill Clinton’s visit to Tenerife last year was a high point in the career of many a local politico who managed to squeeze in a photo op with the great man. But the question of how much Mr Clinton was paid for his speech, which he gave at the Tenerife Auditorio still rankled with others.
Now all has been revealed. The bill to Blex SL, a public institution, was a cool $350,000. Together with a gig in Calgary, which also netted him $350,000, Tenerife was Bill Clinton’s top earner on his 2005 speech circuit.
Tenerife was tops for Clinton
Spiderman arrested – again!
A Polish burglar known to Tenerife police as “El Spiderman” was arrested in Los Cristianos while engaged on another perilous break-in job – just a few hours after he had been released on parole from Tenerife II jail. He had been serving time for burglary.
Spiderman arrested – again!
The Prettiest Fiesta in the Canary Islands
This year, 75 carts and around 25,000 people took part - and they couldn't have had any more carts, because, apparently, there aren't any more yokes for the oxen on the island. There were also around 15,000 spectators for the event too, which is popular with tourists for the vibrant colour it brings to the streets with so many people dressed as magos - in traditional Canarian costume.
This kind of folk fiesta in the Canary Islands is not really a spectator sport - despite their beauty - because the best way to enjoy it is to dress up and join in. What makes someone a participant? Merely being dressed correctly, which is what Jallen, who is visiting from Missouri, USA did. These are his photos from around Orotava and from being a participant on Sunday.
Events of the day began with a mass at 11 a.m. after which two Icons; San Isidro Labrador and Santa María de La Cabeza, headed the parade of politicians, ox carts, camels, groups of musicians and, above all, people, through the town's streets, which took five hours. It would be hard to stay away from the music, the food and the wine components anyway, but just to make sure nobody gets hungry en route, many of the carts are fitted with barbeques on the back. Someone's job is to walk behind and flip the grilling meats. :)
OK if you can walk and chew gum, I suppose and, so long as you can handle the copious quantities of wine that are sure to be flowing around you! This is the fertile Orotava valley, after all, where many of the islands vines grow.
Kids are not left out either. One of the growing customs in recent years has been the number of push chairs decorated as mini-carts that resemble the ox pulled variety, with the little one inside also dressed in traditional costume.
The fiesta also has it's Reina (Queen) and new this year were dancers who danced around a pole with ribbons, much as we would know as a Maypole. And a team of thirty coordinators were distributed along the route, just to make sure that everything went along with order and fluidity. More photos »
La Villa y el Liceo cumplen 70 romerías
"La Fiesta más bonita de Canarias"
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Patrulla Águila at Santa Cruz Air Show
There were parachutists, helicopters, rescue planes and a noisy F-18, which apparently surprised the thousands of spectators (kids, young and old) at the port in the island's capital with their perfectly synchronized show. Diario de Avisos have the story and more photos here. And La Opinión have a really great capture with this story, the caption says, "A pigeon appears to imitate the Patrulla Águila, at the exact moment that they break formation."
El espectáculo quedó garantizado en el Primer Festival Aéreo de Tenerife
Santa Cruz, capital de la aviación militar
Acróbatas de acero
Icod Calls for an Animal Refuge
They have only said they want one, but this is a step in the right direction, hopefully. There is really very little provision for animals anywhere on this island, but this corner - and Icod is the nearest sizable town - is more lacking than most. There is no provision at all. Icod councillors are bringing the matter up and need the support of all the town halls in the Isla Baja area; Garachico, Buenavista, El Tanque and Los Silos, to give the request the necessary weight.
Icod town hall is prepared to cede the land for the refuge to be built, if the Island Corporation agrees, which will then be run by animal protection associations.
Security for residents, drivers and the animals themselves, are the principal arguments for the construction of a refuge, as well as the sanitary problems that can be derived from numerous abandoned animals in the area's streets.
Animals associations are also calling for an agreement to be made between local vets and road maintenance, so that animals injured in road accidents can be taken to the professionals, if only for a civilized and humane end to their suffering. Apparently, the common procedure at the moment is for road maintenance staff to put an end to the animals with their tools of work.
Icod solicita un refugio de animales para la zona Noroeste de la Isla
Going Underground
Electricity company in Tenerife, Unelco-Endesa, yesterday began work on dismantling an eight kilometre stretch of the high-tension supply line, which includes 59 pylons, between Santa Úrsula and La Orotava.
These works will complete the burial of this line, which was started in 2000, between Icod de los Vinos and La Orotava - 26.5 kilometers of the main 66 kilowatt supply line for the north of the island.
The event was considered important enough that yesterdays works were started at 10 a.m. in the presence of La Orotava's mayor, Isaac Valencia and the Provincial Director of Unelco-Endesa, José Manuel de la Cruz.
Regular readers will know that the hanging cable spaghetti we have everywhere on this island is one of my pet hates, so I am pleased to read that - finally - someone agrees. The report goes on to say that this will be a great environmental improvement. I have no doubts that it will also make the supply more reliable and less liable to suffer outages, caused by storms, winds and rain.
Can we have more cabling put underground please?
Unelco comienza hoy el desmonte de 59 torres eléctricas
Discovering the Real Tenerife
Gary Rosson seems to feel the way I do, as he says, "I make no apologies for saying that I love the island of Tenerife. I own a home on the island and get very annoyed with ignorant ‘travellers’ who book a ‘cheapo’ package holiday in the sun and come back complaining of ‘beer-swilling Brits’ and ‘concrete jungle resorts’."
"Tenerife has an abundance of package holiday commercialism in a small stretch of coast in the south-west, which does not give an accurate representation of Tenerife anymore than Blackpool does for England. After all, The Lake District is only a few miles away from Blackpool! Any serious visitor to Tenerife will soon realise that there is far more to the island than Playa de las Americas."
Discovering the Real Tenerife
Lu Jia to takes over the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra
After twenty years at the helm, Víctor Pablo Pérez is to leave his post as principle conductor with the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra. Speculation as to his successor has been rife in recent months. Several names were said to be in contention, but now all has been revealed with the news that the position has fallen to Chinese-born Lu Jia, widely regarded as one of the most outstanding conductors to have emerged from Asia in recent years.
Lu Jia to takes over the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra
Winter bonanza for the Canary Islands?
Demands for slots in Canary airports for this winter are said to be up by an average of 17% by comparison with last year. The Spanish civil aviation authority AENA announced it has received a substantial increase in requests from a number of airline companies and the probability is that space will be found for all the extra flights.
Winter bonanza for the Canary Islands?
Anglican Parsonage in Puerto Gets a Refit
Councillor for Culture, Miguel Delgado, paid a visit to the Parsonage of the Anglican All Saints Church in Puerto de la Cruz in Tenerife to check on the works currently being carried out to restore this "splendid relic of a quasi-colonial past." Quite right too, as the Island Corporation is paying the €256,932.67 for the work.
Restoration of the house, close to the Casino Taoro and which dates from 1890-1891, includes disassembling the wrought iron work, renovation of the water and electrical supplies, treatment of the woodwork and carpentry for the doors and windows. It is hoped the restoration will be completed by the end of 2006.
El Cabildo supervisa la restauración de la casa parroquial anglicana de Puerto de la Cruz
Monday, June 26, 2006
Plaza de España Remodelling Project Online
Details and progress of the remodelling project for the Plaza de España in Tenerife's capital, Santa Cruz, currently being carried out by Swiss architects, Herzog and De Meuron, are now online at a special website.
The Tenerife Corporation took the decision to launch the site so that the local population is kept informed about the project, by all possible methods. Equally, that the new image of Santa Cruz is projected to the whole world.
The latest is that over the next few days, work will begin on digging three wells that will server to pump sea water into a circular man-made lake - which will also have an fountain - to be the central focus of the new plaza.
El proyecto de remodelación de la Plaza de España, en Internet
Take a gastronomic tour of Tenerife
A HOLIDAY in Tenerife should be about more than year-round warmth and sunshine; it should also be about terrific food and fine wine. And it's not just Spanish and international dishes on offer here; there is a distinctive local cuisine that is really worth seeking out. Although broadly Spanish-based, the food in Tenerife also has influences from nearby north Africa and the Americas, since the Canary Islands were a stop-over point for ships travelling between the Old and New Worlds. One of the best ways to discover the local cuisine is to take a gastronomic tour.
Take a gastronomic tour of Tenerife
More than 200 illegal immigrants reach the Canaries at the weekend
Despite all the local and European Union patrols and other measures in place, the boats just keep on coming. The Coastguard have rescued 39 illegal immigrants from a vessel which had been adrift at sea for two days, since setting off from Morocco on Friday morning. Another three boatloads of illegal immigrants arrived on the Canary Islands on Saturday, 187 in total that day.
More than 200 illegal immigrants reach the Canaries at the weekend
Goat Herder Grafitti
This photo is part of this set of photos from Tenerife.
African migrants reawaken ancient prejudices in Spain
The West and Central Africans are seen as Spain's main immigration problem, despite the fact that they only constitute a small minority among the country's more than two-million immigrants from outside the European Union. Spain's West and Central Africans have hardly ever been linked with violent crime, and the Canary Islanders' fear that they bring diseases has proven unfounded so far. Why, then, are the Africans seen as such a big problem that the European Union is sending ships and aeroplanes to patrol the West African coast?
African migrants reawaken ancient prejudices in Spain
Sunday, June 25, 2006
First Canary Islands Air Show Today
Now they tell us! Local newspapers, Canarias7 and Diario de Avisos, both have headlines this morning about the First Canary Islands Air Show that is taking place today, both in Santa Cruz in Tenerife and Las Palmas in Gran Canaria.
The Air Show in Santa Cruz, organized jointly by the Town Hall and the Spanish Air Force, with collaboration from the port authority, is obliging Binter Airways to reschedule their flights, with some postponements and cancellations, as the airport of Los Rodeos will be closed to normal traffic for two hours.
From 11 a.m. various units of the Air Force will participate in the exhibition, which includes a simulation by rescue services, four F-18's of 46th Wing, a P-3 Orión from the base at Morón de la Frontera (Seville), the air force parachute team and the Patrulla Águila whose base is at San Javier (Murcia). With 21 seasons, 13 missions and 420 exhibitions (110 over foreign soil) behind them, the Águila is the Spanish equivalent of the RAF aerobatics team, the Red Arrows.
Meanwhile, 25,000 spectators are expected to congregate on the beach of Las Canteras in Gran Canaria, where a similar lineup of 20 aircraft and a team of 120, provides the show in honour of the island's capital, Las Palmas' 528th birthday.
Diario de Avisos story, is really only about Binter apologizing to passengers about delays and redirecting flights to the south. The information about the Air Show - finally something really grand and of interest to just about any age and nationality - is merely mentioned casually at the end. I don't get it!
This is the first news I have read about the air show - too late to get there from this side of the island (which I would have liked to have done), let alone plan to come from abroad - which is not at all unusual here, but is disgraceful when you think that these islands thrive on tourism. Admittedly, I don't watch much TV, where it may have been mentioned, but then, seeing that will be in Spanish, neither will visitors either. Otherwise, if the air show has been announced previously in the press, I'm guessing it was in small print in an inside page.
You might wonder why I called this site "Secret Tenerife". Partly because there are areas of the island that the average visitor does not normally find and I live in one of them, of course. The other is precisely this: that there is almost never any widespread advance warning of events, which do render them virtually secret.
Ah well, we'll just keep our eyes out for the Second Canary Islands Air Show.
El I Festival Aéreo en el puerto obliga a cerrar hoy durante dos horas Los Rodeos
25.000 personas presencian el festival de destreza acrobática del Ejército
NOTE: Because my late father served in the Royal Air Force, during WWII, I was previously secretary of the Tenerife branch of the Royal British Legion and whose website I still maintain. Fortunately, I have already seen both the Patrulla Águila and the Red Arrows perform (and met the pilots :) at air shows in the south of England. But I am particularly sorry to have missed this one today and highly recommend these events for a spectacular day out!
Saturday, June 24, 2006
June's high days and magic nights
Wednesday was the Solstice, Thursday was the Day of the Carpets, last night was Bonfire night. Bonfire night, in Spain and the Canary Islands is on June 23rd. It's a night of fire, water, spells and rituals in which thousands of people burn their desires and dance around the fires that are lit in every town and village.
Last night, here in the valley, the air was filled with the scent of the purifying fire of the Hogueras de San Juan (Bonfires of Saint John). The actual origins of the celebrations of the shortest night of the year, the 23rd of June, eve of the festivity of San Juan, are lost in the remote past. This pagan festival was integrated into the catholic calendar because of its proximity to the festivity of Juan Bautista (John the Baptist), which is celebrated on the 24th of June.
People jump acrobatically over the bonfires. See the photo with the story at La Opinion. Jumping the fire is supposed to help you avoid aches and pains, but surely, if you are ABLE to jump the fire, you are probably therefore fit enough not to suffer aches and pains in the first place. :) The Noche de San Juan has created all kinds of fantastic legends, which are best taken with a pinch of salt. LosGigantes.com explain some of these ancient superstitions.
Puerto de la Cruz has one of the island's largest celebrations of this fiesta. They also have the traditional Baño de las cabras (Bath, baptism, or dipping of goats) today at the old fishing port. Yes, I am sure that sea water is great at cleaning off the odd parasite and helping to heal any small cuts and grazes the animals might have, which is one of the other, original motives for this ritual.
Tenerife News say that this happens in the morning. Maybe it does, usually, but both Canarias7 and Canarynet say that it is tonight at 20:00 (8 p.m.) Either way, "If you've never seen a goat swim, now's your chance, and if you never knew how stubborn they can be in the face of a dousing, now's the time to find out!"
June?s high days ? and magic nights
Fiestas de San Juan de Puerto de La Cruz
Tradicional Baño de las cabras
El fuego purificador en la noche más corta
Llamas por San Juan
Noche de San Juan at Playa Jardin del Puerto de la Cruz (Photo)
David Sanborn, Joe Sample & Randy Crawford play Heineken International Jazz Festival in Tenerife
The XV Festival Internacional Canarias Jazz & Más Heineken features artists such as saxophonist, David Sanborn; former Crusaders keyboard player Joe Sample & legend, Randy Crawford, among others, during the festival, which runs from June 30th to July 9th, throughout the seven islands.
Here in Tenerife, Sanborn plays at the Plaza de Europa, Puerto de la Cruz on June 30th. Joe Sample & Randy Crawford will play the Auditorio de Tenerife, in the capital, Santa Cruz, on July 8th.
For a full list of the Tenerife concerts see the festival website
Shakira in Tenerife July 5th
Fijacion Oral vol. 1 ShakiraColombian Latin pop singer-songwriter, Shakira, is to play two dates in the Canary Islands.
First in Gran Canaria on Monday, July 3, then she plays the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez (Football Stadium) in Santa Cruz, Tenerife on Wednesday, July 5th.
Conciertos de Shakira en Canarias
Tickets are available from www.lmproducciones.com,
El Corte Inglés, Manzana Tipo and Viajes Insular.
Improved Tourist Information in Teno Rural Park
Photo: Diario de Tenerife
The Tenerife Cabildo (Island Corporation) has increased information available to tourists visiting areas of the Teno Rural Park recently, with the installation of information panels, posters, etc. The rural park management started the initiative in May, visiting bars restaurants and other establishments (it's a tough job!) in the main nuclei of the area, such as Masca, Las Portelas, Las Lagunetas, El Palmar, Teno Alto and Erjos.
The campaign has also been installed in other areas of public use, such as the Albergue de Bolico (hostel) in Las Portelas; the Mercadillo del Agricultor (Farmers Market) in El Palmar and the camping site at Los Pedregales.
We won't be a relative secret for much longer! These things are all around me, but I haven't come across one yet, in person, so I can't tell you whether they also include English information and, if so, if it is truly in English. We can hope.
El Cabildo amplía la oferta informativa en el Parque Rural de Teno
New vehicle regulations for forest trails
With summer likely to hot up any moment and, with it the increased risk of fires, the Cabildo of Tenerife has restricted the access of motor vehicles to the island’s forest trails, prohibiting any motor vehicle except for those allowed under law.
New vehicle regulations for forest trails
Saharan dust effects under study
Members of the Spanish Parliament have asked the Government to study the effects of air pollution in the largest towns and cities of the Canary Islands. The Canary Islands’ study will also take into account the inclusion of the frequent calimas that envelope the islands when the wind blows from the African coast.
Saharan dust effects under study
Friday, June 23, 2006
Astronomers to meet in Miami to plan for world’s largest telescope
The telescope under construction in 2002.
Astronomers from Spain, Mexico and the United States will gather in Miami next week to plan for the first observations of the world’s largest telescope – a $160 million behemoth under development for the past six years on Spain’s Canary Islands. The Gran Telescopio Canarias or GTC has its home at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on La Palma.
When the GTC is completed, the telescope will have a 10.4 meter, or 34.1 foot, primary mirror, the largest mirror of any optical telescope in the world. That will give it unprecedented power to peer into the heavens — the equivalent of the ability to see the edge of a dime from two miles away, said UF astronomy professor Charlie Telesco.
Astronomers to meet in Miami to plan for world’s largest telescope
Related links: (in English)
El Gran Telescopio CANARIAS
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (Wikipedia)
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (Official Site)
Granadilla gas - Regional politicians ignore the finite resource message
While elsewhere in the developed world it is an acknowledged fact that natural gas is a rapidly dwindling resource with a limited future of at best forty years and which will be entering in crisis mode in two decades (it is estimated, for example, that the US will have depleted 80% of its own total natural gas reserves within ten years), here in the Canaries the authorities are going for broke, talking up liquid natural gas as the universal panacea to practically all the region's emissions ills.
Granadilla gas - Regional politicians ignore the finite resource message
International artists to open show in Santiago del Teide on June 30th
Tenerife is a magnet for all sorts of talented people and there is an opportunity to see some of their work and meet the artists in Santiago del Teide. The exhibition opens at the Mercadillo del Agricultor (Farmers Market) in Santiago del Teide on Friday, June 30th at 7.30pm and runs until August 25th 2006.
International artists to open show in Santiago del Teide on June 30th
SOS Guillermo - The sad story of a Tenerife chimp
Photo: Ecologistas en Acción
If you thought the days of caged and captive chimps was a thing of the past in Tenerife, then think again. The plight of one chimpanzee in La Orotava is currently being highlighted by local green group Ecologistas en Acción, and it’s a chilling story. The 12 year old chimp, who was born in Tenerife Zoo, was rejected by his mother and taken into the care of a then employee of the zoo at her home in the Valle de La Orotava.
Since then, he has lived confined to a cage measuring 2 square metres and 2 metres high, which may be "the best condition possible within the inherent limitations of her [Guillermo's owner] person, the knowledge she possesses and the economic means at her disposal.", but sadly, it is not enough for a chimp.
The situation is an outrage, says Paco González, coordinator for the Great Ape Project in this region where, he thinks, there could be many more Guillermos hidden away in similar circumstances. “If we all make the effort and raise the general public’s awareness of this situation we can hopefully bring about Guillermo’s liberation. When that day comes each one of us will be a little bit freer.”
SOS Guillermo - The sad story of a Tenerife chimp
The Spanish Pool Championship 2006
Fifty players from Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura will represent the Canary Islands in The Spanish Pool Championship 2006 tournament, part of the World Games, to be held in Seville between the 2nd and 8th of July.
The Club Pool Center (CPC) in Puerto Colón, Las Américas, was founded by four players, only two years ago and is now the biggest club in Tenerife. The club has gone from strength to strength in the last two years and a wide mix of Irish, British, German and Spanish players meant that they qualified for the most important tournaments in mainland Spain last year.
The Spanish Pool Championship 2006
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Making Monarchs: Sex in Tenerife Caught on Film
Some people are just blessed in my opinion. I thought I was pretty fortunate when one monarch butterfly stood still long enough for me to get a halfhearted snap of it. Jose Mesa, who took this series of 12 action photos, says that in the middle of June, these two mating butterflies appeared in the patio. After ten or fifteen intense minutes, they separated and flew off.
Not unlike the behavior of many other summer visitors to Tenerife really! :)
June 22: Día de las Alfombras
Tomorrow, June 22, is the Día de las Alfombras or Day of the Carpets in La Orotava, the picturesque town of stately buildings in north Tenerife.
We've already shown you the work being done by a group of Buddist monks on their part of this year's carpet display. Today, local newspaper site, Diario de Avisos, have a small aerial photo of the practically finished carpet and a larger one of some of the detail of the main carpet here, which you can see.
And yes, that which looks like something Micaelangelo might have painted on a chapel ceiling, is, indeed, temporarily made, just with colored sands.
To get an idea of the scale of the carpet, look to the top of the tiny aerial shot. The plaza - and carpet - runs the width of three very sizable buildings.
Did your jaw drop? Mine did the first time I saw it for real, which begins to explain why this is such a big event here. It is incredible work.
The fact that they were able to take an aerial photo, must mean that the canopy that is placed over the plaza while the work is being carried out, must have been removed already. I do hope it is not raining in La Orotava, as it has been doing here in the west - enough that the dog and I had to wade up the road earlier - and that, weather and all other things permitting, we will be able to go and get some photos of the main carpet, as well as the flower carpets that are yet to be made in the surrounding streets, for ourselves tomorrow on the "big day".
This year's main Corpus Cristi carpet, made by the local alfombristas in La Orotava, is dedicated to the theme of "The Good The Bad" and has been described as one of the most avant-garde in the carpets' history.
LA OROTAVA - FIESTAS DEL CORPUS CHRISTI 2006
Labels: Corpus Christi
Urchin Eradication Campaign Reaches Garachico
Know the enemy: Diadema antillarum. Photograph taken by Daniel P. B. Smith. Copyright ©2003 by Daniel P. B. Smith.They mean serious business against these destructive pests; the sea urchins, which have been described as a plague in Canary Islands waters.
The Tenerife Cabildo (Island Corporation), with collaboration from Garachico town hall are promoting a campaign for the eradication of these sea urchins from the coasts of the area.
Activities planned for this coming Saturday, June 24th, from 11 a.m. onwards, in the port of Garachico hope to get the local population in general and the regular users of the seafront, in particular, involved in "the fight against this plague whose devastating action is destroying marine ecosystems."
The report identifies the enemy, which is currently affecting 60 percent of the ecosystems on the coasts of Tenerife, as the Diadema antillarum, a sea urchin of the genus diadema with long black spines. The incredible rise in the numbers of these urchins is being blamed on the disappearance of their natural predators, due to pressure (of fishing, etc.) on the coasts.
Elsewhere, they are ecologically important. Ironically, the fact that 97% of these urchins died out, which had normally lived in the Carribean, has meant that Caribbean reefs have been overcome by micro-algae which stifles coral growth.
La campaña de erradicación del erizo de lima llega a la costa de Garachico
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Summer Seafood Paella
Seafood Paella, more properly called Paella Marinera is one of the mainland Spanish influences that has firmly made its mark on the cuisine of the Canary Islands.
For those who would like to have a go at making it at home, Tienda.com feature the recipe in their newsletter this month.
NB: Those of you "virtually visiting" from the United States, will find all your authentic Spanish cooking supplies and ingredients at La Tienda, along with other typically Spanish products such as wine, ceramics and glass, toiletries and bath products familiar to us here.
A friendly neighbourhood
Corpus Cristi in La Laguna
Monday, June 19, 2006
Nearly a third of Spain at risk of desertification
Coinciding with yesterday World Day in the Fight against Desertification and Drought, the Spanish Environment ministry revealed that more than 30% of Spain's total surface area is at risk from desertification and that the problem is getting worse. The worst affected areas are in the southeast and Canary Islands where risks levels are at almost 100%.
Nearly a third of Spain at risk of desertification
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Corpus Cristi in El Palmar & Buenavista
Meanwhile, I took a pretty eventful trip out this afternoon. After visiting the mercadillo (Farmers Market) at Los Pedregales in El Palmar, I was going to then stop and look at the carpets in the village, but there was nowhere easy to park or pull in, so I went to Buenavista first, thinking I would come back to El Palmar on the way home.
This turned out to be, accidentally, exactly the right choice. 
Buenavista was alive with people and almost all of the main street (shown left), the road around the square and other streets around the town, were getting covered in salt and flower carpets. I think I found them all.
While I was in Buenavista, apart from, as ever, stopping off for coffee in the square and the, of course, obligatory call to the pasteleria (cake shop) El Aderno, I also went into the church, where there were various Icons on display that I had not previously seen.
By the time I finally got back up to El Palmar, parked, chatted with the village cat, I was just taking pictures of the carpets in the plaza, when I heard the procession coming. Five minutes later and I would not have got photos of the completed carpets before they got trodden on. Any other time of the day and I would not have been able to see the whole event and get photos of that too.
These two images are merely a tease: a forerunner. When I came to download them from the camera, it counted 85 pictures, which are from the market; the making of and the carpets in Buenavista, the church in Buenavista, the carpets and the Corpus Cristi procession in El Palmar and various little rinconcitos - cute corners, flowers, etc., that caught my eye between other things.
During the course of time, some via the Daily Photo, I will get these photos sorted and uploaded somewhere so that you can see and enjoy them too.
Sadly, the batteries in my camera had died by the time we got down a narrow cobbled street to a small chapel - apparently the little church is being renovated - in temporary premises in the cutest little traditional house, made of stone and wood, with a patio and stairs to a wooden balcony. Be sure that I shall be going back at some point to see that again. After the procession was over, wine, bread and traditional cakes were handed out to everyone in the square.
Naturally, after seven years here, quite a lot of people know me, but I also chatted to a few I had not met before, which is what I find always happens here. Whatever else you get from these events, culturally, spiritually - that is your choice - they do bring people together to actually talk to one another.
If these traditions ever seem irrelevant today, I think that what I see here proves that the converse is true: they are more relevant and useful than ever.
For instance, also during the course of the procession, I was talking with a very nice young lady (with a proper camera) and mentioned that my photos were for this website. Well, the next thing I know is that she told the priest, who then mentioned it to the congregation ... So if there ever was any secret about this website, locally, there isn't now! Maybe it's time I added an explanation in Spanish so the local community can at least understand what it's about.
All in all, I can say that I had a really nice time on my rare outing today and, I hope that you will too as all the new pictures and stories unfold.
Making a Mandala
Jose Mesa wrote to me this morning to say that he has put a provisional set of photos online, showing the monks starting on their work. Yes, he was there in person. On Friday, he says, after they had consecrated the area, they spent six or seven hours drawing out the design. Yesterday, Saturday, they started to fill it in with the colored sand and, as far as I am aware, it will take them a few more days yet before it is fully finished. It is a painstaking and fascinating work of art.
As well as the Buddhist monks and, of course, La Orotava's own alfombristas (carpet makers), there are also representations here from Mexico, Japan, Italy and possibly others this year. Since this is such a new and unique occurrence - usually it is only the local carpets - I hope to get there on Thursday to see them finished and, naturally, take some pictures for you to see.
It's possible that Jose might be going again also and, since he takes MUCH better photos than I do, this really gives us something to look forward to.
Making a Mandala
Saturday, June 17, 2006
Uniting Buddhism & Catholicism in La Orotava
Tibetan monks making a temporary "Sand-Mandala" in the City-Hall of Kitzbuehel in Austria. Click here for detailIn La Orotava in Tenerife, it has been the custom, every year since 1847, to make sand carpets as part of the celebrations for the Catholic feast of Corpus Cristi. Such sandpainting is also traditionally practiced by, amongst others, Tibetan monks.
This is certainly an historical first: Buddhist monks from the south of India are making a mandala, dedicated to compassion, in the plaza in front of the town hall in Orotava. This is where the main sand carpet is made each year.
This year, for the very first time, the local alfombristas (carpet makers) are leaving space to include other similar works. And, since yesterday, the five Buddhist monks, most of whom are from a monastery in the south of India, have been making one of their characteristic mandalas in one of the corners of the plaza. The idea is of sandpainting as a symbol of the union of cultures.
The delegation, headed by the director of the Casa del Tibet in Barcelona, Thubten Wangchen, was invited to participate in this international meeting of ephemeral art by the La Orotava town hall.
The presence of the Tibetan monks in La Orotava yesterday caused much expectation. As a sacred art - mandalas have a spiritual value - the monks perform a ritual before commencing work. The Mandala, which is Sanskrit for circle, polygon, community and connection, uses many colours, which represents a positive energy to develop the heart. And, although there are many types of mandala, Wangchen said that they chose compassion, because "it is a value we need a lot of in the world at the moment."
The monks will take between three and five days to complete the mandala, a circular composition utilizing six main colours in various tones and which is being made on the floor over a wooden support. The fact that they do not - as the local sand carpet makers do - paint directly onto the pavement, is a matter of purity and respect for the sacred art.
Also, the mandala will not be destroyed by the Corpus Cristi procession next Thursday, as the local sand and flower carpets are. Once finished, the sand from a mandala is brushed together and is usually placed in a body of running water - such as a river or the sea - to spread the blessings of the Mandala.
Saying that they are very content to be here, Thubten Wangchen emphasized that, "We are going to spiritually unite two cultures."
El Tíbet deja su huella en el Corpus villero
More on the Mandala and on Sand Mandalas
Mellow Canaries
Michael Kerr, in the Telegraph.co.uk, finds a calming retreat on the brash southern coast of Tenerife. Like many discerning people, Kerr begins, "The notion that Tenerife was nothing but a hotplate on which the Spanish browned Brits and Germans had long put me off the island." But he discovered that there is much more to Tenerife than this popular myth suggests and, at the end of his trip, concludes, "We had travelled less than an hour from the coast, but we had come a long way from the island of bacon and eggs and Frühstück."
Mellow Canaries
Friday, June 16, 2006
Funky Cabra: Goat on a Moped in Tenerife
At least it was wearing a crash helmet! (Their subtitle.) Honestly, you can't make this stuff up. Newspaper ElMundo.es report this item from Spanish newsagency, EFE: "Agents from the Local Police in Santa Cruz, Tenerife intercepted a moped after detecting that it had three occupants (riders) and, upon proceeding with their identification, verified that one of them was a goat, upon which they had placed the corresponding helmet for protection."
According to a press communique from the town hall in the island's capital, the offence took place in the Avenida de Anaga, the seafront road.
The goat was the middle of the three occupants and none of the three had any documentation on them. The humans were charged for not having a drivers licence, nor insurance nor log book for the moped, which was impounded.
Well, I've heard of people calling their other halves an old goat before, but in this case, it appears that s/he could really have been one. :)
Localizan una cabra que circulaba en ciclomotor en Tenerife
Buenavista del Norte Festival in Salt and Flowers
Buenavista del Norte this weekend expects to be covered in a record number of traditional carpets for their annual Corpus Cristi celebrations. A total of sixteen carpets will be made around the center of the town by various social and cultural groups, as well as one made by the town hall itself.
The alfombristas (carpet makers) will start work on them on Saturday night, or better, in the early hours of Sunday morning so that they are ready for Sunday's religious events.
The town hall is providing 3,000 kilos of salt, a large quantity of flowers and plant material, as well as the dyes and colorings necessary to colour the salt. They are going to be serving food and drink to the workers.
Events culminate in Buenavista at 6 p.m. on Sunday afternoon, with mass and the procession of the Corpus in the Church of Nuestra Señora de Los Remedios and in the customary surrounding streets. 
In the village of El Palmar also, inhabitants of this unique district will also make carpets around the church of La Consolación. This time, also made of salt and in addition, from vegetable products from the fertile cultivated lands around the valley.
Buenavista del Norte registrará este fin de semana un record de participación en la confección de las alfombras del Corpus
Now Serving Real Time News from Tenerife
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Windows Wallpaper: Bouganvilla
Seeing that this photo of deep pink Bouganvilla glistening in the sun is the second most viewed of all our Tenerife Daily Photos, I've added it to the collection - which now consists of 25 - available as Windows Wallpaper.
The most viewed photo - despite all the pretty flowers and proper views of Tenerife - continues to be the "accidental" photo of one of my cats! He's available as wallpaper and postcard too.
By the way, if you see a photo that you like, but that I haven't made into wallpaper or a postcard yet and you'd like it to be, just ask. It isn't always possible, because sometimes photos have to be cropped to display and therefore can't be provided in larger sizes, but when it is possible, I'll always try to do so.
And, just a small hint :) - you'll get the featured wallpaper image of the month brought to you, if you subscribe to our colorful monthly newsletter.
The new threat of the people-trafficking rust buckets
The seizure of an ancient and dilapidated ship in the Tenerife port of Santa Cruz which was found to have 24 illegal Chinese immigrants concealed in its hold has reopened the debate about people trafficking activities in the islands.
The new threat of the people-trafficking rust buckets
Thursday, June 15, 2006
British Folk Still Bring Food Abroad
"A SURVEY has revealed that loads of British folk still take their own tea-bags, biscuits and baked beans when they go abroad on holiday.", says Tam Cowan in the DailyRecord. Whist I would advise you to bring your own Marmite - only because it is cheaper in the UK - because I can buy it, if I want to, as close as a small supermarket in Buenavista del Norte, I do find this funny.
Most of the larger shops and certainly most of the supermarkets on the south of the island carry everything you are used to seeing in the UK and then some.
UK readers may not be familiar with the American favorite, Oreo Cookies, for example, but you can even get those in my local store in the El Palmar valley. My mother has taken them back to the UK before. They had Custard Creams and Bourbon biscuits too not that long ago and, whilst they don't sell baked beans there (in Buenavista and all major supermarkets they do), they carry mermelada de naranja amarga (bitter orange marmalade, to you) for my breakfast!
Unless you choose to live well away from civilization, as I do, you even have access to actual English supermarkets, such as Iceland, where you can find every brand imaginable, just like you would at home. Why you would want to and not try the local delicacies while visiting a new country, is the mystery to me, but, at least there is no excuse for lugging this stuff to Tenerife.
And this is forgetting that sometimes the local versions are better. My mother used to drag her tea bags with her every time she came to visit me, that was, until I made her try Al Campo's own brand Breakfast Tea (yeah, it wasn't easy to get the typically British, over 80, died-in-the-wool tea drinker to try a new brand). As shown, it is even called and labeled Breakfast Tea, in English.
The result: "Oh, I won't bother bringing my tea bags again, I like this better."
Next time she comes, I can see scads of tea bags getting stuffed between her laundry going back, just as now sachets of Maggi pure de patatas (Spanish "Smash") and assorted biscuits do. Oh, no, those can't go in her hand luggage, because that's where the important things, like wine and liqueur have to go!
There's be a lot more, if a) she could carry it and b) it would travel well, but, having tried the local brands here - and lived - the transport of food and domestic items is now all one way and that is out of Tenerife and not to use on holiday.
Cigarette smuggler caught in act
The BBC reports that "A serial cigarette smuggler from Doncaster was caught as he tried to bring 25,000 cigarettes and 800g of tobacco into the UK from Tenerife." With prices such as we have here - the cigarettes I buy have just gone up to 10 Euros (about $6.50) per CARTON of 200 - it is a wonder there are not daily reports of these cigarette runs to the UK, given UK prices.
However, what the report doesn't make clear is that the smuggler's defence (excuse) claim - he told officers he had flown to Tenerife purposely to bring back cigarettes for himself and his family - would not have held up. Whilst it may be legal to do this coming back to the UK from mainland Europe (and I've done the Calais shopping trip myself in the past), the Canary Islands, obviously including Tenerife, are NOT part of the EU for Customs and Excise purposes.
Because of the islands' special tax status, there are no duties here and, as far as your duty free allowances go, you are only allowed the amounts normally allowed for coming from countries OUTSIDE of the European Union.
HM Customs & Excise confirm this, see: Travelling to the UK from outside the European Union (EU), which states what you are allowed to take into the UK, when travelling from a non-EU country (including the Canary Islands, the Channel islands and Gibraltar) and, as far as tobacco goes, you are only allowed 200 cigarettes (one carton) for your own use. Whilst the savings may be great, the saving on one carton does not justify the price of a flight.
Cigarette smuggler caught in act
We’re cooking on gas! - Supply Planned for 2011
Although the “Energy Plan” for the Canaries which aims to impose more effective management of natural resources in order to guarantee energy for the future, is in the process of being officially approved it has been revealed that the introduction of a natural gas supply in the islands is planned for 2011.
Up at this corner of the island, mind you, I wouldn't hold my breath until mid-century. Well, that is if I'm still here and have any breath left when I'm in my 90's, which is pretty doubtful. I hope I'm wrong and it transpires earlier, because, while cooking is not too inconvenient, I would dearly love to avoid those regular trips to get gas bottle refills and the effect of Murphy's law, which dictates that the only time gas bottles ever run out is when you are under the shower, covered in soap and shampoo that must then be rinsed in cold water. Brrrrr ...
We’re cooking on gas! - Supply Planned for 2011
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Human Skull Found in Box of Papers
In what may turn out to be a macabre joke, it is reported that a human skull was found on Monday afternoon in a box of folio papers, abandoned on a path in Vilaflor, in Tenerife. Experts are currently examining the remains to see if it is related to a robbery of various parts of a skeleton, on June 11th, in Arico.
Local Police collected the remains - a cranium with the lower jaw section missing - at 17:15 hours on Monday, which had been deposited on the right hand margin of the pathway El Pozo, in full view of any passersby. "The next step", says the report, "was to inform the Civil Guard of the discovery to put into action the protocol that they habitually follow when unidentified bony remains appear."
Does that mean they do habitually find them?
Sources close to the investigation say, at least until the experts suggest anything to the contrary, that the find is not related to any satanic practices or vudu.
Hallan un cráneo humano oculto dentro de una caja de folios
Cockeyed Scheme to Reduce Unemployment
For once, I am going to come right out and say it: the Canary Islands government is barking up the wrong tree. As this news item reports, they are planning to close the door for indefinite work permits for non-EU immigrants, which, they say, will reduce unemployment in the islands. Whilst I don't doubt that there is a limit to how much more population increase these islands can take - they also plan to negotiate annual quotas on the numbers who can stay legally - this, in my estimation, is merely massaging the statistics: a numbers game.
Sure, this will remove numbers from the unemployed lists, but, it will only move these people to the black market. Either they will work illegally, or they won't work and, they will be poor either way. What they seem to forget, is that a lot of the non-EU immigrants (especially those from Venezuela) are actually descended from Canarians. They want to be with their family, who have returned to their roots and these measures will not stop them from doing so. Apart from the personal suffering it would cause, it could also increase crime and insecurity.
El Gobierno dice que el cupo cero hará disminuir el paro en Canarias
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Garachico pools under fire
Councillors in Garachico are claiming the present state of the El Caletón natural pools is dangerous and are demanding the immediate installation of safety rails and other measures before the summer season get underway. Socialist councillor Julio Manuel Velázquez accused the ruling CC party of a policy of improvisation and said he felt embarrassed when locals and visitors complain about the lack of safety railings and steps.
Garachico pools under fire
Friday, June 09, 2006
Walking Down the Masca Gorge
Here's a trip that, despite being in my "neck of the woods", I will never be able to show you personally, because I am not cut out for "mountain goating it" down gorges. (Truth is, I get vertigo on the slope outside my house!) Anyway, Robert again and friends, do make the trip down the steep-sided gorge in the Teno mountains. They start with a view out over the sea to the neighbouring island of La Gomera and end up at a little cove at the bottom of the Los Gigantes cliffs.
Click here to see the photos
Goat Cheese in Bajamar
Well, I can make out the words Blogger and "problemów technicznych"
(technical problem) - yes, I have been gritting my teeth over them too - and the place name Bajamar, which is in the north east of Tenerife and, I presume, is where we can see in this nice post, full of photos, a mouthwatering, ultra fresh looking, white goat cheese and where it came from - the goats themselves.
Click here to see the pictures
Once a Migrant, Always a Migrant
Whether you call Brits abroad expats or migrants, is a matter of taste, probably, but, once you've tasted it, it's difficult to go back, it seems, even for famous former Tenerife residents. This article from Herald & Review, talks about Carl Palmer - he of Emerson Lake & Palmer fame - and say that:
"After living on Tenerife in the Canary Islands for almost 30 years, he moved back to London six years ago. However, after a couple of years he "got bored" and now lives on Cyprus in the Mediterranean."
The show you've never seen: Carl Palmer
80,000 People Wait on the African Coast
Well, so much for toning down the coverage, because today, almost all the local newspaper websites lead with the impacting headline that there are 80,000 people waiting on the African coasts, hoping to get on a boat to Europe.
The European Parliament delegation, which is currently visiting the immigrant retention centers in Tenerife and Fuerteventura, pointed out the necessity that the European Union tackle the immigration phenomenon from a common policy and with corresponding development in Africa. Calling for solidarity, they affirmed that no country could face this migratory flow alone.
Some 50,000 of the hopefuls are waiting in Mauritania, 20,000 in Senegal and the rest in neighbouring countries, which, although the Frontex program aims to prevent these people from departing and perishing in the attempt, the delegation says that "it is impossible to create a barrier that cannot be crossed".
Meanwhile, Archipelago Noticias carry a report by Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations, in which, speaking of migration, he says, "These aspirations have always been the motor of human progress. Historically, migration has improved the well-being, not only of migrants as individuals, but also of all of humanity." Having migrated myself, I can certainly vouch for the first part. Hopefully, I will be able to find the English version of this.
And, Peter Sutherland comments in the Straits Times, "YOU might think, seeing the headlines these days, that migration is some kind of scourge. The talk is of walls and navies to keep immigrants out. It is enough to make you forget that the nurse who tends your mother hails from Ghana, that the cook who prepares your dinner is from China, and that the inventor of your favorite search engine was once a seven-year-old refugee fleeing a totalitarian state. In this pitched climate, a United Nations report on international migration and development issued this week should help bring the debate to a more even keel."
Hay 80.000 personas en las costas africanas esperando para embarcar
Thursday, June 08, 2006
Santa Cruz' Parque García Sanabria Reopens
Un parque a punto de renacer
Remembering the passing of the First Fleet
Furious battles, patriotic displays and frenetic trading, the harbour of Santa Cruz has certainly witnessed some sights over the past five hundred years or so. But when it came to the one week visit of the First Fleet – exactly 219 years ago this month – it must have been quite an experience.
The First Fleet set sail from Portsmouth on Sunday, May 13 1787, first port of call, Tenerife and it would have been with no little relief that on June 3, land hove into view in the majestic shape of Mount Teide and the Anaga mountains. It was a welcome pause on what was to be the longest voyage ever attempted up to then by such a large group of civilians.
The agrarian revolution and the population explosion in British cities had resulted in an increase in crime. The American Revolution had put paid to the off-loading of convicts on the other side of the Atlantic. The only way, as the authorities saw it, to ease the overcrowding of prisons was to send their occupants to establish a penal colony in the land discovered by Captain Cook.
The fleet was in Santa Cruz for a week, taking on water and provisions, providing locals with trade and plenty to talk about. On the morning of June 10, 1787, with a fair wind behind them, the fleet sailed out of Santa Cruz bay. They arrived in another, Botany Bay, on January 18 1788.
Remembering the passing of the First Fleet
Related resources:
Biography of George Raper 1769–1797
First Fleet Artwork Collection
William Dawes - This website is dedicated to William Dawes, 1762 - 1836, Marine, surveyor / astronomer on the “First Fleet” to Australia, teacher, Governor of Sierra Leone, and missionary to Antigua.
First Fleet 1788 Story - Between 1788 and 1850 the English sent over 162,000 convicts to Australia in 806 ships. The first eleven of these ships are today known as the First Fleet and contained the convicts and marines that are now acknowledged as the Founders of Australia. This is their story.
First Fleet - The First Fleet is the name given to the 11 ships which sailed from the United Kingdom in May 1787 to establish the first European colony in New South Wales. It was a convict settlement, marking the beginnings of transportation to Australia. The fleet of 11 ships was led by Captain (later Admiral) Arthur Phillip.
Ike Turner to Play Tenerife Blues Festival
The second Santa Blues de Tenerife Festival commences, tomorrow, June 9, with the performance of Marcelo & Hot’n Blue in Calle La Noria, Santa Cruz.
The band lead by Uruguayan Marcelo Berot will be followed by Ike Turner & The Kings of Rhythm. Ike Turner turns 75 this year, yet he has sprung back into the music ring with unexpected energy, after years of silence which nobody expected him to break. The ambitious programme presents two American bands and two British bands, joined by six Canary Islands groups.
Second Santa Blues of Tenerife Festival takes place from June 9 until June 30
Buenavista Publishes Guide for Women
Favouring a policy that "better informed is better prepared", Buenavista de Norte town hall have recently published a guide to municipal resources, mainly aimed at women. The guide contains addresses of all the services available in the area, but with special emphasis on those which will allow women to better integrate themselves into society, develop themselves personally and also help them to deal with or prevent occurrences such as domestic violence.
The guide is available at various points around the district.
El área de Asuntos Sociales del Ayuntamiento de Buenavista del Norte edita una “Guía de Recursos Municipales”destinada a la mujer
Corpus Cristi in La Orotava, Tenerife
"Can it really be that another year has flown by and La Orotava is about to be plunged once more into an annual bash that has no trouble combining the utmost solemnity with the most carefree jollity?", ask Tenerife News. Well, yes, it’s June and it’s coming up to fiesta time in La Orotava again, and the events start off as colourfully as they mean to go on, whether they be religious or secular.
There's classic cars this coming Sunday, June 11; Orotava's answer to the Chelsea Flower Show between the 15th and the 18th; the big day for sand and flower carpets on the 22nd, street parties & processions and lots more besides.
Tenerife News has all the Corpus Cristi events listed here
On Tenerife, the migrants come and go
"In the local press here it's a front-page story every day. The president of the local Tenerife government has written to all the media asking them to "tone down" their coverage as it is undermining the tourist industry, the driving force in the local economy.", writes Jonathan Power in the International Herald Tribune.
Now that makes me angry. Sr. Martin, is most welcome to write to me, but my response to the situation remains that having people properly and fully informed, rather than have them guessing, speculating and imagining all kinds of worries - that only lead to fear, hate and prejudice - is better than sticking your head in the sand and pretending there isn't a problem.
Last night I was talking to someone who has a flat near the police station in Las Americas. They tell me they "don't like it" there. It wasn't outwardly said, but it was obvious that what they meant is that they just weren't comfortable with a lot of black men nearby. And one of their biggest concerns, one I hear all the time, is about the diseases these people might bring to the islands.
Maybe there is some more risk, but does it not occur that receiving 10 million tourists from all around the world and a large number of South American returnees already means that we are risk of some outside diseases?
Even if Africans have a higher incidence of AIDS, it is hardly an added risk, because 99% of locals are not going to get close enough even to shake hands with these guys, let alone do that which it requires to become infected.
Of course there is a problem. A human one. If nothing else, we need to see to it that these desperate Africans do not continue to risk their own lives. And, for that, the west as a whole must help them, not shun them.
If the problem is not going to go away (and it isn't), then surely channeling it in the direction its nature is already heading would be the easier solution?
Only last month, we reported that almost 92% of those registered unemployed in the Canary Islands refused to pick tomatoes. I know what I would do about it: I'd give the work to those who are prepared to do then, which is too simple, I guess.
And, as Jonathan Power continues:
But the government has no intention of standing up to the highly subsidized Spanish farmers who are clamoring for cheap labor. No one sees the irony of the migrants ending up helping to keep the price of Spanish oranges competitive with Morocco's, or Spanish flowers and vegetables competitive with those from Senegal.
There is the other irony, that while six or seven thousand have arrived in boats, it is said that there are almost 20,000 on the islands who have entered calmly and fairly invisibly through the airports on tourist visas and simply never left.
As Mr Power says:
Meanwhile in Tenerife something else is going on. Not that long ago there was no tourist industry to speak of. From the turn of the 19th century onwards young men had got on rickety ships and crossed the Atlantic to Cuba and Venezuela. Today there are daily direct flights to and from Havana and Caracas, reuniting families but often bringing back those who never found prosperity on the other side of the Atlantic.
Tenerife is more swamped with returning Latin migrants than it is with Africans. Spain has no trouble employing either group. The economy purrs ahead and employers beseech the government not to return the boat people to whence they came. But rank-and-file Spaniards don't like this massive African influx. Racism is endemic.
Sadly, it touched near home recently, when a group of 32 young immigrants (all minors) were brought to a campsite in Garachico to be housed. Local residents received them by protesting in the streets and shouting abuse at the kids.
Of course people have a right to protest and it is great that we live in a country where protest is now allowed, but in this case, it is through being ill-informed.
One might go as far as to say ill-educated. Arnoldo at Imakinaria, also asking the question as to whether Canarians remember that their ancestors had done the same, when crossing the Atlantic to Venezuela, Cuba and Argentina in search of work and a dignified life, calls the protestors an embarrassment, inhuman and xenophobes. I wholeheartedly agree, but recognize that it is not entirely their own fault that they have not been better educated. And, to be fair, the protestors did suspend their actions, once they had the facts explained to them.
Yes, racism undoubtedly exists here and is worse if your skin happens to be black. It also exists if you have pasty-white north European looks too, because you are considered "fair game" for price hikes, if nothing else.
It merely makes me laugh, because I have never been a fan of pedantic "political correctness" in language, but so far, I have only met one person locally who is well informed enough to know that it is no longer politically or technically correct to call me an "extranjera" (foreigner), since the Royal Decree passed in 2003 made all us "comunitarias" (European Union citizens) equal.
These things can only be overcome by better information and education, not by "toning down" the coverage because it is undermining the tourist industry. Doing that will only lead to more "inhumanization" - only seeing tourists as numbers, for the money they bring - and will generate more hatred and intolerance, not just of African immigrants, but of all outsiders. / Rant mode off.
On Tenerife, the migrants come and go
Tenerife Hosts A World Cup of Gastronomy
If you wished to avoid the World Cup, you'd have to move to another planet: even the island's chefs are tackling the game with a World Cup offering of gastronomical delights at the Hotel Escuela in Tenerife's capital, Santa Cruz.
The month long Gastronomical World Cup starts tomorrow, June 9th, offering dishes from diverse countries, such as Holland, Mexico and Cameroon.
Nachos and guacamole from Mexico, Curried Eggs from England, Cheese on toast with mushrooms from Switzerland, are just some of the dishes on offer.
The full list to make your mouth water is:
Selection of Iberian meats (Spain)
Assortment of cheeses (France)
Nachos and guacamole (Mexico)
Cheese on toast with mushrooms (Switzerland)
Black bean croquettes (Cameroon)
Curried Eggs (England)
Eggs with mushrooms (Holland)
Lasagna (Italy)
Pies with prawn filling (Portugal)
Shrimps Bahiaza (Brazil)
Herrings in sauce (Sweden)
Bureo (Serbia and Montenegro)
Cold beetroot soup (Poland)
Chicken in beer (Germany)
Piña Colada (Costa Rica)
Plum tarts (Czech Republic)
Bliny (Ukrane)
Milk candy cake (Argentina)
The motivation for the event is to underline the importance of gastronomy as part of "quality tourism". Lets hope there are no fouls, except the chicken! :)
Turismo ofrece una selección de platos internacionales con motivo del Campeonato del Mundo de Fútbol
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Take a One Minute Audio Vacation to Spain
Can't quite make it Tenerife, but this recording (MP3 1MB) made at the Campo del Principe, a park in Granada in Andalucia, Spain, nevertheless - if you extract the humans to leave just the birds singing - will bring you a good way towards hearing the type of sounds I live with daily here in the El Palmar valley and, as it is, reflects the sounds of almost any plaza of the archipelago
Well, the truth is, had I made a recording here over the last few days, it would have been of an almost non-stop pneumatic drill, where the local council has been demolishing the roof (ready to replace it) on one of the municipal water tanks that are at the bottom of my garden, but today the council workers seem to be taking one of their extremely regular days off and the birdsong is, once again, mostly only punctuated by the occasional barking dog or passing vehicle.
There has been one little brown chappie, flitting between the durasno tree that overhangs the patio and the nearby quince tree, shouting his head off for hours. How he doesn't get laryngitis, I'll never know. How he hasn't gotten himself killed is equally puzzling, because I've been stood out there no more than four feet away from him, with the dog on a lead and five cats winding round our legs and, what did our little birdie do? He hopped onto a closer branch! Incredible!
Take this and other one minute vacations here Via Lifehacker
Santa Cruz de Tenerife, April 14th 1931
The Second Spanish Republic began on 14 April 1931 after the abdication of King Alfonso XIII, following local and municipal elections in which republican candidates won the majority of votes in urban areas.
One of several contributing causes to the downfall of the Spanish monarchy was the same as that which had befallen Tsar Nicholas II, last ruler of the last imperial dynasty of Russia, in 1917. Just as Alexandra Fyodorovna (Princess Alix of Hesse) brought to the Romanov family a mutated gene of her grandmother, Queen Victoria, which was responsible for her son's (the long-awaited heir to the throne, Alexei) hemophilia, so had Alfonso XIII's wife, Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, who was Queen Victoria's favorite granddaughter.
Alfonso XIII had been a posthumous child and therefore was proclaimed King upon his birth, though his mother had been Regent until he took over the reins of government himself at the tender age of 16. In March 1906, Alfonso XIII had visited Tenerife, the first Spanish monarch to do so, even though it was 400 years since the Spanish conquest of the island. Shortly after that, on May 31, 1906, he had married the British princess, who became Queen Ena.
The King was then, just, 20 and his new Queen, not yet 19 and it was a contentious match from the beginning. The news raised concern among many Spaniards because the prospective bride was a Protestant and not sufficiently royal. The couple had narrowly escaped assassination, when returning from the wedding, an anarchist, Mateo Morral, had thrown a bomb, hidden in flowers, at their carriage, killing 23 and injuring more than a 100. Foro Real quote an article (in Spanish) about the attack, by Juan Antonio Pérez Mateos in La Razón, entitled, Cien años del atentado que ensangrentó una boda real (One hundred years after the attack that bloodied a Royal Wedding).
Two of the couple's seven children, the first and last sons, were hemophiliacs.
Age, inexperience and concerns over this affliction, must surely have played their part during Alfonso XIII's reign, in which Spain lost its last colonies in Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines and lost several wars in north Africa.
In 1923, Primo de Rivera had become dictator. In 1930, King Alfonso XIII revoked the dictatorship, but a strong antimonarchist and republican movement led to his leaving Spain in 1931, abandoning the country with no formal abdication. The new constitution declared Spain a workers' republic, broke up the large estates, separated church and state, and secularized the schools.
But the Republican joy was relatively short-lived. It was also the last period of democratic government in Spain before 1977. The Republic suffered a terrible crisis when General Franco, then military commander of the Canary Islands, attempted a coup on 18 July 1936, which was the start of the Spanish Civil War.
"It was from there [Tenerife] that the political coup was secretly planned and the Canaries were consequently first to fall to Franco's forces and the first to suffer mass executions of writers, trade unionists, socialists, anyone whom Franco's militia considered a threat."- Islas.com
Tags: Tenerife, Canary Islands, Canarias
From: Secret Tenerife | Tenerife Daily Photo
A Pressing Day in Tenerife
When it comes to Tenerife wines, I only ever get to see that from the very start of the process to the harvest and the end product. Both important enough. What I don't see is the process between the picking and the drinking thereof.
Arnoldo at Imakinaria, a blog in Venezuela, has an account of a trip to Tenerife which fills the gap. He begins that, "Everything in Tenerife reminds me of Venezuela. Areperas (restaurants selling arepas a Venezuelan "fast-food") everywhere, Caracas Avenue, Venezuela Street, companies with Venezuelan names. A friend said that in his estimation, at least one person in every family emigrated to Venezuela at one time." This is true, my landlady has lived in Venezuela, as have many of the people I know locally, which is the reason that my local supermarket carries a few Venezuelan specialities.
His account contains numerous photos, starting with one of the Guanche statues in Candelaria, a typical view of the north of the island (with its deep valleys with steep sides), someone picking higos picos (prickly pears) with special tongs - so you don't get the spines in your fingers; a couple of examples of colonial architecture and the famous Drago tree at Icod.
Then Arnoldo visits the cousin of his mother-in-law in the south of Tenerife and there follows a series of photos which demonstrate the process of treading and pressing the grapes (mostly white ones) to obtain the mosto (must).
After this is put into the barrels, he says, "all that remains is to wait three months until the wine is ready." Yeah, the waiting is the hardest part!
Like every other similar task, whether it is carried out by family or a group of neighbours, of course, it is followed by a meal - in this case, they all tuck in to costillas y piñas de maíz y papas con mojo canario - pork ribs with corncobs, poatoes and coriander sauce. You can find the recipe here.
Whilst photos are not the same as living it, this lovely account gives you a feel for the atmosphere, the culture and the way things are done here.
The account of Arnoldo's visit to Tenerife
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Jet2.com offers route to Tenerife from Manchester
Winter sun lovers in the North West of England will be able to escape to Tenerife later this year on a new route from Jet2.com. The airline has announced it will begin three flights a week to the island from Manchester, starting on October 31, with tickets priced from £55 one-way inclusive of taxes and charges.
Jet2.com offers route to Tenerife from Manchester
Tenerife, Just One Big Quarry
If I enjoy a little poke at the translations around here, wait till we get started on the maths, as seen in the local press. Blog "La ruina de las islas canarias" (The Ruin of the Canary Islands) gives the example of a story which ran recently in Diario de Avisos, which referred to quarries on the island of Tenerife.
"As soon as the article begins", say "La ruina", we come to the catastrophic paragraph: "The Tenerife Cabildo has approved the respective plans for four areas of extraction which add up to 1.57 million square kilometers, which is equivalent to 157 football pitches."
Despite being an ex-accountant (and a reformed journalist), my mental arithmetic is crap and my judgement of distances worse, but even I could work out that there isn't that much space in all of the Canary Islands, let alone in Tenerife. The area of Tenerife is only around 2,000 square kilometers.
The nearest equivalent country with 1,564,116 km² is Mongolia.
Whilst most of us can visualize a football pitch, it doesn't really help us when they suggest the wrong size. If 1.57 million kilometers squared is 157 football pitches, Diario de Avisos are suggesting that a football pitch is 10,000 kilometers square.
If that were so, then the whole of the Canary Islands together, whose area is just 7,500 kilometers square, would be smaller than a football pitch. This might explain the very high density of people per meter squared here, mind you.
Just as a comparison, "The Soviet Union measured some 10,000 kilometers from Kaliningrad on the Gulf of Danzig in the west to Ratmanova Island (Big Diomede Island) in the Bering Strait, or roughly equivalent to the distance from Edinburgh, Scotland, east to Nome, Alaska." That's just length remember! :)
'Bout the same as the length of the outer wall of the Great Wall of China.
To imagine an equivalent area, try: "About 10,000 square kilometers of the Mekong River Delta in Vietnam are under rice cultivation, making the area one of the major rice-growing regions of the world." Also, "About 10,000 square kilometers of the total area of Bangladesh is covered with water".
The whole country of Lebanon is 10,400 kilometers square.
Bloody hell, it would be tiring running round that for 90 minutes! :)
For the non-fanatics: An official football pitch measures about 105 x 65 meters, which is to say, 6,825 square meters. Somewhat less than ¾ of a hectare.
As ever, say "La ruina", they have confused their meters with their kilometers. Something which is bad enough with lengths, but these errors multiply by 1,000 when you square them. The only figure that makes sense is that the quarries add up to 1.57 million square meters, which is to say one million times less than what the newspaper have reported.
"La ruina" have kindly provided us with a map, here, which shows an area, containing all of the Canary Islands, Madeira, a portion of the Western Sahara and lots of Atlantic ocean enclosed within a white square of one million square kilometers. That is only about 2/3rds of the 1.57 million that would be affected by the quarrying, IF we were to take Diario de Avisos' figures as gospel. :)
Personally, I suspect Diario de Avisos reporters of being afflicted by some kind of World Cup fever already.
Otra vez se lían con los números en la prensa
Distance and Area Unit Conversions
Labels: Lost in Translation
Buenavista Turns into Funland for Summer
The school summer holidays in Spain, which seem to stretch all the way from June to September, are exceptionally long. Parents who work, especially, need to be able to provide things for their kinds to do throughout this long break.
As with most areas of the islands, Buenavista del Norte has it's own program of workshops, fun and entertainment laid on in places such as the Plaza de Los Remedios, the Playa de Las Arenas, sports and natural locations in the district.
The kids are also going to go on excursions. My only complaint is that I'm just a little (more than 35 years) above the qualifying age of 6 to 12 years! :)
Comienza el periodo de inscripciópn para la segunda edicion de DIVERLANDIA en Buenavista del Norte
BA introduces new budget flights to Tenerife
British Airways is to offer its first low-cost flights from Nottingham East Midlands Airport (NEMA). It will run scheduled services from Nottingham with three flights a week to Tenerife from 31 October.
BA introduces new budget flights
Saturday, June 03, 2006
Fancy a Little Tenerife Wine?
Regular readers will be aware that I am located in wine country. There are vines all around me here in the El Palmar valley, including a few right here in the backyard, which yield a reasonable harvest each year. Indeed, most areas of Tenerife produce wine, with the Viña Norte from the Tacoronte-Acentejo region being the one which seems to get most international acclaim.
Whilst I agree with the experts that Viña Norte manages to produce consistently acceptable wines, I have to say that I find them to be rather "average".
Local wine from the El Palmar valley Viña El Palmar, (under region, Denominación de Origen Ycoden-Daute-Isora), can be surprising: absolute nectar and full of flavour. You can generally buy this from the pasteleria (cake shop) El Aderno in Buenavista del Norte (the company also owns a bodega) and I have just discovered that Bodega Canaria have Viña El Palmar (albeit a white variety: I would recommend their red) for sale in their online shop.
Bodega Canaria also have a wine for sale from the Bodegas de Miranda from the Valle de la Orotava. This is a tinto (red wine) and something I do recommend. I'm no great wine expert, but you get used to what you like. What I liked about the Miranda that we picked up to have with last Christmas lunch (pictured - we liked it so much, I kept the bottle to remind me what to look for again), was that this purple-toned wine had plenty of flavour, but was light and not too dry.
It's the sun that does it and which is what - in my estimation - makes Tenerife wines so drinkable, apart from the fact that they are still laughingly cheap!
History Of Tenerife: First Socialist Council
The PSOE - one of the major political parties in Spain, the world's second workers party and Spain's second oldest, was founded in May 1879 by the historical Spanish workers' leader Pablo Iglesias. Dictator Francisco Franco banned PSOE in 1939 and it was legalised again in only 1977.
PSOE is the party in office currently in Spain's national government, under President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. PSOE is a member of the Socialist International, as is the British Labour Party.
Auditorio de Tenerife by Night
More Frequent & Cheaper Flights Between Islands
The Spanish Government has approved new obligations governing the aerial public transport service between individual Canary Islands, which aim to make a substantial improvement to the services offered.
After negotiating with the Canarian Government, central government have approved measures which increase the number of routes declared as public transport from nine to thirteen, have increased frequencies, established maximum tariffs and reduced price tickets for certain collectives.
Previously, the public service element of the routes offered were at fixed prices, which prevented companies from offering sales or specials. Maximum tariffs and flexible pricing introduce healthy competition into the market, which should make it easier and more attractive to go island hopping by air.
Más frecuencias y mejores precios en los vuelos interinsulares
Friday, June 02, 2006
New Immigrant Routes Open Up
May 29th's record cayuco day - the final count was that 758 people arrived in eleven rickety vessels in that 24 one hour period - also appeared to indicate that the always hazardous voyages are becoming even more so, with cayucos sailing in from Gambia and the Ivory Coast for the first time.
Cayuco record as 758 immigrants arrive in 24 hours
2006: The Year of Tourist Recuperation
Councillor for Tourism in the Canary Islands, Manuel Fajardo, while picking up the first prize from Fitur (International Tourism Fair), for the quality of the archipelago's pavilion, said that data for the coming summer and winter seasons indicate that 2006 is definitely going to be "a year of recuperation", with previous figures in red having changed to bookings for 3% more foreign visitors and 10% more from mainland Spain. Reserves of slots at the archipelago's airports are one of the signs that allow them to be "moderately optimistic."
2006, el año de la recuperación turística en las Islas
Say Hello To Stella
Tenerife has a new observatory at Izaña on Mount Teide, since the opening ceremony of the STELLA observatory was celebrated on May 18 2006. STELLA is a project of the Astrophysical Institute Potsdam (AIP) in collaboration with the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) and is located at the Teide Observatory on the Canarian island of Tenerife, Spain. STELLA (abbreviation for STELLar Activity) is a long-term project for observing and monitoring activity tracers on cool stars with two robotic telescopes, which work autonomously by means of an artificial intelligence.
STELLA observatory website | Location | STELLA's weather station info
Robotic STELLA telescopes inaugurated on Tenerife
Sarcastic quip. So this is how engineers get a date: they give their artificially intelligent creations girl's names. Well, they say it beats natural stupidity!
Experts Say Delta Was an Extratropical Cyclone
According to the final report from the meteorologists, reported in La Opinion, what we have been calling Tropical Storm Delta, was actually an extratropical cyclone and the damage caused by the phenomenon was the fruit of the orography of the archipelago. 
Tropical Storm Delta near peak intensity, November 24, 2005. NASA image by Mark Gray and Bill Ridgway, Goddard Space Flight Center
We're glad to have that one cleared up, aren't we? But, unless you're an expert in these things, they may as well have said it was caused by extraterrestrials. In other words, you may be wondering, as I was, what all those big words really mean, so I've done my best to make sense of this news.
The final technical report from the National Meteorological Institute (INM) on Delta concluded that it was, on its arrival in the Canary Islands, an extratropical cyclone and not a tropical storm as had been said at the beginning. They also say that the destruction caused in some parts of Tenerife and which left some areas without electricity for a week and without water for some days, was caused more by the physical geography of the island than by the weather system itself.
Researchers from the National Meteorological Institute presented their report last Tuesday at the Museum of Science and the Cosmos in La Laguna, Tenerife during a conference called Profundizando en Delta: un estudio avanzado. (Getting to the bottom of Delta: an advanced study). During this chat, INM technicians made scientific data available for the first time, covering this phenomenon that wipped the island last November 29th.
The information had been collated two or three months earlier and, despite its importance, had not been made public and was presented in a discrete conference.
During the presentation, Francisco Martín León, of INM, explained that at the beginning Delta was a tropical storm, with all the characteristics of one and was generated in subtropical waters. Between November 23 and 27, "it behaved like a tropical storm", explained Martín León and added that on November 28th at 12:00 hours, the National Huricane Center in Miami [the center with jurisdiction over this type of phenomenon in the Atlantic] catalogued the phenomenon as a tropical storm. (Note: I expect this was also when they gave it a name.)
After that moment, a number of atmospheric circumstances came about together, which caused Delta to arrive in the Canary Islands and, the form in which it did, which was that it became an extratropical cyclone.
For a tropical storm to travel, it normally needs water with a warm temperature of 27 degrees centigrade. One of the first curiosities of Delta was that it developed over waters with temperatures inferior to 25 degrees and even water at 21 degrees. Also, Delta had a singular movement and was conducted over a course that brought it to Canary Islands latitudes and, it was precisely this course that prevented it from dying out in mid-Atlantic, as is usual with tropical storms. 
Path of Delta
Later, Delta evolved with a warm frontal system and with this injection of dry air, it began to displace rapidly, where before that, it had been moving slowly and erratically. On November 28th, Tropical Storm Delta began its transition to extratropical and lost its symmetry (another of the characteristics of tropical storms).
On arrival in the Canary Islands on the night of November 28th, it had already converted into an extratropical cyclone.
Martín León assured, in turn, in response to questions, that a similar phenomenon to Delta had been produced in the Canary Islands in 1975 and that, with these two events, it is fitting to think that this is something which could be repeated in the islands.
Orography and Wind
Juan José Bustos, also from INM, explained that the grave destruction that was produced in the Canary Islands, especially on the islands of Tenerife and La Palma, had more relation with the physical geography of the terrain that with the weather system. That is, that in less mountainous islands, there were few problems reported. He also explained that the largest gusts of wind were on the leeward side (On or toward the side to which the wind is blowing. The side sheltered from the wind.), as in the case of the Valle de Güímar.
Javier Calvo explained that the various methods that exist at the moment to predict this type of phenomenon do not have the capacity to predict exactly what time they will arrive or the force of the winds they will bring with them.
Reference and Definitions
Orography: the physical geography of mountains and mountain ranges.
Cyclone: An atmospheric system characterized by the rapid inward circulation of air masses about a low-pressure center, usually accompanied by stormy, often destructive weather. Cyclones circulate counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.
Extratropical Cyclone: The extratropical, or middle-latitude, cyclone originates as a wave, or perturbation, in the polar front separating the cold polar easterly winds from the warmer prevailing winds farther toward the equator.
Tropical cyclones, formed over warm tropical oceans, are not associated with fronts, as are the middle-latitude wave cyclones, nor are they as large as the latter. A tropical cyclone that has matured to a severe intensity is called a hurricane when it occurs in the Atlantic Ocean. Tropical cyclones usually move toward the west with the flow of the trade winds during their formative stages.
To be fair, the information on Tropical Storm Delta (2005) at Wikipedia (in English) reflects this information. The Spanish version contains more information, but, curiously, doesn't mention the extratropical word.
Report of the preliminary evaluation of the front, which explains how the lie of the land added to or caused the turbulence, causing the level of damages (in Spanish, but with ever so pretty pictures, diagrams and graphs.)
El informe final del Meteorológico dice que ´Delta´ fue un ciclón extratropical
Conclusions and Takaways
So, it was bigger than an ordinary cyclone and nearly a hurricane then. There is a certain amount of satisfaction (we aren't simply whining or making a mountain out of a molehill), in being able to say that we really were beaten up by a whole bunch of thugs and not just one slightly threatening 7 stone weakling.
My completely non-technical logic still wishes to conclude from this information that the reason the storm didn't go in the direction it should have gone, is because of disruption of the Gulf Stream. If that is so and, in turn, that is related to climate change, then I think we have to wake up to the fact that not only is this already likely to repeat, it may be even more likely to repeat in future.
Given that the geography of the island isn't going to change in a hurry, also means that the eastern side of Tenerife is going to continue to be on the leeward side in any repeat events. Putting pylons and overhead cables back along the motorway there, rather than putting cables underground, now we know, is, in my opinion, an act of gross negligence and stupidity.
The two bold paragraphs above were my added emphasis. Is the reason that this was not made more widely public nor in a timely fashion, indeed because of the prediction that this is something that could repeat? That would require action to change methodologies and ensure infrastructures are built to deal with the events. The authorities may also fear that it might scare tourists, although, I would counter that the unknown / unprepared is far more frightening.
But far be it for me to make a conjecture. (Sarcasm.)
Labels: Tenerife Weather, Tropical Storm Delta
Tenerife's Mount Teide Has A Double
However, as this report in El Dia newspaper says, it did not happen as a result of cloning, unexpected eruptions, cinematic images, nor is it the fruit of new technologies.
It is the latest scale model to be unveiled at Pueblo Chico, the model village attraction in the Orotava Valley in the north of Tenerife, which already has meticulously crafted scale models of many of Tenerife's buildings.
It took hundreds of thousands of years and various volcanic eruptions to form the real thing. It took ten workers 63 days, 800 meters of mesh and 87,500 kilos of cement to build the 4.5 meter high exact replica - they consulted experts from the National Park and carried out a meticulous geographical study - reproducing the world's third-largest volcano in miniature. And in the "son of", you can also see its "entrails". Not burning fire: it contains an exhibition.
El Teide tiene un doble
Buenavista does Underground Cabling
Photo: InfoIcod Noticias
Real exciting news is this (she says, sarcastically), but I do see this as a positive move in the right direction.
The report covers roadworks to put electricity cabling, for a supply to new houses in the El Molino neighborhood of Buenavista del Norte, underground. So what you ask, understandably.
The overhead cabling - that has been the norm here - is one of my pet hates.
Firstly, from the purely aesthetic point of view, because if you attempt to take a photo of some landscape or a row of pretty old houses, inevitably, it will be marred by untidy strings of cables, as ugly as Widow Twankey's washing lines.
Whilst I know that is not an urgent reason for removing them, it is a very important one on an island which relies on its beauty to attract tourism.
More important is the danger - to helicopters in particular - with one very tragic accident in recent years and one near miss that I saw with my own eyes. There is actually a yellow rescue helicopter circling over the valley as I type. We see them frequently and they are essential on this island, because, given the terrain, they are often the only effective way to deal with emergencies; fires, accidents, etc.
And this is 2006. People do want and expect a reliable supply of electricity. Villagers do not want to light their homes with candles or operate their TV's off generators cobbled from old car engines, as they did 30 years ago.
The overhead arrangement used here is simply NOT suitable for the island. We've seen the extreme of this, with the rusted pylons brought down by Tropical Storm Delta last year, however, electricity supplies are interrupted here each and every time there is rain with any amount of wind - which, in winter, in the north, is very frequently indeed. The reason being, that the cables are too close: the wind blows them together, the water conducts and produces a short.
This is not the first time that we have had roadworks in the district recently as a result of putting cables underground. It will probably sound funny to most of you, but when they were doing so in the main road through the valley, despite months of minor traffic hold ups, it was a sight that made me happy.
Yeah, it's a pity they can't just install solar panels on everyone's roofs (better yet if they were invisible!), but if we must have "progress" and "mod cons", then better that it be done in a way that is in everyone's best interests.
Obras de canalización en la calle La Velazca de Buenavista del Norte
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Old Barber Shop in Santa Cruz
Whilst I don't know in which street you would find this, it does demonstrate the fun you can have around the capital. There are many such doorways that open onto almost secret worlds: you just have to delve and keep your eyes open.
New climbing wall in Tenerife
For some obscure reason this is definitely the year of the Canary Islands with climbing walls popping up “everywhere”. No fewer than 5 new walls have been designed, produced and installed by Top30 and according to the talk of the town more are to come.
Also at the same location Top30 has installed a big bouldering wall; 20 meters long and 3 meters in height. The climbing surface of this boulder is approximately 80 m2. Again it is made with 3D Real Rock fiber glass panels. (Do we have a shortage of real, real rock in Tenerife suddenly? :) These installations are part of a wider plan executed by the City council of Santa Cruz de Tenerife for the improvement leisure and sports opportunities for the inhabitants.
New climbing wall in Tenerife
Aerial garden
A Walk Around Santa Cruz in Tenerife
Well, a walk by mouse around a variety of views of the city, taken by different Flickr members. Click on any of the photos to go to the full size image.
Also note that many will be parts of sets of photos that you can peruse to show you more views of Tenerife's capital city or of the island itself.
Let's start with the colorful houses in the back streets and old parts of town.
The little house at Number 26, with it's overgrown roof seems to be a popular view. It's also included in this set.
Right is the dried up riverbed of the Barranco de Santos, which passes, even if it doesn't flow, through the town.
Pictured left is the Calle de La Naria in the old part of town, dressed up for the fiestas and looking down towards the Iglesia de la Concepción.
These buildings (right) retain their colonial charm. The detail on the balconies in this street reminded the photographer of the Gaudi architecture in Barcelona. 
Among the city's best natural decorations are these beautiful purple jacaranda trees in Santa Cruz.
Want to go shopping? Try the colorful - both the building and the vast range of produce inside - market of Nuestra Señora de Africa (left) or the upmarket El Corte Ingles. Literally translated, the name of this store, Spain's answer to John Lewis, means "The English Court". Curious, eh?
Modern residential houses (left), diminish into the perspective down the slope towards the sea in pretty fading tones of similar colours.
Santiago Calatrava's International Fairs and Congress Center, here with the sign for the 2006 Carnaval, completes this tourist route around the city.
We hope you enjoyed it. At least on this trip, your feet aren't tired! :)
Upheaval in Santa Cruz' Plaza de España
Photo: Diario de Tenerife
While the works for the remodelling are going on in Santa Cruz' Plaza de España, the Cabildo have had two-meter high barriers erected, upon which are signs, painted in eye-catching bright colours, with the phrases "No cruzar" in Spanish, as well as "Do Not Cross" in English to give pedestrians a clear and important message for their own safety.
Photo: Terra
But whatever the state of man-made upheaval in the island's capital currently, it can hardly compete with the chaos that was caused when Tropical Storm Delta ripped through last November. Terra have several photos here, including this one which shows how market stalls that were in the Plaza de España at the time were blown into a heap of rubble by the winds.
Also, if you look at the fourth photo in the set on that page, you'll see an example of one of the pylons over which there has been much criticism. As you will see, it had broken in half completely, with the top half coming down on the side of the motorway. How there were not human losses as a result of this and, indeed from the storm in general, it has to be said, verges on the miraculous.
El Cabildo refuerza la señalización para la seguridad vial en el entorno de la Plaza de España
Santa Cruz, Tenerife Embarks on Redesigning the Plaza de España so that it Opens onto the Sea
Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, Canary Islands (Spain) (Olaf A. Koch, summer 2005)
Back in March, we mentioned that Santa Cruz - particularly the area of the Plaza de España - was to get a big face lift. WebTenerife have more details of the project, which, they say, is going to take a year to complete.
Of note is the news that, "The Swiss architects Herzog and De Mueron started this project on turning Santa Cruz into a more central and modern area without losing its historical buildings including the headquarters of the Cabildo, dating back to 1949 on the eastern side of the Plaza de España. They are also redesigning the monument, Monumento a los Caídos (Monument to the Fallen) that stands out with its large cross, rising 25 metres above the circular base. It has been the symbol of Tenerife's capital since 1947."
The currently fashionable architects have been busy boys all over the world, being responsible for, amongst many other things, the Barcelona Forum Building and the Tate Modern in London, the new soccer stadium for Munich, to be inaugurated with the 2006 World Championships and, they are currently working on the Beijing National Stadium for the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Together with works by Santiago Calatrava (the Tenerife Auditorium and the Centro Internacional de Ferias y Congresos photo) and Perrault, Santa Cruz has something of all the best known contemporary architects. But, I'm beginning to wonder if Santa Cruz has a season ticket with Herzog and De Mueron and they are involved in enough projects to change the face of the city entirely.
Herzog and De Mueron had already worked on the new Link Quay in the port of Santa Cruz and, as well as working on the Plaza de España project, also designed the Centro Westerdahl which is under construction in Santa Cruz and includes the Instituto Óscar Domínguez de Arte y Cultura Contemporánea (Óscar Domínguez Institute of Contemporary Art and Culture), the Tenerife Island Center of Photography and the Alejandro Cioranescu Insular Library.
Herzog and De Mueron have been involved in the Instituto Óscar Domínguez de Arte y Cultura Contemporánea (IODAC) project since 1999 and, which has been under construction for years. (As, it seems, has been the center's website, which is not yet found at the URL given.) Adjoining roads had to be closed to traffic in 2003 and last year, in June, they were starting to build the ramp that is part of the 20,000 square meter center and will join the area of the Nuestra Señora de Africa market with Santa Cruz' old town area around the Iglesia de la Concepción. The center is alongside the usually dry river, the Barranco de Santos and behind the Museum of Man and Nature.
(You can see the cranes on the left of this photo.)
Eduardo Westerdahl, whose name is given to the overall center, founded the magazine, Gaceta de Arte (Art Gazette) in Tenerife. Presumably, news reports currently focus on the name of Óscar Domínguez because it is his centenary and because he is considered more international (and bankable). How surreal!
Culturilla_TF say, appropriately, that, "The institutional exhibitions centered around the figure of painter, Óscar Domínguez, have commenced, despite the possible anomalies in the data surrounding this grand figure, the fact that you can't see the sculptures he left in Santa Cruz because of the remodelling of the Parque García Sanabria; that the IODAC (Instituto Oscar Domínguez de Arte y Cultura Contemporánea), anticipated for next year, is unfinished and, to which can be added the "cultural" debate over who will direct the said institution."
What will the finished center look like? Here is a photo of model, looking distinctly like a cardboard box with a spatula handle in it. Yes, we hope that was taken from a bad angle and that the real thing will grow into a glorious swan!
In some circles, there has also been criticism of the "shopping spree" that the Tenerife Corporation has been on recently, acquiring works by Óscar Domínguez for the future institute, which, it is said, has been unplanned and erratic and, has caused prices of the artist's works to shoot up.
Domínguez works are currently on show - from May 16 to July 22 - at the Instituto Cervantes in Paris in celebration of his centenary.
Another project that will finally convert Tenerife into Herzog and De Mueron Land is reported in this Mexican architectural journal, which says that Herzog and De Mueron, along with the University of Harvard are to undertake (or may have done: the article is undated) a complete analysis over urban, cultural and policies of connectivity of the seven Canary Islands, starting with Tenerife.
The first problem underlined is that "The Canaries are far away, when they could be very close", given that it is difficult, they say, to get to the islands directly from other countries. I can only imagine that they mean one has to go via Madrid if coming, for example, from the United States. There are, of course, thousands of direct flights from most points in Europe.
That report also says, "It must not be forgotten that Santa Cruz de Tenerife will have one of the best cultural spaces in the Canary Islands: the Instituto Oscar Domínguez de Cultura y Arte Contemporáneos (Iodacc), which is currently under construction and is one of the works of Herzog and De Mueron."
The architects also have the project for the tunnels under the Avenida Anaga in Santa Cruz (included in the Plaza de España remodelling project), during 2006. The tunnels will run from the start of the Avenida Anaga (at Alameda del Duque de Santa Elena) to the Cabildo building, where the project also includes a new Plaza del Cabildo in front of the building, the construction of three pavilions, underground parking, traffic and pedestrian arrangements.
The Plaza de La Candelaria (Formerly named Plaza de la Pila then Plaza de la Constitución) will not undergo a radical transformation, they say, though the pavements will be improved and it will be replanted with all palm trees in place of the flamboyanes (Poinciana or Flame Trees). This is because the flamboyanes need more space to grow and because their roots have already become so aggressive that they have lifted the pavements. Those trees will almost certainly be relocated in the new Plaza de España.
What seems to be the biggest secret at the moment - I have been unable to find any plans or artists' impressions - is how the town will look when it is finished.
Santa Cruz, Tenerife Embarks on Redesigning La Plaza de España so that it Opens out onto the Sea
Figures in Tenerife History
The political and emotional repercussions of the war reverberated far beyond the boundaries of Spain and sparked passion among international intellectual and political communities, passions which still are present in Spanish - and Canary Islands - politics today.
One such figure is Luis Rodríguez Figueroa, who was born in Puerto de la Cruz (where there is a street named Luis Rodríguez Figueroa after him) in Tenerife, in 1875. He studied law at the University of Granada and practiced law in Tenerife, along with a cultural, social and political life on the island.
Rodriguez Figueroa was an intellectual, involved in the fight against the domination and influence of a cacique (in this context, I am sure, a political leader or boss). He was worried about the elevated level of illiteracy in the Canary Islands and about the mediocrity in political life. This mediocrity inspired Rodriguez Figueroa to write a novel, "El Cacique".
El Cacique is an novel of the school, Modernismo Canario (Canarian Modernism). The central character is an heir to the conquistadores and his sidekick, Cho Sixto, a descendant of the pre-colonial Canarian inhabitants. (The novel is available from Centro de la Cultura Popular Canaria). Rodriguez Figueroa also wrote in several newspapers on diverse subjects of the Canarian reality and, sometimes, used the pseudonym of Guillón Barrús.
He occupied various political positions: he was a local councillor in Puerto de la Cruz in 1912 and in Santa Cruz de Tenerife in 1920. He was a member of the Tenerife Cabildo (Island Corporation) in 1919. From republican ideas, Rodriguez Figueroa evolved towards a leftist position, some say close to socialism and was elected as a delegate for the Izquierda Republicana (Republican Left) to the Cortes (Spanish parliament) in February 1936.
In that same year, Rodríguez Figueroa was assassinated by the fascist movement.
Writer, Leopoldo O'Shanahan, grandson of Luis Rodríguez Figueroa, says there are four versions of what happened to his grandfather. Some have said that he was thrown into the sea, others say he just "disappeared" en route between Cádiz and Tenerife, while others assure him that Rodríguez Figueroa was taken to Llano de Ucanca, in Las Cañadas del Teide, where he was obliged to dig his own grave. The forth story says he was beaten to death.
In the wake of the war, the winners began a program of mass killing of opponents where house searches were carried out, and unwanted individuals were often jailed or killed. On all sides, brutality was common.
O'Shanahan, in an interview with Spanish news agency, EFE, on the publication of his own work in 2004, said it began with the thought that he was going to leave this world without knowing the truth about his family.
Rodríguez Figueroa's son, Guetón Rodríguez de la Sierra, had been born in the same year - 100 years ago in 1906 - as Canarian surrealist, Óscar Domínguez.
In fact, the pair had gone to school together in La Laguna and later, shared the frivolous life of Paris. When the painter was broke, Guetón Rodríguez bought paintings from him in order provide him with a bit of money, although, later, these paintings disappeared during the Civil War, when the family home in La Laguna was ransacked. O'Shanahan believes that a bit much is being made of a purely casual link between Domínguez and other surrealists of that era and that the facts of the Civil War in the Canary Islands continue to be distorted.
Leopoldo O'Shanahan dice que aún se falsea sobre la Guerra Civil
Biografía - Luis Rodríguez Figueroa
Guillón Barrús -Luis Rodríguez Figueroa
La modernidad en Canarias
