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4* Bahia Principe Costa AdejeIf you're looking to book a hotel in Tenerife in the near future, one of these offers, available to the end of June, might be what you are looking for:

* 4* Bahia Principe Costa Adeje is offering 1st Child Free, 2nd Child receives 50% Discount

* 4* Iberostar Gran Hotel Anthelia has various discounts available

* 4* Fanabe Costa Sur Free Upgrade to Half Board for stays until 5 July 2007

More Discount Hotels and Cheap Accommodation

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My how things are changing. The 20,000 or so expected San Juan beach bonfire party goers to the fiestas in Puerto de la Cruz - that are still going on, as we type - were in for a bit of a shock this year. The "big novelty" of this year's Midsummer celebrations is that the new council announced that it's going to make them all responsible for cleaning up after themselves, with the aim of leaving the beach with the "good image expected in a prestige tourist resort" when dawn breaks tomorrow morning. And so they should!

By contrast, cooking and bonfires were outright banned on the beaches in Las Palmas in Gran Canaria and people recommended to take food prepared at home. Along with other rules and recommendations in a list, revellers there have been told to be off the beaches by 5:30 a.m. so the cleaners can come in. And they'll be accompanied by police who will wake up the stragglers.

?San Juan? se transforma en la fiesta de las tradiciones y la sostenibilidad
Recomendaciones para esta noche

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There are reports of a body of a man having been found in a well close to Caledonia Park in the tourist area of Torviscas, Adeje, in the south of Tenerife. The identity of the deceased, whom they describe as being "of foreign origin" and the cause of death, have not been revealed, although accident has not been ruled out as there appeared to be no signs of violence. Fire services were required to extract the body, which was found on Friday morning.

Hallan el cadáver de un hombre en un pozo de Adeje, en Tenerife
Aparece el cuerpo sin vida de un hombre dentro de un pozo en el sur de Tenerife

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Former vice president of the United States, Al Gore, who earlier news reported will be directing a congress on climate change on the Canary Island of Fuerteventura in September, is to arrive in the islands this weekend to give conferences on climate change, in Santa Cruz in Tenerife on Monday June 25th, and another in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria.

Miguel of Canarias Bruta says that initially, it was rumoured that this would be like when Bill Clinton visited Tenerife and the event was resticted to "representatives of Canarian society" (read: people with pots of money and influence in equal parts), but it seems this time that is not the case.

Gore will also be meeting with members of the Cámara Americana de Comercio (American Chamber of Commerce) and will also be presiding over round table chats on IT.

Al Gore se reunirá con empresarios canarios
Al Gore visita Canarias el próximo lunes 25
Al Gore llega a Tenerife para presentar "Una verdad incómoda"
La visita de gore a Canarias acabará en los tribunales

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The BMW Golf Cup International 2007 circuit made it's first visit to the Canary Islands this weekend to Tenerife's Golf Las Américas, yesterday, Saturday June 23rd, thanks to sponsorship from BMW Canaauto. Tell you what, golf just seems a heck of a lot more interesting with the prospect of winning a BMW 3 Series Coupé Cabrio for the first hole in one!

El BMW Cup International aterriza en el sur de Tenerife este sábado

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You may well be looking for something to do (if you're about to arrive on holiday, don't read the rest of this paragraph), since the first day of summer brought us - here in this valley of the "cold north" - very high winds, depressing drizzle and electrical power dropping like a proverbial "whore's drawers." Anybody would think this was the British summer! :)

This weekend being Summer Solstice or Midsummer, means there's plenty going on once again though and, this is just a tiny sampling of the things that English speakers could appreciate here in Tenerife, apart from all the usual tourist offerings.

For starters, the disputed and contentious, but nevertheless terribly fascinating Pyramids of Güímar, were found to be astronomically orientated with the sunset of the summer solstice. On the day of the summer solstice, one can see a double sunset from the platform of the largest pyramid and, folk have been known to gather there to do exactly that.


Fiestas de San Juan or Midsummer Madness

Whilst Solstice revelers in the UK are, of course, heading for Stonehenge, here in Tenerife, they'll mostly be heading to the Playa Jardín in Puerto de la Cruz for the Noche de San Juan - the annual Saint John the Baptist Bonfire Night Extravaganza - which has to be one of Tenerife's most curious fiestas (well, apart from all the other curious ones, that is) and sounds more like a night out for a hippie convention, rather than something for whole families - of "ordinary folk" - from kids to grannies.

The revelries actually start quite gently on June 22nd with the Tradicional enrame de chorros públicos: decorating the public drinking water fountains with flowers and fruit - see images of those and other San Juan festivities here.



The Official Website of Tenerife Tourism Corporation tells us that,

"A great many towns and villages in Tenerife celebrate the arrival of the summer solstice on the night of San Juan (Saint John) with traditional bonfires."

They briefly explain the various traditions in San Juan de la Rambla, Garachico, Icod de los Vinos and Puerto de la Cruz. The latter also includes flowers, candles, massed beach barbies, music, fireworks, midnight dipping and, of course, great quantities of free-flowing wine.

By far the best account of the festivities of June 23rd and 24th, in English too, is Jack Montgomery's article, A Midsummer Night?s Dream, from which unwitting travellers might awake wondering what they'd been on the night before to see, "In the harbours? calm waters, amongst the resident fleet of quaint, gently bobbing fishing boats are scores of, not so gently bobbing, goats."

This is known as El baño de las cabras (goat dipping) and, I bet it does help to get rid of the parasites. Officially, this begins at the Muelle pesquero (Old fishing port) in Puerto de la Cruz from 8 a.m. and carries on until around midday when, "The whole fascinating spectacle is rounded off with the romantic imagery of caballeros riding their proud steeds into the sea in a display of equine formation bathing."

See video clips from Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife

Once the farm animals vacate the sea and the proper summer weather does arrive, don't forget that you need to protect yourself from the sun. This further report advises that the incidence of melanomas (skin cancer) has doubled in the Canary Islands in recent years.


Summer Musical Diversions

The III Festival Santa Blues de Tenerife began on June 8th with Buddy Guy and runs through to the 29th. North American guitarist, Albert Cummings, who will play a free concert in Santa Cruz' Calle La Noria tonight, played the Auditorio de Tenerife, last night. Blog Blues Comentado has reports on Santa Blues de Tenerife 2007 (in Spanish). There's a list of dates, artists and venues here and you can see video clips from Santa Blues de Tenerife 2007 here.

This week, on Saturday, June 23rd, Puerto Rican rapper and Latin superstar, Tego Calderón, plays the Pabellón Municipal de Los Majuelos in La Laguna. CanaryReggaeton.com say that Calderón's first live concert on the island is the most awaited by the Canarian public in the last five years.

For those with a more classical taste, the Second Edition of the "Musical Caprices of Isla Baja" a total of twenty-one concerts of vocal and instrumental music, which will be held every weekend between the months of March and July in a variety of locations of singular beauty,- mainly old monasteries and convents-, and in the main squares of the boroughs of Los Silos, Garachico, Buenavista del Norte and El Tanque (download the program here) is still in progress. Attendance at all the concerts is FREE OF CHARGE.


Sunday Afternoon at the Movies

If cinema is more your style, pop along to El Museo de la Ciencia y el Cosmos (the Museum of Science and the Cosmos) in La Laguna, where they're showing Sci-Fi films and having chats afterwards about them.

Last week they showed the 2000 film, Frequency, starring Jim Caviezel and Dennis Quaid, which, if the list of goofs is anything to go by, would have given them much to discuss - despite which it is a ripping yarn. (And, don't worry if you missed it, because you can all come round to my house to watch it, because I've got it on VHS, in English, with English subtitles, but I digress ...)

The "news" about this round of films, Ciclo Alucine, as explained in the piece about it at Yahoo, is that "all the projections are in large screen and in the original version (meaning, mostly English) with subtitles in Spanish."

On June 24th, the museum are showing the Mel Gibson directed film, Apocalypto. Showtime, 4 p.m.


Make your own entertainment

If none of that appeals, you can always shuffle (if you'll forgive another pun) along to the Wankers Bar. Honestly, I kid you not. OK, so the name - El Pajero - is in Spanish and, maybe they thought this would be a bit of a joke on all the foreigners who wouldn't understand what it meant.

In some parts of the world, you might be one of these if you are a Mitsubishi Pajero owner. The vehicle (known in the UK as the Mitsubishi Shogun), is called the Mitsubishi Montero here, because the word Pajero is slang for "one who masturbates" in Spanish.

Tenerife Scuba surfaced with this little gem (even if they didn't have the cojones to post the translation), which is probably somewhere in Los Cristianos. Yeah, I can imagine all the Pajeritos flocking to it too! :)

We're not really sure that self-gratification and alcohol mixes that well (it certainly doesn't seem to with recreational drugs), but you can always volunteer to masturbate in the interests of science for a national study, currently under way across Spain.

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The UK has Morris Dancers, country dancers, line dancing even and the Canary Islands have this:



Link to video

Although I have no reference to back this up, similarities between the Morris Dance - the root of which may well have been "moorish dance" or "moresco" in Spain - and the folk dancing here, may not be merely coincidental.

Whilst this display was filmed in Gran Canaria, here is a performace of a Folia (that's the type of song) from the Agrupacion Folklorica Tajaraste from Tenerife. This clip, also featuring Tajaraste, filmed outdoors at El Fraile, really shows off the costumes and here you can see a demonstration of an Isa canaria (that's another type of music and dance).

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UK travellers have been warned to expect summer holiday travel chaos as the first signs emerged that the Government's new border controls are causing significant delays at airports. The introduction of sophisticated scanning machinery by the newly-created Border and Immigration Agency (BIA) has doubled the time it takes to process passengers arriving back in the country, report the Telegraph.

Passport checks threaten chaos at airports

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The wife discovered that all had been a fraud while on the honeymoon in Tenerife. Her husband was already married and the vicar performing the ceremony was in fact a 51 year old tractor driver from a nearby town.

Spanish woman discovers on her honeymoon that her own wedding was a fraud

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Engadget report, "a Swiss boat-maker known mostly for its water taxis, has successfully piloted a craft across the Atlantic using nothing but solar power, chocolates, neutrality, and hope." The 46-foot catamaran made the trip -- from the Canary Islands to the Bahamas -- in just under a month.

This video, which culminates with their first land sighting of the Canary Islands - the tiny islet of Alegranza - shows some magnificent sunsets, a squadron of dolphin escort and a giant sea turtle.



Link to video | Transatlantic21 Via Engadget

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In everyday language, the news that Southampton Fruit Handling Ltd became the first company to receive the new BRC Global Standard certification for Storage and Distribution issued by SGS, means that customers in the UK can be assured of getting produce, all the way from the Canary Islands, fresh to market.

From its temperature-controlled, fully insulated 14,000 square metre warehouse at the Canary Island Fruit Terminal, on Southampton's Western Docks, Southampton Fruit Handling Ltd has provided a vital link in the supply of tomatoes and other fruit from the Canary Islands for 20 years into the port of Southampton. The company stores the produce delivered by three ships every week, which means the warehouse contains around 4,000 pallets at any one time. That's a lot of delicious, sun-kissed Canary tomatoes!

Southampton Fruit Handling Ltd First to Receive New BRC Storage and Distribution Certification From SGS United Kingdom Ltd

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Indian rower Bhavik Gandhi followed the same route as Christopher Columbus took when he went in search of India and found America instead, to become the first person to row across the Atlantic Ocean unassisted. He set out from La Restinga (on the island of El Hierro) in the Canary Islands for a gruelling journey lasting 106 days to Antigua on his boat 'Miss Olive'.

Bhavik Gandhi rows across Atlantic unassisted

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The business of whale and dolphin spotting off these islands is controlled. It is also magnificent to see these animals "up close and personal" and, yes, I've been on a few occasions, so I realize I'm being a bit hypocritical here, nevertheless, I do wonder if too many boats still go too close to the animals. Or it may be a case that the animals, so used to having tourists to stare at, come too close to the boats. These whales appear completely unperturbed.

In fact, you may be tempted to switch off half way through this video of a group of sperm whales captured on video outside of Los Gigantes, Tenerife on 1st June 2006, since not very much happens, except they just bask there. But wait right to the end, because you'll get a fantastic surprise.



Link to video for feed readers

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We've known about this on the island for a long time, of course, but the news has now reached the mainstream media and the date when the decision will be made is now only days away, as the BBC reports that, "Five of the world's natural wonders have been nominated for inclusion on the UN World Heritage List. A biodiversity-rich rainforest in Madagascar and Tenerife's volcanic landscape are among the sites favoured by the World Conservation Union (IUCN)."

Teide National Park, Spain: situated on the island of Tenerife, the park was nominated for its "mature, slow-moving and geologically complex volcanic system", they say. The Teide volcano itself is relatively young (less than 150,000 years old) and the Parque Nacional del Teide already holds protected status as a National Park, created in 1954.

Key elements to the bid are the facts that, although some of the things that can be found in the Teide National Park can be found elsewhere on the planet, there is nowhere else on earth where they all appear together and in a relatively small, accessible area. That means it is accessible to students and scientists, as well as the 3.5 million tourists who visit the park each year.

Wonders bid for heritage status

Related posts:
UNESCO to Evaluate Tenerife's Mount Teide
Teide Passes First Phase for UNESCO Recognition
The Mountain at the End of the World

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It must be true, because the Times Online says so in this article which recommends the islands as a suitable place for their readers, looking for, "somewhere close, warm and sunny for a honeymoon with three young kids".

Times travel expert, Chloe Bryan-Brown, says of the islands, "What is more, in recent years, they have come over all posh with plush new hotels in quiet spots that are a far cry from the pile 'em high resorts of yesteryear."

Where can we go for a winter familymoon?

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Green Options blog report on this novel invention by a mother in China that uses 66 beer bottles attached to a board. Sunlight heats the water: enough for three family members to shower each day.

Given a) the amount of sun and b) the amount of Dorada beer consumed in Tenerife, along with the local people's fondness (well, necessity in most cases) of reusing and making new things out of old, you know, I'm really surprised we haven't seen something like this done on the island already.

There is no hot water tap in my kitchen and the one supply to the bathroom is by annoying calor gas, where sod's law dictates that it always runs out just as you get covered in soap and bottles have to be replaced at the garage 3 km away in Buenavista. Might just have to start drinking beer! :)

Need Some Hot Water? You're Only A Few Beer Bottles Away!

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If you were looking for a good guide book to get the most out of your trip to Tenerife, you might be interested to know that the Tenerife Rough Guide has now had its second revision and the current edition was published on 5 April 2007, so at only two months old, this should be as up-to-date as it is possible for any book to be.

And, of course, it includes information on La Gomera, which is my favorite trip: just 90 minutes (max) by ferry from Los Cristianos.

The pot making they refer to is bound to be in the village of Chipude on La Gomera and, is well worth visiting. Pay attention to the perfect roundness of the pots that are handmade without a wheel!

No idea if she would still be going, but if you come across a potter in Chipude called Susanna, many years ago, I used to work with her sister here in Tenerife, which is why I came to be there on one of several occasions.

The book is described as:

"Slim, stylish and pocketable, "Rough Guide Directions Tenerife & La Gomera" is packed with ideas for making the most of your trip to this beautiful Spanish island. Full-colour throughout, the guide highlights the best the islands have to offer - from hiking in the Canarian pine forest to pot making in La Gomera - helping you to decide what to do, 24 hours a day. Use the practical 'Places' section of the guide to explore the islands. Every attraction, walk, restaurant, hotel, bar and beach is given a review and organised by geographical area so you always know what's immediately around you and what's worth making a special trip to see. "Rough Guide Directions Tenerife & La Gomera" is like having a local friend plan your trip!"

Well, I guess if you do want a "local friend" to plan your trip, you can always ask me, but the book will undoubtedly be the quicker option! :)

Tenerife (Rough Guide Directions)

The illustration on the front cover of the book is, of course, a view of the village and mountains at Masca here in the north west of Tenerife.

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Worth another mention, whether you are resident or just visiting, with the hot summer almost upon us - that has already been promised to be the hottest in the last 50 years, if not since records began.

Those of you - like me - who are of the English Rose type complexion that only manages to turn lobster red and then back to pasty white again when exposed to the sun, should, of course, take special care and, all the more so in Tenerife and the Canary Islands, where the solar radiation is much stronger and the damage it can cause that much greater.

Skin cancer has been on the rise and in the news a lot lately here and if authorities are advising even the local people with their (generally, though not always) more tanned complexions to use sun block, factor 50 sun protection and to stay out of the mid-day sun (stay in the shade between 11 am and 4 pm), then you know that more fair skinned types need to be doubly vigilant.

The Asociación Española contra el Cáncer (Spanish Cancer Association) say that solar radiation in the Canary Islands is "tremendous", to which must be added the effects of climate change and thinning of the ozone layer.

More women than men are affected and melanomas affect more people over 40 or 50, but the number of cases in people aged in their 20s and 30s are also on the increase in Spain, says this report, which also points out that people who live in the Canary Islands need to multiply their precautions.

How to Stay Safe in the Sun

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"Twenty million years ago, mild and misty laurisilva forest cloaked many parts of the world. But this "laurel jungle," as the name means in Portuguese, withered over the millennia thanks to climate change, leaving few living reminders. Last March, I stood within one of the largest remaining patches of laurisilva in the world, on the largest of the Canary Islands, Tenerife. Beneath a moss-bearded canopy of Canary Island laurel (Laurus azorica), holly (Ilex canariensis), and tree heath (Erica arborea), I watched a large, long-necked dove - an endemic Bolle's pigeon (Columba bollii) - clap off into the fog. At that moment, so far from the highways and hotels, I could easily imagine what this island was like before Spanish possession." writes Howard Youth.

That misty laurasilva forest Youth was exploring in Tenerife's northwest corner, was of course, here in the Teno area, where there are portions of this ancient forest in the area of Monte del Agua and on the slopes of the Pico de Baracán. His fascinating article is one of the most detailed I've seen in English, which explains the origins of the islands' various invaders, both wildlife and human and, which concludes hopefully that, "The Canary Island ark is shaky at best, but it has fared better than those of many other biologically diverse island groups."

The Canaries: Invaded Isles of Wonder

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Photo © bailedImmigrants reportedly have to pay large amounts of money for their passage on one of the cayucos that make the crossing from Africa to the Canary Islands, but these reports are about paying the price of "an arm and a leg" in a much more literal way.

The Canary Islands received about 30,000 undocumented immigrants in 2006 and thousands more drowned on the way.

But there is so much more we do not know about the terrible dangers of these risky voyages. EUX.TV report yet another of the horrors, "Boat captains sometimes tie migrants' arms and legs to the boat to prevent them from jumping into the water, making them develop gangrenes that later leave Spanish doctors no alternative but amputation."

About 30 Africans landing on the Canaries had to have arms or legs amputated in 2006. Many immigrants lose both an arm and a leg.

The Spanish account explains - in some detail - that this is because they cram people in the boats so tight that there isn't space to bring sufficient food and water supplies. Once these run out and, they do after about the third day of journeys that can last 9 days or more, this is done to prevent the confused, disorientated and dehydrated immigrants from thinking they can jump overboard - to their certain death.

Others have their feet irrevocably damaged by being soaked in the corrosive combination of sea water and petrol. The report also explains how many also end up having to have skin grafts on their posteriors - because of injuries caused by crashing up and down with the waves onto the wooden boards.

In a separate report, an immigrant woman miscarried, whilst trying to reach the Canaries last weekend.

Un brazo y una pierna por llegar a Canarias
Immigrants lose arms and legs on way to Spain

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Spain's Environment Ministry is preparing a law to stop local authorities reclassifying protected land and pouring concrete over more of the country's coastline, the minister said on Thursday. All land included in an official list of ecologically sensitive zones called Red Natura 2000 and makes up almost 25 percent of all Spain's land area - more in places like the Canary Islands - are covered by the proposed legislation, Turkish Daily News reports.

Spain prepares to clamp down on land use abuse

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While Europeans in general have been overtaking their American cousins in height in recent decades, now they're set to outgrow them width-wise, starting with the Canary Islanders, it seems. A new study, presented by NutriCare, says that the food pyramid in Tenerife and, equally in the rest of the Canary Islands, is almost inverted, causing a greater incidence of heart disease.

The Canaries head the list of Spanish communities, again, this time for the incidence of overweight, which affects 46% of the population, with 18.2% of the islands' adult inhabitants and 14% of the under-16s classified as obese.

The principal error that Tenerife residents are making, say NutriCare, is eating more calories than necessary; a total of 656 kilos or liters of foodstuffs per year (two more than the national average) and 63 kilos or liters over the amount recommended (593) by the World Health Organization for a balanced diet.

They also pointed to low fibre consumption by Tenerife residents, who consume 65% less fruits and vegetables, 15% less legumes and, 10% less bread than the recommendations.

This is along with a lack of vitamins and antioxidants and not enough "good" Omega 3 fats in the diet, with an "elevated consumption of meat", which has reached 42.7 kilos, per person, per year, against the 24 kilos recommended. The presence of saturated fats in the diet of Tenerife residents is notable, they add.

Too much sugar rounds off the general decline into the typical diet of a "rich, westernized nation". My how things have changed from the Canarian diet of old, rich in gofio, potajes and when meat only came out for fiestas!

Canarias es la primera Comunidad en incidencia de sobrepeso en adultos, con un 46%

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Plans to stamp out holiday clubs - a burgeoning variation on timeshare scams which has left hundreds of thousands of British holidaymakers out of pocket - were unveiled by the European Commission on Thursday, reports the Guardian. The new laws do not come into effect until 2010.

Timeshare law to be strengthened to close holiday club loophole

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Road to MascaCan you imagine cycling down down this road? We think "exhilarating" may not totally cover it, but this is one of the routes - not unsurprisingly called "Vertigo" - suggested by local bike hire company based in the Orotava Valley, near Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife-Training.net.

They describe the Masca route, "The Teno Mountain range possesses the most dramatic terrain on the island. Here is one place where mountains (between 700 and 1100m) plunge straight into the ocean. At this altitude, the sea appears as a great wall of water, a very unusual phenomenon - it can even be a little unnerving at times. The small village of Masca is a nice place to stop for a little break and enjoy the scenery, because you don?t come to these kinds of radical places every day. The descent into Masca is a rim-melter. It?s a very steep road, with more hairpins than a Japanese geisha house."

The company's goal is to fill a void as, "I noticed a distinct lack of cycling-related information about Tenerife on the internet", says founder Dr. Leslie Brown, on their website, who also, admirably, says they "strive to have a minimal environmental footprint."

Suggested routes, reflected in the excellent video below - which also shows some fantastic Tenerife scenery - are centered around the northern areas of Tenerife of Teno, Teide and Anaga and include some places that you'd probably not have found on your own. Some I'd not heard of even.

Their rental bike service will be available from 12th June 2007.



Link to video | Tenerife-Training.net

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It's really heartening to know that airline passengers are safe from the threat of potentially exploding cans of pop, even if axe murderers (well, OK not quite, but you know what I mean) can apparently travel freely.

Metro report that a passenger was able to carry a knife on to a plane after it was not spotted at three separate airport security checks. Nick White, a joiner, did not realise the tool he used for work was in his pocket until he was about to be scanned before flying to the Canary Islands from Birmingham airport.

His daughter, 13, however, had earlier had a can of drink confiscated to comply with rules about taking liquid on flights.

Passenger's knife missed by 3 checks

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The Health Ministry is investigating a batch of Yellow Fever vaccines, which was distributed throughout Spain after four people presented various symptoms after being vaccinated. One of these has been admitted to the Hospital de la Candelaria in Tenerife with hepatitis. All of those affected were vaccinated at the Centro de Vacunación Internacional (International Vaccination Center) in Tenerife's capital, Santa Cruz.

They say that there is no reason to believe that the vaccines are in bad condition, as adverse reactions are known in certain cases. Nevertheless, the Director General of Public Health says that the vaccine will not be administered until they have definitive results from the analysis.

Sanidad investiga una partida de vacunas contra la fiebre amarilla tras resultar afectadas cuatro personas
Sanidad retira las vacunas de fiebre amarilla que afectaron a cuatro personas en Canarias

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During the last decade, businesses from the Spanish autonomous Canary Islands, located off North Africa, have discovered the trade potential on the neighbour continent. More than 100 Canarian companies have been established in Africa, mostly in Morocco and Cape Verde, but also in Mauritania and Senegal, reports Afrol News.

Over 100 Canary Islands companies established in Africa

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Insurance in Spain is coming into line with the rest of the EU. "The Spanish government has declared July 18 2007 as the deadline by which insurance brokers must conform to Europe-wide business standards. A European Union directive requires sales staff describing themselves as "brokers" to sell a range of products from competing insurance companies", reports the Telegraph.

Finding safe ground in Spain

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Alamo. Photo courtesy PDPhoto.orgMySanAntonio say, "being able to trace ancestry back to settlers from the Canary Islands is a huge deal in San Antonio."

Those settlers, a group of 15 families who travelled from the Canary Islands at the invitation of King Philip V of Spain, founded the small town of "La Villa de San Fernando" - as San Antonio, Texas was then called - on March 9, 1731.

Probably the most famous contribution the Canary Islanders made was building the San Antonio de Valero Mission, later known as the Alamo.

This weekend, members of two folkloric groups - Princesa Dácil and Cabuqueros - are visiting San Antonio, from Canary Islands to perform a series of demonstrations of traditional music and dance. Then, on Tuesday, they join Domingo Rodríguez Oramas, also known as "El Colorao," one of the Canary Islands' best known timple - the traditional five stringed Canarian instrument - players, for a concert.

El folklore canario se escuchará en el Folk Live Festival de San Antonio de Texas
Los grupos Princesa Dácil y Los Cabuqueros participan en el Folk Live Festival
A sampling of Canary Islands heritage

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The honey in Tenerife is something else (and I still recommend the Apiteno brand, made in the village of Teno Alto, by bees who I might actually have met! :)

A few years back, I was out on the patio sweeping when, suddenly, the sky went black as an entire swarm of bees - I estimate, about 30 feet across - appeared over the roof of the house like a bombing raid. Naturally, I dropped the broom, ran inside and closed the door as fast as I could. Thankfully, on that occasion, they were just passing and quickly moved on.

However, in La Guancha, in the north of Tenerife, on Wednesday a swarm of around 10,000 bees came to rest in one of the town?s busiest squares, which it took two expert local beekeepers three hours to remove.

Bees halt trade in a Tenerife town

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Water-colour portrait of Charles Darwin (aged 33) painted by George RichmondIberianature weblog tells us that "This month's Quercus [magazine] has an interesting article on Charles Darwin's abortive visit Tenerife."

Darwin, apparently, had been inspired to visit Teide after reading Alexander von Humboldt's account of his ascent of El Teide. Naturalist and explorer, Humboldt, had stopped six days at Tenerife for the ascent of the Peak in June 1799.

However, when the seco