Secret Tenerife

Coso de Carnaval de Tenerife 2010

2010-02-28T18:59:00.001Z

From the Carnaval's Main Parade on Shrove Tuesday, February 16th, here's just a minute's edited highlights and here's another minute where the big, bright costumes and the sound of the batucada (drumming) will certainly get you in the mood. It also gives you a glimpse of this year's Carnaval Queen, "Alice in Wonderland."

If that's not enough for you, pour yourself your beverage of choice, get out the party hats and have the whole Carnaval Experience in your own living room:

Firstly because, Canarian TV have put their coverage online this year. It comes in two parts, I've no idea how long it runs, but just the first part is 439 Mb, so I'm assuming it's pretty comprehensive! Play or download from here.

Alternatively, you can watch the approximately 1 hour of coverage of the Cabalgata de Carnaval from Spanish National Television, TVE, online here.

(Unlike their British counterparts, these do not restrict you by country.)

Reports indicate that the turn out wasn't affected by the threat of rain and indeed the public were so numerous that the route had to be lengthened at both ends.

It's estimated that there were 100,000 spectators, while 110 Carnaval groups contributed a total of 12,000 participants to the massive, colourful parade.

If you still want more, the recordings of the Gala for the Selection of the Carnaval Queen and the Carnaval de día are also available to watch or download.

And, if after watching some or all of those videos you decide that you really need to experience this in the flesh, the main event of Carnaval in Santa Cruz in 2011 will be on March 8th. More details of future Carnaval dates in Santa Cruz here.

Photos of Santa Cruz' Carnaval Opening Parade

2010-02-28T17:24:00.001Z

While there's a lull in Carnaval proceedings, before it all starts up again this week in Los Cristianos, here are some more highlights from the 2010 Carnaval in Santa Cruz.

Previously we saw a video of the Opening Parade and here are some still images from the parade on Friday, February 12th.

There are two sets: Carnaval de Tenerife and Carnaval Tenerife 2010.

Featured in both sets and definitely one of the stars of this year's Carnaval are the "cheeky" costumes of the Comparsa Bahía Bahitiare.

Here is a video of Bahía Bahitiare performing in this year's Concurso de comparsas, where they won second place for interpretation, the designers' prize for creativity, as well as the the people's choice award, making them the most awarded group.

Photo: by maduroman

Wednesday's Carnaval Events Cancelled

2010-02-17T15:21:00.001Z

The widows will be wailing for an entirely different reason tonight, as news just in is that all of today's Carnaval events in Santa Cruz have been suspended because of the weather alert.

The Entierro de la Sardina (Burial of the Sardine) has been postponed until Friday, February 19th, at 9 p.m.

Also suspended are tonight's firework display and the dancing in the Plaza de La Candelaria, plus the attractions in the funfair will not be operating.

Meanwhile, the Tenerife Island Corporation is recommending that citizens should not leave their homes, because of the bad weather, with winds of up to 120 kph and heavy rains predicted. They also remind people to bring in anything loose from balconies and roofs, such as flower pots, etc., that could fall into the road.

Photo: Wailing Widows at Puerto de la Cruz in 2008 by Alejandro Amador

Carnaval Opening Parade 2010

2010-02-17T14:41:00.001Z

Here's part 1 of 3 (part 2, part 3), showing highlights from last Friday's Cabalgata Anunciadora, or Carnaval Opening Parade in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. See many of the participants in this wonderful, colourful, noisy cacophony of excitement, expression and expectation. It's good for the soul.

Carnaval Tuesday: Coso Apoteosis 2010

2010-02-15T13:32:00.001Z

Tomorrow, Tuesday, February 16th, is once more, Carnaval Tuesday in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, when the main parade should be taking place from around 4 p.m. in the afternoon in the Avenidas de Anaga y Marítima (map) along the sea front in Santa Cruz, culminating in a huge fireworks display (around 9 - 9.30 p.m.)

We have to say should, because at the moment, the forecast for Santa Cruz tomorrow gives the probability of rain as 100%. Nothing at all unusual: rain in Tenerife is drawn to Carnaval week, in the same way as it is to August Bank Holidays in Britain, but it's always a shame if it disrupts the biggest day.

For those of you outside the island, or who don't want to dodge the showers, the Coso is due to be televised, as it has been in previous years. Radio Televisión Canaria (RTVC) will be broadcasting live from 4 p.m. onwards on both Televisión Canaria and Televisión Canaria Sat, which will also hopefully be available to watch live online. If you miss that, there's also a chance the recording will become available later on their version of the iPlayer, Emisiones Completas.

(The recording of last Wednesday's Gala for the Selection of the Carnaval Queen, that I missed, is currently available to play or download, in 2 parts, here.)

At 6 p.m., Spanish National tele, Televisión Española (TVE) will also be broadcasting the Gran Coso de Santa Cruz de Tenerife, along with the firework finale on La 2. Likewise, a recording of their coverage may appear later at TVE a la Carta.

Photo: by pano_philou from Carnaval 2009 - Coso Apoteosis

More Photos of the Coso Apoteosis de Tenerife 2009

Program of events, Santa Cruz Carnaval 2010

Last look at 2009 Carnaval Queens

2010-02-10T08:59:00.000Z

As tonight is the Gala de Elección de la Reina (Gala to Elect the Carnaval Queen) in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, here's a last chance to have a look at all of the candidates from 2009.

Radio Televisión Canaria will be showing the gala, which should also be available to viewers outside the island online.

Small earthquake hits Tenerife

2010-02-08T16:41:00.001Z

View Larger MapSo small and normal that it probably wouldn't have made the press, if it hadn't been "riding on the coat-tails of the Haiti earthquakes", as Janet Anscombe puts it.

The tremor, measuring 4 on the Richter Scale, was so light that they didn't notice a thing in Puerto de la Cruz, although reports claim that it was felt in Gran Canaria.

And "Some residents of blocks of flats in Las Chumberas, near Alcampo in La Laguna, fled from their homes fearing a building collapse," report Island Connections.

It happened at just after 3 p.m. on Friday, February 5th, with it's epicentre at 28.3904 latitude, -16.2212 longitude, some 10 kilometres south east of Santa Cruz and at a depth of 23 kilometres. Yes, a depth of 23 kilometres, not 23 meters (which would make the Atlantic Ocean very shallow indeed), as the report in La Opinion would have it. (I know, can't help nitpicking.)

It was the very depth that prevented the quake from being widely felt and the quake was "without consequences", as Antena 3 report.

Apparently, there were "80 seismic movements last year, but only 4 were felt. According to experts this is normal", says Jack Montgomery. There have certainly been plenty in the area before, as this image shows. Experts also say there's "no risk of Teide erupting and there isn't another island about to rise up from the sea between Tenerife and Gran Canaria." Famous last words?

This is Tenerife Carnaval

2010-02-08T12:42:00.001Z

Well, here's another classic case of This is Tenerife or TiT syndrome, which could be summed up by the rhetorical question, "Well, what did you expect, this is Tenerife?"

Regular readers may remember that back in April 2009, we ran a blog post when the 2010 Santa Cruz Carnaval theme was announced.

At that time, it was slated to be La Historia de la Humanidad (The History of Humanity) - a noble, but perhaps ambitious topic.

Too ambitious, clearly, because, when we begin collecting information now that the Carnaval is right upon us, we find that the theme has changed to the mere Historia de un Carnaval (History of a Carnaval).

That does seem more locally topical and, potentially even more interesting, but it's pretty curious isn't it? Yes, we went back and checked our original source, which was the announcement of the theme and the contest to design the poster for it. The winning poster (above) with the ape, is consistent with the humanity theme, but holds no particular significance within the history of the island's Carnaval.

What's more, we have no idea when the theme was changed, or why (in July 2009 the History of Humanity was still listed as the theme). Was the change even announced, or did it just happen and they were hoping nobody noticed?

Meanwhile, other "novelties" were announced back in March 2009, which suggested that the Gala for the selection of the Carnaval Queen would be held on the Friday, instead of the announcing parade. The Gala has always been on the Wednesday, the opening parade on the Friday evening and, I'd imagine a bloody riot would take place if anyone tried to muck about with these traditions. Perhaps it did, because there seems to be no more mention of that (nor a proposed King of Carnaval contest) and the Gala is back to normal on Wednesday and the opening parade on Friday.

San Antonio Abad Redux

2010-02-07T00:16:00.000Z

If you're looking for something fun to do in Tenerife today, then pop along to Buenavista del Norte in the island's north west corner for the Livestock Fair and Romería de San Antonio Abad, which had to be postponed last week.

Secret Tenerife Turns Six

2010-02-06T12:36:00.001Z

Facebook is not the only site to have celebrated its 6th birthday yesterday, as Secret Tenerife did too, having been founded (at this domain, although the concept has been going longer) on February 5th, 2004.

They're not the only ones to have rolled out a new design either. If you subscribe to our news feed, you may not have visited the site recently, in which case, you could be missing some of the innovations.

As well as making our Tenerife weather coverage more comprehensive, we've also added other content we hope will be useful and of interest, including links to airport information, currency rates, a combined news feed, in English, from several sources to keep you up-to-date, calendar, what's on, search facilities and more.

Click below to check these out in more detail:

PS: You can buy the irresistibly cute Age 6 Mermaid Birthday Badge here.

A walk around La Laguna

2010-02-04T00:16:00.000Z

View Larger Map... without even leaving home. Google's Street View, according to Lo Que Pasa en Tenerife, has been operative for almost all areas of the island since the end of last year, but we just hadn't got around to checking it out.

Indeed, even some of Tenerife's more rural areas are well covered - although the highest you can get is to Vilaflor: it does not include the Teide National Park, but after ~~playing with it for a while~~ extensive testing, we can also confirm that you can happily type Tenerife place names into UK Google Maps and it will get you there.

To start you off, we've put you in the most famous* street, the Calle Obispo Rey Redondo, a.k.a. Calle Carrera in the town of La Laguna. Happy strolling!

*A local legend states that upon the death of one of his sons in the town, Fernández de Lugo ordered that the street of La Carrera be made twisted rather than straight so that he wouldn't have to see the site of his son's demise from his residence.

Number of self-employed in Tenerife falls

2010-02-03T00:51:00.000Z

"I love my boss (I'm self employed)" T-Shirts

Which is probably not surprising news, given the current economic situation and how expensive it is to be self-employed. Overall, in the province of Tenerife in 2009, the number dropped by 5.6%.

But while the reductions in numbers in Santa Cruz de Tenerife (-4,8%) and La Laguna (-4,3%), were lower than the average, Arona led the descent with a drop of 11,1% in the number of self-employed.

We're sure the story on the ground is likely to be very different and that plenty of people are feeling the fallout, but "officially", there are no Canarian districts among those with a high proportion of foreigners (foreigner residents represented 41% of the total of 65,550 inhabitants in Arona in 2006), where those residents are of working age.

(If you are self-employed, remember there are other advantages though.)

Candlemas (Public Holiday in Tenerife)

2010-02-02T00:42:00.000Z

February 2nd, being Candlemas is a public holiday in Tenerife.

Also known as the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin, Candlemas translates to Candelaria in Spanish, which is the name of the town where the Patroness of the Canary Islands - the Virgin of Candelaria (Virgen de Candelaria or Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria) is kept.

There is a program of events for the occasion, in Candelaria, with Eucharist and the blessing of the candles on the eve of the fiesta and mass followed by a civic procession on Tuesday itself.

Tenerife bus company, TITSA, are reinforcing their services by putting on extra buses between Santa Cruz and La Laguna and Candelaria, so that people can attend the fiestas. (They do this for almost every event, unlike the UK, where public transport becomes rarer than rocking horse poo on Bank Holidays!)

The festival of the Virgen de la Candelaria is also celebrated various parts of South America; in Bolivia, Peru, Uruguay, Chile and Venezuela. In Bolivia, the Virgen is also known as the Dark Virgin of the Lake, and the Patroness Of Bolivia. And in San Antonio, Texas in the US, there is an image of the Virgen de Candelaria, probably because that city was founded by people from the Canary Islands.

Tenerife's Father of Modern Engineering

2010-02-01T00:01:00.000Z

February 1st is the anniversary of the birth, in 1758, of prominent engineer, Agustín de Betancourt y Molina (1758-1824), in Puerto de la Cruz. On the north side of the square outside Puerto's main church of Nuestra Señora de la Peña de Francia is a bust (pictured above) in his memory. The Hotel Monopol (photo), opposite the bust, is built on the site of his birthplace. [Source: PuntoInfo]

San Antonio Abad and Almond Flower Walks Cancelled

2010-01-31T18:24:00.002Z

That Tenerife weather really isn't behaving today. Information we've gleaned, via El Cardón, is that both the annual Almond Flower Route that had been scheduled for this morning in Santiago del Teide and the Livestock Fair and Romería de San Antonio Abad in Buenavista del Norte had to be suspended.

It seems the Livestock Fair and Romería have been postponed until next Sunday, February 7th, but there's no news yet with regard to the Almond Flower walk - I guess that depends whether the rain has washed off the blossom.

Fingers crossed that the bad weather is out of the way before Carnaval.

Have you seen the Tenerife Weather?

2010-01-31T01:00:00.000Z

If you're on the island, you can probably see what the weather's like already ...

For everyone else and those of you who'd like to know what the weather's going to be like tomorrow, we'd like to introduce you to our updated weather page.

We've added a few services to hopefully provide more comprehensive coverage of the things you need to know, such as live weather maps, current weather conditions; forecasts for the next 5 days for the island in general; specific forecasts (by municipal district) for the next 7 days, detailed historical weather data for various resort areas on the island, for every month of the year, to help you plan when to visit, plus general information about adverse weather warnings.

Current weather conditions and forecasts for Tenerife

Presentation of the candidates for Carnaval Queen

2010-01-30T10:41:00.003Z

Last Tuesday evening the various candidates for the titles of Carnaval Queens in Santa Cruz de Tenerife this year were presented to the public in an event involving a procession through the city streets in classic cars and a bit of fanfare and a drawing to determine the order that the candidates will run in their respective galas.

This year there is, as usual, a whole army of kids going for the junior title, but only four opting for the title at the glamorous granny end. Twelve, another relatively low number, will partake in the grand gala to select the adult Carnaval Queen in Santa Cruz, which will be held on Wednesday, February 10th, 2010.

Santa Cruz Carnaval 2010 runs from 12th to 21st February.

Via: Carnaval de Santa Cruz de Tenerife

The Great Flood is coming to Tenerife

2010-01-29T15:26:00.003Z

Well, you'd certainly think it was, depending on which local media outlet you decided to pay attention to. (Nothing like a bit of melodrama to surge ahead in the ratings war, even if it does leave the public in a state of panic!)

Nevertheless, the meteorological office, AEMET, are predicting that there will be an "important" orange weather alert in force on Sunday, January 31st.

This "deluge," according to Canarias Ahora will be in the region of 100 litres of water per square meter in 12 hours. (No, we don't know what that looks like either.)

The majority of the rain (contrary to the widely held belief that the north is colder and wetter), is expected on the southern elevation of the island. Strong winds are expected at the peak and snow is expected on Mount Teide this weekend.

(Good job this is expected in the south, otherwise the animals at the San Antonio Abad processions in Buenavista del Norte would need to line up two-by-two.)

UPDATE 30/01/10: The orange alert has now been extended to cover the entire island on Monday, February 1st, 2010.

Updating Tenerife's Street Maps

2010-01-29T11:48:00.002Z

Victor at Villa y Puerto de Garachico reports that the post office and Grafcan (the public company who provided the [previously censored] imagery for Google) are currently collaborating on a project to revise the street maps of El Tanque, Garachico y Buenavista del Norte, according to a post office press release.

This is part of an island-wide project that began in 2004 in Santa Cruz, followed by La Orotava, to update all of the data for the territory of Tenerife.

The post office are correcting house numbers and providing data on missing street name plates, while Grafcan are providing town halls with the information so that corrections can be made and, the post office with the new plans so they can study the logistics of improving the mail delivery process.

Just think, if they get all of this organized, it may finally be possible to know one's actual, proper address in Tenerife - something that is currently quite rare.

On the negative side, anything that smacks of efficiency could be said to be ruining the time-honoured, traditional way of doing things on the island.

In truth, I think this indicates that Tenerife is missing me. We had a perfectly good system going while I lived in the district: if the post lady didn't know where something was, or if a letter was addressed to a "foreign sounding" name, she just brought it to see if I could translate/locate/solve it!

Fiestas of San Antonio Abad 2010

2010-01-28T20:10:00.001Z

This coming Sunday, January 31st 2010, the town of Buenavista del Norte holds it's annual Livestock Fair and Romería (translates loosely to walking piss-up) in honour of Saint Anthony Abbot, who, amongst other things, looks after the spiritual needs of farm animals and pets.

Oh, how we miss these occasions to see all the lovely animals; horses, cattle, goats, dogs, ferrets, chickens in baskets, iguanas on leads, doggies getting pony rides ... and, by mid-afternoon, a whole wall-to-wall (or curb-to-curb) carpet of freshly produced manure.

The Livestock Fair, as usual, will be held in the ambitiously named Recinto Ferial (Fairs' Enclosure) - it's a patch of waste ground - in the Triana area of Buenavista del Norte (see map), starting sort of mid-morning.

The procession is around the middle of the day, more or less, give or take a couple of hours, and will proceed down the main streets to the square and church, where the animals will be blessed for another year.

Click here for more of our photos from previous years

Los Silos held their celebrations last week, as did La Matanza (read Andrea Montgomery's account of the latter to confirm it's the fiesta of fertilizer, strange pets & cheap booze.) We noticed that at last week's event at Los Silos - there's a slideshow of images currently displayed on the front of the Radio Isla Baja website - that the lady with the turkey on a lead was there again, but this time she was accompanied only by a chicken (is this a downgrade, due to the crisis?) We don't want to speculate what happened to the turkey in the interim!

Christmas around the pool

2009-12-12T11:23:00.001Z

No idea where this photo was taken, but if you aren't able to spend Christmas in Tenerife this year, this Windows Wallpaper might make up for the loss (or give you even more feelings of longing), depending on your mood.

Comes in four sizes, 1600x1200 (577Kb), 1280x1024 (486Kb), 1152x864 (418Kb) and 1024x768 (350Kb) and, there's even a couple of typical Daily Mail readers (too scared to leave the pool side) in the shot as a bonus!

Spruce Trees Windows Wallpaper

Turr�n - Spanish Almond Candy

2009-11-27T16:42:00.002Z

For those of us, unlike my dear friends, who have Al Campo La Villa supermarket up the road and aisles upon aisles of sweet temptations laid out to make you drool, here are some alternative methods to enable you to enjoy these delightful Spanish Christmas treats.

There is no more typical Christmas sweet in Spain than turrón. The recipe for turrón should never contain less than 10% of honey or 64% of almonds. As Lisa & Tony Sierra explain, "There are two traditional basic types of turrón. Soft Jijona or turrón blando, which is so smooth it has the consistency of peanut butter and hard Alicante or turrón duro, which is like a thick almond nougat candy, similar to peanut brittle." My preference is for the Jijona.

Turrón de Jijona

Ingredients for 4 tablets:

400 grams of honey (azahar - orange blossom honey is traditional)
200 grams of sugar
1 egg white
700 grams of almonds, peeled and toasted
the grated rind of half a lemon

Method:

Grind the almonds without letting them become completely pulverized. Pour the honey and the sugar into a saucepan and put it to heat over a low flame, stirring with a wooden spoon until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture thickens. Remove the mixture from the heat.

Beat the egg white and add it to the honey and sugar mixture. Mix well without pausing for 10-15 minutes then place the mixture back on a low heat until the mixture begins to caramelise and take on a deeper colour.

Add the almonds and the grated lemon rind to the mixture. Mix well with a wooden spoon and leave to cool for 5 minutes.

Line molds with grease proof kitchen paper, pour the mixture into the molds so that the turrón is around 2 - 3 cms thick. Leave for 3 - 4 hours to set to the right consistency, then turn out and store in Tupperware boxes in a cool, dry place.

Translated from this recipe. Another version of the recipe, although in Spanish, shows the method step-by-step in photos, which you can see here.

The other option is to order your Christmas delights via La Tienda.

Although, admittedly, once you've added the postage and packing, this is far from an inexpensive alternative, Christmas does only come once a year and we reckon you're allowed to treat yourself at least that often!

La Tienda offer several types of Turrón Candy as well as other seasonal delicacies. The Turron Gift Sampler by '1880' contains 3 varieties of Turrón: de Jijona (almond and orange blossom honey), Alicante (almond brittle) and Yema Tostada (almonds blended with egg yolks and honey).

A Sweet Christmas Tale of Turrón | Turrón - Spanish Almond Candy

See a Carnaval Queen in the Making

2009-11-26T19:33:00.001Z

Looking for something to do this Friday night? Can't wait until February for your Carnaval fix? Well, you're in luck ...

On Friday, November 27th, the Discoteca Tángara (see map Carretera Hoya Fría 7,
38108 Santa Cruz De Tenerife, Spain (in the El Mayorazgo Trading Estate) (+34) 922 882 247) will be presenting their candidate to take part in the Gala for the Selection of the Carnaval Queen in Santa Cruz in 2010.

There will be other performances during the evening, including music, belly dancing, Carnaval Comparsas (dance troops) and from the murga group, Ni Pico Ni Corto - plus other "surprises".

Starts at 11 p.m. Via: Blog Tenerife

Whitney Houston in Tenerife?

2009-11-26T17:48:00.003Z

According to the artist's own website and to various other reports around the local media, sites, forums and blogs, following in the footsteps of the likes of Sir Elton John and Rod Stewart, American singer, Whitney Houston is to play at the Campo de Golf Costa Adeje during her global "I Look To You" tour in 2010.

The date given is April 30th, 2010.

But this is Tenerife ... Regular readers will remember that when sources on the island were first touting the Elton John concert, enquiries with the artist's own people revealed that he had no knowledge of the event.

Nevertheless, the concert did, eventually, go ahead.

In this case, since the source of the information is Houston's own site, is it safe to assume that the information is correct? You'd imagine so, wouldn't you?

Except that, in true Tenerife fashion, there is yet another report in today's Diario de Avisos, saying that management at the Costa Adeje Golf course have told that paper they have "no official knowledge" of the concert. The club's director says that they were approached about the possibility a few weeks ago, but that was as far as matters were taken.

We suggest not holding your breath and watching this space!

UPDATE: There's a change of venue for the big concert (well, there's a surprise?) to the Santa Cruz Quayside. Tickets will run from 40 to 300 Euros (a whole lot less, as I predicted, than prices for concerts in the UK). More details on ticket sales to follow. Source: Tenerife Magazine.

UPDATE 30/01/10: Tickets for the Whitney Houston concert in Tenerife are now available through General Tickets / CajaCanarias.

Tenerife's Public Holidays in 2010

2009-11-20T17:17:00.001Z

The Spanish government has today published the labour calendar for 2010, which in the Canaries will include the following 10 public holidays:

1 January - New Year (Año Nuevo)
6 January - Epiphany / Three Kings Day (Epifanía)
1 April - Easter Thursday (Jueves Santo)
2 April - Good Friday (Viernes Santo)
1 May - Labour Day (Fiesta del Trabajo)
12 October - National Day (Fiesta Nacional de España)
1 November - All Saints (Todos los Santos)
6 December - Constitution Day (Día de la Constitución)
8 December - Immaculate Conception (Inmaculada Concepción)
25 December - Christmas Day (Natividad del Señor).

In addition to these there are another two Canarian specific holidays (May 30th, for Día de Canarias (Canaries Day) and 15 August, Asunción de la Virgen (Assumption of Mary), other holidays specific to each island, which in Tenerife is: 2 February, Virgen de la Candelaria (Candlemas) and then a couple more that are specific to each municipal council area (for instance, Santa Cruz always declares Carnival Tuesday (Shrove Tuesday) as a holiday in the city - in 2010, Carnaval Tuesday falls on February 16th. More Carnaval dates here.)

Although, in Spain, there is a legal right to the days off on public holidays (there's no such right in Britain), if you work in the tourist sector, it's pretty unlikely you will! If you have business to do in Town Halls, banks, etc., they'll be shut on these days. If you're visiting, don't worry tourist provisions carry on as normal.

Via: GomeraVerde