Tenerife Magazine’s round up of some of the most interesting news stories of the week in Tenerife.

The North African Connection
Tenerife’s original inhabitants, the Guanche made the headlines a couple of times this week. Claims that the island’s aborigines hailed originally from North Africa were given more credence by a new exhibition of pottery at the Museum of Man and Nature in Santa Cruz. The pottery, donated by Liverpool Museum of Fine Arts, includes examples of utilitarian pottery made by the Berbers and Ancient Egyptians. Some of the designs on both match almost exactly designs found on Guanche ceramics, which historians say is further evidence of a link between the islanders and North Africa. The other Guanche related news relates to the return to Santa Cruz of three Guanche mummies that have been ‘residing’ in Madrid since the 19th century.  The mummified remains of the two women and a man are also now on display with other fascinating, and a wee bit gruesome, examples at the Museum of Man and Nature.

A Smart Hotel
There have been reports from Gran Canaria that scientists and the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Tourist Board are working together to develop a smart hotel. Anyone who’s seen the movie Minority Report will be familiar with the concept of advertising being directed to individuals based on face recognition. The smart hotels will work in a similar way. When a guest walks into a room they’ll be instantly recognised and a database will know their likes and dislikes so that service can be tailored to individual preferences. Presumably when you walk into the hotel bar a soothing robotic voice will announce something like ‘good evening Mr Bond, we’re mixing your vodka martini now and it will be waiting your arrival at the bar’. Another example of what the smart hotel can do is that bedrooms will be able to change their décor to suit. So if you like a golden beach, that’s what you get on the walls.
Apparently there’s no truth in the rumour that the Tenerife authorities, having learned what their rival neighbours are planning, came up with the opposing idea to create a dumb hotel where no-one remembers your name, they get your order wrong at the bar, bring you food you didn’t want and then overcharge…but then scrapped plans when they realised that model was already in place.

The Cost of Speeding on Tenerife
The new ‘temporary’ laws regarding the speed limit on Spain and Tenerife’s motorways came into effect from Monday 7th March. But what exactly are the penalties if drivers forget the limit is now 110kph?
Drive between 111kph and 140kph and it’s a €100 fine – but without a points penalty.
Push the pedal to the metal and hit between 141kph and 160kph and the fine goes up to €300. If you’re caught driving between 151kph and 160kph you’ll also lose two points from your licence…and it serves you right because you’re driving far too fast even for the old limits.

At the moment the Spanish Government are saying that the restrictions will remain in place until the 30th June when it will be reviewed (i.e. someone will count up the money made in fines and decide whether it’s a nice little earner or not).

A Disappointing End to the Winter Sales
It doesn’t need a rocket scientist to analyse why the two month long rebajas period from January to March returned sales that were between 10 and 15% lower than last year. The ongoing economic crisis was one reason, but the fact that many retailers didn’t actually reduce their products by a decent amount meant that bargains were few and far between. When shoppers realised this after the initial surge, sales at the sales dropped off. Now retail groups are debating whether the two month long sales period is too long. Maybe it is, but here’s another radical suggestion. If retailers want to improve returns during the sales period why not try bringing prices down by more than a nominal amount? TM witnessed at least one branded retailer who actually put some prices up.

And finally the TIT (This Is Tenerife) of the week award goes to… the seemingly politicising of what should have been a nice touch in Puerto de la Cruz.

The CIT in Puerto de la Cruz’ idea to honour loyal visitors to the town by holding a ceremony in the town hall was a nice idea. Recognising publicly the value of visitors who come back to the town year after year is commendable.

42 loyal visitors, mainly from Britain and Germany but also from other countries, were honoured at the event which was attended by representatives from the town’s most popular hotels. Some of those being honoured had visited Puerto de la Cruz up to 50 times. Interestingly, despite mainland Spanish boosting the number of people staying in Puerto during the summer months there was only one Spanish couple present. It was this couple that newspapers quoted when reporting what brought fans back to the town.

The weather and being able to enjoy snow on Teide in the morning and a few hours sun on the beach sounds good as does the friendliness and the warmth of the people. However, when it was reported that amongst the treasures that brought them 15 times were the level of services ranging from trade to travel, the restoration of the urban and natural environment, the reform of the road network and the modernisation of various streets it suddenly started to sound like something a politician would say. I wonder if they’d asked Betty and Bert from Bolton why they came back year after year whether their list would have matched that of the couple from Pamplona.

The final nail in the credibility coffin came when it was reported that their list of reasons also included the first phase of the development of the future Parque Marítimo. Oh, come on. The first rule of comedy is…you have to have reality (Ted Bovis, Hi-De-Hi).

It might seem like an outrageous statement but that little bowl of gofio accompanying soups and stews such as puchero and in some traditional Canarian restaurants was partly responsible for the birth of civilisation. It’s true, honest.

It’s generally accepted that the cultivation of grain and therefore products like gofio, led to ancient man setting down roots and establishing permanent communities. Cheap, nutritious and easy to produce, grains have been an essential part of our diet for almost ten thousand years, with most cultures developing their own methods for transforming grain into food products. Tenerife’s rather unique example of this is gofio; a flour concocted by the island’s original inhabitants, the Guanche.

In truth gofio is a bit of an umbrella term as it can actually be derived from wheat, maize, barley or even a mix of these. Harvested grain is toasted before being milled to a fine powder; it’s a process which lends it a distinctive taste and aroma.
The Guanche prepared gofio by grinding grain by hand; a long laborious task. After the conquest of Tenerife, the island’s new multi-cultured settlers continued to use gofio but simplified the grinding process. They built water mills, often in a line so that the same water could be used to power each mill – obviously early environmentalists. A few of these mills exist today on Tenerife; although they’re no longer powered by water.
It’s not difficult to track them down in places like El Palmar, Tejina and especially in La Orotava where there are at least two mills filled from early morning with townsfolk seeking their ration of double toasted. The slightly nutty, sweet aroma emanating from their ovens guides noses straight to their doors.

There are a number of explanations why the consumption of gofio has remained a staple of the islanders’ diets since Guanche times. Throughout Tenerife’s history, the island has suffered periods of extreme hardship and poverty. When times were hard and food in short supply; gofio proved a cheap source of nutrients such as protein, fibre, magnesium, iron, calcium and sodium.
Interestingly it’s also claimed that gofio is good for helping lower cholesterol, regulate blood sugar levels and is also suitable for diabetes sufferers.

Gofio consumption is particularly popular in agricultural communities where its nutrients help give farmers the strength and energy required for a hard day’s toiling on those narrow terraces lining slopes; terraces that a Sherpa would have to think twice about before tackling. For similar reasons, it’s an essential part of the diet for practitioners of the Canarian sport Lucha Canario (wrestling).

Cooking with Gofio
Some Tinerfeños, like miller Jesús at La Maquina in La Orotava, call it the original power drink. He swears that a breakfast of a couple of teaspoons of gofio mixed with warm milk sets him up for the day, banishing hunger pangs for hours. Even children love it when it’s mixed with condensed milk, honey and mashed bananas (maize gofio has a flavour reminiscent of crushed ice cream wafers);
In Canarian cuisine it’s traditionally used to thicken and add flavour to traditional dishes such as escaldón and more recently Tenerife’s most imaginative chefs have been experimenting with it in desserts, ice creams and even chocolate.

One of the most popular methods of preparing gofio is gofio amasado. This is basically gofio mixed with nuts, dried fruit, cheese, honey and water that is rolled into a sausage shape and cut into discs. These are always handed out (i.e. thrown at you with force) at romérias. It’s the thing in aluminium foil that nobody wants.

If anyone is interested in going Guanche and trying gofio, every supermarket on the island stocks it so it isn’t difficult to find. However, before you develop too much of a taste for gofio make sure you check out pictures of Canarian wrestlers because that’s what you could end up looking like if you munch too much of the stuff.

The last photo challenge was clearly far too easy, so this one might be a little more testing.

This Guanche warrior obviously isn’t too happy with the gods. He stands shaking his fists at the sky beside a road that links a number of hill towns. He’s a larger than life character and an impressive fellow in many ways (in the interests of decency we thought it was better to go with a rear view).

Although on a relatively quiet road, many people are attracted to this spot by some absolutely WOW views…but where on Tenerife is it?

Award yourself a bonus pat on the back if you know who he is and what he’s doing.

Why do they call it Midsummer’s day?

Rapidly approaching, the night of June 23rd is the longest day and shortest night in nature’s annual cycle and as such, it has been a significant time of change since ancients all over the world lived their lives, planted their crops and tended their livestock in time to the rhythms of nature.
The point at which the sun reaches its zenith and appears to stand still for three days before switching direction on its solar journey, Midsummer’s Eve is the time to cast out the old and welcome in the new; a time of re-birth and a time of heightened magic.

Fire and water are two of the four ancient elements, the building blocks of existence itself and powerful symbols of  life and purification; all over the northern hemisphere bonfires will burn on the night of San Juan (Saint John) aka Midsummer’s Eve.
A tradition since the days of the Guanche, for many coastal towns in Tenerife that entails bonfires on the beach in which everything from old furniture to last year’s flip-flops are cast into the flames to make way for the new.
Any time of magic and tradition is also a time of celebration and San Juan is the perfect excuse to pack a hamper and head to the beach for some summer night partying.

By far the biggest beach party on the island takes place in Puerto de la Cruz where thousands of people descend onto Playa Jardín and Punta Brava late afternoon, armed to the sunglasses with food, booze and candles. While a huge bonfire burns on the beach, each family or group of friends creates their own ritual fire by placing candles in a shallow basin in the sand. Decorated with flowers and scented with incense, the candles turn the beach into a magical scene where you wouldn’t be too surprised to see Hobbits drinking tankards of ale and dancing around the flames.

A Health and Safety Officer’s nightmare, in San Juan de la Rambla, Icod and Garachico large balls are fashioned from straw stuffed into sacks, then doused with petrol, set on fire and rolled down the mountainsides trailing a fiery path of sparks that must surely goad the God of volcanic eruptions.
You’d think Garachico of all places would know better.

After the fire comes the water, and tradition dictates that bathing in the midnight waters on Noche de San Juan will cleanse ailments from the past and bring good health and fertility for the forthcoming year – talk about the good news and the bad.
That may be a mixed blessing for many humans but when it comes to livestock, fertility is paramount which is why the Guanche bathed their animals in the healing waters of San Juan. In various parts of the island horses are ridden into the sea on the morning of the 24th June to bless the animals and ensure their health and fertility.

Once again, Puerto de la Cruz gets the prize for the biggest celebrations where, on the morning of 24th June, goats driven down from surrounding towns and villages throughout the La Orotava Valley are dragged, kicking and screaming into the harbour waters. Joined by several caballeros on their magnificent steeds, the spectacle leaves visitors open-mouthed and the harbour beach pretty much assured of never achieving Blue Flag status.

So, with a time that so clearly denotes seasonal changeover and the official start of the summer, why, oh why is it called midsummer?

Fact file
Noche de San Juan 2010, Puerto de la Cruz

• 23rd June 2010 Beach Party from late afternoon  on Playa Jardín and Punta Brava. Fireworks display and entertainment provided by folk groups El Chirato and Portuense, and live bands Vocal 7, Jóvenes Cantadores, The Hits and Señor Natilla.

• 24th June 2010 Bathing of the goats in the town harbour from 8am to midday (ish)