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

Paying to Climb Mount Teide
CIT, the Centre for Initiatives and Tourism, in Santa Cruz has put forward a proposal to charge €5 to anyone wanting to climb to the summit of Mount Teide, Spain’s highest mountain. They say the charge would help fund maintenance, research and conservation, arguing that 90% of those who have to pay would be tourists and as tourists they’re used to paying charges in parks in other parts of Europe. I’ve three words to say to CIT – Barranco del Infierno.  It’s one of the only other beauty spots on Tenerife that visitors have to pay to enjoy and which just happens to be closed indefinitely because of fears about what might happen if anyone is injured walking Hell’s Ravine. What happens the first time someone slips on Teide’s peak?

Confusion in El Médano
The saga of the Hotel El Médano continued to twist and turn as the Spanish government’s representative to Tenerife, Antonio Batista announced that nobody had ever said the hotel was going to be demolished, it was only ever the hotel’s terrace that was in danger. Really? So all that furore about pulling down the hotel and maybe even some of the other buildings next to it was a Dallas type dream we all had then?

Ban people from Driving to Teno
A ‘close everything to the public’ plague seems to be sweeping through Tenerife at the moment. The mayor of Buenavista del Norte has called for the road leading to Punto Teno to be closed. There are huge signs in three languages warning that the road shouldn’t be used on rainy or windy days because of the potential dangers from rock fall, but mayor Victor Lorenzo says that everyone ignores them. Surely the signs are enough? The road leads to a beauty spot with stunning views and to close it would be to deprive visitors of another of Tenerife’s beauty spots (once again we mention Barranco del Infierno). Do politicians really want to create an island where everybody sticks to the safety of their holiday complexes? Before long they’ll be putting up signs in the arrivals hall stating ‘don’t leave the building, Mother Nature is on the prowl here’. Could somebody please start dishing out the common sense pills?

Tourism on the Up
Thank goodness, a ray of light amidst all of the Tenerife shenanigans that have you seeking out a wall to bang your head against, tourist figures for people visiting the Canary Islands in September are up nearly 13% on last year. During the month, 623,110 visitors enjoyed a holiday on one of the Canary Islands.

Cruising in La Paz
What is going on in the heads of the people in the town hall in Puerto de la Cruz? Right wing Spanish paper La Opinion recently printed an article about ‘Cruising in Tenerife’ and we’re not talking about the big white shiny things that sail into Santa Cruz. We’re talking about men meeting for sex in public places. This was followed by a report about the police and town council in Puerto de la Cruz being concerned about ‘Cruising in La Paz, especially in an area known apparently as the mountain of love (aka Paseo del Acebuche).  The nationalist council in Puerto have been accused in the past of being homophobic and Tenerife’s gay rights movements consider their attitudes to be from Franco’s era. The council have denied this, issuing a statement along the lines of  ‘we do not pursue anyone for their sexual orientation: we do not care that they are heterosexual or homosexual. The problem is that keeping sex in public places may offend others or affect sensitive groups such as minors or the disabled.’

WHAT?

Putting the homophobic charges aside for a second, there’s a statement that tells you all you need to know about where these people are coming from (and what century): sensitive groups such as minors or the disabled – for god’s sake don’t expose anyone with a disability to sex, eh? That sort of thinking is positively scary.

The second thing that intrigues is that Paseo del Acebuche is an out of the way obscure spot (I had to Google it to find exactly where it was). It isn’t the sort of place where anyone would accidentally wander past. How on earth did someone in the council know it was a popular place for gay sex? They should be spending their time and efforts sorting out Puerto’s real problems.

And finally the TIT (This Is Tenerife) of the week award goes to… Education on Tenerife
It was frustrating and annoying to learn about yet another situation on Tenerife where children’s education is under threat because of cuts resulting in students having no teachers to educate them.

Parents in Alcalá displayed the depth of their feelings and frustration by chaining shut the Aponte de Alcalá College as a protest against educational cuts which have led to some students being without a teacher for over a month. Sadly, this isn’t an isolated case. Each week there are reports of schools and colleges on Tenerife having classes without teachers and not so long ago we commented on the fact that employees in one school hadn’t been paid for 5 months.
Messing with education in this manner is simply not acceptable and wishy-washy excuses from the authorities involved only highlight their impotence and unsuitability for the positions they hold.

This week protesters shouting for Canary Island independence in Santa Cruz and La Laguna proclaimed their Guanche heritage. If politicians continue cutting education budgets, there’s a chance that Tenerife’s young people may end up about as educated as their adopted primitive forefathers.

Wind and sea erosion sound like good reasons to worry but in El Médano they take everything in their stride and find the positives. A walk along the wooden slatted promenade in this haven of bare footed surfing dudes soon reveals good reason to trust in nature. The sandstone coves carved by the sea are intimate, welcoming bathing bays where the rough sides even provide makeshift clothes hangers.

Planes fly low overhead on their way to and from Tenerife South airport but even their soft rumble is an accepted part of the soundtrack of life here. As I walk through the wide open plaza the main beach is packed, with areas set aside for a mums and toddlers fitness class and children’s badminton training. Could this be a bit of a squeeze? Hardly, it’s all about adapting; bodies are sunbathing on walls, benches and along the tops of those distinctive coves; there are plenty of special places to go around.

The End Of The Pier?

With such a laid back attitude, the continued threats of the Spanish coastal authority are met with a quiet defiance and a heard-it-all-before shrug. The centre piece of this unusual resort is a slice of old England, a Brighton inspired hotel partly built out onto a pier that juts into the sea. Built in 1963 the three star Hotel Médano epitomises the quirky nature of this town but contravenes a law brought in after its construction that forbids building too close to the shore line. Like the tides that lap around its supports, the arguments have ebbed and flowed over the last decade as the hotel continues to charm and pamper its loyal guests in equal measure. The latest threat has roused a Granadilla council backed petition that sits in the tourist information office almost lost among the leaflets for the popular walks and wind and kite surfing events that attract so many visitors to the area.

The blue flags flutter proudly over the two main beaches, the fifth time they have been awarded the European Union mark of cleanliness and water quality. Families bathe confidently here in the gently sloping shallows watched over by lifeguards at key points.

Further round to the west at the gentle dunes of La Playita the sporty minded flock to enjoy the best wind and kite surfing in Tenerife. Many major championships are held here including the World Kite Surfing Championships from 9th to 15th August.

Even when there are no competitions the skies are dotted with kites and the beach is a vast preparation area as boards are joined to sails and strings. At the back of the beach surfers form an appreciative audience at the bars planning new moves or browsing the shops to make sure their gear is as eye catching as their twists and turns on the waves.

To the east of Hotel Médano there are more strange delights, sculptures lurk in sea wall alcoves feeding the mind while a jumble of cafes and restaurants attend to bodily needs. Again good use is made of all space. Behind the bus stop fishing boats are crammed into a spare corner where a slipway beckons swimmers into the water as the restful snack and drink.
El Médano certainly crams plenty in; the Sansofe 210 festival runs through August with entertainment on most nights in the plaza overlooking the beach. There’s a strange brew of different flavours on this south east tip of Tenerife but they fuse together well to give El Médano a very pleasing taste.