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

Strange Lights in Tenerife’s Sky
According to scientific reports, a recent experiment conducted between the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos on La Palma and the Observatorio del Teide here on Tenerife may have looked to onlookers as though the two Canary Islands were involved in an epic Jedi battle. Over the course of two weeks,  luminescent green lasers were beamed across the 144 kilometres between the two islands as part of an experiment into using ultra-modern technology to track greenhouse gasses in order to better understand the Earth’s atmosphere.
The two observatories were chosen by scientists from Graz in Austria, York and Manchester because there are very few places on Earth where there are two peaks of sufficient height with the necessary facilities and with no obstructions in between.

Reports suggest the green lasers in the sky looked like scenes from Star Wars. However, despite having clear views of the sky between Tenerife and La Palma, the experiment went…well, you could say over our heads.

Ghostly La Laguna & the British Mediums
English speaking mediums seem to be in vogue in Spain at the moment. The bizarre Spanish TV programme Más Allá de la Vida features British medium Anne Germain conveying messages on air from the dead to members of their family. She does this in English which is translated into Spanish by the presenter. Presumably English is not only the business language of the world but also the universal language of the dead as well.

A British medium on Tenerife, Angie Freeland caused a bit of a stir this week by describing in detail the death of Catalina Justiniani at the Casa Lercaro Museum of History and Anthropology in La Laguna. In the 16th century, the young Catalina took her own life after being forced to marry against her will. Because she committed suicide, the Church refused her a burial and she was placed in a well inside the house where her unhappy ghostly figure still wanders the corridors. Allegedly without prior knowledge, Tenerife’s medium Angie Freeland described not only how Catalina died, but also where her body was laid to rest. The first you can easily find out by ‘Googling’, the second is only known to a few people – spooky.

Getting Back to Nature
Nice to hear that in the last year 1200 Cory’s Shearwaters were nursed back to health and returned to the wild thanks to the efforts of the Tenerife Government’s La Tahinilla wildlife recovery centre near La Esperanza. Anyone who spots injured birds on their travels around Tenerife should call 922 445 777 or even 112.

And finally the TIT (This Is Tenerife) of the week award goes to…The Case of the Tres Reyes
You can put postal prices up and tell the people that prices have gone down, you can even ban smoking in bars and the result might be a few grumbles before subservience is resumed…but what you can’t do is mess with the Tres Reyes (the Three Kings) on Tenerife.

This week the Tenerife Government announced that due to the economic crisis, the Tres Reyes would not be arriving, as has been the tradition for years, at CD Tenerife’s Heliodoro football stadium in Santa Cruz. They might as well have lit the blue touch paper and stood back.

Outrage and uproar ensued in the capital and even the promise that some of the money saved (around €40,000) would be put to a new Christmas event, a lavish parade full of surprises, was not enough to quell the discontent.

What followed was a few days of emergency meetings before it was announced on Monday that the necessary financial support had been found and the children (whatever their age) of Santa Cruz would not be denied their traditional Christmas treat.

They won’t arrive by helicopter and it’s unclear whether the entrance fee will still be 1 Euro but the chicharreros can worry about that closer to the time – all that’s important for now is that the Tres Reyes gig at the Heliodoro is back on. Christmas in the capital has not been cancelled.

In their faces and demanding a reaction, the street sculptures of José Abad took their place in the shopping heart of Santa Cruz. Bargain hunters stood and scratched their heads, children prodded and poked them and even dogs were wary of offering them an impromptu shower. This was just the advance party for an invasion of 400 works of art by a La Laguna artist who at 69 years old has unleashed his intricate genius on his own doorstep.

Eros, Formas Y Azar (sexual behaviour, form and change) is the provocative title of a lifetime’s collection being displayed until 28 January at two galleries in Santa Cruz and one in La Laguna. At first glance the sculptures in front of Plaza del Principe look like they have been there for years, the iron used in Josés’s work gives it that stark weather beaten look making it more approachable than a bright shiny new addition. The sexual symbolism in one of the more striking pieces caused people to do a double take, all part of the intended effect.

Intrigued I made the short move into the Espacio Cultural Caja Canarias, the bank’s Obra Social division are supporting the season as they do with many arts projects. The smaller works were no less impressive, and spread over the two floors of the display area the sheer scale of the artists work became apparent. Roughly split into subject zones, the work ranges from building designs through animal studies like Gatos Enfrentados (below) and even a few traditional portraits. Unlike previous exhibitions this one overflows into the downstairs large high ceiling display room where African and baroque works are big, bold and carved in wood in painstaking detail like Retablo de San Blas.

Back upstairs a video room shows an interview with the artist unlocking some of his inspirations. José Abad embraced all the arts including poetry, theatre, and painting but it was sculpture that captured his imagination  and led him to study in Perugia, Italy and Madrid before exhibiting his work across mainland Spain. José pioneered outdoor sculpture in Santa Cruz, Las Palmas, Malaga and Cadiz and there are several trails of work in the Tenerife capital.

Suitably impressed by the first indoor display I thought I would see what the Museo Municipal de Bellas Artes could add to the mix. The pink rooms of the gallery behind Plaza Principe made a contrasting backdrop to the smaller close up earlier works from the mid 1960’s. José’s eye for detail and the odd surprising twist were again in evidence but base materials like wood and metal were once again his starting point for expression.The Sala de Arte Juan Cas in La Laguna completes the gallery based collection and wasn’t joining in the exhibition until a week later but it contains the most up to date works, much of it untitled, and a selection of written charts.

Sculptures with a subdued industrial look hardly sound exciting but José Abad adds plenty of mischief and humour to his work and they are all visually stimulating. Maybe taking them all in at once could lead to artistic indigestion but they are here for a few months so dip in and learn a bit more about a home grown Tenerife talent.

FACT FILE

José Abad – Eros, Formas Y Azar   17 October to 28 January 2012

 Espacio Cultural Caja Canarias, Plaza del Patriotismo, Santa Cruz

Monday to Wednesday 11 to 1 pm, and 5 to 9pm

Thursday and Friday  11 to 1pm, and 5 to 8pm

Saturday 11 to 2pm, and 5 to 8pm

Entry  Caja Canarias clients free, residents 2 euros, others 5 euros

Museo Municipal de Bellas Artes, Calle Jose Murphy, Santa Cruz

Tuesday to Friday  10 to 8 pm

Saturday & Sundays  10 to 3 pm

Closed Mondays

Entry Free

Sala de Arte Juan Cas

Plaza de la Concepcion, La Laguna

Monday to Friday  11 to 1pm and 5 to 9pm

Saturday  11 to 2pm and 5 to 8pm

Entry Free

Who says scientists don’t have a sense of humour? The headquarters of the Canarian Institute of Astrophysics shines bright with 400 of the sharpest minds but their chosen address, Milky Way Road (Calle Via Lactea), had me chuckling. Once inside though it’s cutting edge technology all the way to drive their aim of pure research into the mysteries of the universe.

The glamorous face of the IAC (Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias) can be found at the observatories in Izaña, Tenerife and Roque de Los Muchachos in La Palma but Head Of Research Professor Johan Knapen prefers to push scientific boundaries from the La Laguna HQ. Within a few minutes of starting our tour I was staring up at Quijote, a telescope equipped with a microwave frequency receiver to be added to the  Teide observatory next year. Rotating on its axis every four seconds puts immense strain on the mechanism, just one of many practical problems overcome by the mechanics and engineering staff.

Many working satellites and deep space probes owe their smooth running to the IAC. Model duplicates help to check fitting and compatibility of  intricate attachments before they are added in space, there’s no popping back for spares such a long way from home. Other working problems include extremely low pressure and temperatures down to minus 253 celsius, the instruments are assembled  in special clean rooms, more sterile than any hospital could imagine.

GTC  (Gran Telescopio Canarias) 2,400 metres up in La Palma is the most famous of the IAC telescopes, with  the biggest (10.4m diameter) primary mirror in the world. It went live two years ago. The Canary Islands clear sky played a big part in the founding of the IAC here 30 years ago and the 1988 Canarian Law of the Sky limited artificial glare from industrial and street lighting safeguarding the future for the Grantecan and other star gazers.

Professor Johan from the Netherlands has been at the IAC for five years after studying and working around the world, including a spell at the University of Hertfordshire. After completing his PHD in Tenerife he was drawn to the pure research discipline of La Laguna whose library displays thick volumes of formulae and equations produced monthly. The  400 scientific papers produced a year at the IAC are gratefully devoured by the leading world journals and science magazines

So what does Johan rate as the biggest leaps in recent years?

“The discovery of 600 exo planets circling other stars is very exciting and takes us closer to finding life out there.  La Palma or the COROT satellite pick up potential new exoplanets and the Teide observatory then tests and confirms their status.Scientists are just starting to measure their chemical signatures, and finding signs of oxygen and water is an important future goal.”

Dark energy is another discovery that has stood science on its head. “The universe is expanding faster and faster. We always expected it to slow down like a stone thrown in the air reaching its limit before dropping. Dark energy is the force that defies that theory so we are now trying to understand it.”

The IAC is constantly expanding its own reach and the European Solar Telescope is the next big piece of kit they are working on. It should be ready in 10 years time. The IAC has just ben recognised by the Spanish government as one of the eight best research institutes across all areas of science in Spain. Next time you marvel at the clear night sky above Tenerife, be assured that the truth really is out there and the IAC have all the tools and dedication to unlock the oldest mysteries.

Title: Duo Ebano
Location: Paraninfo, University of La Laguna
Link out: Click here
Description: Piano and clarinet come together in this musical evening. Starts at 8.30pm, all tickets 5 euros. Tickets from Cafeteria in the central building of ULL, Mon to Fri 8am to 8pm or box office in the central building from 6pm on day of concert.
Start Time: 20.30
Date: 2011-10-19

Title: Isora Castilla
Location: Paraninfo, University of La Laguna
Link out: Click here
Description: Tenerife pianist Isora Castilla at the university concert hall.Starts at 8.30pm, all tickets 5 euros. Tickets from Cafeteria in the central building of ULL, Mon to Fri 8am to 8pm or box office in the central building from 6pm on day of concert.
Start Time: 20.30
Date: 2011-10-05

Title: Tango
Location: Paraninfo, University La Laguna
Link out: Click here
Description: The University concert hall presents a feast of Tango with 5 dancers, 3 musicians and a narrator. Starts at 8.30 pm and all tickets are 10 euros. Tickets from Cafeteria in the central building of ULL, Mon to Fri 8am to 8pm or box office in the central building from 6pm on day of concert.

 
Start Time: 20.30
Date: 2011-10-15

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

A Helping Hand for Nature
Last week a green turtle was happily reunited with the sea following 30 days of caring recuperation at the El Centro de Recuperación de Fauna Silvestre in La Laguna. The turtle’s shell had been badly damaged by a boat’s propeller, but the unsung heroes at the centre nursed the shell-shocked creature back to full recovery. Last year a total of 334 mammals, birds and reptiles enjoyed a bit of R&R at the centre before being released back into their natural habitat. So flap those wings, slap those flippers and clap those scaly claws together in a big round of applause for some real Tenerife heroes of nature.

Are All Inclusive Holidays Taking Over Tenerife?
The answer, according to statistics released by the Tenerife Government is no…not yet anyway. Figures relating to visitors staying in Tenerife in 2010 show that staying half-board is still the most popular choice with visitors (27.4%) with accommodation-only bookings a close second at 25.6%. However, all-inclusive is now the third choice with 18% of all visitors opting for a coloured wristband and food and drink on tap. The remaining 29% chose bed & breakfast, full board or flight only – the latter presumably disappearing off the accommodation map by staying in a private apartment, with a mate, or dossing in a tent on the beach.

Santa Cruz Police Are Not Following Any Leads
In some ways it’s nice to know that on Tenerife, big brother is not watching you…even when presented with the perfect tools to do so. The police in Santa Cruz showed that they were social media savvy recently when they launched a Twitter account. The idea is that they can keep citizens up to date with what’s happing re police related matters in Tenerife’s capital. It’s a nice idea and so far they’ve got over 350 followers on Twitter. The amount of people the Santa Cruz police are following on Twitter is a big fat zero. What’s amusing – to us at TM anyway – is that basically, everyone can keep an eye on what the police are up to…but as they aren’t following anybody, they don’t really seem interested in what anyone else is up to. Only in Tenerife.

Did the Earth Move for You?
An earthquake measuring 3.4 on the Richter scale that lasted around four seconds rattled Gran Canaria yesterday. It was only considered a minor tremor and nothing to worry about by the National Geographic Institute monitoring seismic activity but it was enough to have some people heading to the door-frames. It isn’t the only earthquake to be registered in the Canary Islands of late. El Hierro has been recording regular activity for weeks with up to 22 very minor earthquakes being recorded in the one day.

However, before anyone starts heading for the hills, the seismic activity has been taking place way, way below the surface and scientists say this sort of activity can be normal in volcanic areas as magma and energy builds up and dissipates many miles underground. Some places around the world, like parts of Hawaii, live with constant volcanic activity…which is reassuring to know.

And finally the TIT (This Is Tenerife) of the week award goes to…Tenerife’s politicians in general for the second week in a row…but this time they’re joined by Tenerife businesses – in general of course

What’s to be done with Tenerife? As a holiday destination it ranks as one of the best in the world, but if it was a business the managers would have been sacked and replaced a long, long time ago. 500 years ago it was a frontier society and sometimes it feels as though not a lot has changed.

Many people who reside on Tenerife will no doubt have heard all too often tales of people not being paid for the work they’ve done. Avoiding paying people what they’re owed seems to be endemic in Tenerife.
When you look at the facts, it’s easy to understand why. It isn’t just ‘dodgy’ businesses that are guilty. Recently we’ve heard of CD Tenerife football players going without their wages and of hotel workers not being paid their salaries for months.

The problem is how can a society change its ways when those at the top of the chain are guiltiest of all? There are stories week after week in the Spanish press of councils not paying their bills. The new mayor in Victoria discovered this week that the previous incumbent has left a shocking 700 unpaid bills as a legacy…and the municipality’s budget is all but already spent. This lack of good business practice ripples all the way down the line.

When it comes to leading by example, some of Tenerife’s politicians are setting an absolutely shocking one.

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

A Typically Tenerife Scandal
If we criticise more than we praise in our Tenerife news of the week round-up it’s because of  situations such as the following. Tenerife’s jewel in the crown beach of Las Teresitas has had an unsightly blemish on its face for the past few years. The horrible concrete skeleton dubbed ‘el mamotreto’ (the behemoth or monstrosity) has been a blot on the landscape since 2007. The fact that it exists at all is alleged to be as a result of shameful tales of corruption and palms being greased. But this summer should be its last behind the golden sands as it is being torn down once and for all. And the cost for the building that never was and definitely never should have been? 6.8 million euros. Scandalous is far too passive a word for this débâcle.

Ticket Prices on the Tram and Buses Rise
The price of travelling on TITSA and the tram went up by 5 cents this week so that a single journey in the metropolitan area now costs €1.35 and a return €2.50. We all know that price hikes  are inevitable but what is unacceptable is that nobody was told about it beforehand. Commuters were suddenly hit with the increase when they caught the bus or tram to work on Monday morning. The organisation responsible, MTSA, blamed a shortage of time between the decision to raise prices being made. A shortage of time? That makes it sound like it was nothing to do with them. They also quoted technical difficulties – which translated into layman’s language means the person responsible for publicising this sort of information simply forgot to tell anyone.

Good News Bad News for Puerto de la Cruz
…Or how to spin a story. It was handshakes and back slapping all round as the Tenerife Government and the mayor of Puerto de la Cruz announced that the 4th European Police and Firemen’s games to be held on Tenerife from 8th to 15th July 2012 will bring an extra 20,000 visitors to Tenerife’s first tourist resort. Holding the games on Tenerife is excellent news as it has international appeal, attracting participants from the United States, Canada and Dubai as well as from Spain. The irony is that the events will probably mainly be held in La Laguna and Santa Cruz as Puerto doesn’t have a suitable sports stadium. Plans were in place to build one and European funds had been agreed…but these were squashed following a motion of censure and a change of local government a couple of years ago when the current mayor re-took hold of the political reigns.

Tenerife’s Pilgrims
Tens of thousands of people will take to the roads and forest trails this week to make the annual pilgrimage to honour the Virgen de Candelaria in the town of the same name. Despite it being prohibited, hundreds of people will use the TF1 as a direct route to get to their destination so take extra care if driving between Santa Cruz and the south of Tenerife over the next few days especially after dark.

Third World Canary Islands
Sometimes we joke that business practices and politics in Tenerife can be more like the third world than Europe. However, a recent survey into incomes on the islands by the Canarian Institute of Statistics shocked by revealing that the comparisons might not be as big a joke as we thought. There  are over 100,000 households on the islands trying to survive on earnings of less than €350 a month. Nearly 16,000 of these living hand to mouth on earnings of under €180. Nearly another 100,000 exist on an income of between 600 and 780 per month. It is staggering and, when you consider the number of flash 4x4s that are to be seen on Tenerife’s roads, reveals a quite disturbing gap between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’ on our holiday paradise island.

Lost on Tenerife
There are some doubts surrounding the accuracy of this report but it made us smile so we thought we’d share it anyway. Concerns about the safety of a para-glider who had been missing overnight  after taking to the skies over the Anaga Mountains were allayed when he was found, alive but confused, in…Adeje. Clearly didn’t have the sat-nav engaged.

Four Star La Laguna
Congratulations to the Hotel Niveria in La Laguna which was awarded 4 star status last week. The old quarter of La Laguna is one of Tenerife’s most picturesque urban areas and a UNESCO World Heritage Site and as such deserves more visitors. Having a 4 star hotel shouldn’t harm that cause.

And finally the TIT (This Is Tenerife) of the week award goes to…Proposals to extend the North Airport.
Unbelievable though it may seem, there have been proposals to extend Tenerife’s north airport. We say unbelievable for a number of reasons. The first being that up to 3000 residents would be affected by the extension for the sake of three extra flights a day. But the main reason that it seems a folly is that Los Rodeos is in about the worst possible location for an airport you could choose. It sits at a level exactly where thick cloud forms and subsequently week after week flights are cancelled or re-routed to Tenerife Sur. Ironically on the same day as the news report about the proposed extension there were three cancellations and twelve diverted flights. That makes a total of fifteen flights that didn’t actually make it to Los Rodeos on one day.  And the extension would allow how many extra flights a day? Someone can’t do their maths. Thankfully the Tenerife Government can and it looks as though the proposal has been vetoed for the time being.

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

Speed Limits to Return to 120 km/h
This week the Spanish Government decided to end the temporary reduction regarding speed limits on the country’s motorways. A reduced 110 km/h limit was introduced in March in an attempt to save fuel costs caused by unrest and rising oil prices in the Middle East. With the price of oil now much lower than in March and indications that it will continue to fall, the government felt that there was no justification in continuing with a policy that had been viewed by many as flawed in the first place. The decision to revert to 120km/h from 1st July was met with approval by auto-mobile associations and with disappointment by environmental groups who believed that the lower limit had helped save fuel and reduce CO2 emissions. However, there are so many claims and counter claims, that it’s almost impossible to tell if the exercise was a complete folly or not.

La Laguna – Drawing in Visitors Again
Signs that more and more visitors to Tenerife are demonstrating a wider interest in the island as a whole were reinforced by La Laguna Council’s claims that statistical evidence show a marked increase in visitors to the area. If the trend continues, visitors to the UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2011 should exceed all previous years’ figures. The former capital of Tenerife, alongside Santa Cruz, is home to the greatest concentration of the island’s residents, yet is still somewhat off the beaten tourist trail. Ironically there were more hotels in the city 150 years ago that there are now.

New Ferry Route to Fuerteventura
Hopping between the Canary Islands is about to be made a little bit easier with the introduction of a new ferry route linking Santa Cruz de Tenerife with Fuerteventura. The Transmediterránea ferry route begins on the 30th June and sails from Santa Cruz to Las Palmas in Gran Canaria and then on to Morro Jable in Fuerteventura. Prices are around a very reasonable €20 return for residents, but there’s a down side; the crossing takes nearly 9 hours.

And finally the TIT (This Is Tenerife) of the week award goes to…The Allocation of FM Licences in the Canary Islands
The Government’s approach to awarding licences to radio stations has angered and bewildered a number of popular Tenerife radio stations.

As we understand it, no English language radio station on Tenerife has been awarded a licence to broadcast, prompting accusations that the Canarian Government was discriminating against foreign residents and that some political parties had broken pre-election promises.

Some Canarian radio stations, who’d come under the same cosh, saw things from a different angle, claiming that many local radio stations, irrespective of nationality, had been discriminated against. If the information reported in the Spanish press is correct, it would seem to back up this position.
Out of 156 frequencies only 38% were awarded to Canary based stations. Most were awarded to what the Spanish press referred to as ‘foreign’ companies, many of whom had no previous track record of working in the Canary Islands. What ‘foreign’ means is unclear, but it definitely isn’t English or German speaking stations on Tenerife.

If it turns out that there won’t be any English language stations broadcasting on Tenerife it does beg the question how much importance do the current politicians in power put on the needs of Tenerife’s sizeable English speaking ex-pat population?

Title: Gran Circo Mundial
Location: La Laguna
Description: After wowing the south the circus moves up north to the site next to Makro. This circus does have animals performing.
Start Date: 2011-06-09
End Date: 2011-06-19