Title: Three Kings West Coast Tour
Location: Arguayo to Los Gigantes
Description: Meet the busiest Three Kings in Tenerife. Starting in Arguayo at 5.30pm, calling at Las Manchas 6.10pm, Santiago del Teide 6.15pm, Valle de Arriba 6.15pm, El Molledo & El Retamar 6.30pm, Tamaimo & La Caldera 7pm, Playa de la Arena, Puerto Santiago, Los Gigantes 8pm. At Los Gigantes church plaza the Three Kings will take to the stage and hand out presents. Timings are of course very flexible.
Date: 2012-01-05

Title: New Years Dance
Location: Los Gigantes Church Plaza
Description: Welcome the New Year in musical style starting with Old Dogs, New Tricks at 9pm, followed by the orchestra Falo y Punto Tres, and the Arguayo Band. dancing will gon on well into the early hours.
Start Time: 21.00
Date: 2011-12-31

Title: Christmas Street Band
Location: Puerto Santiago & Los Gigantes
Description: Music in the streets starting in Puerto Santiago from 7.15pm and in Los Gigantes from 8pm.
Date: 2011-12-28

Title: Christmas Concert
Location: Los Gigantes Church Plaza
Description: It’s all happening at the plaza. The Santiago del Teide Lions Club will be turning on their christmas tree lights, there’s music and dancing galore from local culture and folklore groups, and maybe a mince pie or two and some mulled wine. Starts at 7.30pm.
Start Time: 19.30
Date: 2011-12-18

Title: Night Of Carols
Location: Los Gigantes Church Plaza
Description: Join in with the Santiago del Teide School of Folklore. Starts at 7pm.
Start Time: 19.00
Date: 2011-12-15

I’m John Debnam and I’ve been the tennis coach at the Los Gigantes Tennis Centre since 1986.
Tenerife has one of the best, year round climates in Europe for tennis players coming here on holiday and for those who live here.

For a small island the tennis here is pretty good and although we are in Spain, the variety of nationalities playing here is amazing. For example, our club in Los Gigantes is comprised of players from Spain, England, Germany, Belgium, South Africa, Italy, Uruguay and Argentina.

No matter where you live on the island, there will be a club and a coach near you and over the coming weeks I’m going to be reporting on:

• upcoming tournaments
• tips to help improve your game
• where to find your nearest Tenerife tennis club

But to finish today I thought this may be of interest to any of you from the Costa Del Silencio area.
Last weekend was the Palacio De Isora Alcalá tennis competition and the losing finalist in the over 50/55 competition was Michel Cleemput who runs the Happy Days Tennis and Bowls Club.

I spoke to Michel after the presentation and he told me that after being on Tenerife for some time now, this was his first singles tennis trophy, at the age of 61.
Well done Michel, and I think you give us all a bit of hope, whatever our ages.

Have fun!
JTC

Tenerife’s most popular walk, the Barranco Del Infierno, hung up its hiking boots and closed its gates to the public 18 months ago, thus depriving the south of its most impressive walk and Tenerife of a splendid barranco (ravine). Luckily, in my opinion it wasn’t the best barranco on the island – that title belongs to Masca.

This month we stop mourning the manicured splendour of Adeje and head instead to the Jurassic jewel of Masca.

Why this way?
There’s a reason why Masca is the second most visited place on Tenerife and it’s the same reason that Teide National Park is first on that list – it’s quite simply breathtaking.
Few places on the planet can boast such a dramatic setting as Masca, nestling in its fertile blanket at the confluence of two gorges beneath the colossal peaks of the Teno Mountain Range.

Thanks to the daily influx of visitors, a hamlet that would otherwise have slipped under the cloak of invisibility as easier ways to make a living attracted its ageing population away from the back breaking terraces and into the tourist resorts, now offers an authentic taste of rural Tenerife. In the restaurants you can enjoy such home made delights as cactus ice cream, cactus lemonade, smoked goat’s cheeses and mojos made from every fruit growing in the village.

If you really want to have your cake and eat it, visit early in the morning, late in the afternoon or on Fridays and Sundays to avoid the majority of the tour groups and experience the solitude and tranquillity of Tenerife’s Shangri-La.

Hike this way
From a signpost in the lower village, a path descends the side of the ravine, plunging you ever deeper into the bowels of the earth and giving your thighs a sneak preview of the trials to come, until you reach the narrow path that twists and turns its way towards the sea.

Scrambling over rockfalls, constantly scanning the near horizon for white markers on rocks and small piles of stones to keep you on the right track, the terrain morphs from arid to lush as you traverse a ravine floor untouched by sunlight. Skirting crystal creeks that gently cascade over elephant grey rocks into emerald basins and trekking, Hobbit-like, along the foot of Tolkien-esque cliffs, the barranco walls grow ever taller and close in overhead as you travel deeper and deeper into this endless lost world.

Eventually, the sound of waves crashing on the rocky shore reaches your ears and after the best part of three hours you emerge, footsore and thigh weary, beneath the tamarisk trees onto Masca beach to revel in the sunlight and dip your relieved toes into the surf. For most people, this is the end of the trek as they board the little boat that takes them to Los Gigantes and a Dorada reward.
For car drivers and masochists, the trail back up Masca Barranco is not only as arduous the other way, it’s also unrelentingly uphill.

Stroll this way
Thousands of visitors descend on Masca village every day of the week and very few of them take on the Indiana Jones mantle of the barranco walk. Instead, paths wind their way through the hamlet, alongside terraces filled with fruit trees and giant agave plants to the charismatic little museum of El Lomo de Masca where you can get a glimpse of the harsh reality of farming life in this paradise before the construction of the road from Santiago del Teide to Buenavista in the 1970s which brought the outside world and tourism.

A sloping stroll to the very end of the path at the bottom of the village takes you to a circular cul-de-sac where you can sit and look back over the palm groves of the village above which the daunting bulk of Roque Tarucho looms. Guanche legend held that the rock had to be bound with a reed rope each year to prevent it from falling on the village. It’s a tradition that remains in place today and it seems to have worked…so far.

My way

Peaks: For me, there is nowhere else on Tenerife to match the Jurassic drama of Masca Barranco. It really feels as if you’re the first person to discover this incredible landscape, tucked so deeply away from the view of all those day trippers.

Troughs: The down side for me is that unless you go with a tour group or have two cars, one parked at Los Gigantes, you have to face the return trek and your thighs will be bitching at you for days afterwards.

My view: 4 Stars – A truly unique location which tests the nerves and soothes the senses in equal measure.

Carnival on Tenerife hit top gear at the weekend. Although the opening round of parties are over, some of the most popular carnival events are still to come.

There are loads of carnival events on Tenerife to look out for over the next few weeks. So anyone with a yen to slip into the fishnets and little black number (men only on this occasion), really vamp it up at an unforgettable open air party or even simply enjoy the spectacle of a colourful carnival parade should take a note of the dates in our Carnival Agenda.

Carnival on Tenerife, Güímar

Güímar has the best carnival poster on Tenerife this year and enough to warrant a visit the town of the mysterious pyramids for their celebrations.

Main Dates: 11th to 26th March. More Information Here

Carnival on Tenerife, La Laguna

Not a lot of tourists seek out this carnaval, or many fiestas in the former capital city of San Cristóbal de La Laguna even though they hold some of the biggest parties there.

Main Dates: Between 5th and 12th March. More Information Here

Carnival on Tenerife, La Orotava

With a theme of the music from the 70s and 80s La Orotava could be a hippy and new romantic haven during carnival.

Main Dates: From 5th to 12th March. More Information Here

Carnival on Tenerife, Los Cristianos

Despite the carnival poster howler, the circus themed Los Cristianos carnival should be a lot of fun.

Main Dates: 25th to 28th March. More Information Here

Carnival on Tenerife, Los Gigantes

One of the best carnivals in south Tenerife, Los Gigantes has a Latino theme this year.

Main Dates: 13th to 21st March. More Information Here

Carnival on Tenerife, Puerto de la Cruz

Not quite as big as Santa Cruz, but carnival in El Puerto involves tens of thousands of people and rocking street parties.

Main Dates: Between 3rd and 12th March. More Information Here

Carnival in Santa Cruz

The biggest, brashest and most exuberant celebrations are held in Tenerife’s capital city, Santa Cruz.

Main Dates: Carnival really hits its stride in Santa Cruz between 2nd and 13th March. More Information Here

One of the best carnivals in south Tenerife, Los Gigantes has a Latino theme this year.

Main Dates: 13th to 21st March

Main Events
Fiesta Blanca Latina: Batukada performances and Latino bands on Sunday 13th March
Time: From Midday
Location: Plaza Buganvilla

Election of the Carnaval Queen and Gala: Thursday 17th March
Time: 9pm
Location: Plaza Buganvilla

Children’s Parade and Grand Ball: Saturday 19th March
Time: From 5pm
Location: Plaza Buganvilla

Closing Parade: Coso Apoteosis followed by masked ball takes place on Sunday 20th March
Time: From 5pm
Location: From La Pescadora roundabout to Plaza Buganvilla.

Burial of the Sardine followed by Widows’ Ball: Monday 21st March
Time: 9pm
Location: From the start of the village to the Hotel Los Gigantes.

Dangling from coils of rope, workmen in hard hats drilled into the cliff face as curious tourists pressed to see through the metal fence sealing off Los Guios beach in Los Gigantes on Tenerife’s west coast. It looked like a military assault course but it is preparation for the planned Easter re-opening of this most beautiful and iconic beach, closed after 2 sun bathers were killed in November 2009 by a rock slide.

Clasped in the palm of the giant cliffs that give Los Gigantes its name, the beach owed much of its popularity to the power and splendour of the imposing cliff face. The black volcanic sand was well populated on the afternoon of All Saints Day, 1 November 2009 when a 40 metre stretch of cliff crumbled sending down a cascade of rocks. Despite the best efforts of emergency services and volunteers (read our eye witness account) local lady Vanesa Arias and holiday maker Marion O’Hara died.
It’s been an emotional 15 months for the tight knit community – inquests, recriminations and a still to be resolved court case against the local mayor and 2 staff, have all kept the wounds raw. Finally after council battles with the coastal authority for permission and funding, it all looks on course to welcome Easter holiday makers back onto the sand.
Santiago del Teide council have a 500,000 euro budget for the work that started a month ago. It’s tricky stuff holding back the forces of nature but a team of experts have swung into action. Parts of the cliff have been sprayed with liquid cement and iron support poles have been driven into the cliff face at points 4 and 9 metres high to further strengthen it. Special meshing shipped in from Santander has been draped over the rocks to contain any small trickles of rock and dust.

The workmen will have been too busy to appreciate the views from their lofty perches but even on the slightly cloudy day of my visit the marina just behind the beach was bobbing with activity and the island of La Gomera loomed large in the distance. A cage lowered from a crane allowed the leverage to power poles into the sturdy rock, the abundant local bird life must have found it all very bizarre but they weren’t staying too far away.

There are plans to extend the beach further along the cliff face once funding is found to ensure that area too is suitably re-enforced. In my days on the west coast Los Guios beach was a regular swimming haunt of mine, it will be good to see it teaming with activity again. There will always be painful memories of the tragic rock fall but hopefully the pleasure given to local families and tourists once again enjoying nature’s bounty will be a fitting memorial.