Tenerife Magazine’s round up of some of the most interesting news stories of the week in Tenerife.
What Does One of Britain’s Top Travel Editors Think of The Canary Islands?
Not a lot it seems. In response to a tweet stating that the editor of Saga, Emma Soames, thinks Tenerife is only good for getting a tan, Jane Knight, travel editor of The Times, responded on the social media platform Twitter – ‘I just don’t get the canaries. Give me the balearics any day’.
Each to their own and all that but when it was suggested she should try outside of the resorts she came back with ‘…have been outside resorts and not impressed.’
How far outside of the resorts she ventured we don’t know for sure but there was a Jane Knight who co-wrote an article about the Canary Islands in The Guardian a few years ago that included this statement: ‘If escaping the well-worn tourist trails of Tenerife is your aim you can’t get further away than this stunningly positioned lodge-style parador which is over 2,000 metres above sea level.’
Sorry Jane but a visit to the parador in Teide National Park, the most visited spot on Tenerife, isn’t really what we’d consider escaping the well-worn tourist trails.
Always Pointing the Finger at Others
Some news reports this week blamed the authorities in Arona for not warning bathers about a threat of stinging jellyfish in the sea near Los Cristianos. It’s claimed that local fisherman knew about the threat of jellyfish invasion for weeks before it happened but no warning was raised by the local council. There are two things about this that makes the criticism smack of political shenanigans. The first is that if local fishermen knew about it, then so did every other Canario in Los Cristianos – word of mouth is still one of the main ways news travel about this island. Secondly, although there is now a warning flag in place, there is always the danger of meeting something in the sea that will bite you, sting you or stick spines in the soles of your feet. People shouldn’t have to be told that it’s sensible to keep an eye on what’s sharing the water with them whatever the situation. If you wish for a nanny state, you run the risk of creating a situation where people are as dependant as babies.
TV Watching in the Canary Islands
There are a couple of reasons why it might not come as a surprise to learn that people in The Canary Islands watch the least hours of television in the whole of Spain, averaging just under 4 hours a day (239 minutes). The first is obviously the weather. Who wants to spend their time indoors when you’ve got a climate like this? The second is Canarian TV – it’s not very good (anyone who claims otherwise hasn’t seen quality TV in a long, long time) and doing anything else is preferable. But maybe that’s a chicken and egg situation; why invest in good television if people aren’t watching it? Aragón came in as the Spanish province where people have the squarest eyes with 275 minutes a day. How do Canarian TV habits compare to the UK? You might think it would be a lot less but stats claim that UK viewers only watch 4 hours 2 minutes on average per day… or so they say.
Not Much of a Sea Defence
Poor little San Andrés. Nearly every time there are weather alerts for high tides and wild seas, the little fishing village outside of Santa Cruz finds its promenade, and the businesses that line it, flooded. Following serious flooding in September last year, the sea wall and defences have been strengthened to try to prevent this happening again. Last weekend’s weather alert was the first test… and it failed. Although the waves were nowhere near as high as last September’s, they still breached the sea wall reaching as far as the fort on the edge of the town. Residents are concerned that when really high tides arrive the new defences will be next to useless. The people responsible for designing the new defences were unable to comment as they were too busy building chocolate fire-guards.
And finally the TIT (This Is Tenerife) of the week award goes to… Tenerife Magazine
Snow was forecast for Mount Teide this week and the summit was hidden behind thick cloud as temperatures dropped. So when someone posted on Facebook a spectacular picture taken from Playa de las Canteras on Gran Canaria of the snow clad peak of Teide we jumped on it and posted the picture on Tenerife Magazine’s Facebook wall. It wasn’t long before a few people pointed out that there wasn’t actually any snow on Teide. A quick check of webcams confirmed that Teide was indeed snow-less. We expected snow and someone gave us evidence… false though it turned out to be. Why anyone would want to post a picture of Teide in snow and claim it was taken that day when it clearly wasn’t is a mystery. But we did note that the original poster was a sociology professor at La Laguna so maybe it was a sociological experiment. If only they’d waited a week, then Mount Teide might actually look like that.
Tenerife Magazine’s round up of some of the most interesting news stories of the week in Tenerife.
The Anniversary of Santa Cruz as Capital of the Canary Islands
Ignore the fact that 190 years isn’t exactly a landmark number to celebrate. Ignore the fact that although the anniversary was celebrated on Monday, the date King Fernando VII decreed Santa Cruz de Tenerife to be capital of the Canary Islands was the 27th January 1822. What is really interesting is the politician who is recognised as being the driving force behind it happening – José Murphy. Tenerife increasingly looks to its Guanche past for its pride and character yet it was a son of two Dubliners who was responsible for Santa Cruz achieving status in the eyes of Spain.
Progress at Last for Las Gaviotas Beach
It is welcome news to hear that Santa Cruz council have allocated €400,000 to make the naturist beach of Las Gaviotas safe again for sunbathers. The beach has been closed to the public since December 2010, so the funding allocation is a step in the right direction. Now comes the bureaucracy and contracting process to determine who carries out the work. No dates have been suggested for when it’s expected to re-open but with any luck lets hope that by the summer it’ll be more than just the local fisherman on the rocks who’ll be able to get their tackle out at Las Gaviotas.
Spain Enters a Period of Drought
Those people who know Tenerife well will have registered that there has been a lack of rain so far this winter. There have been only a couple of days when there has been anything close to decent rain with little difference between south and north coasts. Whilst an absence of rain is what we all want when we take a holiday, it is potentially disastrous for the island. Scientists acknowledged this week that the pattern of a dry autumn (30% less rainfall than normal) followed by an equally dry December and January that has occurred across Spain is a rare and worrying combination. The conditions have also resulted in a lack of snow on the mountains; another valued source of water when spring arrives. Mount Teide has been noticeably devoid of the white stuff so far this winter. The situation isn’t critical yet but if the seasonal February/March rains don’t fall it could be. Still, it’s Carnaval in a couple of weeks and we all know what that means… there will definitely be a downpour of monsoon proportions.
Where Does a Prince Spend His Birthday?
On an island that is still experiencing an undersea volcanic eruption apparently. Spain’s Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia spent the Prince’s 44th birthday meeting with the people who were most affected by the eruption off the coast at La Restinga on Tenerife’s neighbour, El Hierro. Thankfully the volcanic eruption behaved itself during Prince Felipe’s visit; this was one birthday party that no-one wanted to go off with a bang.
And finally the TIT (This Is Tenerife) of the week award goes to…The University Hospital of the Canary Islands (HUC)
This week the HUC managed to ‘misplace’ a patient for 11 hours. Worse, not only did they misplace the patient, a woman suffering from mental health problems and a brain tumour, they informed the patient’s relatives that she had actually left the hospital. The woman’s family, being seriously concerned for her safety, reported her disappearance to the police who advised taxis, buses and trams in the area to be on the lookout for a confused woman wearing a hospital gown. Meanwhile the woman’s sister scoured the hospital whilst another family member stood watch at the hospital entrance… but with no success.
Eleven anxious hours later the family received a phone call to inform them that the woman had been found sitting in a wheelchair in Emergencies where, it was claimed, she had been all the time. It’s a claim that the woman’s sister, having searched the hospital’s public areas, disputes. HUC has admitted that there was a mix up in information between different departments in the hospital which led to confusion to her whereabouts although they still insist she was never actually ‘missing’. Could someone let us know the Canarian word for ‘not knowing where someone is’ because it’s clearly very different from the English one.
Tenerife Magazine’s round up of some of the most interesting news stories of the week in Tenerife.
Tenerife – One of the Top Five Places to Live in the World
This week Tenerife, or Santa Cruz at least, was chosen by the Guardian Newspaper as one of the five best places to live in the world. Tenerife’s capital was described as being ‘..Tenerife. But not that Tenerife. ‘ and ‘sexily exotic’. The other destinations on the list were Portland, Oregon; St Pauli, Hamburg; Maui, Hawaii and Cihangir in Istanbul.
The travel article was light-hearted but some readers took it too seriously and reacted with quite venomous comments. Santa Cruz escaped lightly with only a few barbed remarks about its inclusion.
“Devoid of real charm, decent food and culture…” wrote one, whilst another classed it as “…a sprawling shanty town overshadowed by a massive CEPSA refinery…”. Interestingly both comments were from people who actually lived in La Laguna, so no bias there. However, the person who commented “…this city is so far away to be in a 5 best places to live…” actually lives in Santa Cruz (clearly time they relocated).
Whether Santa Cruz is one of the five best places in the world to live is purely subjective but it is a great little city with a lot going for it. The article was positive and different from the usual Tenerife stories that normally make it into the UK travel press. But isn’t it strange that all of the detractors actually came from people who live or have lived on Tenerife? With friends like that…
Bruce Springsteen Plays the Canary Islands…Or Not?
There have been reports over the last week about Bruce Springsteen performing on neighbouring Gran Canaria on 15th May. Before anyone books plane tickets to hop across to Las Palmas, it’s worth waiting for the deal to be done and dusted. The Boss’s gig has not been officially confirmed yet according to his publicists. At present there are no dates for the Las Palmas concert on Bruce Springsteen’s official website and there are no tickets on sale. Negotiations are still proceeding for the concert to take place. Watch this space.
Throwing Light on Electricity Bills on Tenerife
After a constant stream of complaints since monthly electricity bills were introduced in Spain in 2008, the new Spanish Government are re-introducing bi-monthly bills in a bid to ensure that consumers ‘pay only what they use’. ‘Only what they use’ – What the hell have we been paying for the last three years? Basically there has been complaint after complaint due to incorrect charges caused by the ‘complexity’ of the monthly billing system – i.e. it was a complete shambles.
Delays on the Ring Road
The controversial ring road linking Costa Adeje with Santiago del Teide is in the news again with latest reports estimating that it will be 2013 before the road is ready; almost three and a half years behind schedule. As it happens the current road up through the mountains is a much nicer drive anyway, so no great hardship for those amongst us who actually enjoy driving on real country roads.
Tenerife Beach to Re-Open
It might not be well known to visitors to Tenerife but the long black sand beach of Playa de la Arena in Tacoronte is a popular R&R spot with locals in the area. Like many beaches backed by cliffs on Tenerife it has been closed because of fear of falling rocks whilst safety measures have been introduced. Playa de la Arena’s closure isn’t as long as some on the island and when it opens again in mid February it will only have been closed for five months.
Something for the Weekend?
This weekend is a big one for Tenerife’s animals with San Abad fiestas in their honour taking place across the north of the island. It’s appropriate that the Neotropico Foundation Rescue Centre has chosen Saturday, 28th January as the date for releasing two rehabilitated loggerhead turtles back into the briny where they belong. The release of the turtles will take place at Playa de la Nea in Radazul at around 11am.
And finally the TIT (This Is Tenerife) of the week award goes to…Police/Politician Relations
Relations between the police and the mayor of Buenavista del Norte are going through a sticky patch after a union official claimed the mayor had suggested on Facebook that four officers who all fell ill over the same weekend may have not been as sick as they claimed. The weekend in question was Tres Reyes (three kings); a holiday period that appears to be such a bad one for sickness that they should name a virus after it – Tres Reyes Syndrome perhaps. Thankfully Tres Reyes Syndrome doesn’t normally last long and clears up completely after Tres Reyes is over.
This breakdown in police/politicians relations isn’t quite as serious as the one between a senior politician from neighbouring La Gomera who, after an ‘altercation’ involving the police outside a nightclub in Madrid was arrested on the charge of assaulting law enforcement officers. The politician has since resigned from his position because of the incident. Probably wise; getting into a scuffle with police in Spain’s capital is probably not the smartest way to act as an ambassador for La Gomera on the mainland.
Tenerife Magazine’s round up of some of the most interesting news stories of the week in Tenerife.
A Record Breaking Year
Despite newspapers reporting the doom and gloom of a seemingly never-ending economic crisis, The Canary Islands’ airports enjoyed a record-breaking year in terms of passengers passing through them. 35 million people touched down or took off from an airport on one of the islands, the highest figure in the history of air travel in the archipelago. The biggest winner was Fuerteventura which saw an 18.6% increase in passengers with Tenerife South following closely behind with a 17.6% increase. The only Canarian airport that registered a decrease was poor little El Hierro’s…no surprise considering the threat of volcanic eruption. With that situation stabilising, the island should see a significant change this year.
In terms of numbers, Gran Canaria came out top with 10.5 million passengers, although Tenerife Spanish language newspapers were quick to point out that if you added the figures for Tenerife’s two airports together (8.6 million in Tenerife and 4.1 in Tenerife Norte), it came to 12.7 million for Tenerife; much more than Gran Canaria which is clearly the most important piece of news of all.
La Orotava – A Touchy, Feely Town
In a bid to encourage visitors to really get a feel for the town, La Orotava council have produced a small guide whose aim is to encourage visitors to experience ‘los cinco sentidos’ – the five senses. Oddly the guide, which isn’t free but only costs 0.50 cents, has six sections; Mirame (look) which focusses on museums and urban landscapes; Tócame (touch) which concentrates on architecture; Huéleme (smell) about the gofio mills; Escúchame (listen) about churches and religious sites (the listen part is presumably church bells); Saboréame (taste) obviously aimed at wine and gastronomy and the sixth sense (for all those mediums out there), Intúyeme (Intuition?) about discovering the town’s gardens and squares. 50,000 copies of the guide have published – more than enough for the 40,000 visitors to La Orotava’s tourist offices last year. Hold on a minute…50,000 guides for 40,000 visitors? A guide about ‘the five senses’ that actually lists six? Maybe they need to add a new section called ‘count me’.
A Plague in El Médano
The sea at the main beach in El Médano was not the place to be this week as the local council restricted access due to a plague of jellyfish (medusas in Spanish, which is rather mythical). At least seven people had to be treated for stings. If you happen to be in the vicinity when someone is stung by a jellyfish, scientists actually advise against doing what Joey did in Friends all those years ago and urinating on the victim. A) it’s anti-social and B) some scientists claim it might even aggravate the sting. Best course of action is to run to the nearest restaurant, grab a bottle of vinegar and wash the infected area with that.
The North Hospital Nearly Ready to Open
It’s good news, bad news time again on Tenerife. The good news is that the new north hospital near Icod de los Vinos will open on 31st March. The bad news is that it will only be able to provide a restricted emergency service. The potentially worse news is that there are still issues over funding and staffing, with possible trouble brewing after it was suggested that medical staff from other facilities were drafted in to meet the deadline for opening. Robbing Peter to pay Paul simply isn’t a solution.
And finally the TIT (This Is Tenerife) of the week award goes to…Arona
The Blue Flag status of the beaches in one of Tenerife’s main tourist areas, Arona (which includes Playa de las Américas, Los Cristianos, Las Galletas, Costa del Silencio, Palm Mar) could be in jeopardy according to opposition politicians who claim that ‘disastrous management’ on the part of the council has led to the municipality losing its maritime rescue service.
The contract to carry out the role of patrolling the coast, sea rescues and the management of bathing facilities for people with disabilities ended in November…but no action has yet been taken to renegotiate a new contract by the council according to opposition sources who claim this should have been done and dusted by June 2011.
It seems incredible that something as important to tourism in an area that has been one of the most popular with visitors to Tenerife for over 40 years could be simply overlooked. But as our heading says – this is Tenerife.
Tenerife Magazine’s round up of some of the most interesting news stories of the week in Tenerife.
A Tenerife Hero
This week Tenerife’s President, Ricardo Melchior and the Mayor of Santa Cruz, José Manuel Bermúdez paid tribute to a Tenerife hero, Lieutenant General Antonio Benavides, by laying a crown of flowers on his tomb at the Iglesia Matriz de la Concepción in Santa Cruz on the 250th anniversary of his death.
Antonio Benavides, born in La Matanza, was a soldier whose story is the stuff of movies and historic fiction. Apart from demonstrating bravery and heroism in a number of battles, he ostensibly saved the life of King Felipe V during a skirmish in Asturias by giving the King his less recognisable war horse, it was a gesture which nearly cost him his own life. As a reward he was made Governor of Florida which, in 1718, seemed more a punishment than a reward. Florida at that time really was the wild, wild west. Benavides found himself battling Native American Indians, English settlers and even pirates in his quest to bring law, order, peace and prosperity to the state. But he managed it and even struck up a treaty with the Appalachian tribes who came to trust Benavides because of the respect he showed to them and their rights as indigenous peoples. He remained governor until 1734 when he was reassigned to Veracruz in Mexico. Despite his distinguished career Antonio Benavides died in poverty back in Tenerife at the age of 85. These few lines only give a taster of the exceptional life of this heroic Tenerife soldier, it’s worth delving deeper into his story. It’s good to see that a Tenerife’s son who helped shape history is still remembered and honoured.
Navidad is Over…Time to Get the Wallet Out
Almost as soon as the Tres Reyes clip-clopped out of town on the backs of their grumpy camels, the fervour started anew with the beginning of the traditional winter sales on Tenerife and the other Canary Islands. From the 7th of January until the 6th March our favourite shops will have rebajas plastered all over their windows and people will be forking out less money for items they don’t really want or need. The sales can be a nightmare for the first few days but after that things calm down. For anyone not on Tenerife during this time, there’s a second chance to pick up some Tenerife bargains as there are also summer sales which will last from 2nd July to 1st September on all the islands except El Hierro where they’ll run from 15th July to 15th September.
Navidad is Over Part 2 – Get Ready for Carnaval
Almost before the last firework has petered out, it’s time to start preparing for Carnaval 2012 on Tenerife. Carnaval die-hards will want to know that tickets for the murga contests and the election of the carnaval queen are now on sale. Tickets for the murgas cost around €10 and €19 for the final (do people really pay that much?) and €10 to €15 for the election of the queen. They are on sale at generaltickets.com
And finally the TIT (This Is Tenerife) of the week award goes to…Santiago del Teide
Sometimes it seems as though Spanish officialdom is hell bent on making life as difficult as possible for small businesses. How else can we explain why, in the middle of an economic crisis when local authorities should be supporting businesses in their community, officials in Santiago del Teide take an opposite stance. Some cafes and restaurants in the town were forced to remove tables and chairs from the pavement even though owners claimed they’d paid the required taxes to have them there. The reason seems to have been a decision to enforce a law that had been more or less ignored since 2005. Laws are laws and have to be complied with, but the gripe in the town is that there was no consultation beforehand, no period of grace to resolve the issue before it became a problem. Even the iconic horse and cart that is a symbol of the town apparently fell foul (foal) of the law.
The perverse aspect to this is that in troubled times a council would take a course of action that makes it less attractive for tourists to stop there. Where’s the horse sense in that?
This week we’re focussing on a breaking news story that could have serious consequences for many of us living on Tenerife.
Tenerife Goes Back to the Peseta & Comes Out of Europe
The shock news for 2012 is that Tenerife will be swapping the euro for the peseta and handing back its European passport in the new year.
With grumblings about the downfall of the euro and Britain’s stubborn stance threatening the EEC, the Canary Island Government has taken the surprising and controversial move of invoking the same law which has allowed Tenerife to enjoy duty free status to withdraw from Europe and re-instate the peseta.
In an ambitious campaign called Keeping Tenerife Canarian the move will improve the financial and employability status of native islanders but will have serious implications for other European nationals currently residing on Tenerife.
The withdrawal from Europe means that other Europeans will no longer have right of residence or be able to own homes on Tenerife. This doesn’t apply to Spanish residents as sources in the government have said that ‘we need to keep Spain sweet so that we can continue to benefit from European funding accessed via mainland Spain’. Some of the main changes to affect European residents are as follows.
As non-Spanish, residents won’t be legally able to own their homes so mortgage payments will become classed as rent payments.
Those who own their home outright will receive a basic monthly allowance from the government until the value of the house (decided by government inspectors) is repaid. It’s thought this could take up to 40 years.
Residents without proof of work status can only stay on Tenerife for periods of up to 3 months. This applies to pensioners who will also find that they are no longer entitled to EU subsidies on prescription charges and medical costs.
Current non-Spanish European residents will lose all rights to discounted travel and free health care.
Similarly Canarian residents will find their status in other European countries affected. But as the spokesperson pointed out, ‘most Canarios only travel to mainland Spain and the other Canary Islands, so it won’t affect them in a negative way.’
It’s claimed Keep Tenerife Canarian will revitalise the local economy at a time when some Ayuntamientos (Town Halls) are struggling to pay their bills even though it will be at the expense of foreign residents, some of whom have lived on the island for decades.
Another aspect to the campaign is that for all businesses employing staff, a minimum of 50% of the workforce must be Canarian born with Canarian parents.
A spokesperson who wished to remain anonymous said that the campaign was devised after statistics about residency on Tenerife shocked the island’s nationalist politicians by revealing that in some areas of south Tenerife up to 75% of residents were non-Canarios. He claimed that the move was partly motivated by pre-empting a scenario where UK residents woke from their political apathy and used their voting power to achieve something that Admiral Nelson couldn’t – to conquer Tenerife.
Eager to set plans in motion, the Keep Tenerife Canarian campaign will be implemented from today, the 28th December 2011.
Tenerife Magazine’s round up of some of the most interesting news stories of the week in Tenerife.
Tenerife is First Choice for Holiday Adverts
Following Thomson Holidays’ TV advert, First Choice is the latest tour operator to use Tenerife as the location for their first new TV advert since 2009. Due to be aired during the Who Wants to be a Millionaire Christmas Special, the advert, like Thomsons’, doesn’t actually mention Tenerife. In fact, unless you know the First Choice Holiday Village on Tenerife where it was filmed, there are even less clues about the location than there were in the Thomsons’ advert. Still, as the advert is aimed at all-inclusive holidays they probably don’t want to promote the great island that lies outside the hotel anyway.
No Happy New Year in La Laguna
The economic crisis is biting deeply when a traditional fiesta has to be cancelled on Tenerife. For years the New Year has been welcomed in with a party at Plaza de la Concepción in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of La Laguna. But not this year. The big bash has been cancelled to the annoyance and sadness of locals. Also cancelled is the tradition of handing out cakes and chocolate by the area’s fiesta committee. There might not be any sweets in La Laguna’s streets at New Year, but there’s plenty of humbug.
Tenerife Quote of the Week
Comes from former darts champion Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor who, when telling The Metro about his preparations to regain his title at the Ladbrokes World Darts Championship came out with this classic – ‘I did some warm-weather training at my villa in Tenerife…’
Darts players using Tenerife as a winter training camp? The report didn’t mention whether he was smiling at the time.
Christmas Fairs on Tenerife
Whilst there’s no party at Plaza de la Concepción, there is some good cheer about this Christmas. The Tenerife Government has organised three Christmas craft fairs in Santa Cruz, La Laguna and Puerto de la Cruz. But unless you celebrate Tres Reyes, the La Laguna (Plaza del Adelantado) and Santa Cruz (Plaza del Príncipe) fairs are no use for last minute presents as they run from 2nd to 5th January. But don’t panic, the Puerto de la Cruz Christmas fair is open from 21st to 23rd December. The fairs will feature goods from local artisans and will be open from 11am to 10pm except for the 5th when they’ll be open until the early hours of the 6th January for those real last-minuters like Gaspar, Balthasar, and Melchior.
Outnumbered in Tenerife
Apparently the Christmas special of the British sit-com Outnumbered sees the Brockman family planning to fly out to Tenerife for a festive break in the sun on Christmas morning. This will no doubt mean something to somebody out there.
And finally the TIT (This Is Tenerife) of the week award goes to…Attitudes toward the law in Tenerife
We regularly quip that legislation is often viewed more as guidelines on Tenerife. But many a true word spoken in jest and all that.
When promoters of a proposed event at the Parque Marítimo in Santa Cruz were refused permission to hold a party at the swimming pool complex last weekend, they ignored the ruling and went ahead with the event anyway.
Their disobedience earned them an appearance in court which threw up another little Tenerife gem relating to the case. According to reports, their lawyer claimed that the party had been attended by the Mayor of Santa Cruz, José Bermúdez and that his presence overruled the decision that had been made by people further down the political chain.
However, official sources insist that the mayor didn’t attend the illegal party.
There’s an easy way to prove it one way or another. People at parties take photographs and there’s no way the mayor of Santa Cruz would be at an event and no-one would take his photo. So no photo…no mayor…no defence.
Tenerife Magazine’s round up of some of the most interesting news stories of the week in Tenerife.
Santa Cruz Bus Station’s Sky Falls in
Luck – it plays a big part in all our lives however much we like to think we’re in control. How else can you explain why, when almost the entire ceiling (approx. 1000 square metres) of the bus station in Santa Cruz collapsed, it did so at 3.45am this Tuesday morning when the station was closed.
The area where the ceiling collapsed has been cordoned off but buses are operating as normal. Meanwhile a commission has been set up to determine why this potential disaster happened.
Accessible Isla Baja
Congratulations to Buenavista del Norte in the north west of Tenerife for being awarded Spain’s Queen Sofía Universal Accessibility Award for towns with up to 10,000 inhabitants for 2011. The award is given to municipalities who have shown a commitment to making the environment, education, leisure, culture, sport, transport, tourism and new technologies more accessible to people with disabilities.
La Laguna’s Brazilian Beat
This week La Laguna was twinned with Anchieta in Brazil. Whereas a lot of town twinnings don’t seem to make any sense, the reason for this one should be immediately obvious to anyone who knows anything about La Laguna. The Jesuit, Father José de Anchieta, after whom the Brazilian town is named, was born in La Laguna in the 16th century and travelled to South America where he became revered for his humanist work with the poor to such an extent his nickname in South America is the Apostle of Brazil. As well as helping the poor, he also co-founded the city of Sao Paulo; it’s a pretty impressive CV really.
Don’t Come Fly With Me
There’s good news and bad news regarding the Iberian Airlines’ pilots’ strike due to take place between 18 and 29 December. The good news is that it shouldn’t affect flights between the Spanish mainland and The Canary Islands or the Balearics. The bad news is that up to 50% of flights between Spanish cities will be affected.
Tenerife on TV
You can’t go anywhere on Tenerife without tripping over British TV crews it seems. First of all Channel 5 were on the island shooting scenes for their Heaven on Earth series in Teide National Park, La Orotava, Masca, the Anaga Mountains, Garachico, Playa de las Teresitas, Siam Park and Loro Parque. Then over the last couple of weeks, the A Place in the Sun crew have been filming in locations around Tenerife including Golf del Sur and on the north coast. Heaven on Earth, A Place in the Sun…sounds like Tenerife should be in for some excellent publicity on UK TV during early 2012.
And finally the TIT (This Is Tenerife) of the week award goes to…The Parks & Gardens Department in Santa Cruz
Whilst the rest of modern Europe continues to ‘go green’, here in the Canary Islands the actions of some local authorities are also likely to make residents go green…but in this case for all the wrong reasons.
A lawyer in Santa Cruz is threatening legal action against the city’s Parks and Gardens Dept. following a number of complaints about children and pets falling ill after a visit to Parque García Sanabria allegedly because of the pesticides used in the park to treat the plants. Pesticides which are banned in at least six other European countries.
When much of the rest of the world woke up long ago to the damage harmful pesticides can cause to the environment and the people who inhabit it, there’s no excuse for officials in Tenerife to be still sanctioning their use.
Thanks to the lawyer’s actions, the Parks and Gardens Dept have now stopped using the offending pesticides and have changed to biological products.
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.
Tenerife Magazine’s round up of some of the most interesting news stories of the week in Tenerife.
Winners at the World Cheese Awards 2011
Although it’s unlikely to be acknowledged in the Tenerife based Spanish press, the Eastern Canary Islands left the Western Canary Islands for dead at the World Cheese Awards in Birmingham this week with a total 19 awards in various categories compared to a paltry 3 from the Western Canary Islands.
Fuerteventura cheeses were the big winners with 7 bronze awards, 4 silvers and 1 gold. Lanzarote also performed well with 1 bronze, 2 silvers and a gold whilst Gran Canaria picked up 2 bronze awards and a gold.
Of the Western Islands, only Tenerife made any impact on the cheese world and what they lacked in quantity, they made up for in quality. Out of three awards, 2 were gold; the other was bronze. La Gomera, La Palma and El Hierro picked up nothing.
Tenerife may not have won as many prizes but the island’s cheese-makers had the last laugh in the award stakes as the wonderful semi-cured smoked cheese from Benijos in La Orotava was voted the best of all Canary Island cheeses.
The best cheese in the world award 2011 went to France for Ossau Iraty which only just beat last year’s winner, Britain’s Cornish Blue.
A Controversial Visitor Comes to Tenerife
This week should see the arrival of Morgan, an orca who has been making world headlines recently.
Controversy has surrounded the fate of the 4 year old female who was rescued from the North Sea in 2010 where she was found apparently starving to death.
Since then Morgan has been nursed back to health in a Dutch dolphinarium and is now in a fit state to move on…and that’s where the controversy comes in. A Dutch court has ruled that to return her to the wild might prove too risky. Subsequently she is being transferred to Loro Parque in Puerto de la Cruz. It’s a decision which has angered animal rights activists who are demanding that Morgan should be released back into the wild.
However, the situation isn’t as clear cut as simply opting for what is the morally obvious choice between captivity and freedom…at least not where the welfare of the orca is the main motivation for any argument for or against release or continued captivity.
Nobody can state for certain what the outcome of releasing an orca that has been in captivity will be. The most famous case to date concerns Keiko the star of the movie Free Willy who, possibly as a romanticised consequence of the movie, was released into the wild to assuage public demand. Keiko died of pneumonia a short time after his release. Life, unfortunately, doesn’t normally tread the same path as that of a Hollywood movie.
And finally the TIT (This Is Tenerife) of the week award goes to…no-one
It’s got to be a first but we couldn’t find anyone worthy of the TIT of the week award. Sure there’s the usual round of reports about the authorities not paying their debts (this time to pharmacies) and wads of money being invested in projects that either don’t come to fruition or end up being demolished. Then there’s the unsurprising news that in the middle of a financial crisis, the south Tenerife railway has been suspended for the moment due to lack of funding. But we’ve mentioned these sort of situations before so TIT of the week is having a week off.
We’re sure somebody (or some body) will do something that’ll have our jaws hitting the floor again before too long. After all this is Tenerife.
