San Antonio in the upper reaches of the district of La Matanza de Acentejo in Tenerife also celebrates the fiestas of San Antonio Abad on Sunday with a livestock fair - which, Tenerife Matters tells us is the oldest cattle fair on Tenerife - that dates back to just after the conquest of Tenerife in 1496.
Thousands of spectators are expected from early morning in the area of the church and Plaza de San Antonio, where several thousand head of goats, sheep, horses and cattle will receive their annual blessing, enlivened by folk groups.
Recuperating a tradition that was discontinued four decades ago, tomorrow's celebrations include a pilgrimage from La Laguna. According to details provided by the local authorities, no less than 40 farmers will be driving their herds and flocks for 12 km along the old trail known as the Camino Real Orotava.
Camino Real (Spanish for The Royal Road or The King's Highway) was the name of a series of pre-automobile highways.)
A new addition was the arrastre de caballos (horse pulling), which took place last Sunday (Jan 18) that links to the traditional arrastre de ganado with oxen (more photos) - that will take place next Sunday, February 1st.
We also read that Pilar Merino, the Canarian Government's councillor for Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food has today inaugurated the XXI Trofeo Gobierno de Canarias de Arrastre de Ganado (the sport's annual trophy), the first trial of which, says the report, took place in the car park of the farmers market in Tacoronte. We wonder, did the oxen have to pull the cars out of the way? :)
In other news today ...
The town hall of Santa Cruz has produced a 240 page manual on good practices for disaster risk management at local level, in three languages; Spanish, English and Italian.
The Canaries need forceful and effective action against certain health problems that put the archipelago at the head of the negative statistics. Childhood obesity, diabetes and unwanted pregnancies are aspects in which the region is the top national positions and, basically, education is what's needed.
Ainhoa Arteta in concert
If you caught the free Christmas Concert in Santa Cruz a couple of years ago, you'll have heard the amazing voice of Spanish soprano, Ainhoa Arteta (breaking glass). So you may also like to know that she will be giving a recital at the Auditorio de Tenerife as on March 21st.
Long needed improvement works on the pedestrian stretch of coastline between Puerto Colon and Pueblo Canario, in Adeje are about to be carried out. As a result of poor maintenance, the 380 meter stretch currently has pavement in a very deteriorated state, poor lighting and terrible accessibility due to a large number of stairs. The budget is 1,357,893 euros for the improvements and the deadline for the completion of the project is eight months.
Tenerife hoteliers are confident that TUI and Thomas Cook will increase the promotion of the Canaries. (Confident or just hopeful, we wonder?)
Canarian Federation of Baseball and Softball. We didn't know there was one or that baseball is played on the island, but we should be getting regular news about the sport in future. And yes, they have those proper US style baseball shirts!
Tenerife is not an obvious choice for a city break, but its capital has stunning modern architecture, fantastic no-frills restaurants and mountains on its doorstep, says Philip Smith in the Guardian.
A new side of Tenerife: Invited to "live moments of magic", Paul Whyatt heads to Tenerife and discovers a new side to the island.
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