High seas and another holiday in Tenerife

Once again, the official weather bods have been tracing around Tenerife's coasts with the yellow highlighter, as a yellow alert is is activated once again, effective from 18:00 on Friday, until 16:00 Saturday. This does not constitute an alert for the general population, but as exciting as the sea is to watch, all forms of water-based activities are off limits, with waves of up to 4 meters. Rain and fog has again caused some delays at Los Rodeos airport, Tenerife north.

Get away from it in a mountain hostel

Looking for somewhere quiet to stay in Tenerife? It may not be 5-Star, but you'll certainly find beauty and tranquility at the  Albergue Montes de Anaga, hostel at El Bailadero (where witches supposedly danced around a bonfire) in the heart of the Parque Rural de Anaga (Anaga Rural Park) in the Anaga Mountains on Tenerife's north eastern "handle". (Photo: Mataparda.)

With stunning views from the terrace, it's a great location to go walking (to the beach) from.

The hostel received a total of 3,877 visitors during 2008, 535 of those in the month of August. Over the year it averages 10.6 people per day, about a quarter of the 40 person capacity (in nine rooms of two, four and six beds.) 7.63% up on the previous year, it could still hardly be called crowded.

Similarly, in north west Tenerife, is the Albergue de Bolico, in the   Teno Mountains (more), in Las Portelas, Buenavista del Norte.

Information and reservations at Tenerife's Mountain Hostels

The dreaded "C-Word" again!

Tourist areas, such as Arona, have been giving visitors to their stand at travel trade show Fitur, in Madrid, free DVDs with photos, videos and screensavers. Multimedia material, we're told, "triumphs as a promotional resource in times of crisis." If it was English the word is also cheap!

The curtain will be coming down on the Teatro Guimerá in Santa Cruz, which is closing in March for maintenance and improvements. The theatre was closed for several years, until it was re-opened in 1991 by Queen Sofía and repairs were done in 2004. Now it's going to be closed again and, as yet, there's no date set for when it will re-open again. According to reports, from sources supposedly at Santa Cruz town hall, "there isn't the money to keep the doors open."

The closure of the Teatro Guimerá comes shortly after the closure of the Cine Víctor (Photo: Mataparda), also in Santa Cruz, back in December.

Cultural events now are centred around the Auditorio de Tenerife, the Tenerife Espacio de las Artes (TEA), La Recova, Los Lavaderos and the Museo Municipal de Bellas Artes (Municipal Museum of Fine Arts) in Tenerife's capital, says the report.

A new disco has opened in the basement of the  Las Cuevas (The Caves) restaurant, next to the football ground in Tacoronte, playing Salsa, Bachata, Merengue and a bit of pop for those who like to dance. Entrance 5 euros, with a drink. Open from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m., Fridays, Saturdays and eves of fiestas.

Want to see U2 in Tenerife?

Apparently, there's a rumour that the promoters of U2's next tour are seriously considering the Canary Islands as one of the 3 locations (presumably, they mean, in Spain) where concerts will be held.

Hoping that "popular demand" will help turn such rumour into reality, Jorge Sánchez Morales has created this Facebook group, join them to add your "vote." Via.

Hear the quality of the Orquesta Sinfónica De Tenerife (OST) - Tenerife Symphony Orchestra - in the comfort of your own home, as the OST, conducted by Victor Pablo Pérez, perform Aida, "Gloria all'egitto" ("Glory to Egypt") from Joe Green's, sorry Giusseppe Verdi's opera, Aida. Download the MP3 from Amazon for a measly 79 pence (at time of writing, subject to change.)

Last chance for those errant Christmas decorations. Apparently, even in Britain in olden days, if you didn't take them down by twelfth night, they can stay up until Candlemas. Since Candelaria means Candlemas (Candelaria is the town where The Virgin of Candelaria patron of the Canary Islands, is kept), Candlemas, February 2nd is celebrated as a holiday, only in Tenerife. 

There is a Programa de Fiestas de la Virgen de Candelaria 2009 taking place between Friday, January 30th and Sunday, February 8th. Of a solemn nature, this year's events also celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the consecration of the Basílica de Candelaria (more) on February 1st, 1959. (Photo: Mataparda.)

It's a Celebration in Tenerife

Colin Kirby tells us that the 1980’s are making a comeback in Tenerife (and a fair bit of the 70's too, we reckon), with the news that the immensely successful - and most sampled group of all time - American jazz/R&B/funk/disco group, Kool & the Gang will be playing the Auditorio de Tenerife on April 18th.

Kool And The Gang have been playing more than 40 years, but oh yeah, they've still got it: take a look at this video of Kool & The Gang live on the main square in Zagreb, Croatia in 2007. And for memories, Celebration from 1980.

Estudio 54

And this Friday, January 30th, you have an appointment at Musa Downtown Club, Avenida Anaga, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, so you can relive the wonderful years of the legendary nightclub "Studio 54"!

Here' some more Fiestas Fin De Semana (Parties for the weekend.)

If sport is more to your taste for your weekend entertainment, how about watching some baseball?

Saturday, January 31st, at the Centro Insular de Béisbol (Island Baseball Centre) at El Burgado, Puerto de la Cruz, there are two matches; 11.30 a.m. Dr. Click v Canaritos and at 3 p.m. Canaritos – Motovalle.

More information (in Spanish) from Federación Canaria de Béisbol y Sófbol

The Canary Islands celebrate two decades without leprosy

Most of us probably think of leprosy as being a disease of Medieval or even biblical times, but even in 1995, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that between two and three million people were permanently disabled because of leprosy. Timed to coincide with Día Mundial de la Lepra (World Leprosy Day), which this year was celebrated on Sunday, January 25th, this article states that the Canary Islands celebrate two decades without cases of leprosy.

If the thought of disease still being present on the islands a mere 20 years ago - within so many people's lifetimes - it's perhaps even more surprising that the leprosería (leper colony, leprosarium) in the archipelago, was only closed 10 years ago in 1999. It's now the Hospital Dermatológico (Dermatological Hospital) in Gran Canaria.

Tenerife still in the top 3 destinations for 2009

Online travel agency, On The Beach have published a list of the destinations that are proving most popular with UK punters so far this January and, the good news is that Tenerife has still maintained a place in the Top 3.

On The Beach's most popular destinations in 2009 are:

1. Egypt - Sharm el Sheikh
2. Majorca - Palma
3. Tenerife - Reina Sofia
4. Turkey - Dalaman
5. Canary Islands - Fuerteventura
6. Spain, Costa del Sol
7. Canary Islands - Lanzarote
8. Turkey - Bodrum
9. Spain - Costa Blanca
10. Egypt - Hurghada

 

Interestingly, the crisis and the crappy exchange rate don't really seem to be keeping people entirely out of the euro zone. Of those 10, whilst Egypt and Turkey both have two spots each, the other 6 destinations are all still in the Canary Islands (with three islands listed) and the Spanish mainland.

 

Another list gives the #6 most popular hotel with their clients this year as Caledonia Park in Playa de Las Americas - Tenerife (All Inclusive).

Founded in 1995 On The Beach (ABTA member) is a leading player in the online travel market carrying over 500,000 passengers every year to Spain, Balearics, Canaries, Egypt, Greece, Turkey & the Caribbean. 

The end of fresh fish

Sadly, it is certainly the end of the traditional fresh fish counter, as the second largest supermarket chain, by number of stores, in Tenerife, Mercadona, where the retailer has substituted their stalls for shelves with produce packaged in trays.

The noisiest areas of Tenerife

The Canary Island Government's Ministry of the Environment this week published noise maps, which show that the urban areas of Santa Cruz and La Laguna and the TF-5 and TF-1 highways are the noisiest parts of the island. Stating the bleeding obvious you might think, but then there are also two airports, resorts stuffed with music bars ... even the maps show that industrial and port traffic have little impact on the population.

Heck, if you live in a village that has a band playing at the annual fiestas until 5 a.m., you might have come to other conclusions! :) (Photo by sergis blog)

Your Ideal Island

Whilst I doubt it will actually suggest Tenerife as an option, this quiz, What's Your Ideal Island Vacation? gives you lots of food for thought.

Just reading through choices for where would you like to stay ...

Right in the heart of the city

In a tent surrounded by nature

At an environmentally friendly resort

At a secluded four star resort

On your own private island

At a bed and breakfast

... it occurred to me that Tenerife can actually provide you with all of those experiences. There's the busy and cosmopolitan city of Santa Cruz; you can camp in the forests around Mount Teide; there are eco-friendly resorts now, plenty of the four-star type; many rural houses that offer a stay akin to the homely B&B experience and, even if not exactly "your own private island", there are still remote and scarcely inhabited spots where you can feel like it is.

Tuesday, two days after the accident which occurred on Sunday, bad weather and intense fog were creating difficulties for teams trying to recover the remains of the crashed plane in Tenerife, as this video on the local television station demonstrates. (The silver haired lady who appears later in the film is the grandmother of the pilot and his brother - two of the plane's occupants.)

The President of the Government of the Canary Islands, Paulino Rivero, has said that the islands "will come out of the crisis before the rest of Spain."

Stumbled across this set of photos of the Boda de Patricia y Cristo (Wedding of Patricia and Cristo) and I'm still wondering if this was a real wedding, or a photo shoot, but all the incurable romantics among you will love it, as this beautiful couple pose in front of emblematic monuments in Santa Cruz or frolic in their wedding clothes in the waves of Tenerife's Playa de las Teresitas.

Pocket currency charts to print off and carry with you

With the pound and the euro nearly at a par these days, you might wonder if you need a guide to currency conversions at all, but I guess we can be hopeful that the days when you do need them will come back one day.

And for when that day arrives, take a look at the Yahoo! Currency Converter, which has been smartened up recently to include the ability to print out up-to-the-minute pocket currency guides, such as that shown above.

These guides are extremely handy to take out shopping, to restaurants, etc., with you so that you can see at-a-glance how much you're really paying.

Via: Digital Inspiration

Plane crash survivors on mysterious tropical island

Lost? "We're alive, but we don't know where." is roughly the message given by the woman travelling in the plane which crashed in the north of Tenerife on Sunday, which she relayed, via her mobile phone, to the emergency control room when she phoned 112 herself to report the accident.

"The only thing we can see is vegetation", continued the message from the stricken plane as local police from La Orotava, Tacoronte, La Victoria, El Rosario, Candelaria, Santa Úrsula and El Sauzal joined the search.

As the three occupants of the plane remain in hospital in intensive care, the story begins to unfold over what may have happened. It's still speculated that the cause was the drastic change in the weather during the flight - when they took off the conditions were optimal - and it's now thought that the plane may have struck the top of a tree, before falling onto a natural terrace.

Monday, Guardia Civil judicial police, who will initiate the investigation into the crash, were still working in the area of the Montaña de Joco where the plane went down, while this video footage from Television Canaria will give you some idea of the especially hostile terrain at the site of the rescue.

Tenerife Weather: The official weather word for the Canary Islands is yet another yellow level pre-alert around the coasts, especially the north of the islands. The situation came into force at 08:00 on Monday and, will remain active until 15:00 on Tuesday in Tenerife. Once more, we'd like to remind you that - spectacular though they are - this is not a time to be "'thrillseekers' walking along the harbour wall to get a closer look at the waves."

Official Tenerife Novelties

As Tenerife prepares to promote it's novelties at Fitur 2009 travel trade fair in Madrid later this week, it's always interesting to read what the island "officially" thinks needs underlining and is important to them for tour operators to promote. This year, they're betting on two luxury hotels, Eco Resort San Blas and the Hotel Gran Meliá Palacio de Isora, as well as theme park, Siam Park and Tenerife Top Training's cutting-edge T3 AthleticSphere Center that opened to the public in October, 2008.

We can't help thinking that Tenerife already had many more natural attractions that we would have promoted first, but then we aren't paying, are we?

Also mentioned in the press report are the annual paragliding festival, Flypa (Los Realejos town hall are backing that up by handing out leaflets promoting the town in general, as well as promoting their annual Firework Battle); the Tenerife Ladies Open, surfing and beach volleyball events, the Festival Aguaviva Canarias and the upcoming Rod Stewart concert in May. 

Animal Crackers

The good folks from Going Native in Tenerife, wandered west yesterday to join the 5,000 people and 1,000 goats, horses, mules and cattle (give or take a naught) to see the antics of the Fiesta de San Antonio Abad in Buenavista del Norte. Obviously, it was "business as (un)usual" (here's my report from 2008), as they begin, "A Yorkie riding a pony; an iguana squaring up to two bulldogs, a donkey wearing a straw bonnet and a mongrel in full traditional Canarian costume … you really don’t need to take mind altering narcotics when you live in Tenerife."

(No, you only need those to survive living elsewhere! :)

Eroticism in times of crisis

If the animal antics aren't weird enough for you, at least there's the Tuppersex parties to look forward to, which, apparently, have become quite usual in Tenerife. No, I'm sure that I don't need to explain that these are parties, Tupperware stylee, where, instead of selling little plastic food boxes, there's all manner of sex toys on offer.

Only now it's not just house parties, as two discos in Santa Cruz are about to hold theme parties based around the sale of erotic toys.

The first of these, is at Dreams on Friday, January 30th, jointly promoted by "El Punto G Radio" (G-Spot Radio) and the SexShop Channel and is open to women only. There'll be male strippers to entertain you.

The second is at disco A Saudade on Thursday, February 5th and is open to both men and women. There will be both male and female strippers, as well as chats on subjects such as tantric sex, or the Karma Sutra and the Tuppersex party is to be provided by the Candelaria based sex shop, Lipstick.

Juan Campos wonders if it's pure coincidence that the two entities should decide to promote the same kind of products at this time, citing a study published a few weeks ago by British sociologist Jeffrey Weeks, claiming that the financial hardship makes people more conservative in their sexual habits.

Your other crisis time news in Tenerife ...

The crisis is closing two restaurants a day in the Canaries and a lack of training, planning, quality and professionalism are being implicated in the closures. La Federación Canaria de Ocio (The Canarian Leisure Federation) lament that in the first 22 days of January, no less than 44 restaurant were closed, with a loss of 280 jobs, without counting self-employed bosses and owners. In Tenerife, in the year so far, the closed sign has gone up on 21 restaurants; Adeje with 6 and La Laguna and Puerto de la Cruz with 5 each being the areas most affected.

Carnaval in Tenerife 2009 – Crisis, what crisis? Good question when, in Puerto de la Cruz alone there's "a whopping eight all night parties in nine days." :)

Aids in Spain: It's estimated that between 130,000 and 150,000 people are infected with the HIV virus in Spain, but around 30% of them have no idea, which means that they continue to risk transmitting it to others. Furthermore, the report states that the majority of infections in Spain are from sexual contact (and not from needle sharing among drug users) and, contrary to what many believe, the largest number of infections are between heterosexuals. 

The president of the Tenerife Island Corporation, Ricardo Melchior, has formally received the new British Consul in the Canaries, Matthew Vickers. Vickers, who hails from Glasgow, comes from the private sector in the UK where he has been working in sales, marketing and customer care. He replaces Stephen Jones, who became the British Consul for the Canary Islands in 2007, who has gone on to become Consul in Málaga.  British Consulate in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

Tenerife is becoming very connected

In early February, Icod de los Vinos on the north of Tenerife will offer free 4MB broadband Wi-Fi internet access in the commercial centre of town.

The "Zona Wifi Drago Centro" will be available to the public 24 hrs a day, allowing up to 30 users to connect simultaneously at a speed of roughly 128 kb. It'll be necessary to sign up for a free account in the town hall, which makes it less than friendly to most visiting tourists, but it's an advance.

Web access, POP and SMTP for email, will be available, but P2P protocols and the download of multimedia files will be blocked. Another area where internet access will be available in Icod is in the Plaza Andrés de Lorenzo Cáceres (that's the one by the church, with the nice bandstand cafe.)

However, 77% of hotels in the Canary Islands had internet connections at the end of 2008, around 10 points higher than the national average of 67.3%, according to data collected by the National Statistics Institute.

Downed plane was second from same school

A couple of further pieces of data to come out of the news of yesterday's air accident in Tenerife. One is that the 112 emergency operations room had been able to make contact with the occupants of the plane after it came down, which is what had enabled rescuers to locate them. Also, the pilot was evacuated by helicopter and not by road, as previously reported, although the emergency services helicopters weren't able to put down due to the craggy terrain.

The plane was being used by Aerotec, pilot training school, who share the hangar with the Real Aeroclub de Tenerife. In July 2006, a Cesna 172 from the same school had crashed in El Rosario, killing the pilot and two trainees.

Plane spotters and photographers of all stripes ...

Seriously devoid of trains (just the odd tram), the anorak wearing types in Tenerife needed to find another suitable hobby and with two airports, it's no surprise that plane spotting is pretty popular. Canary Islands Spotting announced late last year that the Asociación de Spotters de Canarias had become a reality, formalizing the groups' relationship, which has the aim of generating them respect.

Apparently, the public in Spain too, see plane spotters as "seres raros" (rare beings - a tad strange.) Had it not been for such very observant spotters, of course, those nasty illegal CIA flights might have been able to remain under the radar, so I think we have to be thankful that someone has the dedication.

Also, I spotted (sic) on their website, something that might be useful information, no matter what you're photographing in Tenerife (or the rest of Spanish territory) ... and there've been odd stories of security guards getting uppity about people taking photos. The query was raised,"Can law enforcement make us erase images from our memory card or destroy the reel of film?"

And the response was, "NO. Under no circumstances." The only person who can order such destruction is a judge (and then only after a formal case has been brought and some jolly good reason has been demonstrated.)

Their Historia de la Aviación en Canarias (History of Aviation in the Canaries), tells us that it used to be the custom to have balloons - originally unmanned - rising above the Plaza de Weyler in Santa Cruz as part of fiestas in the city. It wasn't until 1894 that the first manned balloon ascension (not even a flight) took place over the Plaza de Toros (Bull Ring) in Santa Cruz.

The first airplane flight to take place from Tenerife was on May 10th, 1913.

Other news and links of interest

Port of Granadilla: Spain has to send information to Brussels. Last December 1 the EU executive in Brussels sent the Spanish authorities - Brussels deals with the Member States and not the regions - a letter requesting more data on three issues. Madrid had two months to respond, therefore, still have until early February. Could this mean that work cannot, imminently, start?

Canaries, 2nd place in number of foreign, self-employed workers. The number of foreign self-employed went down by 1.3 percent last year in the Canaries, which, nevertheless, remained the region with the second highest proportion of these workers, 14.5 percent of the total, surpassed only by the Balearic Islands, with 16.2 per cent. (Foreign self-employed, we note, requires a hard hat! :)

Puerto de La Cruz Carnaval

There are no apparent changes to the main events we've already listed here, but for those of you who're super keen on getting your money's worth out of all the (free) carnaval events, here is the full Programa del Carnaval de Puerto de la Cruz 2009.

(Hmmm ... interesting choice of photo that Tinerguia used to illustrate their post. Another one I need to remind that the Creative Commons licence under which my photos are available, Attribution 3.0 License, requires that I'm credited.)

Photos from the festivities of San Sebastián - the culmination of which is taking your horse to the beach for a ducking in the sea - that took place in Adeje on January 20th. (And, if you were visiting and missed it, shame on you, because this took place within strolling distance from the resorts.)

Photos from the pilgrimage of animals from La Laguna to La Matanza

Light aircraft crashes in north Tenerife mountains

The image, according to comments, is of the crashed plane in flight.The three occupants of a light plane which disappeared after losing contact with the control tower at Tenerife's north airport this afternoon, have been found semi-conscious, but alive and is being heralded as a miracle.

The plane lost contact with the control tower at Los Rodeos at 13.52 hours. At the time they lost contact there was intense fog over the area.

The plane came down in the area of the Montaña de Joco (1,964 m), an area of dense forest, in the district of La Orotava and not in the area of La Esperanza, as was originally reported.  It is still not known if the pilot attempted to land where he could, or if the plane crashed, but it was found to be much more intact than was expected, on some pines, among the skirts of Mount Teide.

They'd taken off at 12.38 and had filed a flight plan of roughly one hour and, according to that plan, were headed for the south. The plane was flying over Tenerife and had left the Teno area, when it encountered the fog.

One of the three occupants, a woman, was evacuated from the scene by helicopter and taken to the Hospital Universitario de Canarias, while the other two were taken by road, once mountain rescue teams were able to reach them, as weather conditions - dense fog, rain and strong winds - obliged rescue workers to continue the rescue on land. It also appears from this report that a Guardia Civil Jeep turned over while on its way to support the evacuation work.

The pilot (29), who has suffered multiple injuries and the other male occupant (27),  are brothers who hail from the district of El Rosario, Tenerife. The three, two men and one woman, all aged 30 and under, are not in danger, although they all have serious injuries and are in a grave condition.

The plane, a single-engine Piper PA-28 (described as a "Ford Anglia with wings"), call sign EC-DSD (more images), belonged to the Real Aeroclub de Tenerife (Tenerife Royal Flying Club.)

On housekeeping ...

We have just discovered, only by accident (in other words, we received no notification), that the service - that had been delivering our email newsletters to several hundred people for years - is being put on ice (another victim of the economic crisis). The date they currently give on their website for when access will become unavailable is February 1st, which means we are unable to use this service any longer to provide your weekly and monthly newsletters.

And as you can well imagine, the sudden, unexpected withdrawal of this service will have serious repercussions for Secret Tenerife.

Our own economic crisis means that we cannot afford to switch to any of the paid services that could continue to provide these options, so from now on, the only email delivery of our news is provided by Google's Feedburner service. They dictate the schedule, which is once daily (when something is posted.)

Click here to subscribe to our email delivery service

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Join the herds along Tenerife's old trails

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.

The Fiesta of the Animals and other Friday fun

This weekend, Güímar also celebrates the fiestas of San Antonio Abad to bless the animals, starting Friday night with a dance. On Saturday, January 24th, from 4.30 pm in the Barranco de Guaza there's  traditional horse racing and, on Sunday, January 25th, from early morning, you can visit an exhibition of livestock, pets and animals in general around the streets of the centre of the town, while in the Plaza de San Pedro there will be a crafts fair and farmers market.

With just 7 days before the start of the Santa Cruz Carnaval 2009 (at least the start of the contests), the presentation of the candidates for Carnaval Queens in Santa Cruz de Tenerife 2009, will take place at the Círculo de Bellas Artes theatre on Friday, January 30th. Of 51 aspiring candidates in all, 18 will participate in the Gala for the Selection of the adult Carnaval Queen, 27 are chasing the junior crown and just 6 compete for the "Queen of the Third Age" as they politely call the glamorous granny end of the proceedings.

For those interested, here's a full list of all the candate's names, ages, titles of their costumes, designers and who they represent (i.e. who's paying).

Free dancing lessons every Thursday night from 10.30 p.m. in the disco, A Saudade, Calle Fernando Arozena Quintero, nº 3, Barrio Buenos Aires, 38009 Santa Cruz de Tenerife - 922 237 830‎. Each week a different style including; Cuban Salsa, Cha Cha Cha, Tango, Funky, HipHop, BreakDance, Samba, Danza Oriental, Sevillanas, Merengue, Bachata ... Entrance FREE.

Canary Islands cut a New promotional Deal with Thomas Cook

The Canary Islands government outlines a new promotional agreement with Thomas Cook, principal British tour operator in the archipelago, says the headline. In the same speech last Tuesday, counsellor Rita Martín was also supposedly outlining the similar agreement with TUI (the two companies account for 50 percent of tour packages from the British Isles).

But, if counsellor Martín filled in any details, they didn't make it to the report in the press and, a clue can, I think, be picked up from the mention in the article of "oscillations with the devaluation of the pound." As a consequence, it seems, all parties are being non-committal on the marketing plan for the time being.

The main aims of their meetings, Los Gigantes.com inform us, "are to discuss the demands from tour operators pressurising hotels to lower their prices and the “what ifs” of a repercussion of a charter airline collapse."

Meanwhile, Arona's new internet portal for tourism (currently points to the old one) is to be available in 5 languages (Spanish, English, German, Swedish and Finnish) and will be presented at the travel trade show, FITUR, in Madrid.

Unemployment and a lack of doctors

The Canary Islands is the region of Spain where unemployment grew most in the last year, by 98%. 79,500 jobs were destroyed during 2008, closing the last quarter of 2008 with 223,600 unemployed, making the percentage of unemployed on the islands, 21.8%.

However, the Canary Islands also suffer from a lack of doctors, with these vacancies the most difficult to fill in the archipelago, according to public employment officials. All islands require general practitioners, while in La Gomera they are also looking for pediatricians and in Lanzaorote; pharmacists and specialists in radiodiagnosis, pediatricians, oncology, haematology, endocrinology and anaesthetists.

(If you're a canine hairdresser (dog groomer), however, the population of the Asturias region in northern Spain is just begging for your services.)

BBC newsreader Huw Edwards, appears, like most tourists, not to explore very far outside of the resort areas, but at least his impression of Tenerife is positive and he and his family are repeat visitors to the island, as you can discover in this article in The Telegraph Huw Edwards's heaven on earth, where he talks about the "guaranteed sunshine and rugged beauty of Costa Adeje, Tenerife."

The Independent urge you to find solace, sun and inspiring architecture in northern Tenerife.

Ben Magec-Ecologistas en Acción (Ecologists in Action in Tenerife) are bringing new complaints about irregularities surrounding the Granadilla Port project to the courts.

Nothing will ever be the same ...

Whilst not actually appearing to clarify whether he terms this good news or bad, the president of the Canary Islands Government, Paulino Rivero, assures us in a note to the press today that "nothing is going to be the same in the archipelago after the global economic crisis" and that it's vital to "progress in implementing structural measures to strengthen the new model" (whatever that means.) He also says the executive will be betting on "dynamization and diversification."

The number of pensions being paid in the Canary Islands in Jauary rose to 243,730, 2.6% more than in the previous year, while the average pension in the Canaries is 702.29 euros, 4.8% higher than in January 2008.

Finally, 84% of the taxis in La Laguna now have GPS positioning, but if that doesn't turn you on, you can always try another kind of electric tourism around the historic town, as these German cruise ship passengers did this (rather damp) afternoon, starting from the Plaza del Adelantado, on Segways.

New Tenerife delicacy: goat cheese with a canary

Canary Art PrintAlthough earlier expected to remain in place until Friday, the weather alert in the Canary Islands was downgraded lunchtime Thursday from an orange alert to level (Canary) yellow pre-alert.

That situation too was ended at 8 p.m., with all of the western Canary Islands currently returned to green level (no meteorological risks.)

Winning Canary Sandwich

A Mexican chef, who has lived in the Canary Islands for several years, Armando Saldaña of Restaurante Amaranto in El Sauzal, Tenerife, has won the Concurso de Bocadillos de Autor (snacks contest) at the international gastronomical event, Madrid Fusión 2009 in Madrid, with his sandwich entitled, Red Hot Tuna Peppers. (Photo)

Saldaña's sandwich, made on soft bread, contains Canarian goat cheese, caramelised piquillo peppers, tuna tataki with a dressing of toronjil oil.

And let this be a very clear lesson in why you must never, ever trust those entertaining automated translations ... 

Seeing a couple of new terms, I ran the description through Google Language Tools. Of course, I instantly knew it wasn't going to have much luck translating a Japanese word from Spanish to English, but what I wasn't expecting was the giant cock-up it made of ones I already knew: queso de cabra canario (Canarian goats cheese), which it turned into, "goat cheese with a canary". :-)

No doubt, such delicacy is being served on a menu somewhere on the island! 

NB: Toronjil, Agastache mexicana or Mexican Giant Hyssop, is a herb of the mint family, with with lemon scented foliage. Canaries - info and games - everything you ever wanted to know about the Canary (Serinus canaria) sometimes called the Island Canary, Wild Canary or Atlantic Canary.

Horror Classics in Carnaval Prelude

The town hall in Santa Cruz are going to be showing a number of classic horror films (since that is the theme of this year's carnaval) leading up to the event to create atmosphere. You can see the Mark of the Vampire (1935) on Monday, January 26th, and similar classics throughout the week, up to and including Saturday, January 31st. (Via)

All featuring easily recognizable names like Dracula and Frankenstein, these six British classics from Hammer will, no doubt, be either dubbed into Spanish, or if you're lucky with the older ones, have only Spanish sub-titles. If you like horror films and are learning Spanish, this could be a fun learning opportunity.

Entrance is FREE, however, because of space limitations, you do need to collect an invitation first (just ask) from the Carnaval organizers, Radio Club Tenerife or Rider Producciones. Shows start at 8.30 p.m. in the Círculo de Bellas Artes, located in the central shopping area of Calle Castillo, Santa Cruz. (See map.)

Market traders from the Rastro de Santa Cruz de Tenerife - the regular Sunday Market in the streets around the Nuestra Señora de África want to open on the Sundays during carnaval, on February 22nd and March 1st.

Fed up with the drop in sales because of the economic crisis, the street traders have asked the town hall to let them set up their stalls on those days. Two years ago, the town hall banned the market during Carnaval for reasons of security.

And in other news in Tenerife today ...

Miss España, Patricia Rodríguez, will promote her town of birth, Granadilla (Tenerife) at the International Tourism Trade Fair, FITUR (28 January-1 February) in Madrid.

The Canary Islands were, once again, the preferred region of Spain for foreign tourists in December with 51% of all visitors (no surprise, as it's the only region warm enough for most tastes), although overall in Spain, there was a reduction of 6.2% in the numbers compared to December 2007. Hotels in Tenerife in December 2008 reached 61.2% occupation. Overall during 2008 in the Canary Islands 49,485,189 nights' stays were provided to 7.4 million tourists.

Refinery gets green gong

Make of this what you will:  The refinery in Santa Cruz and the gas turbines at Los Vallitos in Adeje, now have Autorización Ambiental Integrada (Integrated Environmental Authorization.)

I'm just translating what's in the news item, but the gongs have been handed out by the Ministry for the Environment of the Canary Islands Government, "upon the request of the companies, Cepsa and Unelco, respectively."

(Photo showing the smog belching refinery: Foro contra la Incineración.)

The Canarian authorities' approach to environmental issues can probably be summed up by this, I swear to you, true story, when a few years back I was driving up a mountain road behind a knackered old slow moving Land Rover that was belching enough black smoke that it almost choked me. On the side of the offending Land Rover were painted the words, "Medio Ambiente" (Environment.) That is to say, it was a Land Rover, owned by the Cabildo (Tenerife Island Corporation)'s own Environmental Department.

"Intolerable conditions of detention", in terms of hygiene, overcrowding, and insufficient legal, sanitary and psychological assistance, says a report from Brussels over European detention centres, among them the Centro de Internamiento para Extranjeros (CIE) in Las Raíces (Tenerife).

More jobs for the unemployed: In a bid to create more jobs for the unemployed and to boost the economy in this time of crisis three major projects, which have been on hold for various reasons, are being kicked back into action.

Jet2.com launched (21-Jan-09) a sale on Tenerife and Lanzarote services for Winter 09/10. Fares will start from GBP 68.99 (one way inc. taxes). Passengers can travel to Tenerife from Blackpool, Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle.

Meanwhile, six airlines that operate in the Canary Islands are not applying the European rules over prices. The six are: Binter Canarias, Easyjet, Air Lingus, Air Berlín, Cóndor and Transavia. Ryanair applies the rules in a confusing manner and breaks the regulations on the front page of their website, says the report.

• Die bunte Pflanzen- und Blumenwelt Teneriffas - pretty pictures of plants and flowers in Tenerife, even if you don't understand German.
• "Sir Old Golfer’s" Blog looks to be an internet destination of choice for all of you who like to spoil your walks by thwacking a small ball around.
• Spain Expat's quick guide to everyday Spanish slang and informal vocabulary you may or may not find in your dictionary.

Tenerife Around the streets and around the world

Romería de Buenavista. The annual San Antonio Abad fiestas (and livestock fair) in Buenavista del Norte, which this year, take place on Sunday, January 25th also incorporates a Romería (ox carts, food, wine, traditional costumes) and a knees up to the Malibú Band.

Tenerife Carnaval 2009 - Official Program

Those of you who can read Spanish, can now consult the lengthy Tenerife Carnaval 2009 - Official Program. Although, clearly, there's a lot more detail, there doesn't appear to be any change to the core of important events that - based on my highly subjective opinion - are those that are likely to be of most interest to visitors and even most busy residents and already listed here.

Televisión Canaria are to transmit 21 events of the Carnaval in Santa Cruz, Tenerife - in the exterior via their international satellite channels.

Mildly amusing: as you can see from the photo, a press conference was called requiring the Santa Cruz mayor, Miguel Zerolo, his deputy dawg, Ángel Llanos and the councillor for fiestas, Maribel Oñate, along with the director of the public TV station - Guillermo García - just to announce that! (When he was a "simple" TV presenter, of course, the latter was the more familiar, Willy García. :-)

Twin towns La Laguna and San Antonio?

The University of La Laguna (ULL), in La Laguna, Tenerife, is to increase it's collaboration with the University of San Antonio, Texas (UTSA), city which was founded by Canary Island settlers in the early 18th Century. (Many descendants of these first settlers still reside in San Antonio. Probably the most famous contribution the Canary Islanders made was building the San Antonio de Valero Mission, later known as the Alamo. More links of interest.) Photo courtesy PDPhoto.org

Returning the favour ... American rock band, Wilco is to open their Spanish tour with a concert at the Auditorio de Tenerife, on May 23rd.

Hannah posts about Hitch hiking in Ibiza and I just thought I'd mention that in rural areas of Tenerife this is still normal too. Having lived in a valley where there were at most a half dozen (each way) buses on most days, it was never seen as anything unusual and was something I resorted to occasionally when there was no alternative. Locals also told me that if one was to go to a fiesta and you couldn't get home (because there wasn't any public transport at night), then you can ask the municipal police for a lift. No, I never tried that! You'd absolutely never get that advice in the UK, would you? Nor in the brochures. :-)

Canary Island population growth slows

Mortality is on the increase, while the birth rate in the islands is on the descent, as it is in the rest of Spain. And according to data from the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE) (National Statistics Institute) the Canaries will lose "vegetative population" - the difference between the number of births and the number of deaths - to be left with a third of current levels within 8 years.

In other words, natural population growth in the last year amounted to 7,180 people, which is three times the number projected for the year 2017.

By extension, therefore, if they wish to ensure economic expansion, the Canaries will probably have to RELY ON immigration to make up the numbers, or start reproducing more. Rather contrary to what some politicians suggest.

The same statistics institution project that the Canary Islands will receive no less than 239,737 immigrants in the next decade, with 56,968 emigrating, making a net migratory increase in the archipelago's population of 182.769.

Furthermore ...

600,000 people in the Canary Islands (a very significant proportion of a 2 million population) are at risk of heart attack, the major reason for this being that 40% of the population are overweight and 20% are obese.

Business leaders (Confederación Provincial de Empresarios de Santa Cruz de Tenerife) say that the Canaries have entered into recession.

The Tourism department of the Canary Islands executive initiates contacts with TUI Travel in London to encourage the influx of tourists to the archipelago. The Canary Islands received 3,356,935 tourists last year from the United Kingdom. Almost 50% of the sales of package tours went to Thomas Cook and, Tui Travel whose brands include Thomson and First Choice.

Spanish Euro MP David Hammerstein (Los Verdes / The Greens), reports that "unfortunately, the work on the port of Granadilla is going to commence", although, he says "we can still ask the EU not to finance the project."

Related Posts: Brussels to approve Granadilla Port Tomorrow - Granadilla Port Gets Go-Ahead, with conditions. - EU says granadilla port should go ahead - Thousands still say no to Granadilla Port.