Coso de Carnaval de Tenerife 2010

From the Carnaval's Main Parade on Shrove Tuesday, February 16th, here's just a minute's edited highlights and here's another minute where the big, bright costumes and the sound of the batucada (drumming) will certainly get you in the mood. It also gives you a glimpse of this year's Carnaval Queen, "Alice in Wonderland."

If that's not enough for you, pour yourself your beverage of choice, get out the party hats and have the whole Carnaval Experience in your own living room:

Firstly because, Canarian TV have put their coverage online this year. It comes in two parts, I've no idea how long it runs, but just the first part is 439 Mb, so I'm assuming it's pretty comprehensive! Play or download from here.

Alternatively, you can watch the approximately 1 hour of coverage of the Cabalgata de Carnaval from Spanish National Television, TVE, online here.

(Unlike their British counterparts, these do not restrict you by country.)

Reports indicate that the turn out wasn't affected by the threat of rain and indeed the public were so numerous that the route had to be lengthened at both ends.

It's estimated that there were 100,000 spectators, while 110 Carnaval groups contributed a total of 12,000 participants to the massive, colourful parade.

If you still want more, the recordings of the Gala for the Selection of the Carnaval Queen and the Carnaval de día are also available to watch or download.

And, if after watching some or all of those videos you decide that you really need to experience this in the flesh, the main event of Carnaval in Santa Cruz in 2011 will be on March 8th. More details of future Carnaval dates in Santa Cruz here.

Photos of Santa Cruz' Carnaval Opening Parade

While there's a lull in Carnaval proceedings, before it all starts up again this week in Los Cristianos, here are some more highlights from the 2010 Carnaval in Santa Cruz.

Previously we saw a video of the Opening Parade and here are some still images from the parade on Friday, February 12th.

There are two sets: Carnaval de Tenerife and Carnaval Tenerife 2010.

Featured in both sets and definitely one of the stars of this year's Carnaval are the "cheeky" costumes of the Comparsa Bahía Bahitiare.

Here is a video of Bahía Bahitiare performing in this year's Concurso de comparsas, where they won second place for interpretation, the designers' prize for creativity, as well as the the people's choice award, making them the most awarded group.

Photo: by maduroman

Wednesday's Carnaval Events Cancelled

The widows will be wailing for an entirely different reason tonight, as news just in is that all of today's Carnaval events in Santa Cruz have been suspended because of the weather alert.

The Entierro de la Sardina (Burial of the Sardine) has been postponed until Friday, February 19th, at 9 p.m.

Also suspended are tonight's firework display and the dancing in the Plaza de La Candelaria, plus the attractions in the funfair will not be operating.

Meanwhile, the Tenerife Island Corporation is recommending that citizens should not leave their homes, because of the bad weather, with winds of up to 120 kph and heavy rains predicted. They also remind people to bring in anything loose from balconies and roofs, such as flower pots, etc., that could fall into the road.

Photo: Wailing Widows at Puerto de la Cruz in 2008 by Alejandro Amador

Carnaval Opening Parade 2010

Here's part 1 of 3 (part 2, part 3), showing highlights from last Friday's Cabalgata Anunciadora, or Carnaval Opening Parade in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. See many of the participants in this wonderful, colourful, noisy cacophony of excitement, expression and expectation. It's good for the soul.

Carnaval Tuesday: Coso Apoteosis 2010

Tomorrow, Tuesday, February 16th, is once more, Carnaval Tuesday in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, when the main parade should be taking place from around 4 p.m. in the afternoon in the Avenidas de Anaga y Marítima (map) along the sea front in Santa Cruz, culminating in a huge fireworks display (around 9 - 9.30 p.m.)

We have to say should, because at the moment, the forecast for Santa Cruz tomorrow gives the probability of rain as 100%. Nothing at all unusual: rain in Tenerife is drawn to Carnaval week, in the same way as it is to August Bank Holidays in Britain, but it's always a shame if it disrupts the biggest day.

For those of you outside the island, or who don't want to dodge the showers, the Coso is due to be televised, as it has been in previous years. Radio Televisión Canaria (RTVC) will be broadcasting live from 4 p.m. onwards on both Televisión Canaria and Televisión Canaria Sat, which will also hopefully be available to watch live online. If you miss that, there's also a chance the recording will become available later on their version of the iPlayer, Emisiones Completas.

(The recording of last Wednesday's Gala for the Selection of the Carnaval Queen, that I missed, is currently available to play or download, in 2 parts, here.)

At 6 p.m., Spanish National tele, Televisión Española (TVE) will also be broadcasting the Gran Coso de Santa Cruz de Tenerife, along with the firework finale on La 2. Likewise, a recording of their coverage may appear later at TVE a la Carta.

Photo: by pano_philou from Carnaval 2009 - Coso Apoteosis

More Photos of the Coso Apoteosis de Tenerife 2009

Program of events, Santa Cruz Carnaval 2010

Last look at 2009 Carnaval Queens

As tonight is the Gala de Elección de la Reina (Gala to Elect the Carnaval Queen) in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, here's a last chance to have a look at all of the candidates from 2009.

Radio Televisión Canaria will be showing the gala, which should also be available to viewers outside the island online.

Small earthquake hits Tenerife

View Larger MapSo small and normal that it probably wouldn't have made the press, if it hadn't been "riding on the coat-tails of the Haiti earthquakes", as Janet Anscombe puts it.

The tremor, measuring 4 on the Richter Scale, was so light that they didn't notice a thing in Puerto de la Cruz, although reports claim that it was felt in Gran Canaria.

And "Some residents of blocks of flats in Las Chumberas, near Alcampo in La Laguna, fled from their homes fearing a building collapse," report Island Connections.

It happened at just after 3 p.m. on Friday, February 5th, with it's epicentre at 28.3904 latitude, -16.2212 longitude, some 10 kilometres south east of Santa Cruz and at a depth of 23 kilometres. Yes, a depth of 23 kilometres, not 23 meters (which would make the Atlantic Ocean very shallow indeed), as the report in La Opinion would have it. (I know, can't help nitpicking.)

It was the very depth that prevented the quake from being widely felt and the quake was "without consequences", as Antena 3 report.

Apparently, there were "80 seismic movements last year, but only 4 were felt. According to experts this is normal", says Jack Montgomery. There have certainly been plenty in the area before, as this image shows. Experts also say there's "no risk of Teide erupting and there isn't another island about to rise up from the sea between Tenerife and Gran Canaria." Famous last words?

This is Tenerife Carnaval

Well, here's another classic case of This is Tenerife or TiT syndrome, which could be summed up by the rhetorical question, "Well, what did you expect, this is Tenerife?"

Regular readers may remember that back in April 2009, we ran a blog post when the 2010 Santa Cruz Carnaval theme was announced.

At that time, it was slated to be La Historia de la Humanidad (The History of Humanity) - a noble, but perhaps ambitious topic.

Too ambitious, clearly, because, when we begin collecting information now that the Carnaval is right upon us, we find that the theme has changed to the mere Historia de un Carnaval (History of a Carnaval).

That does seem more locally topical and, potentially even more interesting, but it's pretty curious isn't it? Yes, we went back and checked our original source, which was the announcement of the theme and the contest to design the poster for it. The winning poster (above) with the ape, is consistent with the humanity theme, but holds no particular significance within the history of the island's Carnaval.

What's more, we have no idea when the theme was changed, or why (in July 2009 the History of Humanity was still listed as the theme). Was the change even announced, or did it just happen and they were hoping nobody noticed?

Meanwhile, other "novelties" were announced back in March 2009, which suggested that the Gala for the selection of the Carnaval Queen would be held on the Friday, instead of the announcing parade. The Gala has always been on the Wednesday, the opening parade on the Friday evening and, I'd imagine a bloody riot would take place if anyone tried to muck about with these traditions. Perhaps it did, because there seems to be no more mention of that (nor a proposed King of Carnaval contest) and the Gala is back to normal on Wednesday and the opening parade on Friday.

San Antonio Abad Redux

If you're looking for something fun to do in Tenerife today, then pop along to Buenavista del Norte in the island's north west corner for the Livestock Fair and Romería de San Antonio Abad, which had to be postponed last week.

Secret Tenerife Turns Six

Facebook is not the only site to have celebrated its 6th birthday yesterday, as Secret Tenerife did too, having been founded (at this domain, although the concept has been going longer) on February 5th, 2004. 

They're not the only ones to have rolled out a new design either. If you subscribe to our news feed, you may not have visited the site recently, in which case, you could be missing some of the innovations.

As well as making our Tenerife weather coverage more comprehensive, we've also added other content we hope will be useful and of interest, including links to airport information, currency rates, a combined news feed, in English, from several sources to keep you up-to-date, calendar, what's on, search facilities and more.

Click below to check these out in more detail:

PS: You can buy the irresistibly cute Age 6 Mermaid Birthday Badge here.

A walk around La Laguna

View Larger Map... without even leaving home. Google's Street View, according to Lo Que Pasa en Tenerife, has been operative for almost all areas of the island since the end of last year, but we just hadn't got around to checking it out.

Indeed, even some of Tenerife's more rural areas are well covered - although the highest you can get is to Vilaflor: it does not include the Teide National Park, but after playing with it for a while extensive testing, we can also confirm that you can happily type Tenerife place names into UK Google Maps and it will get you there.

To start you off, we've put you in the most famous* street, the Calle Obispo Rey Redondo, a.k.a. Calle Carrera in the town of La Laguna. Happy strolling!

*A local legend states that upon the death of one of his sons in the town, Fernández de Lugo ordered that the street of La Carrera be made twisted rather than straight so that he wouldn't have to see the site of his son's demise from his residence.

Number of self-employed in Tenerife falls

"I love my boss (I'm self employed)" T-Shirts

Which is probably not surprising news, given the current economic situation and how expensive it is to be self-employed. Overall, in the province of Tenerife in 2009, the number dropped by 5.6%.

But while the reductions in numbers in Santa Cruz de Tenerife (-4,8%) and La Laguna (-4,3%), were lower than the average, Arona led the descent with a drop of 11,1% in the number of self-employed.

We're sure the story on the ground is likely to be very different and that plenty of people are feeling the fallout, but "officially", there are no Canarian districts among those with a high proportion of foreigners (foreigner residents represented 41% of the total of 65,550 inhabitants in Arona in 2006), where those residents are of working age.

(If you are self-employed, remember there are other advantages though.)

Candlemas (Public Holiday in Tenerife)

February 2nd, being Candlemas is a public holiday in Tenerife.

Also known as the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin, Candlemas translates to Candelaria in Spanish, which is the name of the town where the Patroness of the Canary Islands - the Virgin of Candelaria (Virgen de Candelaria or Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria) is kept.

There is a program of events for the occasion, in Candelaria, with Eucharist and the blessing of the candles on the eve of the fiesta and mass followed by a civic procession on Tuesday itself.

Tenerife bus company, TITSA, are reinforcing their services by putting on extra buses between Santa Cruz and La Laguna and Candelaria, so that people can attend the fiestas. (They do this for almost every event, unlike the UK, where public transport becomes rarer than rocking horse poo on Bank Holidays!)

The festival of the Virgen de la Candelaria is also celebrated various parts of South America; in Bolivia, Peru, Uruguay, Chile and Venezuela. In Bolivia, the Virgen is also known as the Dark Virgin of the Lake, and the Patroness Of Bolivia. And in San Antonio, Texas in the US, there is an image of the Virgen de Candelaria, probably because that city was founded by people from the Canary Islands.

Tenerife in February

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Almond Blossom

There's a good reason why they call Tenerife "The Island of Eternal Spring". This photo was taken at the end of January 2005, long before blossoms arrive elsewhere.

Tenerife Weather in February

Tenerife features the lowest temperature 'difference' between summer and winter for anywhere in the world. The minimum and maximum annual average air temperatures in Tenerife are about 15C in winter and 24C in summer.

February Averages	Tenerife	UK
Daily hours of sunshine	6.6	2.4
Daytime temperature C	17.9	6.9
Sea temperature C	18	-
Days with rain	5	10.4

In February, you should enjoy an average of 6.6 daily hours of sunshine in Tenerife (in contrast to an optimistic 2.4 hours in England).

The average daytime temperature in February in Tenerife is listed as 17.9 degrees centigrade. This is, of course, an average for the entire island. And, no matter where you are on the island, it is sure to be better than the English equivalent, given as a maximum of 6.9 degrees centigrade.

The sea temperature in Tenerife in February averages at 18C.

Although there are an average of 5 days with rain in February, this means any amount of rain from a short sharp shower. Better than the 10.4 days in the UK.

Tenerife Fiestas in February

On February 1st, the Eve of Candlemass, if you haven’t already, you should take down your Christmas decorations. Decorations have to be left up past Twelfth Night in Spain, otherwise they’d be gone before the main event of the season on January 6th, but did you know that even in British culture:

"The eve of Candlemas was the day on which Christmas decorations of greenery were removed from people’s homes and churches."

February 2nd Día de la Virgen de la Candelaria / Candlemas (The figure of the Virgin housed in Candelaria in Tenerife is the Patroness of the islands) is a public holiday on the island of Tenerife only. Banks and Public offices will be closed.

The annual Ruta de los Almendros en Flor (Almond Flower Route) in Santiago del Teide usually takes place in February. The exact date will depend on when the blossom is at it’s best, which depends on the whims of the weather.

Each year on February 15th, from 5 a.m. onwards, the doors of the Santa Catalina convent in La Laguna will be opened for the faithful and the curious to queue around the block for the chance to view the uncorrupted body of Sor María de Jesús (Sister Maria of Jesus) (1643 – 1731), popularly known as La Siervita.

More often than not, Carnaval in Tenerife’s capital, Santa Cruz, takes place in the month of February, the main event of which, the Coso de Carnaval or Main Parade, is held on Shrove Tuesday. See: Tenerife Carnaval Dates 2008 – 2050.

(Please note: Carnaval’s Main Parade in Santa Cruz in 2011 is on March 8th.)

Tenerife's Father of Modern Engineering

February 1st is the anniversary of the birth, in 1758, of prominent engineer, Agustín de Betancourt y Molina (1758-1824), in Puerto de la Cruz. On the north side of the square outside Puerto's main church of Nuestra Señora de la Peña de Francia is a bust (pictured above) in his memory. The Hotel Monopol (photo), opposite the bust, is built on the site of his birthplace. [Source: PuntoInfo]