Tenerife Magazine’s round up of some of the most interesting news stories of the week in Tenerife.
Santa Cruz Sal2
Here’s a date for your diary; the second Santa Cruz Sal2 is due to be held in the capital on Saturday 17th September. The event is designed to help businesses based outside the main city centre by giving them a space to promote themselves in one of Santa Cruz’ busiest shopping zones; in this case at stalls around the Mercado Nuestra Señora de Africa. At the last event around 190 shops and restaurants took advantage of the scheme which attracted over 80,000 shoppers. This year, musicians and bands are also being encouraged to take part which should give the day more of a party atmosphere. The trade fair is open from 8am till 8pm and it should be the place to be if you’re into shopping, eating or live music.
Explosive Stuff
The breezy weather on the east coast blew the sand off an old anti-tank mine this week. The device was found near the old leper colony at Arico ““ not a place visited by many people ““ and was thought to be have left behind following military training a long, long time ago. Members of a Guardia Civil explosives team based at the south airport were called in to disabled the mine which only contained a small amount of explosives as it was made for training purposes. It could have put a whole new meaning on the phrase having a blast in Tenerife.
The Virgen de Candelaria
The patron saint of the Canary Islands was honoured in typically epic style this week. For anyone not familiar with Tenerife’s fiestas and religious celebrations, they tend to draw huge crowds. However, not a lot of tourists ever witness them as the biggest generally take place away from the main tourist resorts. Monday saw an incredible 250,000 people visit Candelaria on the east coast to honour the Virgen de Candelaria. It’s also interesting to note that despite the high numbers, there were only 25 incidents reported by the emergency services and the civil protection officers and most of these were as a result of fainting. We’re assuming that was because of the heat rather than the sight of the local men decked out like cavemen.
Speed Checks on Tenerife
For the rest of this week the Canarian Government has implement a campaign of speed checks on the Canary Islands” roads in a bid to slow drivers down. According to official sources, speeding is accountable for 40% of fatalities on Spain’s roads. Apparently the most dangerous place to be driving is on secondary roads where 71% of fatal accidents occur late at night, at the weekend and after alcohol has been taken.
Respect the Sea
This week two swimmers drowned near two Tenerife beaches; one in Playa San Juan and the other at the remote beach of Playa Los Patos in La Orotava. The tragedies prompted debates about the need for lifeguards on more of Tenerife’s beaches. Many of Tenerife’s tourist beaches already have lifeguards and operate a flag system to warn bathers whether the sea is safe for swimming or not…but this doesn’t always deter bathers from taking to the water even when a red ‘danger’ flag is flying. Clearly it is essential for safety purposes that popular beaches are patrolled by lifeguards. But Tenerife has many coves and beaches that are off the beaten tourist track. It is impossible and impractical to provide lifeguard cover on them all. These tragic deaths are a sombre reminder that care should be taken at all times when swimming, especially by those not used to the sea and even more especially in areas where there is no lifeguard present.
And finally the TIT (This Is Tenerife) of the week award goes to…Tenerife’s politicians in general
It’s the height of summer and tourists are flocking to the island. There’s talk of promotional campaigns aimed at spreading the word about how wonderful and diverse Tenerife is; politicians and businesspeople wax lyrical about investments, proposals and initiatives that will bring even more tourists. Yet what is often missing from the scene is evidence of actual action to back up the big words.
It’s the height of summer and one of Tenerife’s most popular walking routes, the Barranco del Infierno remains closed after two years.
In Santa Cruz, Tenerife’s most popular nudist beach at Las Gaviotas has been shut to the public since December with no evidence of it re-opening as summer drifts lazily by.
Arona enjoyed it’s biggest concert of the year as David Guetta and the Arona Summer Festival attracted over 13000 fans last week whilst the local police and the Arona council were at loggerheads about overtime salaries. The result? Too few officers to deal with the increased volumes of people coming into the area.
Rhetoric is all well and fine but we all know the old saying…action speaks louder than words.
