Janet Anscombe

Overview of News

With the temperatures going down, the Tenerife Cabildo has lifted the ban on fire activities in the mountains. The BBQs are open again! Given how hot and dry it has been, however, the public is asked to take extreme care and act responsibly in forest areas, and to keep to the main roads and avoid forest tracks as far as possible.  El Dia

Adeje is celebrating its Fiestas Lustrales de Nuestra Señora de la Encarnación 2010. The Fiesta proper started on 26 August, but lasts until 3 October with a wide programme of events that have been months in preparation. Throughout September and up to 3  October the virgin, or her statue at least, will visit all the towns and villages of Adeje municipality, ending up in Adeje town itself to coincide with the beginning of the fiestas patronales in October.

The Consistorio, CajaCanarias and the Lustral 2010 Committee have prepared an incredibly wide range of events organized by Adeje Ayuntamiento over the next several weeks, including recreations of the 16th century with guanches, pirates, slaves, and other period characters. The mayor stressed that all residents of the municipality of Adeje, as well as of other municipalities, would be welcomed to the festivities with open arms.

The full programme is HERE in pdf form.

Los Cristianos is celebrating its Virgen del Carmen fiesta, with events lasting until 6 September.

The festivities scheduled are:

Wednesday 1 Sept: 6-11pm. Ruta gastronómica marinera “Los Cristianos en 1000 sabores 2010″. This is, in fact, a three-week seafood event involving over 30 local establishments and lasting until 22 September, but timed to coincide with the Fiesta del Carmen. Tapas and a drink will be available for €3.

Thursday 2 Sept: 9pm. Cine de Verano.

Friday 3 Sept: 6pm. Parade through the town centre with the Banda Municipal de Arona.
6.30pm. Musical concert with the Banda Municipal de Arona
9.30pm. Fairground. Gran gala for the Young Fiesta Queen with musical performances.
11pm. Fairground. Open air dance with Orquesta Deliciosa.

Saturday 4 Sept: 11.30am. Plaza de la Pescadora. “Fiestas de Los Cristianos” with Radio Arona and presented by Agustín Negrín.

Aqualand Costa Adeje has proudly announced the birth of a new baby dolphin. The baby, called Waka, is a female who was born last Friday, 27 August, in the dophinarium. She is the offspring of Gara, a 24-year-old dolphin who has given birth twice before. The calving was a complete success, Aqualand says, adding that it is the fifth birth in the centre in the last fourteen years, making Aqualand Costa Adeje one of the foremost centres for dolphin births in Europe.

The new arrival weighs 12 kilos and measures 1.10 metres long, is extremely active and in excellent health. It took just four hours for her to be suckling well and she is now swimming constantly alongside her mother.

Gara and her baby have been accompanied at all times by mum’s friend, the dolphin Yemaya and her own male baby Aitami, who was born last summer in the same park. As soon as little Waka and Gara herself are transferred to the principal pool, visitors will be able to see them both.

The minimum age to ride motorbikes up to 50cc rises from 14 to 15 tomorrow. I must admit I always thought it was 15, but apparently not. The new minimum age is set by the reform, coming into force tomorrow, of the Reglamento General de Conductores, whose general provisions came into force last December.

Although youngsters of 14 will no longer be able to ride these bikes until they’re 15, they cannot, as previously, take pillion passengers until the age of 18. They must also pass both a theory test and a practical exam in a closed circuit.

The measure has been criticized by the motorcycle industry, as well as by motorcyclist associations, which have warned that if it comes to a choice of being able to ride a motorcycle of 50cc at age 15 or one of 125cc at age 16, consumers will probably opt to wait and buy a bigger bike, causing “drastic” losses to the industry. Industry insiders also quote the Greek example, where a similar measure caused an increase in accidents in new riders of larger bikes. C7

Update 31 August: The Yellow Alert in Tenerife for temperatures up to 34º ends tonight at 9pm, with a return to values normal for this time of year. Aemet

Update 29 August: Today’s Orange Alert for temperatures up to 38º (though we’ve had 42º at just under 1,000 metres on the west coast) is downgraded from 9pm tonight to Yellow for temperatures up to 36º, 34º at altitude. The alert remains in place for Tuesday as well now, but for temperatures up to 34º. Aemet Monday, Aemet Tuesday

Update 28 August: Aemet has extended the orange alert from the eastern islands to cover Tenerife as well, where temperatures tomorrow are expected to reach 38º throughout the island. The orange alert is active until 9pm tomorrow evening. Winds are also expected to pick up, particularly at mid-altitude and altitude. Looks like the hair-dryer is back. C24H

Update 31 August: Another narcopatera, this time a patera-like wooden boat, was found this morning pulled up on the coast near the parque marítimo in Santa Cruz. The Guardia Civil says that the craft appears to have arrived last night, and that it was empty of any clues as to what it had contained, though they are working on the “likeliest hypothesis” that it was used to transport drugs.

As posted below, previous crafts, whether wooden pateras or zodiac types, have appeared around the Tenerife coastline, for example in Los Silos, Buenavista del Norte, Valleseco, Las Gaviotas and Almáciga. The Guardia Civil believes that the entry points are varied so as to avoid the Sistema Integral de Vigilancia Exterior (SIVE) radar system.  El Dia

A 35-year-old man has been arrested in TFS Reina Sofia for smuggling two kilos of cocaine into Tenerife. The Policía Nacional say that he looked shifty when he saw police upon his arrival at the airport. Having roused their suspicions, his luggage was searched, and cocaine weighing 2,060 grams was found to be hidden in a false bottom of his suitcase. C24H

I posted recently HERE that Parque de la Reina was suffering a crime wave, and now police say that Abades is suffering the same, with 12 houses burgled even in the same street in the last 10 days. The fact is, though, that Abades is just being used as an example, with the headline HERE reading “La isla de Tenerife sufre una oleada de robos” (Tenerife suffering wave of robberies).

Local Police chiefs throughout the island say they are overwhelmed by the numbers of denuncias for thefts that they have to deal with, not just of empty premises, but now very often of premises where the owners were at home and asleep. The capital is the area most affected by the crimewaves, but this is no longer a phenomenon that can be said to be restricted to any particular area of Tenerife.

Update 25 August: I posted HERE about four men, two aged 18, one 22, and the last 26, all Arona residents, who had been arrested for aggravated robbery in Costa del Silencio. It seems that they will now also be charged with the robbery and attack on this victim, who appears from posts on The Tenerife Forum to be Tony from the Gateway bar.

It seems that as part of police investigations, a ring in the possession of the thieves has been identified by the victim as a stolen item belonging to him. The paperwork processing the four has been put through the courts, specifically Arona court 5, and all four were ordered by the judge to be remanded in prison. C24H

There is no further update on the victim’s condition, but this is almost certainly to be taken as good news, especially since it seems that it was he himself who was in a fit enough condition to be able to help police by identifying the ring.

Four people have been injured in what is the second street fight in Santa Cruz in 24 hours.  Two of them, a 20-year-old man and a 45-year-old woman, have been transferred to Candelaria Hospital, though their injuries are said not to be serious. The other two, women of 40 and 65,  were treated locally at Ofra Health Centre. The incident appears to have been a massive public brawl, and moreover the second within 24 hours in the same area. In the former outbreak, a 22-year-old man received non-serious knife wounds. C7

Two science researchers, Cristina González and Nuria Teigell, say that after a year’s study into air samples from calimas, they have found the weather phenomena to contain a great diversity of allergenic fungi and bacteria. The research was carried out by the Tropical Diseases and Public Health Institute of the Canaries, which is part of the Universidad de La Laguna (ULL),  and demonstrates clearly that calimas bring allergens, and explains the respiratory problems calimas can produce.

The calimas also bring bacteria and fungi that attack vegetable life, which would help explain the sometimes ravaging effects of calimas on crops. Ultimately, however, the studies are focused on human public health, and their research continues in the hope of finding clinical uses for the classifications and analysis of the spores, including whether the bacteria transported through the air during calimas can carry viruses.  The research could lead to vaccines to help prevent allergic reactions in those who are particularly susceptible or vulnerable. El Dia

Update 24 August: The contest ended just a few hours ago, and the winner was Miss Mexico, Jimena Navarrete. The hot favourite had been Miss Philippines, who eventually came fifth, but once again, as in the last couple of years, the winner is a Latin American girl. Adriana Reverón, Miss Spain, came 22nd out of a field of more than 80.

Update 22 August: Adriana Reverón says that “the support I’m getting from Tenerife is an incentive to bring out the best in me”. The 24-year-old student and beauty queen will be competing in just a few hours now for the Miss Universe title, though events have been going on for the past week or so since competitors arrived in Las Vegas.  The Spanish press says that she is one of the favourites, though some less directly involved sources suggest she is not a hot favourite. Miss Philippines is widely expected to win. El Dia

On the grounds that it’s best to be informed, and that we should be realistic about what’s happening here, Parque de la Reina seems to have developed a crime problem over the past several months.

Today’s papers report that a bar in the urbanization has just been robbed for the third time in only a few months, and for the fifth time over the course of the past year. On this occasion, the thieves got away with two slot machines and other goods, valued in total at more than €15,000, as well as €2,000 in cash. The slot machines have now been found, totally destroyed, in a nearby banana plantation.

Nine thieves have been arrested over the last few hours in Tenerife.

Two men and a woman, all Polish and aged 28, 30 and 35, were arrested after being caught red handed by security staff in a commercial centre in La Orotava where they were trying to steal clothes and accessories worth €1,691. After being detained, officers found further stolen clothes to the value of some €6,000 in their car.

Meanwhile, in Guía de Isora, the Guardia Civil arrested a 21-year-old Santiago del Teide man for breaking and entering a restaurant in the town. Agents were able to identify him thanks to a security camera in the premises.

Also, in Playa de las Américas, the Guardia Civil arrested four men, two aged 18, one 22, and the last 26, all Arona residents, for aggravated robbery in Costa del Silencio. The youths had broken into a dwelling while its owners were at home and in bed. They stole electronic goods and around €800 in cash.