Fun and adventures for the little ones.
Siam Park The Water Kingdom is full of rides and adventures for the whole family. The little ones will enjoy this unlimited fun play area designed specially for them. The lost City is an attraction consisting of a combination of multiple towers joined by bridges and nets, with waterfalls, slides and water games that make a real kid city where splashing and getting wet is simply a must. Kids and adults will become little adventure’s as they discover the secrets of the “Lost City” or get into a water gun fight. There’s a magic atmosphere running through waterfalls, fountains, water curtains and pools that are surrounded by lush vegetation to arouse children´s imagination.

The attraction’s design and its unique theme set it apart from any other in the world. Many sculptures inspired by oriental designs, mystical creatures, snakes, seahorses, elephants and monkeys, among others, have been used in its construction. Different materials and textures have been used with the intention of transporting children to the ancient Kingdom of Siam, in order to make their day at the park a full adventure. Up in the tallest tower of the lost city, the head of the monkey king, Hanuman, keep and eye on everyone to surprise whoever dare to discover him.

The Lost City includes a special place for the younger members of the family. Babies won´t have to look at the rest in envy, Siam Park has designed a special place for them, where they can safely enjoy slides and a pool in the company of their parents, brothers or sisters.

Security is Siam Park team’s first priority. The area will be under constant vigilance by lifeguards. The attraction will only have one entrance and exit point, allowing parents not to loose sight of their children. Water is renewed and filtered continuously to ensure it is fresh and pure. Slides will be restricted for kids over 1 m tall but all are welcome to splash to play to their hearts content.

Granadilla council plans to ban nudism on one of Tenerife’s best-known nudist spots are being challenged by Spain’s biggest Nudism Association.

There have been rumours for weeks that the corporation is about to ban naked swimming and sunbathing on the beach at La Tejita (El Médano) due to complaints from families.

However, the proposal has hit trouble after the Association queried the right of local councils to ban something for which no legal prohibition exists at national level. Ismael Rodríguez, the Association’s head, said yesterday that councils ‘have no right to decide what people should or should not wear on beaches’ and it would file a legal challenge to any by-law passed.

Dozens of experts from all over the world are in Tenerife for a 2-day conference which aims to explore market opportunities for renewable energies.

The conference was opened formally on Wednesday by the vice-president of the European Parliament and the president of the Tenerife Cabildo, which is co-hosting the event.

Delegates from countries as far apart as The Netherlands and New Zealand devoted the day to discussing the use of solar and win energy to mitigate climate change and combat the current oil price crisis.

Tenerife presented an innovative project to tap the island’s geothermal heat reserves thousands of metres underground to provide electricity for the island.

Source: news Canarias

Dia de Canarias ( Canarian Day)

Special celebrations for Canarian Day will be held in Alcala Plaza on Friday 30th May.

The fun starts at 10am – 6pm with a craft fair.

Then in the evening from 11pm there is a Canarian folk music competition and dancing.

Tomorrow evening (Thurs 29th May) in the plaza at Puerto Santiago is the election of the Romeria Queen, starting at 9.30pm.

This year’s six finalists, drawn from across the municipality, will be dressed in their traditional Canarian costumes. Our English (oops sorry, Scottish) host for the evening is Councillor Steven Gerald – McKenna.

There will be entertainment by the Municipal School of Folklore from Santiago del Teide, the Cultural Association ‘Magec’ as well as the group, Voces de Mujer.

The six finalists pictured below are, 1. Alexandra Débora Robinson, representing Puerto de Santiago, 2. Noelia Gil Linares, (Santiago town), 3. Melania Dorta Gorrín, (Valle Ariba), 4. Laura Troncatti Perez, (Arguayo), 5. Ithaisa Medina González, (Tamaimo) and 6. Elisabeth Sanchez Gorrín (Retamar).

After the new Romeria Queen has been elected, there will be dancing in the plaza to music by the Arguayo Band.

1. Alexandra Débora Robinson                                          2. Noelia Gil Linares

3. Melania Dorta Gorrín                                                         4. Laura Troncatti Perez

5. Ithaisa Medina González                                                 6. Elisabeth Sanchez Gorrín

Another basic food-handling health and safety course is being organised by Santiago del Teide council.

The course will be held at the sociodeportiva (social/sports room) in Paseo Agustín Herrera, Puerto de Santiago, next to the Chicken Shack, on June 10th and 11th, at 4pm – finishing at 7pm.

The six hour course is designed to give students a basic understanding of food hygiene and is very similar to the UK course. Holding the certificate is a requirement in law for anyone employed in the handling of food in bars and restaurants.

To enrol for the course contact the council offices in Santiago del Teide, or telephone 922863127 ext. 253.

Tenerife’s Tourist Board is capitalising on the popularity of Spanish tennis to advertise the island as a holiday destination.

The coverage by Spanish TV of the French Open at Roland Garros during the next two weeks is being sponsored heavily by the Tenerife Tourist Board, which features prominently in ads in commercial breaks.

The authorities are hoping Rafael Nadal, the biggest TV draw in tennis at present, makes it to his fourth Final in a row and thus ensure massive audiences for the advertising.

The sponsorship is part of a 4 million euro deal with TV to advertise Tenerife on Spanish screens during the coming months.

 On the 21st  May the Policiá Local were given practical and theoretical training on the correct use of Alcohol meters. The Guardia Civil trafic police from Santa Cruz gave the talk.
So be wary!

Translation by John Punton
Spanish lessons tailored to your work
commitments call John 610243303

World premiere at this year’s event from 23-29 June 2008 (press release from Tenerife Tourist Board)

Star guest at the second edition of Tenerife’s International Film Music Festival (Fimucité) taking place from 23-29 June is Spanish composer Fernando Velázquez, winner of the Spanish Music Awards best soundtrack of the year for the film The Orphanage (El Orfanato), following his nomination in the same category for Spain’s Goya Awards.

Velázquez, who hails from Vizcaya in northern Spain, will open the programme of concerts scheduled for Filmucité 2008 as conductor of the Tenerife Film Orchestra & Choir with the world premiere of his Symphonic Suite for The Orphanage, Spain’s biggest box office hit of 2007 and the European film which ranked fifth on the continent for the number of cinema goers it attracted.

This edition of the festival also pays tribute to the original soundtrack of one of the most important films in the history of movies: Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey to mark the 40th anniversary of its release. The closing concert will feature the Tenerife Film Orchestra & Choir playing a selection of musical scores by the composer Alex North, classed as a masterpiece nowadays despite being cut from Stanley Kubrick’s final version of the film.

The first edition of the Tenerife’s International Film Music Festival attracted composers of the stature of Don Davis (Matrix), Sean Callery (24), Mychael Danna (Monsoon Wedding), Ángel Illarramendi (Los Borgia) and Diego Navarro (Oscar a Surrealist Passion).

For more information: www.filmucite.com

Later this year a new high tech satellite system will be put into operation throughout the Canaries. The new system, know as the Seahorse Network, is able to track drug and people traffickers for several days before they come ashore.

The system will connect intelligence agencies in Portugal, Mauritania, Senegal and the Cape Verde Islands to the main headquarters in Las Palmas to monitor boat traffic along the coast of West Africa.

The system operates via SpainSat, (see pic right) a satellite owned and operated by Spain’s Ministry of Defence.

Seahorse network will gather information from the various intelligence agencies as well as making use of data obtained from the marine Automatic Identification System, AIS, which tracks every vessel over 500 tons in the Eastern Atlantic.

A painting competition with a nautical theme is being organised by the Fisherman’s museum in Puerto Santiago.

Only 1 entry per artist is allowed and the theme of the sea, fishing and its arts and crafts and the customs of fishermen are to be shown.

Entries are to be handed in from July 7th to July 21st at the Museo de Pescador, in Avenida Quinco Centenario, Puerto de Santiago.

The judges will select 40 works of art from those handed in and they will be on display at the museum between the August 4th and 31st.

The best 3 will be awarded prizes at a presentation on the final day of the exhibition.

1st prize is a trip to La Gomera for 2 people, staying in the Hotel Tecina. 2nd prize is a stay in the Hotel Playa de La Arena, and the 3rd prize is a weekend in Los Gigantes.

For more information, email museo@museodelpescador.com or telephone 671329500.

During the past two weeks new radar traps in Santa Cruz have monitored a total of 6,926 vehicles. From those 327 vehicles have been recorded breaking the speed limit in the following places:-Avenida de Anaga (82); Carretera general del Sur - TF-28, (74); the motorway between Santa Cruz and La Laguna via Calle Panamá (60); Avenida de La Constitución (53); the Carretera general del Sur in El Chorrillo (30) and Avenida Hespérides (13).

The penalty for exceeding the 60km limit in build up areas, or 80km on inter-city roads, can be a jail sentence of up to six months, or a fine plus up to 90 days community service and a driving ban of up to 4 years. These strict new laws were passed last December.

www.jet2.com  has launched a sale on winter flights to the Canary Islands.
The low-cost carrier is offering reduced one-way fares to Tenerife from £49.99.
Flights are available now and include taxes and charges.
Those looking to escape the typically gloomy British winter can make bookings “right the way through until March 2009″.
Travellers can make their way from Manchester, Leeds Bradford, Newcastle and Blackpool airports.
In an announcement on its official website, the carrier said: “If you like planning ahead and are looking to catch some winter sun then why not head to the Canaries with Jet2.com.”

Tighter drug detection controls at Tenerife South Airport have led to the arrest of a 33-year-old Romanian woman.

The woman was a passenger on a scheduled flight from Madrid. She was questioned by customs officials as she was leaving the arrivals hall and her responses made officers suspicious.

Nothing was found in the initial search of her luggage, but after a more thorough check with scanning equipment, a false bottom was discovered in her case containing over one kilo of high-grade cocaine for distribution in Tenerife.

The Lions Club International, Santiago del Teide branch, held their annual quiz at Bar Amozonia on the San Francisco urbanisation, just outside Los Gigantes, on Saturday evening. The bar, with its tropical feel, together with the sun going down was a perfect venue.

The quiz master, Lion Ken Ward (right), put all the teams to the test. A total of eleven teams of 4 contestants entered the battle for the Losgigantes.com sponsored event.

The evening and questions were punctuated by food, so after three rounds the food was duly served, if you like ribs with BBQ sauce you would have loved this spread, the next half hour being spent munching then the following half hour with the tooth picks.

The final round was about to be delivered. The points were being tallied by Lion Steve Gilbert and his assistant Jamie Gilbert who had spent most of the night collecting and delivering question and answer papers to and from the assembled protagonists.

The battle continued and in the end only 1 point separated the winners from the runners up.

          Winners “Just the Facts”                                     Runners up “The Good Four”

The presentations were made by Lion Sheila Widdrington, better known to losgigantes.com users as Dolly Diver, and Lion Paul Marley publisher of losgigantes.com

The Sponsors wish to thank all who took part for making the night a success and Ken Ward for his work preparing the quiz as well as Steve Gilbert for his adjudication and Jamie Gilbert for his help.

A total of €230 was raised for Lions causes.

The Local Police and volunteer Firefighters of Santiago del Teide yesterday had to act in an emergency situation when a fire broke out in the shopping mall Tenir in Puerto Santiago.

The fire started at 6.30 pm in the power distribution room in the basement of the building. Fortunately there were no injuries.

                                                                                       Photo: Gerald Zenou

Press release from Tenerife tourist board - Featuring a new set of proposals designed to maintain the island’s status as a leading holiday destination.

Tenerife has a well defined tourism strategy to be applied over the next eight years. Featuring an ample range of directives and actions, it aims to reactivate tourism on the island and combat the complex situation the holiday sector is currently facing as evidenced in last year’s figures. The new proposals focus on renovation in all aspects (resort areas, services on offer, means used for promotion and marketing and even management).

The Strategy was announced in public on 16th April at Tenerife’s Auditorium by the island’s councillor for Tourism and first junior chairman of the Tenerife Cabildo, José Manuel Bermúdez.
  Tenerife’s Tourism Strategy 2008-15, devised by the Cabildo through Turismo de Tenerife and with a significant level of participation by the sector, features 12 essential objectives. Of primary importance is the regeneration of resort areas with a view to guaranteeing their competitive edge, quality and sustainability. Secondly, there is a directive which focuses on specialisation, diversification and enriching the available services and holiday products, which is linked closely to the development of new products and upgrading existing ones.

The third main objective is to reach a balance between the investment made into attracting consolidated markets and the diversification of activities aimed at new outbound markets. The fourth goal refers specifically to highlighting differentiation and efficiency in promotions.

Other important aims outlined in the strategy include improving market accessibility to the Tenerife holiday product, boosting online promotion and marketing plus better management of the relationship between the client and the destination resulting in higher levels of satisfaction and, therefore, customer loyalty.

Tenerife’s remaining strategic objectives are to encourage levels of knowledge, information and research into the holiday industry, innovation at all levels of management and promotion and a renewed bid for cooperation and coordination. Finally Turismo de Tenerife has incorporated into its objectives the goal of strengthening social implication and links with the tourism sector and its activities as well as raising professional standards, qualification and training in the industry as a whole.

A complex, participatory professional procedure

In order to draw up the strategy designed by Turismo de Tenerife for the Cabildo, all the internal and external statistical information has been taken into account as well as any available studies. A working method was applied to this information involving an unprecedented level of social participation which incorporated trends deriving from a complex consultation process to include virtually the entire holiday industry plus a large group of professionals from a wide range of fields.

By Matt Walker

BBC

Super-fast pilot whales off the coast of Tenerife have been observed sprinting after prey, likely to include giant squid.

Read Full Story » »

The Canarian High Court has backed the local authorities in their plan to pull down dozens of houses built too near the coast in Candelaria .

Objections to the demolition of 23 homes in the Cho Vito coastal district of the town have been dismissed by the Court, which says the Spanish government is acting legally in enforcing orders to recuperate the coastline.

The residents, some of whom have lived in their houses for over 60 years, say they have yet to receive formal notification of the ruling and will take further steps to fight the plans.

The world’s biggest 14-storey cruise liner, The Independence of the Seas, which was recently-christened jewel in the crown of the Royal Caribbean fleet, made its first ever stop in Tenerife and docked in Santa Cruz on Saturday with 3600 passengers on board and a crew of just over 1000 from 75 different companies.

A special reception was held in Santa Cruz to mark the ship’s maiden visit. The Captain said that the Canaries will feature prominently in the liner’s cruises for at least the next two years.

The liner then called into Las Palmas on Sunday before heading across to Lanzarote and up to Portugal.

A middle-aged man was refused a drink on a flight from Manchester to Tenerife. His response? To swear at airplane crew members. Their response? The pilot diverted the charter plane and forced the troublesome holidaymaker to disembark on a barren volcanic island off the west coast of Africa some 300 miles from his destination. Read Full Story » »

Santiago del Teide county council has issued the route for the 11th annual Santiago pilgrimage walk, the Ruta Jacobea Tinerfeña 2008, The walk is scheduled for July 19th and 20th.

Pilgrims will follow the traditional route this year which leaves from the Santiago Apóstol parish church in Los Realejos. It was at this church that the nine Guanche kings were baptised, the ancient aboriginal rulers of the island who signalled the formal conversion of Tenerife to Christianity after the Spanish conquest.

The route will then take the Pilgrims to the hermitage in the Valle de Arriba just outside of Santiago del Teide, then on to the Santiago Apóstol church in Santiago del Teide.

During the walk several places of historical interest will be visited. The Mirador de La Corona, las Coladas del Volcán de Garachico, Los Campeches, la Fuente del Bardo, and Los Partidos de Franki, before arriving at the hermitage of Santiago, which was built in 1550.

Vehicles are being organised to carry back packs and to provide first aid if required.

Those interested need to contact the Cultural department at the Santiago del Teide town hall or telephone 922863127: Ext. 234 or 235.

There are a limited number of places so book early.

An abandoned zodiac inflatable was discovered yesterday by Guardia Civil officers on the beach near the Granadilla Industrial Park containing 40 bales of hashish.

It is thought that the inflatable came ashore in the early hours but a patrol boat had scared off the smugglers. They abandoned the inflatable as well as the 1,000 kg of hashish it contained.

Drug traffickers regularly use the sea route between Africa and Tenerife as a stepping stone to get their illegal cargo into mainland Europe.

The dangers of the steep main road into Santa Cruz were once again in evidence on Saturday morning when an articulated lorry ploughed into cars waiting at traffic lights on the Avenida Manuel Hermoso.

The 32-year-old driver told police his brakes had failed as he drove down the steep access road. The lorry crashed into five cars, totally destroying one of them, but miraculously only one person was seriously injured, a 35-year-old Bolivian who suffered a serious head trauma. He was transferred to Our Lady of Candelaria Hospital, along with another six people who were suffering minor injuries and shock.

Santa Cruz council said afterwards that the large articulated lorry should not have been using the lane at the time, a rule the driver was unaware of. Later examination of the vehicle’s tachograph revealed the driver had not been speeding, nor was the vehicle overloaded, but Police have charged the driver with dangerous driving.

Police said if the accident had happened on a busy week day, the consequences could have been far worse.

Several years ago a special slip road had to be built on the motorway into the capital to give lorries a safety spot in case of brake failure.

On the night of May 6th the Local Police received a call from a person reporting movement inside commercial premises in Los Gigantes.

On investigation the police discovered a burglary in progress, the thief was a Romanian aged 23yrs who had gained access to the premises by forcing the door.

The youth was arrested and detained at the Guardia Civil in San Juan for a court hearing.

On further investigations it was discovered the accused has prior convictions in Castellón as well as a warrant for his arrest in Teruel, Spain.

Three timeshare offices in a well-known business centre in Playa de Las Americas have been closed down due to a flood of complaints from tourists.

The local council decided they were breaching timeshare promotion regulations and ordered the closure of the offices in the Americas Plaza centre.

The breaches included no business licence to carry out the activity and having staff pass themselves off as representatives of the island’s Cabildo in their initial approaches to clients.

The eighth edition of the prestigious Tenerife Ladies Open (TLO 2008) takes place from 19-22 June 2008 at Costa Adeje golf course (pictured right). The event will attract 120 professional players including some of the top names in the world of ladies golf from Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, England, New Zealand, Australia and India.

The tournament, organised by Turismo de Tenerife, is part of the Ladies European Tour. Prize money this year amounts to over 40,000 euros.

Tenerife has hosted the Tenerife Ladies Open since 2002. It is a very important event for the island because, as well as being one of the major highlights on the women’s golfing calendar, it is also an excellent promotion for the island as the perfect place to play golf all year round.

Last year, the tournament proved to be an efficient promotional tool for marketing Tenerife’s attractions as a golf destination and its talent for hosting major sporting events.

The Tenerife Ladies Open 2007 was staged at Golf del Sur and the winner was Nikki Garrett.

Press release – Tenerife Tourist Board

The Los Gigantes Tennis Centre just by the main bus stop at the top of Crab Island is getting a major make over after being taken over by long term resident Sally Adamson.

Sally left school and went into banking with Nat West for 18yrs, she worked through all aspects of the banking system spending a number of years in customer service management, and latterly spent 7 years in financial planning. Before leaving the bank she spent 2 years working on the in house magazine. She then took a career break and came to Tenerife, loving it so much she decided to stay. To have something to do she worked in a few bars in the area, but felt she needed more of a challenge, well she’s certainly got one now.

The bar and restaurant has been completely gutted not even a knife or fork are left there at the moment. The terrace area has received a new roof which will give a beautiful shady out door area during summer, with drop down sides for the odd breezy day.
In addition to the restaurant, the changing rooms, and solar panels are being fully refurbished for the pool. If that was not enough, number one tennis court is being re-covered this week.

During the refurbishment the tennis courts, pool and crazy golf are open.

With Sally’s experience in financial planning and customer services, together with the rest of the team’s skills and experience in catering she hopes they can bring new fresh appeal to the centre, for everyone, not just for tennis lovers, with the pool and its beautiful surroundings, and also with the fully refurbished restaurant.

As yet the name for the Bistro restaurant has not been decided. The planned opening was hoped to be around the 1st May, but seems to be still 2 - 3 weeks away, so watch this space, as they say, and we’ll bring you the latest as soon as we know more.

The project to improve the coastline of Granadilla at El Médano, between El Cabezo and The Jaquita, an area of 107,000 square metres, will cost an estimated €3M and take 10 months to complete

At a recent meeting it was agreed that the work should begin as soon as possible.

In a bid to assist the thousands of people struggling with mortgage payments, the legal fees involved in re-mortgaging have been waived. The decision was made last week between the government and mortgage lenders.

Currently, anyone wanting to extend the period of their mortgage receives a bill for around €300 for legal fees, at the time they can least afford it.

The scheme is to last for two years initially, and should reduce the number of people who are behind with their mortgage repayments.

It is hoped that the plan, which leaves families with a few extra euros each month to spend on consumer goods, will help Spain’s flagging economy.

Some critics state that like the €400 tax rebate, due this year, this scheme is simply putting off the inevitable, and that the government is more interested in protecting corporate financial institutions from an increase in bad debt, through irresponsible lending, than in helping the struggling homeowners.

The longer term loans will be subject to the banks discretion and homeowners will end up paying a lot more interest due to the longer period of the loan.