A Tenerife youth may be the first to be jailed under the new tougher traffic laws.

The 22-year-old was caught by a radar trap on a Santa Cruz dual carriageway, driving his VW Golf at 170 km/h, more than 90 km/h above the speed limit.

He was tracked on traffic cameras and arrested minutes afterwards as he parked his car near the Auditorium. Under the new law, speeds in excess of 60km/h in built-up areas and 70 km/h on main roads, including motorways, automatically entail a 3-6 month prison sentence for the offender.

The majority of the 740 families caught up by land expropriations for the island circular road between Icod and the south of Tenerife now know the government offer for their properties
and there are few happy with the valuation.

Property owners in Santa Barbara, El Paso and Las Lajas seem satisfied with the offer although the president of the association fought for fair compensation and believes those with smaller properties should still demand better valuations.

The majority have been offered €785 per sq. metre and some are valued at €985. They feel the offer is insufficient and unjust.

Property owners are determined to fight for more cash for their houses and agricultural plots or to actually halt the construction of the ring road altogether.

Four years ago one family purchased a house with farmland and invested €200,000 on refurbishing the house, they were not told of the plans for the road at the time of purchase.

However, the governing coalition at Icod de los Vinos council issued a statement promising to meet each and every family which feels it has been hard done by with the valuations. The council will then study their cases individually and negotiate with the regional authorities, if necessary, for better terms.

The official opening Ceremony of the long awaited Siam Park will take place on the 15th September 2008. The event will be a reception for invited guests only, hosted by the President of Loro Parque, Wolfgang Kiessling and the Director of Siam Park, Christoph Kiessling. The date of opening to the public has not yet been announced.

The event will be presided over by HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn from Thailand and will take place in the grounds of the Park.

Siam Park has received 160 carp fish from Loro Parque. Their new environment is the 1,000 cubic metres of water of the Floating Market.

Known as common carp, (Cyprinus carpio), they are fresh water fish and relatives of the golden carp. They have been transported in special tanks accompanied by a biologist who took care of placing the fish in their new home in a process that took 5 hours. He will later follow up to make sure the fish have settled into the new surroundings.

Their diet is mostly aquatic plants and they can reach up to 1.2m long and 40kg in weight, although the average is generally 60-90 cm long and around 9 kg. The carp fish are thought to bring good luck and they can live to be up to 50 years old.

All the buildings of the Floating Market were designed by professor Ruetai and they really are authentic as the materials have been shipped over from Thailand. The houses come from an area about an hour and a half outside of Bangkok called Ayutaya and along with them also came carpenters who worked on the materials using all of their local skills and knowledge to make the village as it is today with all of the details crafted by hand.

The Floating Market of Siam Park is the biggest representation of Siamese architecture outside of Asia and it houses the changing rooms, lockers and coffee bar, transporting its visitors to faraway lands.

More information at www.siampark.net

The new beach in San Juan is attracting a record number of tourists during the main holiday season while the row over the disappearing sand from the beach continues.

Local mayor Pedro Martín, has been criticised by opponents about his ideas of replacing the sand on San Juan’s new beach. Each time the swell picks up a considerable amount of sand is washed off the beach and into the bay. With the September equinox just around the corner, which causes very high and very low tides as well as storms over the winter season, the problem will only get worse.

The wrong sand, which has been brought in from quarries to replenish the beach, is being dragged away by the tide and building up in the harbour. It is feared that very soon the water will be so shallow that boats will not be able to use it.

The mayor has been asked to speed up the formalities with the relevant government departments to dredge the seabed further out to obtain more appropriate sand for Playa San Juan.

Thanks to a group of young people from all around Spain the countryside of Santiago del Teide has received a face lift.

The youth department of the local council invited 20 youngsters from all over the country to join the latest campaign, The Study, Recuperation and Improvement of Rural Areas and Walks of Santiago del Teide. The group of 18 to 30 year old volunteers joined the cleaning and clearing operation during the first two weeks of August. A large proportion of their work concentrated on the areas affected by last year’s fire.

A number of activities were also available for the visitors, including traditional sports, music and dances and visits to El Teide and Teno Rural Park

Despite gloomy predictions only a few months ago the Tenerife grape harvest is expected to improve by two million kilos of grapes this year.

According to the Cabildo the bumper 2008 crop will widely exceed the 3.34 million kilos that was harvested last year. The areas of Tacoronte and La Orotava Valley represent the biggest recoveries of up to 100%.

The Tenerife wine growers will collect an estimated 5.4 million kilos of grapes this year, according to preliminary estimates of the Cabildo.

Two major car organisations have joined forces to make a formal protest about the sale of vehicles in the street. It has become a common sight in Tenerife to see “For Sale” signs on the windscreens of cars parked in a variety of locations. Sometimes it is just a one-off by a private individual but in other cases, there can be as many as ten or even more cars illegally on sale.

Now, urgent action is being called for to get rid of them once and for all. The campaign is being led by La Asociación de Empresarios de Compra-venta de Automóviles Nuevos y de Ocasión de Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Asate) and la Federación Regional Canaria de Empresarios Importadores y Concesionarios de Automóviles (Fredica).

They have approached all the mayors of the island for support, saying the sales are not only illegal but “disloyal competition.”

Asate president José Manuel Martin has asked Fredica to open talks with those involved. They say the cars are parked in all sorts of places, including side streets and public car parks.

Sr. Martin says it is a “serious risk” to the consumer as no guarantee accompanies the sale.
He points out that a recent investigation showed that 58 per cent of the cars sold had defects that affected the safety of the vehicles and more than half were serious, such as the tyres. “These problems are avoided if you buy or sell a car through a professional, independent or concessionary salesman because all the vehicles have a guarantee,” he said.

They have also warned about an internet fiddle involving fake web pages showing cars for sale and say consumers must be confident about where they buy a car from.

Source: Tenerife News

The popular new artificial lake, the centrepiece of the recently-inaugurated Plaza de España in the centre of Santa Cruz, has brought huge headaches for the local authorities. The lake, which fills with seawater every six hours when the tide comes in, has been used as an improvised swimming pool by hundreds of youngsters escaping the summer heat.

Police were met with stiff opposition when they tried to evict them, and ended up with a direct challenge on their hands when they were asked to produce the legislation banning swimming in the lake.
It only took a few days for the Cabildo, which is located just yards away, to announce that swimming was not allowed in the lake.

The corporation’s president Ricardo Melchior is adamant that the new attraction should not be used as a pool, although he does acknowledge that the occasional dipping of feet to cool off is acceptable. “I have never seen in European cities like Vienna locals donning their swimsuits to swim in a big fountain. The lake here was built for a different purpose, not swimming,” he insisted, although stressing that responsibility for ensuring it is used properly lies with the city council.

“Hi Sheila”, It was Councillor Steve Gerald’s voice on the phone, “Coastal clean up on Sat 9th Aug, can you put it on your news, we need volunteers………………and you’re taking part too – aren’t you”?

“Oh er um – yes, I think I’m free”. It was a 9am start – hate getting up that early on a Saturday but it was a worthwhile cause and it’s always a good story for this news blog, so a note was made in the diary.

A few days before the event I received another call. “Can you help out at the dive centre we’re busy and could do with an extra pair of hand for a few days”?

I was there in a shot, any excuse to get me out of the office and go diving for a while. DaRKeTaMiN, losgigantes.com webmaster, volunteered to answer the phones and keep things ticking over for a few days.

Now there was a problem how could I take part in the clean up as well as take people diving. Talking it through with instructor Andy we came up with a brilliant idea – we would all take part in the clean up. There was a beach we passed regularly which was covered in rubbish, it didn’t look nice, and there was also one of our popular dive sites which needed a good tidy up too. How to get volunteers? – you offer them a free dive. In a few minutes we had a full boat of volunteers. So it was a call to Steve to let him know.

So on the day it was the usual 9.30 kit up for a 10am start. Our 1st job was to clean beach at Octopus Cove (called Echo bay by tourist boats) the rubbish included the top half of a pedalo, which had been washed up there about 2 years ago. The sea had been very flat and calm for the past few days but on this particular morning wave action made it difficult to get on and off beach and it was also difficult for the dive boat to stay in close. Rubbish consisted of shoes, fish boxes, the pedalo, and a huge length of rope easily 3 inches in diameter (very heavy), many bottle, cans and cartons, which filled 4 large bin liners.

Next stop was to drop of rubbish of in Puerto Santiago. This proved difficult as wave action prevented us from going against the harbour wall and everything had to be swum to the steps. The local firemen were taking part in the clean up too and were waiting for us. We did get some odd looks from them as we pulled in with the pedalo balanced on top of dive gear. At this point the harbour crane developed electrical difficulties but after much twiddling and banging they eventually got it working and lifted the pedalo from the water. Our next planned destination was dive site Punta Barbero – the rocky point off Playa Arena beach – a lovely dive site, but spoilt by rubbish. It has been cleaned up by us in the past so the opportunity for another clean up was taken.

Divers spent approximately 45 minutes in the water and once more many bottles, cans and cartons, as well as an old tyre were collected. A large item we wanted to move was a supermarket trolley which was tangled up in an old fish trap. It was sent to the surface on a lifting bag but was too heavy to safely bring on board, it had very sharp, rusty edges. It was decided that it was too risky to try to tow it back to Puerto Santiago harbour in the swell, so we towed it further out to sea and cut it loose. How a supermarket trolley got there in the first place is beyond me!

The decision was then made not to go back into Puerto Santiago because of the swell so we went back to Los Gigantes marina and disposed of the rubbish in the bins provided by the marina.

Thirty other volunteers including the Surf Club Punta Blanca and the volunteer Firemen took part in the beach cleanup of Crab Island and the beaches at Puerto de Santiago and Playa Arena. A total of almost 500kg was collected.

The event ended with paella at Puerto Santiago square for the volunteers, sadly Andy and I had to miss out because we had to get back to work!

A good day was had by all.

Several hundred jobs are to be cut by Spain’s second biggest airline in an attempt to streamline operations in the Canaries due to the economic crisis.

In the coming months Spanair is to shut down several bases outside Madrid and Barcelona. Tenerife and Gran Canaria are included on the cuts list.

Up to 350 jobs may be affected but unions believe the figure may be as high as 490 direct posts and over one thousand indirect ones. An official request for the redundancies has been filed with the Department of Employment by the airline.

According to the Tenerife authorities, the latest cocaine ring which has recently been smashed on the island was the biggest drug-distribution network in the Canaries.

11 Colombian men, and one Tenerife woman were arrested in swoops on homes in various parts of the north of the island earlier this week. The operation originally kicked off last May after two people were arrested as they flew into La Palma with one kilo of cocaine.

There were more arrests at the end of July and a total of 40 kilos have now been seized, along with 15 luxury cars and €370,000 in cash.

The “Roar Roar” (ra-ra) girls of the Lions Clubs International – Santiago Del Teide Branch Sheila, Mary, Lizzi, and sometimes Elaine, when she can get a night off work, have been twisting arms and bending thumbs to help lions causes in the form of selling raffle tickets for the Lions Summer Draw, which has the great first prize of €500 cash. Second prize €300 cash, and third prize €200 cash.

The Lions are organising a disco for the occasion at the Green Corner Pub on Friday August 29th and the draw will take place at 10.30 (ish).

If you hold the winning ticket and you are not here for the draw the money will be transferred to your UK bank account.

You will see these ladies around the area so get out your wallets and purses ready. This year the proceeds are going to the local handicapped children’s home.

Winning ticket will be announced on this site.

Vera is now 90yrs old, and in recent months she has suffered a stroke as well as a ruptured ulcer, but has miraculously recovered sufficiently to be allowed home and is now in the care of her daughter Janice, who has given up her job to look after her.

Janice and Vera were living in Tamaimo in a top floor apartment with 40 steps. Vera, needs 24/7 care, she is unable to walk unaided, and can’t be left on her own. Janice cannot help her Mum up and down the steps on her own. The ladies were virtual prisoners in their own home.

Janice was desperately looking for an apartment on the coast, it had to be ground floor with wheelchair access, and she must be able to park close to the entrance to get her Mum in and out of the car.

Then I had the answer for them. My ground floor apartment in Florencia, Los Gigantes would soon be available and would be ideal for them. Janice was delighted, there is wheelchair access, she would be able to take her Mum across to the square for a coffee and to see the shops, she could park at the door to get her Mum in and out of her car and it would be much warmer than Tamaimo in the winter for them.
There was one slight drawback, the apartment needs to be fully refurbished and that could take several weeks, but there was an answer. They could move into my apartment on the next floor up until the work was done, there was a lift so the problem was solved – or so we thought!

A few years ago several of the owners decided they wanted a lift in the building and I was approached and asked if I wanted a share. Being only 1 floor up I really didn’t need use of the lift so I didn’t go in as a shareholder, but I said I had no objections to them going ahead.

About 3 weeks ago I approached the community president, the administrators and 3 of the shareholders and asked if the ladies could pay for temporary use of the lift (the lift can only be used with a key). A genuine reasonable request, I didn’t see a problem.

The reaction I received was unbelievable. The answer was clearly no – you are not a shareholder. “But it’s not for me it’s for a 90 year old lady who is in a wheelchair and they are offering to pay” For the next two weeks I was run around in circles and could get no clear answers of how to get a key. The administrators of Florencia said it was not up to them. The community president was unhappy to say the least that the administrator had given me her telephone number and the fact that it was for a 90 year old in a wheelchair she declared it was not her problem. I can’t put into words how I felt.

Now in a dreadful dilemma I was left with no choice but to get legal advice. The lawyer’s jaw dropped in disbelief when I explained the predicament. I gave him a list of all the information, “leave it with me and I will see what I can do”. The lawyer was given the exact same run around as me!

Now frantic, the night before the ladies moved I had one last idea. I spoke to three of the shareholders, all well known business men in the village, and asked each one if they could possibly help the ladies and let them have a key at least for the move as they had all their own furniture. They all told me “NO” and one of them told me to carry the ladies and all their furniture up the steps myself! I really can’t repeat my reply.

On the morning of the move my lawyer made one last attempt on behalf of the ladies. He spoke with the President and the Administrator, as well as three of the other key holders and, guess what???

Vera and all her furniture were carried up the stairs and due to community politics she is once again a prisoner in an apartment.

S. Widdrington
Florencia – Los Gigantes

Santa Cruz de Tenerife has launched a bid to have the annual Carnaval designated a World Heritage treasure by Unesco.

The city council plans have been in the pipeline for the past six months, and they hope to earn the designation within two years. An initial budget of €400,000 has been earmarked for the campaign to lobby the appropriate bodies to support the application.

Only five carnivals in the world, of which just one is in Europe, have been awarded heritage status, although surprisingly nei¬ther Rio de Janeiro nor Notting Hill figures on the list.

Deputy mayor Ángel Llanos says inclusion on the list would give the Santa Cruz Carnaval mas¬sive publicity throughout the world. To help the bid, work on the city’s €3,000,000 carnival museum is to be speeded up. Santa Cruz is not the first city in Spain to seek the Unesco nomina¬tion. Cádiz announced a month ago it had com-menced work on a similar project, although it has set a deadline of 2012 for the designation.

The Canaries’ biggest ferry company, Fred Olsen, has announced it is to cut some services and reduce staff in an attempt to mitigate the effects of the current economic crisis.

Soaring fuel costs have driven prices on inter-island routes up through recent surcharges but the increases have been insufficient to meet the full cost of the crisis.

The company says that cutbacks are necessary help make considerable savings on fuel and maintenance, and they are in talks with employees to temporarily suspend some positions until the situation improves. Schedules will be adjusted on almost all routes.

Lloyds TSB has opened its new English speaking branch in Adeje. The new branch is located in the Avenida de Bruselas, Centro Comercial Terrazas del Duque, local 3, of the Adeje Coast, Tenerife, and offers local residents the opportunity to open a UK style bank account with added benefits.

This new branch compliments otheir existing branches in the area and forms part of the Bank’s ongoing strategy to support the expatriate community. Lloyds TSB offers a wide range of competitive products and services and includes additional benefits such as free international transfers to and from accounts with Lloyds TSB in the UK and Spain.

All the services are conducted in plain English, with English speaking staff, English language online banking and Customer Service Centre - just like in the UK.

Commenting on the new branch opening, Gary Millar, Lloyds TSB Regional Director, Coast and Islands, says “This new branch is perfectly positioned to support the local expatriate community in the area and is one of four new offices planned to be opened by Lloyds TSB Spain this year”.

Santiago del Teide’s campaign to clamp down on cowboy taxis was stepped up yesterday with the handing over of official ID cards to local licensed taxis.

The drivers also received a new rule book compiled by the local council and a revised street map. A small number of new permits were issued to new taxis. The council says that the cards will help identify bona fide drivers on the spot and should deter the cowboys.