tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16642562544665596112011-12-02T03:56:38.839ZAll about the island of La Palma, in the Canaries.Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.comBlogger3831100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1664256254466559611.post-8732097617902282602011-10-14T20:27:00.002+01:002011-10-14T20:27:52.254+01:00

"This is a Revolution" by Merche Martin Morillo   There's an unusual exhibition on in Santa Cruz de la Palma. Instead of one or two artists selling their work, it's a collection of artists publicising the 15M movement, which is approximately the Spanish equivalent of Occupy Wall Street. From left to right: Bird, Manuel Diaz, "Llegada al Paraíso" Abstracts, Gero Steffan "Sin titulo"   

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If you want to get really close to nature and have really cheap accommodation, you can't do better than one of the camping sites on the island.They're open all year round, but be aware that it can be cold in winter, and it's quite likely to rain. You have to pay before you put the tent up, but you don't have to book in advance except for the Caldera. You may also have a problem with transport.

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The car rally going through San Jose The annual car rally takes place this weekend. On Friday night from 9 pm to midnight they'11 be racing in Breña Baja, from El lineal, past Monte Breña and San Jose to San Antonio. On Saturday from about 9 am to about 7 pm, it's the same route in reverse. Meanwhile, also on Saturday, they'll be racing around Martin Luis to Puntallana and around Tigalate.

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The Wine Museum The island's wine museum stands just above La Glorieta Square. View Larger Map It's a small museum, but it's only 1.50€ for adults, and that includes a chance to taste a local wine or two. Upstairs, the exhibition explains the methods and history of wine-making on the the island, and they have a nice collection of old tools used for growing wines or making barrels Vines have

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Looking north, towards the stage There's a lovely little square at La Glorieta. The whole floor is covered in mosaics, as are the benches. The plants are all local ones. One of the benches. Most of the vertical walls are made from the local volcanic stone, as is the back of the little fountain of a mosaic chameleon. The chameleon fountain. The whole lot was designed and made by a local

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Whirling Fufo horses dance in Tazacorte for the fiesta of St Michael Tazacorte celebrates its main annual fiesta this month, since its patron saint is St Michael the Archangel, who is also the patron saint of La Palma. There's something happening most days, but the famous bit is the dance of the Fufo horses on Wednesday 28th at 9:30 pm. While you're there, you might want to visit the

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  Carefully putting the 6-tonne Galileo mirror onto the lorry The big telescopes at the observatory at the Roque de Los Muchachos mostly use mirrors rather than lenses. Domestic mirrors have the aluminium behind glass to protect it, but astronomical mirrors have the aluminium on top. This gives the best image, but it also means that the aluminium slowly spoils, and has to be replaced every

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Working on the massive dome shutter of GranTeCan GranTeCan is the biggest optical telescope in the world, and it's hard to convey the sheer size of it in a photograph.  The telescope itself weighs 485 tonnes.  You could fit an tennis court inside the dome, and the top of the dome is 41 m above the ground.  But you can't see any of that in a photograph. Working on the massive dome

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I love La Palma, and I believe that most British tourists who come here love it too. But you know, you can't please everybody all the time, and I occasionally hear of people who were very disappointed. That's a shame when you've saved all year for a holiday.So who shouldn't come?Well, the weather isn't quite as hot as the bigger Canarian resorts. You don't get much in the way of night life,

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A family of Barbary partridges Alectoris barbara koenigi beside the road to the Roque de Los MuchachosI've seen lots more partridges near the Roque de Los Muchachos than last year. They mostly seem to live in the higher reaches of the pine forest, where they wander out onto the road sometimes. Earlier in the summer, I often saw families which all disappeared into the bushes before I could get my

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The devil's fiesta at Tijarafe La Palma has several fiestas where the devil appears. He'll visit Tijarafe in the early hours of September 8th for the annual fiesta del diabolo. This is the night of Wednesday to Thursday It starts off like most fiestas. The village centre is off the main road, and on the way in, you pass the usual mobile bars, blasting out music at full volume. In the main

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Fancy swimming in sea-water without the waves?These are some rather nice salt-water swimming pools at Fajana, five km outside the village of Barlovento, on the main road to Santa Cruz. At one time they were only the natural pools, but they've been improved rather nicely. There's a pool near the top for senior citizens and the disabled, but the best places are reached down two flights of steps.

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The William Herschel Telescope at sunset. The William Herschel Telescope was for many years the biggest and best optical telescope in Europe (until GranTeCan opened in 2009). The main mirror is 4.2 m across (165", or 13' 9") which astronomers call "a good light bucket". It's rather old as world-class telescopes go, since it opened in 1987, but it still produced excellent science. In fact data

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Teaser: "The Island" - La Palma Time Lapse Video from Christoph Malin on Vimeo.Enjoy Christoph Malin's wonderful time-lapse video of La Palma. He very nearly does the place justice.

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Laurel forest at Los Tilos One of my favourite bits of tourist feedback about La Palma island was the disgruntled Brit who described Los Tilos as: "Just a load of trees." Well yes. And Beethoven's Ninth is just a load of notes, and the Mona Lisa is just a load of paint. Los Tilos, in San Andres and Los Sauces, is home to one of the best surviving laurel forests in the world. (The other one

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The view of Los Llanos from La Cancelita La Palma has even more glorious viewpoints then the other Canary Islands. One of my favourites is La Cancelita, where you get two amazing views for the price of one. The good view covers Los Llanos and a good chunk of the surrounding plain. (Los Llanos means 'the plains' but it's not that flat by UK standards. The view of the Caldera de Taburiente from

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Silk exhibition at last year's craft fair Friday night is the best meteor shower of the year, the Perseids. Of course it should be visible all over the planet, but La Palma's astronomical viewpoints will probably be a particularly good place to see shooting stars. Unfotunately the full moon will spoil the show quite a bit. Astrotour will be in La Polvacera bsketball court from 9 pm - 11:30 pm

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A female wall lizard grabbing watermelon, Tedote, La PalmaYesterday I discovered that the local lizards (Gallotia galloti palmae) are fond on watermelon on a hot day. Figures. Unlike most lizards, they eat quite a lot of plants, especially ripe fruit, to the point where they can become a nuisance in vinyards.I recently discovered that we only have one species of small lizard here. What I

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Las Nieves will be holding its annual fiesta starting on Friday at about 1 am. It's quite a big fiesta as Our Lady of the Snows (the Virgin Mary) is the patron saint of the island. The church holds a statue of the her in painted terracotta, from the 15th century, standing on a marble throne covered with silver.Las Nieves is a pretty hamlet, in the municipality of Santa Cruz, but about 2 km

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When I first came to La Palma in 1990, around 40% of the population depended on the banana trade: growing bananas, packing them, or driving them. But even with the EU subsidy, it's hard to make a living from bananas. If you're unlucky with the weather, you can work hard all year and still make a loss. So the economy is diversifying, and a good thing too. But bananas are still very

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Two of the fourteen telescopes at the Roque de los Muchachos observatory are solar telescopes -- highly specialised to observe our own sun. This is the Swedish Solar Telescope, which was the first telescope built on the Roque. It's currently the best solar telescope in the world since they added the new adaptive optics in 2005. (Adaptive optics compensate for air turbulence.) It can resolve

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The exterior of the church of San Juan, Puntallana As Palmeran churches go, the church of St. John the Baptist in Puntallana isn't all that old. The presbytery and the side chapels date from the 16th century, and the nave from the 1719. It was officially declared an Asset of Cultural Interest (rather like a listed building) in 1994.The main altar in the church of San Juan, Puntallana The inside

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San Jose in Breña Baja is celebrating its annual fiesta.Tonight, Sunday 17th6pm is the Old Folks' festival, followed by a public dance in front of the town hall.Tuesday 19th5pm - 7 pm Bouncy castles in front of the town hall.9:30 pm . Open-air cinema "Harry Potter y Las Reliquias de la Muerte." In the football stadiumWednesday 20th6:30 pm PASACALLES DISNEY along the main street of San José,

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La Palma has lots of spectacular viewpoints, (mirador in Spanish). Most people's favourite is the at El Time, which is perched on the northern edge of the Angustias ravine, in Tijarafe.It's easy to find. Coming from Los Llanos, you drive down and down and down, round some pretty steep bends. After you cross the river, almost at sea-level, you drive up and up and up and up and up, until you're

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Stencilling designs onto salt for the Sacred Heart fiestaIt’s El Paso’s main fiesta, The Sacred Heart (El Corazon Sagrado). Like Mazo and San José, they make archways and carpets, but they’re slightly different.In San José, they dye the salt, and then put the colours together to make the picture. In El Paso, they start by putting down white salt –kilos and kilos of it from the salt pans in the

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Imposing portal in Breña AltaIn the 17th century, landowners in La Palma got rich on sugar cane. These rich families used to leave the heat of Santa Cruz de la Palma and spend the summer on their country estates, particularly in Breña Baja and Breña Alta. The houses are still private, but in some cases the gateway is clearly visible from the road.It's a social symbol of wealth and power. These

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San Jose in Breña Baja always celebrates Corpus Christi on the Sunday after Mazo's celebration. Since the whole thing takes out on a flat, tarmaced street, the tradition is to make carpets of coloured salt, with the altars being much more modest. In recent years, many of the carpets are made from seeds and petals, like the ones in Mazo.[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Salt

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Thursday is the feast of St John the Baptist. On La Palma, they have the very sensible custom of holding the party on the night before the public holiday, so that everyone can sleep late the morning after. Since fiestas often go on until the early hours, sleeping in next morning is delicious.In Catholic countries, people celebrate the feast of St John with bonfires. (Any similarity to pagan

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One of the biggest annual fiestas in La Palma is Corpus Christi in Mazo. Catholics all over the world celebrate Corpus Christi, but here they celebrate with the most wonderful archways and carpets decorated with petals,leaves and seeds. On Wednesday evening and night, each village of the municipality makes their own archway with a carpet and a little altar, so Thursday morning is a wonderful

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STARMUS is a unique scientific, artistic and musical event taking place mostly in Tenerife this week, with a truely stellar lineup of speakers and performers. I wanted to go, but I couldn't afford the time or the money. I say "mostly in Tenerife" because on Thursday Jack Szostak, Brian May, Richard Dawkins, Kip Thorne, George Smoot, Jill Tarter, Alexei Leonov and Neil Armstrong are coming to

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Most villages on La Palma have an annual fiesta in honour of their patron saint. (They've all got patron saints) Most weeks in summer see a fiesta somewhere or other, and this weekend it'll be Puntallana, in honour of St John the Baptist. On Saturday there's a livestock fair from 10 am to 5:50 pm, the usual farmer's market from 10 am to 2 pm, bouncy castles and other kids' activities from 11

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A Blood red eclipse of the moon from Llano de la Venta viewpointLast night, La Palma saw a total eclipse of the moon. Well, a large part of planet Earth saw it, of course, but since La Palma has beautiful dark skies, we saw it better than most places. In fact La Palma has a set of viewpoints upgraded for astronomy. In practice, this means parking space, level ground suitable for tripods, a

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This weekend will see the biggest livestock fair on the island, in Garafía.San Antonio del Monte used to be a village, but the villagers moved away. About the only thing that's left is the church of St. Anthony and the feast day, with it's massive fair. Apart from the animals, there's a craft fair, and of course lots of stalls selling cheap toys, food and drink.It's a pretty enough little

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At this time of year in La Palma, you might hear rather unnerving Howie-howie-SKRAWK! noises in the night, something between a furious tom cat and a duck. You're particularly likely to hear it near the sea.The first time I heard it, I wasn't exactly scared, but I was rather glad that I was inside a solid house and the whatever-it-was clearly outside. I'm sure I'd have felt decidedly

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This is a gecko (Tarentola delalandii). They're quite common in La Palma. You find them in warm buildings or on sunny walls outside, and this one lives in my house. I think he must have got too close to one of my cats because his tail's regrowing. You see, if they're in serious danger of being eaten, their tails come off and provide a wriggling decoy while the gecko runs away.He spent most

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I have an exam this week. Next post, Saturday 4th June.

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Casa de los Romeros Las NievesThere are several things to see in the centre of Las Nieves, apart from the church. This house was built for pilgrims in 1653, on the site of an even older building. It's been restored several times since then. There's also a house (on my right as I took this photo) where they sell things like postcards, rosaries and religious medals.Canons on the hill above Las

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I can't believe that I haven't written about Las Nieves church before.Las Nieves is a pretty hamlet, in the municipality of Santa Cruz, but about 2 km outside it as the crow flies. If you're fairly fit, there's a pretty (but rough and steep) footpath between the two.More importantly, Las Nieves has the most gorgeous church on the island. It's also the oldest one, dating from at least 1423 (they

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Statue of Saint Isidore the LaborerThis weekend they're holding the second biggest livestock fair on the island, at San Isidro, in Breña Alta. (The biggest is San Antonio del Monte, in June).It starts off with a procession which brings the statue of the saint from the church to the fairground at 9 am on Saturday.Cattle at the fair of St. Isidore, Breña AltaPeople bring their animals, and there

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This photo was taken from the viewpoint at Los Andennes, where you get a spectacular view into the Caldera.From here you can see a dyke called La Pared de Roberto (Robert's Wall). It's about four metres high (13ft).[Volcanic dykes are formed when moulten lava fills a crack in the rock and solidifies slowly into very hard rock called basalt. Later on the softer, surrounding rock is eroded away,

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Cruz de la Piedad, Breña Alta, 2011Cruz Chica, Breña Alta, 2011Cruz Centro de Acogida, Breña Alta, 2011, including two mayosDetail from the Cruz Centro de Acogida, Breña Alta, 2011. The petals are pistachio shells, and behind them, pasta spiralsThe Cruz de la Breveritas,, Breña Baja, 2011, with the shelter for locals at the leftThe Cruz de El Monte, Breña Baja, 2011The circle at the left of the

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Cross decorated for Fiesta de la Cruz, in Breña Alta, 2009In the east of La Palma, Holy Cross Day (fiesta de la Cruz) is the biggest festival in spring. They only celebrate it in Santa Cruz, Breña Alta and Breña Baja, and as the name suggests, they decorate the roadside crosses – beautifully. As often happens, the main party is the night before the public holiday. Since most crosses are hung

Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1664256254466559611.post-25163583774641949062011-04-27T15:27:00.004+01:002011-04-27T22:07:59.291+01:00

Parrot's Beak (Lotus pyranthus) in flowerLa Palma has lots of rare plants which grow nowhere else, and many of them are threatened by grazing or habitat loss. This is one of two species called Parrot's Beak or Fire Beak (Lotus pyranthus), both of them very rare in the wild and officially classified as "in danger of extinction".But here it is growing beside the road to the Roque. Mind you, it's

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The spring of San JuanPuntallana originally grew around the spring of San Juan. Today,the spring is still there, but it's nobody's drinking water (which is a good thing, seeing as the water's green.)Weed floating on the pools at the springStill, it's a peaceful spot to visit, and they still hold a yearly procession where they take the statue of the village's patron saint, St John the Baptist, to

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Dishes inspired by Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.The Parador on La Palma is just outside the village of San Jose, in Breña Baja. (Paradors are a national chain of posh hotels, and very nice they are too.) Tonight (April 22nd ) at 8 pm they'll be hosting the first public dinner with a new menu, inspired by astronomical bodies. A professional Starlight guide will be there to talk about the

Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1664256254466559611.post-64258857351818770232011-04-18T18:27:00.005+01:002011-04-19T09:08:28.526+01:00

The castle on the hill above Santa Cruz (to the north) gets its name from the five-yearly festival where they bring the statue of the Virgin Mary down from Las Nieves into Santa Cruz. It's not much used in between fiestas, but Wednesday 20th April is The World Night in Defence of Starlight, and Astrotour will be holding a Star Party there from 9 pm to 1 am.You'll be able to see Saturn and its

Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1664256254466559611.post-44520994727563904932011-04-17T13:54:00.002+01:002011-04-17T14:14:41.270+01:00

Holy Week Procession leaving the church of San Francisco, Santa Cruz de la PalmaIt's Holy Week, and in this Catholic country, a lot of people take it very seriously. The bigger churches hold processions, which look very exotic to my English eyes.It's not so much that they lug the obviously-heavy statues along the street. It's the costumes. They remind me of the Klu Klux Klan. This is unfair,

Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1664256254466559611.post-23509742720256371742011-04-11T14:37:00.002+01:002011-04-11T14:43:51.791+01:00

Belmaco cave, MazoBefore the Spanish invasion, Belmaco Cave was the home of the kings of Mazo. The first rock carvings were found in the 18th century, which was the start of archaeology in the Canary Islands. Today, it's open to the public. The entrance where you pay (€1.50 for a resident adult) is also a handicraft shop. A little farther inside, there's a small, two-story building housing

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A damaged spiral rock carving, perhaps a gift to the gods, Roque de los MuchachosFor centuries, goatherds have brought their flocks to the Roque de los Muchachos, the highest point on the island of La Palma. As the lower pastures dried out in summer, they moved to fresh pastures on higher ground. These days, farmers can drive home for the night, but of course that wasn't the case 50 years ago,

Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1664256254466559611.post-1222119191788506912011-04-02T20:42:00.001+01:002011-04-02T20:43:56.204+01:00

Flea Market, Santa Cruz de la PalmaSanta Cruz Flea MarketTomorrow the monthly flea market will be held in the port car park at Santa Cruz de la Palma. There’s an amazing variety of stuff on sale. For some reason there are lots of flowers, plants and vegetables, but also various crafts and antiques.Argual Flea Market, Los LlanosThe flea market in Argual, just outside Los Llanos, takes place every

Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1664256254466559611.post-23109782151680742412011-03-29T16:49:00.000+01:002011-03-29T22:05:39.945+01:00

Twin dragon trees (Dracaena draco), Breña AltaThese trees stand in Breña Alta, just off the minor road which winds over the central ridge to El Paso. They grow so close together that it's hard to tell where on trunk ends and the other begins.Of course there's a legend associated with the trees. Two brothers lived nearby, and were very close, but they fell in love with the same gorgeous

Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1664256254466559611.post-14100563268742694542011-03-22T09:21:00.002Z2011-03-22T10:34:40.898Z

At the beginning of the month I had a TV crew following me around for a couple of days. The results will be on the telly on TV Canarias at 10:30 tonight, as part of the programme "Canarias, Mi Mundo". In other news, I've just started a course to become an official "starlight guide". It's quite intense, and I find five hours of Spanish quite tiring but it's fun.

Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1664256254466559611.post-85362395126387864382011-03-21T10:43:00.003Z2011-03-21T11:15:10.532Z

Drag queens at the sardine's funeral Here are some photos of the Sardine's funeral at Los Sauces.Drag queens at the sardine's funeralDrag queen singing a servillana at the sardine's funeral Party-goer dressed as a bride The crowd themselves provided pretty good entertainment, too. Not everyone was in fancy dress, but there were some great costumes there.Party-goers dressed as witches at the

Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1664256254466559611.post-25479870143245319572011-03-18T20:22:00.002Z2011-03-18T20:26:52.707Z

Here are some photos of tonight's carnival parade in Los Cancajos.

Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1664256254466559611.post-32429264602271698342011-03-17T17:50:00.005Z2011-03-17T18:35:18.840Z

Poster for the Sardine's funeral in PuntallanaHow many funerals can you hold for a sardine? On La Palma, at least five.Los Llanos and Santa Cruz have already held theirs, but Puntalllana's is on Friday night at 10 pm, and it's got a 1960s theme.The most famous sardine's funeral on the island is at Los Sauces. This year it will be on Saturday 19th, with batucada (serious percussion) at 8 pm,

Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1664256254466559611.post-79761330145412669672011-03-15T15:27:00.004Z2011-03-15T15:29:22.056Z

View inside the Caldera de TaburienteMost people say La Palma is the most beautiful of the Canary Islands. And practically everybody agrees that the most beautiful part of La Palma is the Caldera de Taburiente. In 1825, the German geologist Leopold von Buch studied the Caldera de Taburiente and concluded that the crater was formed by the emptying of a magma chamber below. He was

Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1664256254466559611.post-7179018026710616162011-03-11T16:31:00.003Z2011-03-11T17:18:26.923Z

Saturday 12th MarchSanta Cruz de la PalmaAll day long, music will be performed in various parts of the town to entertain passersby. Workshops, bouncy castles and festivals for the little ones. Performance by DJ Hanfry Martinez and various DJs from the Academia Red Bull.10:00-12:00h. children's games in the plaza de la Alameda.12:00 h. VI Festival Orillas del Son «Fiesta Cubana», with music from

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Funeral procession for the Sardine, Santa Cruz de la PalmaWednesday 9th March The Sardine's funeral This is probably the second biggest event in Carnival. As the name suggests, it's a funeral for a gigantic sardine, and downright Pythonesque too. Wear black and/or drag, and be prepared to wail with fake grief. Wednesday in Santa Cruz, Friday in Los Llanos, Saturday 19th in Los Sauces (a

Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1664256254466559611.post-17610989280547021952011-03-07T20:03:00.003Z2011-03-07T20:06:25.329Z

Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1664256254466559611.post-35461960661267513532011-03-06T18:03:00.005Z2011-03-07T13:21:44.124Z

Santa Cruz de la Palma: even the statues join in Los IndianosMonday 7th MarchSanta Cruz de la Palma Los IndianosFor most people, this is the big event. Many poor Palmerans emigrated to Cuba and Venezuela. This fiesta celebrates the ones who came home rich. Everybody dresses in white, some have suitcases full of monopoly money, and it's a giant talc-throwing fight. The local bus company lays

Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1664256254466559611.post-59017376416800407982011-03-04T09:14:00.004Z2011-03-04T11:34:41.823Z

The poster for Carnival in Santa Cruz de la PalmaCarnival is a big deal in La Palma. By now we're all fed up with the (relatively) cold, wet weather and ready for some fun. Carnival is just what we need: an explosion of colour and music with a dash of lunacy before Lent. I always say people are making sure they have something really juicy to repent, but these days most people just regard it as

Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1664256254466559611.post-50538498942570595292011-02-26T18:33:00.000Z2011-02-26T18:36:06.292Z

Close up of tree heather on La Palma, Erica arboreaAll the heather trees are in bloom along the road to the Roque de los Muchachos.Yes, heather trees. Canarian heather (Erica arborea) is close relatives of English and Scottish heather, but it's a tree, growing anything up to 5 m tall. The tiny leaves are very like English heather, and the flowers are much the same shape, but always white. The

Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1664256254466559611.post-83323560688338751472011-02-22T16:26:00.002Z2011-02-22T16:27:42.800Z

This is a traditional recipe for Carnival in the Canary Islands. A literal translation would be “honey soup” but as you can see, this isn’t soup. It can be rather soggy, though.I believe in some places they use honey, but on La Palma, it’s always “miel de cana”, which is like black treacle or molasses, but a little runnier.IngredientsMolasses (one small jar)1 tsp cinnamonanis 1 desertspoonpeel of

Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1664256254466559611.post-90795171297180050022011-02-18T21:08:00.001Z2011-02-19T21:16:19.196Z

The Convent of the Holy Trinity, Brena AltaThe Cistercian convent of the Holy Trinity at Buenavista in Breña Alta is surprisingly new. It was founded in 1946, and it’s the only closed order on the island. I was surprised to find out that there are only ten nuns who live there.The convent has a small shop. I first went there about ten years ago, in search of a rosary made of dragon-tree seeds, for

Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1664256254466559611.post-86320189662991540472011-02-14T11:50:00.002Z2011-02-14T11:53:13.703Z

The Caldera de Taburiente from the Roque de los MuchachosThe heart of La Palma is the Caldera de Taburiente.Caldera is a technical geological term for the crater at the top of a volcano. In fact the term comes from La Palma: all the volcanic calderas in the world were named after ours. So it's really a pity that, since then, the scientists have found out that the Caldera de Taburiete isn't a

Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1664256254466559611.post-20612184837195329732011-02-11T10:29:00.003Z2011-02-11T10:33:06.997Z

The Isaac Newton and Jacobus Kapteyn telescopes in the snow, Roque de los Muchachos observatoryThe Canary Islands are known as the land of eternal spring, but that's not quite true at 2,396 metres (7,861 ft). Down at sea-level, it's been raining. Up on the mountain, it's been snowing. Yesterday the road was only suitable for 4-wheel-drive vehicles, but I gather the road is open again. If

Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1664256254466559611.post-36675488564961358572011-02-07T13:42:00.005Z2011-02-07T16:23:11.338Z

Puntagorda's Almond Blossom fiesta: the main stage is in the green branches at the left, and most of the stalls are along the road going up the hill.The main village of Puntagorda is quite spread out, but finding the fiesta was very easy - I just followed the music. As you can see, it was packed. But then I knew that a group of people from my own village had hired a bus to go there, and clearly

Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1664256254466559611.post-30147789611376381762011-02-02T19:33:00.004Z2011-02-02T20:11:34.311Z

Almond blossom in Puntagorda La PalmaFriday 4th FebruaryStarting at 10pm, a performance of Batuca (serious percussion) followed by a disco in the Comunidad Cuatro Caminos (The community centre at the crossroads)Saturday 5th FebruaryStarting at 10pm, public dance in the Comunidad Cuatro Caminos and in the street. (Salsa music).Sunday 6th FebruaryFrom 12 noon: * At the school: bouncy castles *

Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1664256254466559611.post-54261597838882746112011-01-28T10:22:00.002Z2011-01-28T10:26:50.157Z

Almond blossom in Garafía, La PalmaThe north-west of the island is home to great many almond trees, and at this time of the year, they're all blossoming.The trees in El Paso and Garafía are beautiful, but the best display of all is at Puntagorda. In fact Puntagorda hosts an annual almond blossom fiesta. The date varies -- the Town Hall sets it a couple of weeks in advance, to (hopefully)

Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1664256254466559611.post-47364044138434465302011-01-23T11:54:00.001Z2011-01-24T15:25:10.686Z

I originally came to La Palma to work at the astronomical observatory here. Almost as soon as I heard I’d got the job, my parents went to a travel agent to find out how much it would cost to visit.The girl at the desk said, “Las Palmas de Gran Canaris? Certainly Sir. I’ll just look it up for you.”“No,” explained my father. “The island of La Palma. My daughter’s going to work there. It’s the Civil

Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1664256254466559611.post-64681282393005307252011-01-14T18:05:00.005Z2011-01-19T12:54:44.431Z

Prehispanic hutsThe people who lived on La Palma before the Spanish arrived in 1493 called the island Benahoare, and themselves Benahorita, and they're the subject of the permanent exhibition upstairs at the ethnographic museum in Los Llanos.The Benahorita lived in caves and wore animal skins, but they weren't stupid. They farmed, and they had quite a bit of technology considering there's no

Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1664256254466559611.post-23121476470925278222011-01-14T17:56:00.009Z2011-01-14T19:17:56.217Z

Exterior of the Ethnographic MuseumThis morning I finally got to see the ethnographic museum in Los Llanos. It's been open for four years, so I wasn't exactly jumping the gun.The building's at the top end of Los Llanos, and the outside is an example of what you can do with concrete when you stop thinking about shoe boxes. I'm sure only smart-mouthed philistines find themselves thinking of

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La Palma's first winter mini-festival will be sponsored by Ruido fanzine (to present issue 15 of Ruido) and the cultural association Mareando (to present the association's activities.)It will take place in the Plaza de España de S/C de La Palma on Saturday 8th January starting at 10 pm.The local groups, Soulamente Soulo and Mojo Blues will perform, and they'll be various cultural stands, tapas,

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Baltazar visiting Santa Cruz de la PalmaAlthough Father Christmas does visit Spanish children, he’s a new arrival. Traditionally the presents arrive on the morning of January 6th, when the three kings visit baby Jesus. This is why the sales haven’t really started yet – Christmas isn’t over here. And on the evening of the 5th, they ride in procession through most of the major towns and villages in

Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1664256254466559611.post-14803112537045005312010-12-31T12:46:00.001Z2010-12-31T13:16:02.777Z

Fireworks in Santa Cruz de la Palma, New year, 2010Santa Cruz de la Palma, Los Llanos, and most big villages will have a public dance to celebrate new year. In some cases, that blocks the traffic. For example, Santa Cruz's main road along the sea front will be shutting at 10 pm. (If you need to get through, use the bypass inland.) Many people dress up - I mean really dress up, as though they

Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1664256254466559611.post-14009749831524757472010-12-28T09:42:00.000Z2010-12-31T12:43:21.974Z

The 28th of December is Holy Innocents’ Day, which commemorates the massacre of the innocents by Herod in Matthew’s gospel (although according to Wikipedia, it’s probably not a historical event). In Spain and Spanish-speaking countries, it’s the Spanish equivalent of April Fool’s Day.For example, one year I told my husband that the police had been around asking whether he'd been jogging in the

Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1664256254466559611.post-9393206748600562152010-12-23T20:29:00.003Z2010-12-23T22:15:25.301Z

Tall Ship in Santa Cruz for Christmas 2009This year the tall ships will be meeting in the port of Santa Cruz de la Palma for Christmas again. It looks as though there will be fewer ships than usual, because of the bad weather we've had lately. But there'll be the usual flea market from 9:30 to 6 pm, the opportunity to visit some of the ships from 10:00 to 12:30, and live music from 10:30 to 6

Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1664256254466559611.post-42635229726382688742010-12-20T12:07:00.000Z2010-12-14T13:06:55.836Z

If you were shopping in Santa Cruz last week, you might have seen a road train full of infants, grinning and waving, and shouting out "¡Feliz Navidad!"The road train belongs to the local bus company. It's available for hire all year, but it seems to be pretty solidly booked in the last week of school term.The school where I used to work had a regular routine. We put Father Christmas hats on the

Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1664256254466559611.post-49460540313152102192010-12-09T11:03:00.004Z2010-12-09T11:10:02.576Z

You may remember the fuss in 2001 when two geologists, Steven Ward and Simon Day, announced their theory that the west side of the island of La Palma would collapse one day, creating a mega-tsunami that would cross the entire Atlantic and still be anything up to 25 metres high when it hit New York, and indeed everything from Newfoundland in Canada to Recife in Brazil.These days, almost all

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Rainbow and sailboat, Santa Cruz de la PalmaWe've had unusually wet weather for the last ten days. There's nothing odd about the odd winter storm, although I swear they're windier than they used to be. What is unusual is having three of them in ten days.So I'm sorry if you're having a soggy holiday. The rain tends to blow in and out pretty quickly, so I suggest that you at least enjoy the

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The famous balconies on Santa Cruz sea frontCruise ships regularly call into Santa Cruz de La Palma, and I thought people might like suggestions on what to see while they're here. Of course it might be useful to people staying elsewhere on the island, too.The Tourist Information Office is a distinctive glass building, right outside the entrance to the port, and the staff are very good. But it

Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1664256254466559611.post-43470892322434212612010-11-19T20:54:00.003Z2010-11-19T21:01:36.304Z

Tourists sometimes go nuts trying to find the village of Breña Baja, or Fuencaliente.There's a really simple reason why they can't find them. They don't exist. Breña Baja and Fuencaliente are municipalities, and their town halls are in the villages of San Jose and Los Canarios, respectively. It like driving all over the south east of England, looking for the town of Sussex.The map shows the 14

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A steep section of long distance footpath in GarafiaLa Palma has a network of well-marked footpaths, most of which are centuries old. As late as the 1960s, walking was still a major form of transport for the islanders,The whole network of hiking trails on the island comes to over 1,000 km, and between them they pass through just about every kind of scenery on the island: lava fields, pine

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Local market at Los Cancajos, Breña Baja, La PalmaLa Palma has a new weekly market, this time at the popular tourist resort of Los Cancajos. It's open on Saturdays from 9 am to 2 pm, at the south end of the sea front, near the Las Olas hotel.Local market at Los Cancajos, Breña Baja, La PalmaThere's another fairly new market that takes place on Fridays from 4-9 pm at Finca La Principal, just off

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My father was a professional botanist, and he went into ecstasies over the wild flowers on La Palma. He was even fascinated by the roadside weeds. You see, because it's an island, the plants evolved in isolation, and in many cases the plant on La Palma is a different sub-species from the plant in neighbouring Tenerife. For example, echium wildipretti is a very tall cone of tiny flowers. The

Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1664256254466559611.post-81128913255036992532010-10-25T11:17:00.003+01:002010-10-25T11:20:14.217+01:00

La Palma has a pretty good bus service for such a rural place. For example, there's a bus from Santa Cruz (the capital) to the airport via Los Cancajos every half hour.The buses across the centre of the island between the two main town are half-hourly too, and one goes past the Princess hotel into Los Canarios every two hours.If you want to see glorious scenery, I recommend the bus around the

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If you want to get really close to nature and have really cheap accommodation, you can't do better than one of the camping sites on the island.They're open all year round, but be aware that it can be cold in winter, and it's quite likely to rain. You have to pay before you put the tent up, but you don't have to book in advance except for the Caldera. You may also have a problem with transport.

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Vega Norte wine from La PalmaWines from La Palma have improved enormously in the 20 years since I came here. Partly this is because they've created a "Denominación de Origen" which is much the same as the French "Appellation d’origine contrôlée" - you have to pass quality standards to be able to put the words on your bottle. And partly the local wine producers have just plain worked hard.

Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1664256254466559611.post-44289028111989709332010-10-11T19:38:00.004+01:002010-10-11T20:51:26.132+01:00

Carmelo the raven (Corvus corax canariensis) on my car at the observatory, Garafía.Common Ravens live all over Europe, Asia and North America, but we have a different sub-species here. Some biologists group our raven in with the North African sub-species (Corvus corax tingitanus) and others think the Canaries have their own sub-species (Corvus corax canariensis).Like other members of the

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Tobacco growing in Breña Alta, La PalmaI don't smoke, so everything I know about Palmeran cigars is from hearsay. But they seem to have a very good reputation. Certainly Winston Churchill was known to be a fan, and certainly they get shipped off to the Spanish royal family.Most of the tobacco farms on the island are in Santa Cruz, Breña Baja, and especially Breña Alta. Typically, the crop is

Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1664256254466559611.post-70189585995925420322010-09-29T10:55:00.003+01:002010-09-29T11:15:21.283+01:00

Well I wellied. I thought Tazacorte would have its procession of Fufo horses tonight, but it was last night. Sorry. Tonight they have a special mass at 7:30 pm, followed by a procession and fireworks. On Friday there's a concert in Casa Massieu (an old manor house) at 9:30 pm, and on Saturday the pop group "Pereza" will give a concert in the sports centre at 10 pm.San Miguel in Breña Alta has

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Salermera from the road above: the beach is in the inlet at the right.La Palma has lots of little beaches tucked away here and there, like Salemera. You take the main road from the airport to Fuencaliente, and just south of Mazo, follow the marked turning off. After four twisty kilometres, you wind up at the little village. It's easy to park.The beach itself is tiny, but very sheltered. You

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I had an email asking me to recommend the top ten things to see and do.It was actually quite difficult to decide, because tastes differ so much. So this is a purely personal top ten. Your mileage may vary.10. The ObservatorySee The Observatory and Visiting The Observatory. While you're there, be sure to go up to the highest point of the island, the Roque de los Muchachos, and admire the view

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The devil's fiesta at TijarafeDrat! I missed the fiesta del diabolo in Tijarafe.Every year, right in the middle of the annual village fiesta, the devil turns up at Tijarafe in the early hours of September 8th.It starts off like most fiestas. The village centre is off the main road, and on the way in, you pass the usual mobile bars, blasting out music at full volume. In the main square, higher up

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Some of the roadworks in BarloventoFor a couple of years now, we've had major roadworks on the road from Los Sauces to Barlovento and beyond into Garafia. They're straightening out as many of the bends as possible, which often means building a big wall and filling in behind it. It's going to be great when they finish, but it does mean that in many places the traffic is one way, so that you have

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Tree heatherOne of the best archaeological sites on La Palma is La Zarza and La Zarzita, in Garafía.You have to walk, but it's a beautiful stroll through woods of heather and bayberry trees. Yes, heather is a tree here - see the top photo.The whole walk takes about an hour, and first bit of the path is the steepest. It's clearly signposted. Rock carvings at La Zarza, Garafia, La PalmaYou reach

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A female wall lizard grabbing watermelon, Tedote, La PalmaYesterday I discovered that the local lizards (Gallotia galloti palmae) are fond on watermelon on a hot day. Figures. Unlike most lizards, they eat quite a lot of plants, especially ripe fruit, to the point where they can become a nuisance in vinyards.I recently discovered that we only have one species of small lizard here. What I

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Fancy swimming in sea-water without the waves?These are some rather nice salt-water swimming pools at Fajana, five km outside the village of Barlovento, on the main road to Santa Cruz. At one time they were only the natural pools, but they've been improved rather nicely. There's a pool near the top for senior citizens and the disabled, but the best places are reached down two flights of steps.

Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1664256254466559611.post-10316070697941103252010-08-21T23:15:00.002+01:002010-08-21T23:16:46.969+01:00

The official poster for the regatta in TazacorteBetter late than never – I’ve just found out that Tazacorte is hosting a regatta this weekend for “international class 470″ boats. (I hope that means something to somebody. My ignorance about sailing is vast, mostly because I get very, very sea-sick indeed.) It started on Friday. Sunday’s the last day, with the fleet setting sail at 11 am,

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The grotto in Breña AltaLa Palma has a network of marked hiking trails. The LP 19, in Breña Alta runs up from San Pedro, past a series of springs, into the lower end of San Isidro, and back down to the main road. Like most of these paths, the scenery is beautiful and keeps changing. And this path included bonuses.Several of the springs feed laundry bowls. Since it's easier to carry clothes

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