Saturday 28 February 2009

Going Native at Tenerife Carnaval 'Photo of the Day' #6


The 'Mascarita Ponte Tacón' (high heels marathon) in Puerto de la Cruz is always good for a laugh and some outrageous photos. In truth I've got bag loads of great ones to chose from this year; most of them likely to offend somebody or other. However, I felt this 'young lady' personified what this mad part of carnaval is all about.

She could have at least waxed first.

Find out more about how to 'Go Native' at Carnaval and other fiestas on Tenerife in 'Going Native in Tenerife'.

Friday 27 February 2009

Going Native at Tenerife Carnaval 'Photo of the Day' #5

Thursday night's a quiet night at Carnaval in Puerto de la Cruz. It gives everyone a chance to recover a bit before the big closing weekend. The best food stall in the world keeps the few die hards who are about fed and watered with juggernaut sized montaditos, topped with neat rows of chorizos, tortilla, Italian peppers etc and glasses of cerveza and vino tinto.

At various points, the stall can resemble one of the bars in the Star Wars movies with some very, very strange looking clientele.

Tomorrow it's the turn of the 'big girls'.

Find out more about how to 'Go Native' at Carnaval and other fiestas on Tenerife in 'Going Native in Tenerife'.

Thursday 26 February 2009

Going Native at Tenerife Carnaval 'Photo of the Day' #4

When a giant sardine with long blond hair and fluttering false eyelashes starts bearing down on you it means one of two things - it's time to give up the alcohol, or it's the surreal Burial of the Sardine which is a major part of Carnaval across Tenerife.

The sardine is one of the less surreal aspects of the event, but good taste convinced me to go with this photo and not one of the merry 'widows'.

Find out more about how to 'Go Native' at Carnaval and other fiestas on Tenerife in 'Going Native in Tenerife'.

Wednesday 25 February 2009

Going Native at Tenerife Carnaval 'Photo of the Day' #3


Puerto de la Cruz' delayed opening parade meant that there weren't as many groups participating as in past years, however there was still enough glitz, glamour, flamboyant costumes and pearly white smiles to keep the onlookers happy.

There is no such thing as being overdressed...or indeed underdressed at Carnaval.

Find out more about how to 'Go Native' at Carnaval and other fiestas on Tenerife in 'Going Native in Tenerife'.

Tuesday 24 February 2009

Going Native at Tenerife Carnaval, 'Photo of the Day' #2



During Carnaval week, there are nightly parties in the streets around Plaza del Charco. By 1 a.m. most tourists have left, but that's when the party is only starting to warm up.

Spot how many people aren't in Fancy dress costume.

Find out more about how to 'Go Native' at Carnaval and other fiestas on Tenerife in 'Going Native in Tenerife'.

Monday 23 February 2009

Going Native at Tenerife Carnaval 'Photo of the Day' #1


Above is our 1st 'Going Native in Tenerife' Carnaval photo of the day (well it was from two days ago, but we were too busy 'going native' at the beginning of the Carnaval celebrations in Puerto de la Cruz to post it earlier). The girl with the smile as radiant as her costume, titled Gota a gota, is Elsa Eichner, the Carnaval Queen for Puerto de la Cruz 2009.

But the question is, can you pick her out from the line-up in the previous blog?

Find out more about how to 'Go Native' at Carnaval and other fiestas on Tenerife in 'Going Native in Tenerife'.

Thursday 12 February 2009

Visiting Tenerife soon? Don’t miss Carnaval 2009

You can tell when Carnaval is just around the corner, the TV screen is filled nightly with Tenerife’s version of the Diddy Men; 20 to 50-strong singing groups in fantastic baggy-trousered and be-hatted costumes with face paint jobs that Chipperfield’s Circus would kill for, belting out tuneless political satire and blowing on toy trumpets.

For the Tinerfeños, this passes as prized family entertainment, for which they actually buy tickets to sit in a windy plaza and spectate until the early hours of the morning giving levels of applause that tribute acts on the south coast can only dream of.
The ‘Murgas’, as they’re known, are definitely an acquired taste, but luckily, they’re the only aspect of Carnaval that is.

Having a much wider appeal altogether is the whole process of electing the Carnaval Queens for the coming year.
If Julia Morley hasn’t already done so, she should seriously consider retiring to Tenerife where the whole concept of beauty pageants is alive and well and where they hold as many male beauty contests as female ones, although I suspect feminists would argue that falls into the ‘two wrongs’ category.

Political correctness aside, last Sunday saw the unveiling (not literally) of the candidates for Puerto de la Cruz 2009 Carnaval Queen titles, including the junior category.
The little girls strode purposefully up and down the stage in their Tres Reyes outfits with one hand on a hip, waving to the audience. The eight Carnaval Queen hopefuls then sashayed their way across the stage in glittering, backless evening dresses showing all the oblivion to the night’s chill that is a pre-requisite for this job.

There was much dancing to African drums, this year’s theme being ‘Tribes of Africa’ and a guest appearance by local born celebrity dancer and choreographer Rafa Mendés whose CV includes choreographing such luminaries as Madonna, Robbie Williams, Kylie Minogue, Blue and Take That.

And so the buzz that is Carnaval begins. Over the next couple of weeks that buzz will grow and crescendo before bursting onto the streets in full-on party mode and if you’re planning to be on the island, the parades are a must-see.


Carnaval might be the biggest event in the fiesta calendar, but it certainly isn’t the only island fiesta; Going Native in Tenerife has a calendar of all Tenerife’s main fiestas and tells you what to expect and how to get the best from them.
Adding a touch of local colour and celebration to your time on Tenerife can make the difference between a good holiday and a great one.
Don’t miss out.

Tuesday 3 February 2009

No pain, no gain

“90 mins” says the sign that shows the start of the route from the troglodyte settlement of Chinamada to the coastal resort of Punta del Hidalgo.

Spread across the northeast tip of Tenerife, the Anaga Mountains are virtually untouched by the tourism development of the last fifty years. They present an unforgiving terrain where for centuries farmers have worked narrow terraces carved into the side of sheer ravines and trodden a myriad of paths to take their produce to market and to export.
Chinamada to Punta del Hidalgo is one such path and last week, we finally got round to hiking it.

With a 620 metre difference between the coast and Chinamada, we opted to do the walk from coast to mountain rather than the other way round, leaving a nice, leisurely down hill to end the day.

The weather was perfect for hiking; intense blue sky, not a cloud to be seen but a fresh, brisk breeze. As we wondered along the coastal path by the lighthouse in Punta del Hidalgo with the ozone and fixed grins on our faces, Jack took photos of the white horses riding atop the fearsome waves.
Through a meandering stream at the bottom of the barranco, over a wooden footbridge – it was idyllic and I mentally compiled a list of all the friends we’d do the walk with when they next visited.

Soon we began climbing and the terrain became more demanding. The path narrowed and looped around overhangs in the barranco wall; it skirted deep caves set into the ancient monoliths and more and more it rose in sheer stairs worn smooth by weather and the years. As we climbed, sweat dripped off the ends of my hair and trickled down my neck and my list of friends to bring with us next time we came diminished rapidly.

500 sheer metres below us, a small stream on the barranco floor glistened in the sun and across the gaping divide the little white houses of Batán clung to their precipitous hold on the cliffside. At eye level kestrels rode the air currents before swooping to the barranco floor, then rising, circling and repeating the manoeuvre.

Each time we reached a new turn in the trail we looked for the landmark mirador to which we’d walked from Chinamada and which we knew heralded our imminent arrival at our destination. But turn after turn, it remained illusive.

After two and a quarter gruelling hours the path began its steepest ascent yet, along a narrow ridge with loose scree and then up sheer steps, each one a thigh crunching, gargantuan effort. A careful inch around a narrow precipice and there it was – the familiar mirador.

Two and a half sweaty, energy sapping hours after we left Punta del Hidalgo we arrived in Chinamada at the sign that says “90 mins”, and which, had it not been very securely fastened to the wall, would now be lying at the bottom of the Batán Barranco.

We ate our lunch at the Mirador Aguaide perched on an outcrop above the northern tip of Tenerife and watched the ant-sized guided walking groups we’d passed on the way up as they negotiated the steep final ridge. I could have stayed there for hours, at the edge of the world, just us and the kestrels.

On the way back down we bitched about the inaccuracy of hiking signposts on the island and how the only way you could do that journey in 90 minutes would be if you had a parachute attached to your back.
In fact, we bitched for the whole hour and three quarters that it took us to get back to Punta del Hidalgo…!