San Isidro Cattle Fair

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Calf at San Isidro far, Breña Alta, La Palma island

Calf at San Isidro far, Breña Alta

This 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). People bring their animals, and there are prizes for the best milk cow, best bull, best goat, etc. Most of the animals are tied up in big field while they wait for the judging, and you can go around admiring them. (I hope someone brings them water later.)

It starts off with a procession which brings the statue of the saint from the church to the fairground at 9 am on Saturday. The priest blesses the animals at noon, and they have a competition to see which bulls can drag a heavy load the fastest at 4 pm. During the day there’s a drawing competition for the children, and a wheelbarrow race at 1 pm. At 9 pm on Saturday night they’ll be a dance in the village square.

Statue of St. Isidore, the farm labourer, Breña Alta, La Palma island

Statue of St. Isidore, the farm labourer in its niche at the fairground

On Sunday, there’s a cycle race at noon and a horse race at 7pm. And later, a procession takes the statue of the saint back to the church at about 9pm, followed by a mystery play and fireworks.

Cattle at the fair of St. Isidore, Breña Alta, La Palma island

Cattle at the fair of St. Isidore, Breña Alta

Los Cancajos

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Los Cancajos beach

If a beach is all you want for your holiday, then frankly you’re better off in Tenerife. But if a beach is part of the mix, then we have two main beach resorts, Los Cancajos and Puerto Naos.

Our sand is like the Model T Ford – “Any colour you like, as long as it’s black”. When the sea mashes up black, volcanic rock, that’s what you get. However, black sand warms up in the sun faster than yellow sand, which is decidedly nice for winter holidays.

Cancajos is on the east of the island, which is comparatively cool, cloudy and wet. (But I do mean “comparatively”. It’s still a much nicer climate than, say, Manchester.) That also makes the surrounding countryside much greener.

The beach

If you like to swim a long way off shore, the east side of the island is safer, because the ocean currents push you back towards the shore, rather than out to sea. If you’re a less confident swimmer and like to stay closer in, the two artificial islands break up the Atlantic rollers. This makes it a great beach for kids.

And for small children, there’s a large natural rock pool, perhaps fifteen feet across, with almost no waves at all. The depth depends on the tides, but the bottom is sand and slopes gently.

Amenities
Lots of shops, cafés, and restaurants, some of them very close to the beach. Tourist Information office. A climbing frame shaped like a ship on the beach. A few free fresh-water showers, plus changing rooms available for a small fee.

Local Colour
There’s a very pleasant walk along the top of small cliffs, to the south of the main beach, smooth and flat enough for a push-chair.

Transfer to and from the airport is only about ten minutes. You will hear the planes. They’re not very loud, but it could bother light sleepers.

Transport
Buses to the airport and Santa Cruz every half hour. Several hire car firms have offices in the shopping centre. 4 km walk to Santa Cruz (the island’s capital).

Where to stay:

Hotel Taburiente Playa (4 star)
Hotel Hacienda San Jorge (3 keys)
Aparthotel Las Olas (3 star)
Aparthotel Costa Salinas (3 keys)
La Caleta Apartments (3 keys)
Centro Cancajos Apartments (3 keys)
EL CERRITO Apartments (3 keys)
Largo Azul Apartments (2 keys)
La Cascada Apartments (2 keys)
Oasis San Antonio Apartments (2 keys)
Los Cancajos Apartments (2 keys)
Los Rosales Apartments (1 key)

Exhibition comparing Mars and Earth

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Scale models of the Earth and Mars, exhibition, Santa Cruz de La Palma

The scale models of the Earth and Mars

There’s a great exhibition about the Earth and Mars in Palacio Salazar in Santa Cruz de La Palma until Saturday May 26th. It features scale models of the two planets, lots of great photos of Mars, and explains the similarities and differences in geology, atmosphere and weather, and hydrology. Even better, they have a genuine meteorite from Mars which you can actually touch.

The exhibition is open from 9 am to 1 pm and 5-8 pm, Monday to Friday, and on Saturdays from 10 am to 2 pm. And it’s free.

Transvulcania 2012

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The full Transvulcania route in all its horror.

On Saturday, crazy people will be running an ultramarathon around La Palma. It’s the famous Transvulcania.

The main race starts at 6 am down at the lighthouse at the southern tip of the island. The runners will race up the central spine of the island to the picnic site at El Pilar, then Punta de Los Roques. The race continues anticlockwise around the Caldera rim, climbing up to the observatory at 2,426 m (7,900 ft) which the leaders should pass at about 11 am, down to El Time, then steeply down to Puerto Tazacorte at 12:30 and finally reaching the finishing line in Los Llanos at about 1 pm. That’s 83.3 km (51.8 miles) – nearly twice a normal marathon – with steep climbs, only 75% the normal oxygen at the highest point, and probably baking hot sun for the second half.

See what I mean about mad?

Less crazy people will be doing a half-marathon, starting in the same place at 6:30 am and finishing at El Pilar. The winners should arrive there at about 8:30. I doubt that I could walk this.

There will be races for kids and teenagers at El Pilar at 11 am.

It’s too late to sign up for the race, but there’ll be another next year. The website is http://www.transvulcania.com/.

After all, I’m not really in any position to comment on other people’s sanity. But I’m planning to spend the day reading in bed.

Photos of Fiesta de La Cruz, 2012

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The cross in the village of San Jose is a working clock. The cross rotates and several of the gear wheels move, too.

San Jose cross, fiesta de la Cruz, 2012

The clockwork cross in San Jose

Botazo infant school have the Smurfs.

Cross decorated with Smurfs

Botazo school cross, decorated with a Smurf theme.

And The Laja del Barranco have a classical theme.

La Laja del Barranco cross, Breña Alta, 2012

La Laja del Barranco cross, Breña Alta

News items

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Detail of a cross decorated with jewellry for Fiesta de La Cruz

Detail of a cross decorated with jewellry for Fiesta de La Cruz, Breña Baja

On Sunday, Alan Gandy successfully completed his Seven-Islands Walk. (If you’re impressed, you can donate here.)

Tuesday May 1st is a public holiday. Most shops will be closed. If you’re self catering, it might be an idea to stock up a bit today.

Thursday May 3rd is a local holiday in Santa Cruz de La Palma, Breña Alta, Breña Baja and Mazo. It’s Fiesta de la Cruz, and the roadside crosses will beautifully decorated on Wednesday evening. People have been making preparations for months. The locals will visit the crosses late on Wednesday night, although the crosses will stay up until Thursday evening. Again, most shops will be closed on Thursday, although only in the east of the island. (A few of the crosses in other parts of the island get decorated too.)

Finally, the road from Santa Cruz de La Palma to the Roque de los Muchachos is intermittantly closed for roadworks. They’re cleaning the cutting walls and the gutters around Los Andennes, where you get a wonderful view of the Caldera de Taburiente. The road is closed from Monday – Friday (but probably not public holidays) from 9 am to 2:30 pm. The road from the observatory to Garafía is not affected. If you’re going from Santa Cruz or Los Cancajos to the observatory via Los Llanos, Tijarafe and Garafía, allow at least two hours and half a tank of petrol.

Alan Gandy’s charity walk

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Alan Gandy in Barlovento

Alan Gandy leaving Barlovento for Santa Cruz de La Palma

Alan Gandy is walking the length of all seven Canary Islands for charity, and he’s currently on La Palma. Yesterday he walked from Santa Cruz to Fuencaliente, and today he’s walking from Barlovento to Santa Cruz. That’s about 39 km altogether.

All procedes to two charities, Niños del Tercer Mundo – a charity based on the island which funds projects in the third world, and the Rose Road Association – based in the UK, who provide services to severely disabled children and their families. You can read more on Alan’s blog  and Facebook page. If you’re impressed, you can donate here.

“The Dodo Dragon and Other Stories” is on sale

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Dodo Dragon cover

The Dodo Dragon and Other Stories

Nine quirky SF stories by Sheila Crosby (the author of this blog) to entertain you. Two of the stories are set on La Palma.
On sale April 23rd 2012, and available for Kindle, iPad, Mac and PCs.

Cover painting by Merche Martin Morillo
Layout by Eco-geek

This book currently has 4.5 stars on Amazon.com, but it’s slightly cheaper from our own products page, which also offers other electronic formats.

If you have any problems with this book, please click on “Leave a reply”.

If you like it, please tell as many people as possible!

Starry Skies over La Palma

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The Roque de Los Muchachos at night with star trails

The Roque de Los Muchachos at night by Manel Soria

Manel Soria, who gave a talk on night photography at FotoNature 2012 now has amazing photos of La Palma on his website at www.frikosal.net
The photo above was taken in the observatory, looking north. From left to right you can see the empty dome of the Swedish 60 cm telescope, MAGIC II (on the horizon, some distance below), the Superwasp Follow-up Telescope (closer), the Liverpool telescope (peeking from behind the ridge), the Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope (at the back) and SuperWASP below the JKT.

The photo below looks south over the Caldera to the southern sky. Because La Palma is closer to the equator, we get to see some stars in the southern hemisphere, which you never see from Britain. This photo includes Alpha Centauri which is the next nearest star after our own sun. You can also see two stars of the southern cross, just peeking over the ridge: Mimosa and Gamma Crucis.

Both these photos are reproduced with written permission from the photographer. For any other use, please contact him at frikosal [AT] gmail[DOT]com.

Stars over Los Llanos from the Roque

Stars over Los Llanos from the Roque by Manel Soria

 

Star Quality Malvasia Wine – heaven in a glass

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Star Quality Malvasia wine

Star Quality Malvasia wine - heaven in a glass

Malvasia is a white dessert wine from the south of La Palma. It’s too sweet to drink with fish (or to drink like a fish). In fact it’s similar to Maderia or a sweet sherry – more something you’d have at the very end of a meal with the local sweet almond biscuits.

In Shakespear’s day Malvasia wine was known as Malmsey, and it was very popular indeed. In the play Richard III, the Duke of Clarence is drowned in a butt of Malmsey, which seems like a dreadful waste of good wine to me.

Malvasia comes from Fuencaliente in the south of the island, and most of the vines are trained very low to the ground to prevent the grapes from dying out, which must make for back-breaking work. I love the stuff.

Bodegas Teneguia have a new, extra-special Malvasia on sale, which is aged for 16 years. It’s called “Calidad Estelar” – Star Quality, in honour of La Palma’s amazing dark skies.   It seems to be winning prizes all over the place. Most recently, it won “Best Canarian Wine” at Agrocanarias2012, and a gold medal at the international Wine Festival Vinalies Internationales 2012 in Paris.

Obviously I’m not the only one who thinks it’s heaven in a glass.