With Fiestas being held in Tamaimo and Playa San Juan at the moment there is probably an awful lot of thumping and bumping and banging going on - mainly the base output from the fiesta open air band performances through until the early hours, plus a succession of the usual noisy (and beautiful) fire work displays, so we can all be forgiven for missing the latest seismic activity in the area. According to the Canary News Agency Santiago del Teide county registered an earthquake this morning of 2.5 on the Richter scale.
"The Southeastern corner of Santiago del Teide county registered seismic movement, with its epicenter located at 28.29 North degrees of latitude and 16.79 longitude west"

Experts agree that these movements are completely normal for land masses of volcanic origin, like the Canary Islands and to emphasise the LOW probability that this activity is a build up to an eruption, which if it were to take place, would be of a short duration and unlikely to be even noticed by the general public, if indeed any lava reached the surface at all, posing little or no risk for the population and our visitors

Local Police Sources from the municipality have advised ACN Press that "no-one has noticed or reported anything on the coastal areas, but in and around the epicentre there were a couple of reports only". Also there has been no panic or concern at all amongst local inhabitants, as the majority of the population of the area were not even aware of the activity until they read the paper!.

The Spanish utility sector has stated that the country's National Allocation Plan (NAP) is one of the healthiest in Europe so far.

In its First half 2004 consolidated results report, utility company ENDESA stated that the Spanish NAP is "fully coherent with the principles of guarantee of supply and diversified energy source defended by ENDESA".

Under the EU emissions trading scheme, the Spanish NAP is among the most restrictive countries in the union so far, with the power generation sector estimated to be 6 million tonnes of CO2 short each year from 2005 to 2007. Moreover, ENDESA is unlikely to face any hardship following the NAP.

According to a spokesman from ENDESA: "The technological criteria defined will not imply significant reductions in the output of our coal plants, excluding the closure of plants that were already considered. The proposed plan allocates enough rights for the islands and other non-mainland facilities for which we are developing projects to introduce gas through combined cycle gas turbines (CCGTs)."

This month, ENDESA started up the second of three new turbines on the CCGT plant that it is currently building on the Tenerife islands. The company hopes that the new plants in Tenerife located at Granadilla thermal power plant site and Gran Canaria will help to pave the way for natural gas to be brought to the islands as a major generator of electricity.

Why Swelter through August! install air conditioning for less than you might expect. Telephone 922 86 27 13 and ask for the air conditioning department.

In Spain, the country's southern regions have been sweltering in temperatures of more than 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) since last week and have claimed an estimated eleven lives so far.

The most recent victims, a 32-year-old man and an 82-year-old woman who died of heat strokes in the southern cities of Cordoba and Jaen respectively, were discovered on Monday while a 78-year-old woman died of a circulatory failure brought on by the high temperatures on the Canary Island of Tenerife over the weekend.

Programme of Events

• Sunday 25th
• 07:00 hours The festivities open with the pealing of church bells and the bangs of firework rockets.
• 17:00 hours taped horse racing at the football ground Tamaimo.
• From 22:00 hours Mass celebrated by Parish priest D. Jose Luis Garcia Hernandez and a procession of the sacred statues images accompanied by the Band of Santiago del Teide. Followed by a grand firework display by the Toste Brothers of Los Realejos. Ending up with an open air dance to the music of the Maracaibo Orchestra Monday
• Monday 26th July is the main day of the celebrations,
• 12:00 hours Mass celebrated by Parish priest D. Jose Luis Garcia and D. Jose Francisco, Santana Jiménez and other parish priests, which will be sung by the Choral group from Taoro Grammar school of La Orotava. followed by a, Solemn Procession of the sacred images of Santa Ana, San Joaquin and the Virgin of La Paz, accompanied by representatives of the municipal authorities, the Brotherhood of the Santísimo and the Brotherhood of the La Dolorosa, in addition to the Municipal Band and the Band Nivaria of Arafo. During which Maria Chago Melián will sing "Ave Maria".
• 17:00 soccer match between the the "singles and the married" at the polideportivo in Tamaimo.
• 22:00 hours The Grand Santa Ana Gala2004, starting with a Musical opening presentation based on the history of Tamaimo, performers include - Montse and Carlos, the humor of Xayo and the star performance of Fórmula Abierta, compered by Eloísa González.
• Tuesday 27th July is the day dedicated to the children,
• from 11:00 hours in the Tamaimo youth centre park various games and activities
• 16:00 hours Great Foam Party
• To 21:30 hours Grand Children's Gala Santa Ana 2004 including: Disney show, the singer Mickel , the Sole Group, and performing dogs, compered by Pilar Navarro.
• Wednesday 28th July
• 17:00 hours Friendly soccer tournament
• 19:30 hours concert by the Municipal Band and their singer.
• 21:30 hours Grand Star Rain Festival , where the senior citizens of the town will offer a musical panorama, presented by William Luis and Janett Afonso.
• Thursday 29th July is the day dedicated to Senior Citizens
• 17:00 hours Baking competition and prizes for the 3 best desserts will be awarded, next there will be a grand picnic for all the participants and organizers.
• 19:00 hours Grand Canararian Festival including performances by: Folk Group Tayme, Folk Group Breezes of Arguayo, the Municipal School of Folk singing and dancing of Santiago del Teide and the Folk Group Tasaigo. During the course of the festival floral offerings to Santa Ana will be made.
• Friday 30th July
• 18:00 hours technical check in for the XXX the Edition of the Tamaimo Hill Climb.
• 19:30 hours Cherfe Theater group of Santiago del Teide.
• 23:00 hours Grand Ball to the sounds of the Gomeray Orchestra.
• Saturday 31st July
• 10:00 hours XXX Edition of the Tamaimo Hill Climb, this is a leg of the Regional championships and where some of the of the best drivers and machines in the Canary islands can be seen.
• 17:00 hours Presentation of trophies and the Grand dance opens with the orchestra Arguayo Band in the polideportivo at Tamaimo.
• 23:00 hours the party continues on until the early hours to the sounds of the Timisay orchestra and Mists.
• Sunday 1st August
• the XIV Santa Ana Cross country run will be run from 10:00 hours with some of the best athletes on our island taking part.
• 21:00 hours Grand Closing Gala with performances by: Wold ballet Show, the Mariachi Los Alegres Colombinos, the humor of Jesus Farrays and the star performance of the Parranda de Cantadores, presented by Cándido Lopez.
• Monday 2 and Tuesday 3rd bring a final end to the celebrations with outdoor cinema in the plaza at Tamaimo from 21:30 hours with the films El Cid the legend and Se montó la gorda.

There were over 400 entrants in the 9th annual open sea swimming race between Playa de la Arena and Puerto de Santiago last Sunday. The swim which is around 950 metres ran parallel with the shore between the Beach at Playa de la Arena and the beach in the old harbour at Puerto de Santiago.The race organised by the local council department of sport in collaboration with the Island Swimming Federation (Federación Insular de Natación de Tenerife) was a huge success.

Winners were as follows:

• Ladies Race, 1st Place; Concepción Fernández De La Rosa with a time of 14min 23.67seconds, 2nd Place;Nicolle Lademann with 15:21.63 , and 3rd Lidia Mcnight with 16:17.84.
• Man's Race, outright winner;Romen Medina González with a time of 13min 3.91 seconds, 2nd place Néstor Francisco González with 13:5.61, 3rd place Javier Rodríguez Medina with 13:10.3.
• There were also many other trophies awarded for the various winners of the different age category groupings.

Prizes were presented by local Mayor Juan Damián Gorrín Ramos, Oscar Tomás Pérez Rodríguez from the Federación Insular de Natación and Manuel Santaella from the Tenerifan Sailing Federation (Federación Tinerfeña de Vela) whose members later put on a sailing display. The event was topped when a big paella was brought out for all the contestants and helpers

Paintings should be of a minimum size of 40x30 cm. Artists may enter up to a maximum of 3 works. Prizes to be awarded as follows:

1st Prize................................... 601 euros.
2nd Prize................................. 301 euros.
3rd Prize....................................150 euros.
Photographs can be in colour or black and white and of a minimum size of 30x40 cm. Again no more than 3 entries per artist.

Prizes for this category as follows

1st Prize...................................301 euros
2nd prize................................ 240 euros
3rd prize....................................180 euros
4th Prize....................................120 euros
5th Prize.................................... 60 euros
Entrants are only eligible to win one prize. The entries must be taken to the Cultural Department of the Ayuntamiento full details of the artists must be clearly marked on the reverse of the entry, and the envelope or package containing the work(s) should be marked “ Para el concurso Rincones de Santiago” (in Spanish please) The closing date for entries is the 6th of August 2004 up until 1pm.

Pipe Laying and asphalting from Puerto Santiago to Playa de la Arena, most certainly affected Tourist occupancy in June, but as of time of writing (14.07.04) is virtually completed)

Los Gigantes showed an improvement with 61%, Puerto de Santiago registered 49% and Playa de La Arena a disappointing 16%

Señora González Pérez advised that these figures were similar to those recorded for the month of May, and added " let us hope that we see a considerable improvement for the rest of the year. This is not solely a local problem" she said "but a reflection of tourism across the island as a whole. We must work very hard to raising awareness of our area and improving these figures as soon as possible". When asked how the road works in Playa de La Arena may have affected the results she said "Of course the road works have reflected on the occupancy figures, but they were of vital importance to improving the infrastructure of the area"

The bars which are 0.9 of a meter long and weigh 4.72 kilos, and were originally used in the planting of vines, were used in a contest of strength and skill. In days gone by many of the field labourers who worked on the Casa del Patio estate (the ancient seat of the Lords of the manor of Santiago del Teide) took part. The game consists of launching an iron bar as far as possible in a straight line. Legend has it that the record was held for a throw from the veranda of the Casa el Patio which went so high that it actually sailed over the roof of the parish church

The local councilor in charge of youth affairs Mónica Luis Medina, announced today that the annual open air youth concert will take place for the seventh year running. It will be held in the Public Plaza, Puerto de Santiago,on the 10th July and starts at 10pm. On the bill are Juan Santana, singer with the group“ Sin Fundamento” who will add a touch of humour to the evening followed by Spanish Chart topper “ Malú” who will be singing songs from her latest CD as well as some of her earlier hits. 22 year old Malú, hails from Madrid , and has 5 CDs to her name. The singer got her break with the help of Alejandro Sanz, and has also sung various numbers of his.

The evening (and following morning!) will be rounded off by the Macro Disco Show "Móvil Fantasy".

Back stage security will be handled by a private security firm, but The Local Police, Guardia Civil and Red Cross members will also be on hand.

The concert IS TOTALLY FREE and all are welcome.

Entries will be accepted up until the 8th of July at the local sports council offices in the "Pancracio Socas" sports centre locate behind the Playa de la Arena hotel. Business hours are 8.00 to 14.00 Monday to Friday, telephone 922 86 81 08 or by fax on 922 86 81 12. Entrants must 14 years of age or older. The Ladies races will start ahead of the Men's and competitors will commence the race in groups categorised by age.

The 5000 sq metre "Pancracio Socas" public sports centre complex in Puerto de Santiago with state of the art facilities for tennis, swimming, theraputic massage, squash, keep fit and gymnastics is to open on the 1st of July, No it's allright you're not having a phsic deja vue experience - this is the final once and for all real opening. The centre which was opened officially with great pomp ceremony by local and national political figures just before the general elections in March of this year was closed for "a month" just two weeks after the ceremony. Opposition memebers were sceptical about the reasons given for closure. However all the wrinkles appear to have been ironed out now, including those in the surface of the 60 place car park which has been constructed to serve the vistors to the centre.

Further information can be obtained from 922-86-80-41

Some British journalists with nothing better to write about on a slow news week have resurrected the volcanic eruption of Teide scare story again. We would like to publish a translated open letter reply received from SPET the Tenerife Tourist board. you can read it in its original form by clicking here.

• Make up your own mind :
• click here to read the letter in English
• click here for information about volcanoes
• click here to read the article in the UK press

After the mild earth tremours experienced in Icod on the 17th of May, a meeting of technicians and heads of Local Police of the municipalities nearest Icod was called. In this meeting various general level evacuation plans were discussed and evaluated, conclusions from this meeting were then communicated to the local authorities concerned. Last month our mayor engaged a specialist to formulate a specific evacuation plan for the area. This specialist has met with Civil defense representatives, Voluntary Firemen, the Red Cross and the Local Police, to evaluate available funds and resources, before any application to island and national authorities is made. Also a register of people who could not evacuate by themselves, together with their locations has been set up.

Volcanic regions like the Canary Islands, experience a continuous albeit weak level of seismic activity. The particular type of special characteristics associated with the tectonic formation of the archipelago means that experts have designated the area as a "low danger" region.

The seismic activity recorded at Icod was of a LOW level, a maximum of 3 on the Richter scale. Historically this type of movement is IN NO WAY indicative of a build up to a volcanic eruption, in ninety percent of previous similar cases there was no subsequent eruption, and in the cases where a form of eruption ensued, this did not reach the surface or was of such a low intensity as to be of no real danger at all. Just as well really cause we havn't even got the plan for the plan yet!!!

The site which is centred right by the "blue flag" Playa de la Arena beach spreads over approximately a kilometer. The work was started at the beginning of the year, and some sections are completed, however even in the places where the pipes have been laid, the trenches dug to accommodate them have only been back-filled with earth and shale and so are already turning into quite deep ditches as cars lorries and pedestrians pass over them constantly.

The PSOE is hopes that the problem of these controversial works is resolved long before the summer arrives, "so that we do not give the image of a third-world municipality, because if we do we are gambling with the livelihoods of many of our inhabitants", adds Inocencio Doble of the PSOE. Tourist occupation figures for May released this week would seem to bear out this view: Los Gigantes with 59% occupancy, Puerto de Santiago with 46%.and Playa de la Arena down to a disappointing 17% occupancy.

The Mayor of the local council of Santiago del Teide, Juan Damián Ramos, who is a member of the Coalición Canaria party was quick to issue a statement in defense of the project. "The works were actually scheduled by the Cabildo (island government) to begin in November 2003, but after protest by the local council this was deferred until January to enable retailers to have a trouble free Christmas.Work was then begun on the beach side of the road first" - he said "The contractor responsible will entail penalties if the work is not completed in July, also the original estimate for the project was 1 year and it will in fact have taken 7 months to complete"

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Friday 18th June at 1.30 pm will see the official unveiling of the Mirador (Vantage Point) overlooking Los Gigantes and the cliffs. Hopefully this will actually take place after the initial date for the ceremony -Tuesday the 8th June was cancelled literally the day before. In attendance will be President of the Cabildo - Ricardo Melchior, and the local Mayor , Juan Damián Gorrín Ramos. The facility which has been under construction since the year 2000 is to be found on the main road from Tamaimo to Puerto Santiago, on the sharp bends just before the turn off into Los Gigantes.

The project was a joint one between the Cabildo - investing some 288, 000 euros through their "Plan Insular de Miradores" and the local authority and includes car and coach parking and a bar/cafeteria and shop.

Santiago del Teide County Council agreed unanimously at the council meeting of the 27th of May to nominate the Hotel Los Gigantes for the “Amable del Turismo y Convivencia Ciudadana 2003” [Friend to the tourist and Good neighbour to the Community 2003] award in the "Hotel" category of the competition which is organised by the CIT (Centre for Tourist Initiatives) in Santa Cruz.

This is the 25th year that these awards have taken place and there are various categories;- Local Police, Public Transport, Businesses, Travel Agents, Tour Operators, Bars, Restaurants, Tourist Services, Air Carriers, Sea Carriers, and Hotels.

The CIT will visit the hotel and the county to judge, the levels of friendliness, professionalism, cordiality and general treatment of both tourist visitors and residents of the county who have dealings with the Hotel.

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