Helpers dressed as Disney characters hand out sweets

The plaza Bouganville was packed with expectant children and smiling onlookers of all nationalities last night, as the Three Kings arrived at Los Gigantes in style, astride their camels. Proceedings began around 9.30pm when helpers dressed as Disney characters arrived on stage to keep the youngsters occupied, handing out sweets, dancing, and asking the all important question "had the children been good?" Then around 11pm the kings rode up to the plaza and parked their camels in the car park, before taking the stage and beginning the long but delightful process of handing out the gifts they had brought (with a little help from mums and dads of course!) Excited children ripped off wrapping paper left, right and centre and some slightly older recipients grinned sheepishly, as they too went and sat on the King's knee to receive the parcel that had been so thoughtfully provided by their mates. Eventually the seemingly never ending pile of gifts was exhausted and tired but happy tots went home to dream.

The Legend of The Three Kings
The Twelfth Night (also known as The Feast of the Epiphany) celebrates the arrival of the Three Kings to the birthplace of Christ. It is on January 6th and it marks the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas. The Magi came and gave the baby Jesus gifts. How many

The Three Kings in Los Gigantes

Magi were there? Actually, the Bible does not say. It is thought to be three because the Bible mentions three types of gifts: gold, incense and myrrh. Eastern traditions favour twelve. The wise men, the Magi, were astrologers and probably came from Persia or southern Arabia. They are believed to be linked with the priesthood of Zoroastrianism, who practiced astrology. The historian Herodotus (5th Century BC) attested to the astrological prowess of the priests of Persia.

Psalm 72 speaks of how the Gentiles will come to worship the Messiah: "The kings of Tarshish and the Isles shall offer gifts, the kings of Arabia and Seba shall bring tribute. All kings shall pay Him homage, all nations shall serve Him" (72:10-11). Isaiah also prophesied the gifts: "Caravans of camels shall fill you, dromedaries from Midian and Ephah; all from Sheba shall come bearing gold and frankincense, and proclaiming the praises of the Lord" (Isaiah 60:6). Although not mentioned by name in the Bible, tradition holds that the three wise men were: Caspar, King of Tarsus - The land of Myrrh, Melchior, King of Arabia - The land of Gold, and Balthasar, King of Saba - where Frankincense flows from trees.

A drive to remove symbols of General Franco's dictatorship from public buildings and spaces has begun amid controversy in Tenerife, his launchpad for the Spanish Civil War.

Officials in the capital, Santa Cruz, are fighting to preserve Spain's most outlandish statue glorifying the dictator. It depicts him gripping a sword while flying on the back of an angel.

The city authority is resisting the Socialist government's plans and has pledged to restore the statue if it is pulled down.

Antonio Bello Paz, the deputy mayor, said: "We have received a great deal of public pressure to conserve the statue."

Franco was stationed in Tenerife before launching the coup that led to the 1936-'39 civil war.

The move to pull down Francoist statues and change street names associated with his regime has caused a row between those who defend them as part of Spain's history and those who see them as reminders of a brutal dictatorship.

A parliamentary petition supported by all parties except the main opposition group, the conservative People's Party, last month gave the government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, the Socialist prime minister, the go-ahead to "proceed with the removal, in the shortest possible time … of the symbols of the Franco-ist dictatorship".

The Socialist Party on Tenerife is sanguine about the chance of having Francoist symbols removed because the local government can ignore central government dictates.

Francisco Tovar, a Socialist councillor, said: "The monument is a humiliation and discrimination to many who fought against Franco. It should be pulled down now. But it looks like we will have to wait until we win power locally."

But Ramon Martin, a teacher, said: "Some people, particularly the older ones, think that life was better under Franco."They want the statues to stay."

Owning properties in the resorts of this holiday island has always been popular with Europeans, and in particularly the British, but it seems that nowadays people are setting their sights outside the resorts and heading for the hills. Traditionally, the properties that have attracted investors have been of the “resort” variety – one and two bedroom apartments located in the holiday complexes of the more popular holiday towns such as Los Cristianos and Playa de las Americas. However, the new figures show that today’s property buyer is looking further afield for suitable property, and is snapping up the excellent bargains that can be found in the more rural areas of the island.

James and Vera Harvey from Doncaster had been house hunting on the island for more than a year, but had failed to find an apartment that met their needs. Vera said: “we had earmarked a certain amount of money for our property but were finding the apartments in the resorts around Los Cristianos far too expensive. Then a friend suggested we look to the Spanish towns on the south coast and we have found a lovely two bedroom apartment, well within our budget that leaves us enough change to decorate and furnish it to our own taste”.

Unfortunately, not everything is good news on the property front, and the significant savings enjoyed by the Harveys don’t make everyone happy. Juan Rojas of the Los Abrigos Residents Committee raised some serious doubts about the impact of this trend on the indigenous population: “whilst we realise that tourism and investment from abroad plays a serious role in our economy, this fashion for Europeans to buy holiday homes in our local villages is pushing the price of property up into a bracket that makes homeownership for local people extremely problematic. With the average Canarian wage somewhere in the region of €1000 a month, the recent price hikes in property come as a direct result of foreign investment and are driving local people from their own towns and villages”.

This problem, according to Mr Rojas, not only directly affects the lives of individual Canarians, but is also changing the character of the towns in question: “a sense of community is vital to Canarian life, but increasingly we are seeing villages losing their essence as family dwellings are bought up as holiday homes and are then only used for certain parts of the year. Some previously lively neighbourhoods now resemble off-season holiday resorts and have lost the life and soul that underlines Canarian society".

The locusts blown by wind and rain into our islands "are dying off," an agricultural official, Antonio Ortega, said Wednesday. "They are having problems feeding, they're tired from travelling, and many have lost legs and wings and are dying. Others have been blown back to sea by the wind," Ortega said, predicting that the insects would be completely gone within two or three weeks. He said tourists were not deterred by the locusts, which do not bother humans and are seen on beaches only when sudden gusts of wind blow swarms of them there.

"These locusts are gregarious, and hide or stay still most of the time," Ortega said, adding that less than one percent of farmland was damaged". Hot weather and easterly winds in the region have exacerbated the problem posed by the insects, which have been threatening crops in several countries in the Sahara and the Maghreb region of north Africa. None have been spotted in Los Gigantes and it seems that the worst affected island has been Lanzarote

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