Tenerife’s Almond Trees in Danger & Miró in a Mess in Tenerife News of the Week


Adios to the Route of Almond Trees in Blossom?
One of the walking highlights of the year on Tenerife is when the almond trees blossom around Santiago del Teide valley. It’s such a blooming spectacle that each year the local council organises guided walks through the magical landscape. However, a Royal Decree introduced by the Spanish Ministry of the Environment (Medio Ambiente) last November may pose more of a threat to the almond trees than this winter’s drought. The decree is partly designed to identify non- indigenous plants with the objective of the “possible eradication of invasive alien species”. And guess what falls into the Ministerio de Medio Ambiente’s hit list? Tenerife’s almond trees. The mayor of Santiago del Teide is so concerned that he has urged the Canarian Government to intervene on behalf of the area’s popular tourist attraction and a source of livelihood for many people in the municipality. It’s unlikely that the Medio Ambiente’s decree is meant to put plants like Santiago del Teide’s almond trees in danger but the worry is how Royal Decrees are actually implemented. We have witnessed the complete and utter chaos caused by the interpretation of the Ley de Costas, so head into the hills to see the almond trees in bloom now… just in case.

Queue up for the Saintly Nun
It’s that time of year again when thousands upon thousands of people queue for hours to pay their respects to a saintly nun who’s been dead for 281 years. The body of MarÃ­a Bello y Delgado, la ‘siervita’, is put on display in the Santa Catalina Convent each 15th February. Records show that la Siervita performed minor medical miracles throughout her life and every year up to 50,000 people travel to La Laguna see her in the hopes that she might bring them good luck and cure any ills.

May’s a Big Month for Music
With The Boss confirmed for Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and the first names for Tenerife’s Rock Coast Festival announced, it looks like a promising start to a spring and summer of some decent live music on the Canary Islands. Bruce Springsteen was born to run across the Las Palmas stage on 15th May (tickets from €65.20) whilst Iggy Pop will be a passenger alongside Orbital and Fatboy Slim at the Rock Coast Festival in Santa Cruz from 24th to 26th May (day tickets from €50 or €120 for the whole festival – €100 if you buy before the end of February). Admittedly none of these acts are exactly what you’d call at the top of their game but at least they are ‘big’ international names. But what I want to know is, how is Las Palmas able to attract the likes of Sting and Bruce Springsteen when Tenerife gets Michael Bolton and Mitch Winehouse?

And finally the TIT (This Is Tenerife) of the week award goes to”¦ An Lack of Appreciation of Art in Santa Cruz.
Why Can’t we mira Miró? Last week a work by Spanish artist Joan MÃ­ró was sold at auction in London for £16.8 million, it was a new record for the artist’s work. Tenerife is fortunate to boast a MirÃ² sculpture in its capital, Santa Cruz. But where the work in London is sold for record amounts, the one in Tenerife languishes in a neglected park where its fate is squabbled over by politicians. The sculpture, Femme bouteille is a pawn in a long running argument about the restoration of Park Viera y Clavijo. The park has been allowed to fall into a run down state over the years and isn’t, at the moment at least, really a fitting venue for a work by such a renowned artist ““ graffiti artist maybe, but not Miró.
This week the Santa Cruz council suggested moving the sculpture to La Rambla where it could be enjoyed by everyone alongside the other sculptures that add a touch of artistic class to the tree-lined avenue through the city. It seems a sensible suggestion until you learn why the association for the restoration of the park vehemently oppose any move. Another sculpture moved by the council, Martin Chirino’s Chicharro, was stolen from the municipal depot and ended up in pieces in Valencia. And so the débÃ¢cle continues without a solution.
£16.8 million in London; allowed to languish in a run-down park in Tenerife. Says it all really.

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Jack Montgomery


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