Heavy rain and thunderstorms in Canaries tomorrow

 While it is warm, sunny and very dry with high pressure over Ireland, the Canary Islands can expect storm 'Olivier' with wind, heavy rain and thunderstorms tomorrow Wednesday, April 9th 2025. Status orange warnings have been issued by the Spanish metereological service for heavy downpours, which could dump up to 30mm of rain in just one hour. Thunderstorm warnings have also been issued, with falls  of hail possible, and  in the western Canaries there are status yellow wind warnings of southwesterly gale gusts. 

The warnings are valid from tomorrow and begin at different times in each island, so please click the official AEMET.ES website for more detail (in English). All warnings expire later on Thursday, but further showers can be expected over the following days as low pressure close to the Canary Islands becomes almost stationary and is forecast to dissipate only slowly.

it it advisable to be cautious over the coming days and hiking and other outdoor activities in the mountains and ravines should not be undertaken . Travel should be avoided, but if you need to drive then be very careful. Rockfalls and landslides can be expected, which might happen as a result of loosening material due to temperature changes, erosion and especially during and after rain. Don't be deceived by longer sunny intervals as the sun can add to the erosive process when rocks and soil expand in the sun's heat after cracks and crevices have been filled with debris by precipitation.

All a bit unusual for this time of the year and not great news for those on holidays in the Canary Islands, but the rain is very badly needed and wanted by locals.

Trump wants the Canary Islands too - Latest News

Will the little Canary be taken under the wings of the great American eagle (Image:hablemosdeaves.com )

After Canada, the Panama Canal, and Greenland the American president Donald Trump has now laid claim to the Canary Islands.

In one of his rambling speeches Trump has strayed again, from talking about his intent to buy Greenland to a claim much further south, namely the Canary Islands and he has revealed the following: 

''...that little group of islands, I think they call them the Canaries, a great place, much warmer than Greenland, a nice climate they tell me, no ice, and with clever people, a lot more people than Greenland, they're very important to us, too. We want those little islands and they're very important to us strategically there on that side of the Ocean. We've been looking into that, and we want to help them make a great place out of their islands again. Spain and the Europeans have ruined the place, that's not good, and they're important for our security.

Same as America, they've been taken advantage of by the Europeans for too long - a long, long time. Actually, since Columbus came. He was a great, clever sailor, but without the Canaries he couldn't do it, I mean come here and take America. So they, the Spanish, and all the European immigrants, colonised the peaceful Canaries first. They did bad things to them and we want to help them to get well again and be great again. 

They're strategically very important to us, sitting there on the eastern side of the great Gulf of America. You know, they're not even in Europe, they're in Africa, what's the term, geo-something, I don't know, but they're better off with us and so, so close to the Gulf of America. They already trade more with us than with Spain. Maybe you don't know that but it's true, so they're important to us and the other way round. When our tariffs kick in they'd do much better business with us. They'd be much, much better off...''

The American president continued:

''...and it's a great staging post, clever little Columbus knew that, too, and with lots of beautiful golf resorts. We've already got a great airbase nearby, in the eh, eh, Amores, or Azores, or something. That will help us. I mean it's massive, it really is big - you've got to see it, they showed me pictures of it that only the president gets to see - it's great, real powerful. We should, no we must have another one in the Canaries, that's important for international peace.

The Canarians really got a bad deal from Spain and Europe, who don't give them nothing but cheap tourists. I mean, imagine that, and they're poor there and no real jobs for the young people, only cleaning and serving jobs and making bananas, imagine that, that's tough, making bananas. But we'll help them build great new business and I can smell oil and other great things there. I don't know if you can, but, eh, I can. Maybe I'm a genius, but I can smell great things there, gas maybe, too. They've got cute little birds there, too (laughs), I mean the Canaries. I think that's why they call the place that and some people have them at home here, too, in cages. They even have wild Canaries in the golf resorts there, that's real smart. I'd like that in mine. J.D. is going there very soon to talk to their people and he'll find out, he'll find out. We're working real hard on this, it's become more important now, Elon says, and he's a genius. We must have, eh, help them, the little islands right there, just off the great Gulf of America.

We'll pay a fair price for that rundown place, of course, make a good deal, but maybe we have to use a little bit of force at first, too. But they've got smart people over there and like the Puerto Ricans and, yeah, the Hawaiians, too, they will see that they'll be better off with us, America. We'll give them a little time to think about it, but I'm sure in a year we'll have it all done. For sure, April 1st 2026 they'll be with us and celebrating, making the Canaries great again. Liberation day for the little Canaries this day next year, believe me, April 1st is the day ...''

    Image credit and more about the lookalike bird: washingtonpost.com           

In the wild north-west

A different view of the chapel dedicated to Santa Clara, situated above the remote village of Arguamul in La Gomera's wild and beautiful northwest.

Centenary of the arrival of a virgin and a happy 2025

 First of all let me wish you all a very happy and healthy 2025. 

2025 marks the centenary of the arrival of the Vigin de Los Reyes in the parish chapel of Los Reyes in El Guro/Casa de La Seda in Valle Gran Rey, making this year's Fiesta de Los Reyes special. As you know Epiphany on the 6th of January os the main Christmas day in Spain, when Los Reyes (aka Los Magos) bring the presents, and as the oldest church in Valle Gran Rey is dedicated to Los Reyes this is one of the most important days here. The celebrations started early in December with minor events and all culminates over the coming days with the annual procession and the ensuing fiesta (see programme below). More about all the above festivities here: https://lagomera1.blogspot.com/2016/01/main-christmas-presents-and-fiesta.html

Camino Zigzag

Above is the beginning of the popular hiking track to Arure from La Alameda in Valle Gran Rey. It zigzags up to the relatively flat plateau on top of La Merica Mountain and then leads on to the mountain village of Arure. Breathtaking views can be enjoyed all along this route which once was the main path between the lower valley and Arure, long before the road was built. Note that it is easier to go up this track than it is going down. I took this photo a good few years ago from the top of Teguerguenche mountain on the opposite side of the valley.

Historical image is oldest known

                                       

Above is the oldest known photograph of Valle Gran Rey in La Gomera's southwest. It was taken by French photographer Charles Alluaud in 1883 and shows La Merica mountain and the then tiny settlement of La Calera at its foot. Now La Calera is home to the administration of the municipal district of Valle Gran Rey, but when above image was taken the village of Arure, high up in the mountains to the north, was still the ''capital'' of the municipality. There's no sign yet of any infrastructure nor major agriculture. The lower valley then was still very thinly populated and looks like a barren wasteland as the large tomato and banana plantations were created in later years with soil brought from the fertile areas further up in the mountains. 

The tomatoes have now gone again and the banana plantations are receding more and more. A lot more houses and apartment blocks have grown since, though. The image was probably taken from the Vueltas or Charco del Conde area and was shown at a recent exhibition of La Gomera photographs following a competition, organised by the island's government. Below is a photo I took in more recent times, but from a different location. The 1883 view angle is now obstructed by buildings, so I doctored mine a bit it to make it look older:

Don't call them Spanish: Canary Islands Day

Canary Islands Day - ''For the (Spanish) government from the Canaries'' says the 2nd poster

Thursday May 30th is Dia de Canarias, the Canarian 'national' holiday when the inhabitants of the Canaries are allowed to proudly say ''Soy Canario'' (I'm Canarian) and celebrate their national identity under Spanish colonial rule. 

It is the annual celebration of all things that make the Canaries and their people so unique and different from their Spanish colonial masters and for some it also means remembering the victims of the Spanish conquest during which much of the aboriginal population was brutally and heinously exterminated. So please don't call the locals 'Spanish' when here on holidays. Most will quietly forgive your ignorance and keep smiling, but they'd much prefer to be called ''Canarios''. The Spanish are called ''Godos'' (Goths) in the Canaries, all other foreigners, especially fair-skinned ones, are ''Guiris''.

There are many events in virtually all towns and villages that pay homage to the rich history, vibrant culture, and unique traditions of the Canary Islands to mark May 30th. On this day in 1983, the archipelago was granted autonomous community status within the Kingdom of Spain, same as other regions e.g. Catalonia previously, recognising a distinct culture and granting self-governance in some respects, but with little real autonomy. 

The annual celebrations began this weekend and continue until the next, peaking during the Canaries' national holiday on Thursday. Below the programme for Valle Gran Rey where the main event takes place behind the bus station from noon on May 30th:

Smelly trumpets and knickers

I took the above image some time ago in the winding, often stepped, little alleyways in La Calera in the centre of Valle Gran Rey, an area always worth exploring. The ornamental bushy plant is called Angel's Trumpet (Brugmansia) and originated in South America where it has become extinct in the wild. It is quite a popular plant in gardens in La Gomera and the Canary Islands, grown for its showy trumpet-shaped pendulous flowers which emit a very pungent fragrance at night. Caution is advised on approach though, as all parts of the bush are highly toxic and ingestion can be fatal. Even touch can cause an adverse reaction.

Note the ladies underwear drying beside it in the fencing. This was very regularly to be seen hanging there overnight, maybe to be 'reodorised' by the trumpets after being deodorised in the wash ?

 

New plans for Casa Maria yet again

I took the above photo of Casa Maria when it was first put up for sale a few years ago.

Legendary Casa Maria and its popular bar, restaurant and rustic guest house which has remained closed since it was put on the market a few years ago could finally be saved and given a new lease of life.

The building at the popular sunset meeting point sadly was deteriorating rapidly with parts of a balcony facing the sea collapsing onto the coast road and ugly security fencing protecting passers-by from crumbling masonry.

Various attempts to buy the building were made and there even were plans to turn the landmark into a McDonalds fast food outlet (see here...), but as often with any plans in La Gomera, none came to fruition.

Then in 2021 I reported that the authorities had decided to bring an additional police force, the Policia Canaria, to Valle Gran Rey to deal with all the homeless and hippies there and that Casa Maria would become their station. Well, the new police officers are there now, but not in Casa Maria.

Now it has transpired that the proliferation of police, not having much else to do in the small town, have created a large number of ''homeless'', i.e. hippies who have been evicted from the rocks and bushes under which they rest and sleep in a ''major clean-up operation''. Some of them don't have the means to travel onwards to a more welcoming place or to rent a place to stay in La Gomera. Prices for accommodation have risen considerably in recent years and with mostly full occupancy at peak times beds are hard to find even for many well-heeled tourists. Some hippies are not short of funds, though, but prefer to sleep under the stars by choice. I once met a raggedly looking 'cave-dweller' who was flashing his gold credit card around the shops, but giving all he bought away to his needy hippie friends. 

Most of the evicted hippies though have no other choice but to find another bush, rock, crevice or cave where to unroll their yoga mats and sleeping bags from whence the police will then eventually make them move on once again. Thus a vicious circle has developed which is dividing the community with some saying that the hippies do no harm and started all the tourism industry in La Gomera by adding to the island's special charm, while others see hippies as untidy and scaring off the increasingly posh and elderly tourists.

The local administration, the Ayuntamiento de Valle Gran Rey, has now been forced to come to the rescue of the homeless to defuse the situation, and will lease the Casa Maria building for an initial five years. The ayuntamiento will carry out emergency repairs first to make the building safe and will then carry out basic refurbishment to temporarily house homeless hippies.

This is a stroke of genius by the local politicians as Casa Maria and its bar and restaurant is exactly the place where hippies came to as the first tourists in the 1960s, when there was no proper road, no electricity, and no tourism at all. They were most welcome then, sitting outside Casa Maria playing their guitars and drums. If they needed food, running water and a bed, Maria offered it all to them for a few Pesetas that could easily be earned in a few hours busking.

The beach is just across the road where the same music still fills the air at sunset every day during the busy winter season since then, and long may it last...

As everything takes quite some time in La Gomera, the temporary ''homeless hippie hostel'' is not expected to be ready and filled with happy hippies once again until April 1st next year.

Sunset gathering at Playa Maria, named of course after Maria of Casa Maria

Oscar winner filmed in La Gomera

Oscar winner Cillian Murphy in bar and restaurant La Chalana in Playa de Santiago,
La Gomera late 2013.  Guess who's hand is resting on Cillian's shoulder...

Congratulations to 2024 Oscar winner for best actor Cillian Murphy whom I met in La Gomera in late 2013 when we talked mainly about the island and music. Cillian was in Playa de Santiago shooting 'In The Heart Of The Sea' directed by Ron Howard. I had the luck to have been one of only six 'locals' picked out of over 3.000 applicants as picture doubles. The above image was taken in lovely beach bar La Chalana which was closed to the public at the time as only actors and crew had access. Cillian was one of very few Irish involved and we just bumped into each other there at a quiet time after a day's shooting scenes. I still owe you a beer, Cillian, I couldn't have met a nicer guy !

...and yes he looks tired and hungry above, but he's supposed to as he's playing a starving shipwrecked whaler. I looked much worse. 

Loads more posts about the time Hollywood came to La Gomera HERE...

Carnival season 2024

The carnival season 2024 has begun in La Gomera and the island capital San Sebastian's festivities are already in full swing. The main parade will wind its way through the streets tomorrow, Sat. 10th of February 2024, followed as usual by dancing until sunrise, see poster above for the full carnival programme, which is themed 'The Jungle'.

The capital will barely have recovered from the jamboree when the celebrations begin again across the mountains in Valle Gran Rey where this year's theme is 'Hawaii' and the  main carnival parade takes place there on Saturday, February 24th 2024 from 5pm(-ish).

See VGR programme below:

Then carnival and all aficionados move to Playa de Santiago in the deep south of La Gomera where the fun begins on March 28th, themed 'Pirates of the South', see their poster below. 

Agulo and Hermigua in the north of the island will of course have their own distinct carnivals as well, but I don't have their programmes yet. Watch this space...

UPDATE: 

Nice poster (below) out now for the carnival in Vallehermoso (March 7th-9th):

Hello from the donkeys in El Cedro village