The Canaria Dancers

I spotted these sunny 'Canaria Dancers' busking in the wind and rain in a town in the southwest of Ireland recently, and boy, can they move ! The music was Irish though and not Canarian.
They're probably collecting for a holiday in the sunny Canary Islands to recharge the batteries...

Casa La Familia closed down

For four years 'Casa La Familia' had been La Gomera's best and most popular music venue, meeting point and social club for residents and visitors alike. Their regular live music events, flea markets, and parties were always well attended and many visiting musicians and artists found a great welcome and an open stage. Casa La Familia also had a very important role to play when it came to feeding the poor as well as giving shelter and showers to homeless people, and serving to break down barriers by just providing a peaceful and relaxed space where all were welcome.

Some people in La Gomera were critical, some were jealous that live music and drinks could be enjoyed without a licence, and some just wanted the place shut down as it was just too much of 'the free spirit' for them. Most of the population here just 'lived and let live' and many enjoyed the facilities and events under the peace banner themselves and it even became a new tourist attraction for Valle Gran Rey.

In the end Vera, the lady who initiated the idea and rented the former car hire facilities, could not get the lease renewed after same had expired earlier this year. However, the local owners, who always had been supportive of her ideas, let her continue until this month without charge to finish the season. Now Vera wants to move on and a few days ago all the decorations and facilities were taken down by her and an army of volunteers, all to be scrapped. Even the kitchen and the stage were dismantled and the place is back to how she found it. Bye bye Casa La Familia !

Rumour has it that the owners now want to remodel the property into a proper bar and music venue which is supposedly to be opened there later this year.

A big thank you to valiant Vera for four years of great events, and for her caring, unpaid social services. Vera has made Valle Gran Rey a better place.

Full house at a singer/songwriter night        (Images: Casa La Familia)

Praise for La Gomera's genuine laid-back atmosphere

The following is an excerpt from an article by Damien Enright, who like me will spend the spring and summer at home in Ireland. It appeared in the Irish Examiner last Monday and eloquently describes the type of atmosphere La Gomera calls its own:

''A king’s ‘ramson’ wouldn’t keep me from West Cork

IT’S goodbye to La Gomera and the canaries, their bubbling morning song from the fruit trees when we stayed in a friend’s house in the mountains, and from our neighbour Gerardo’s spacious aviary when we dwelt in the valley, writes Damien Enright.

A wild canary taking the evening sun on a tree in La Gomera, Canary Islands. Picture: Damien Enright

...  As you read this, we will be journeying home. We’ve greatly enjoyed the walking, swimming, meeting old friends and the food in La Gomera. Holidaymakers who visit the island always say what they most love is that it is so laid-back.

‘Laid-back’ is, of course, a 1960s hippy-term, now used by upright citizens who never actually got laid-back, back then. Why do they find La Gomera so easy-going? Well, they’re no hurry, not much traffic, no bustle, no hustlers, no crime, no aggravation. There are no garish tourist shops or waiters waving one into restaurants, girls in high-heeled cowboy-boots and short shorts handing out time-share leaflets, or signboards for monkey parks, excursions, whale-watching boats or dolphin aquariums blocking the pavements.

‘Laid-back’ has become a high saleable quality for many stressed-out city dwellers. There are, we know, hundreds of sun-blessed Caribbean, South American, and Asian beaches where commercial action is unknown: but holidaymakers ask themselves if they can relax in places where there are no other foreign footprints on the sand. These days, the locals may no longer be happy with just “livin’ on coconuts and fishes from de sea”.

A big plus for Gomera’s laid-back feeling is that there is no crime. Women can safely walk alone on remote trails. They can go out at night to a restaurant or bar with no fear of being approached, much less accosted, by intrusive locals or other holidaymakers. It is to be admitted that there isn’t a lot of after-dark action. There are no nightclubs or discos — not the place to take your teenage kids on holiday! — but two bars stay open late. Small groups of local and international musicians play impromptu sessions in others.

Most visitors are ‘into’ the island, its natural charms. Many are walkers, and German. German walkers eat dinner early, are asleep by 11pm and up at dawn to set off, a Nordic walking stick in each hand, rucksack on back, valderee-valderah. Then, there’s the ambience. There are no amusement parlours, McDonald’s or Starbucks.

Only one hotel is owned by multinational operators, The Tecina in Playa Santiago, a sort of luxury mini-Tenerife resort owned by Fred Olsen international. Elsewhere, towns have small, family-owned hotels or pensions. In Valle Gran Rey, the handful of hotels are small, low-rise and locally owned, with one or two four-star establishments.

Laid-back may also be a result of local families owning most businesses, being comfortably off, and living traditionally. At least a dozen Germans, long-term residents, have set up successful activity or amenity enterprises, which ‘fit in’.

Local families build their low-rise, small apartment blocks or rented accommodation units themselves; there’s always a builder in the family. The restaurants are largely locally owned, staffed by sons and daughters, with fresh fish and succulent sun-infused vegetables supplied by family members; there’s always a farmer or fishermen in the family.

So, the money is kept at home. The land is locally owned, not sold to conglomerates. The profits are not shipped out. The locals are not just waiters. They have a stake, and the island’s ambience, morality and laid-back way of life is theirs.

The same can be said of tourist villages in Ireland. Tourists say what they like best in Ireland is the atmosphere and the people. Our village in West Cork is a lot like Gomera, but for the weather. However, it will be spring — and we have to go home anyway, because we’ve run out of Barry’s Tea.''

Cine Searcus in San Sebastian de La Gomera tonight

An unusual spectacle is taking place in San Sebastian de La Gomera tonight, April 2nd 2016 at 8:30 pm when the French troupe 'Cine Searcus' will be performing a mix of theatre and music with the inclusion of short films on the main square 'Plaza de Las Americas' opposite the beach. The performers travel around the Atlantic coastline aboard a yacht and perform here for free but will be looking for donations to fund their journey.

Cable car now under construction

Did you ever wonder, like myself, why the beautiful new 'road to nowhere'  (click for more) with park and playground was built from the central La Calera roundabout down along the barranco in Valle Gran Rey on La Gomera island ? 

Well, now we now the reason. All was done to serve the planned cable car for which construction work has already begun. Just near the end of this new road the ground station for what will be the island's first cable car will be erected and from there the new attraction will travel up the spectacular mountain cliff of La Merica. Many thousands of walkers climb the steep mountain track to continue to the village of Arure and often the rescue helicopter has to be called out as some tourists overestimate their physical condition and underestimate the dangers of this path. In future they can avail of the comfort of a cable car for the way up or down, and people who would never have attempted to scale the cliff can soon enjoy the spectacular vista on the top from the planned viewing platform with a return journey by cable car. 

The journey up the 1500 ft high cliff will only take 17 minutes, as estimated by the German promoter behind the project, who is a resident of La Gomera and has stated that he was inspired by the success and design of the cable car up Mount Teide on Tenerife. His newly formed company called 'Experiencia Merica S.A.' will be relying on Swiss technology and expertise to finish the project on time. If the speed with which the first support masts for the cable car went up recently at the foot of the mountain is anything to go by then they will certainly succeed.

The official opening is planned for April 1st next year with 'a major music event' to mark the occasion.