Hola
The weather has been fabulous this week – the wind has finally dropped, and we’ve had blue skies and high temperatures – perfect beach weather for the many summer visitors who have arrived in the last 7 days. We have a high temperature alert in place for today and over the weekend, with 34 degrees expected.
I love the atmosphere on the island at this time of year. Local kids attending summer camps on the beaches during the weekdays, families arriving with little ones, and all the gear they need, and above all, it’s fiesta time!
The Fiesta del Carmen is celebrated across the island, but as you can imagine, it’s a really important one for Puerto del Carmen, and runs all the way from mid July until mid August, with different events almost every day, a fair in the old harbour, loads of live music and more. Carmen, of course, is the patron saint of seafarers, and the resort of Puerto del Carmen was named for her. She was born in 1515 in Ávila, about 75 KM north west of Madrid and was a Carmelite nun who lived until the age of 67.
It’s an inspiring time to be in Lanzarote, as long as you can stand the summer heat!
Talking of the heat, this year is the 200th or bicentenniel anniversary of the last eruption here in Lanzarote. Everyone knows about Timanfaya, where the eruptions lasted from 1730 to 1736. But there followed almost 100 years without activity, until July 1824, when the Tao Volcano erupted. The description from the time sounds scary: “……it increased its strength accompanied by underground noises: the same night was even more cruel, as these increased and spread, causing a general fright in all the inhabitants of the immediate villages, who fled from their homes without knowing where to go. At dawn an unexpected whirlpool rose that suspended the earth in the figure of a bomb, then a column of fire began to come out and vomit lava. Many of the stones thrown out rose so much that they could be compared to rockets.”
That one quickly died down, but two months later, there was another eruption at Chinero in Timanfaya, which created a 6km lava flow. And then a few days later the Tinguaton volcano, close to where the visitor centre is, erupted and produced a completely new mountain of rock. As with the earlier eruptions, nobody was killed by the slow moving lava, but the island’s shape was once again changed. Here’s to the next 200 years free from eruptions!
The breaking news this morning is all about the computer outages sweeping the world. It’s almost certainly going to affect flights to and from Lanzarote, so I’ve got my fingers crossed for those of you travelling. It’s scary how reliant we are on technology and how helpless we become when it goes wrong.
I love the drama in the image at the top, which Julie took while we were walking in La Graciosa last weekend – the Famara cliffs, the different coloured sands, the turquoise patch of water, the clouds……
What we’ve been doing
We had an action packed weekend! It all started with a night out with friends to see the Mamma Mia show at Bodega Stratvs. It was genuinely excellent, with some great singing and dancing, super Greek food, cooked by the chef from Princesa Yaiza, and as you’d expect, Stratvs’ excellent wines. We were joined on our table by a lovely young couple from New York, who are travelling around Europe on their honeymoon. It was fascinating to talk to them, as it’s so rare to speak to visitors from the United States. They were staying at Hotel Fariones, and the following day they were heading to Madeira next.
On Sunday, we joined up with the Parkinson’s charity walking group once again, and we all headed over to La Graciosa on the early ferry. This time we walked a circular route from Caleta de Sebo to Pedro Barba, using the main track there, and the coastal path back. We had lunch at one of the ocean front restaurants once we were back in the main town. I’ve been fascinated how the group dynamic has changed since we all met on the first leg of our walk down the length of Lanzarote. We’ve all got to know each other now, the banter is hilarious, and there’s never a dull moment. Such is the value of shared experiences.
On Monday we caught up with some new friends – a Polish couple who live in the village, and who have a home at the top of the hill. It was interesting comparing notes on builders and tradesmen, and who we each know in Haría. They have a young son who is at the nursery here, and will be moving up to the local school, just as our kids did many years ago.
I’ve had two weddings this week. The first was at Amura, and the couple were very international, with an African bride and an Irish groom. I love seeing cultures being brought together, and the different styles of dress and language. The second was at Hotel Fariones, which is such a stunning venue, this time with a couple from Ireland.
We visited Costa Teguise this week to film a video you’ll see while we are away. We were checking out the new commercial centre there – a few shops are open, and there was activity in several of the empty units, so there’s more to come. We stopped at Greens, opposite Las Coronas, for some lunch, and I enjoyed the best Poke bowl I’ve ever had. If you’re going, try the Famara bowl, with chicken and sushi rice.
In the news
The big news last weekend here was the sporting double triumph, with Carlos Alcaraz winning the men’s singles at Wimbledon, and the Spanish football team winning the Euros for a record fourth time. The Gran Hotel in Arrecife was bathed in the colours of the Spanish flag on Sunday night, and it’s wonderful to see the way sporting success brings so much joy.
Despite the protests about “over tourism” earlier this year, and The Cabildo promising that things will change, the first half of the 2024 saw more than 1.7 million tourists coming to the island, putting us on course to go well over 3 million for the year and almost certainly to reach a historic high.
Two good news stories this week: We now have the equipment and teams trained to re-float beached whales and dolphins. Around 50 cetaceans end up beached on the coasts of the islands each year, and we’ll now be able to deploy people to use specially designed pontoons to take them back out to deeper water. And the second good news story is that Conil’s Teleclub has re-opened after a full refurbishment, with a new couple at the helm on a ten year concession.
The image above shows the teams training on Playa del Reducto this week.
It’s looking like the wine harvest is going to be poor this year, and the current estimate is around 2 million kilos, versus 3.2 million last year. The issue has been the very warm winter and lack of rain. It means we can expect the shortages of local wine we suffered a couple of years ago, so get your stocks in! The upside is that the quality can be exceptional in years where the harvest is poor.
There was yet another big breakdown at the desalination plant this week, which meant that almost half the island was without mains water for the best part of a day. I just wish I was confident that the water issue is going to be solved soon, but all I see are very vague mutterings about projects, proposals and studies, when what I want to hear “We are doing XYZ, and it will be operational on ABC date.”
That’s all for this week. It’s going to be a busy weekend for us, with lots of work and preparations for our travels next week.
We’re flying to Venice for a few nights, before we board Silver Moon, which will take us to Zadar, Hvar and Dubrovnik in Croatia, Bari in Italy, Kotor in Montenegro, Sarande in Albania, Valetta in Malta, Giardini Naxos in Sicily, Sorrento, and finally finishing in Rome.
As always, we’ll be working normally while we’re travelling, so do get in touch if you need anything but it might take us a little longer to respond than usual. If you want to see photos and stories from where we are, you can follow the Camel Travel Facebook page, where we post a daily update with photos.
Have wonderful weekend wherever you are!
Un saludo
Miguel
Here’s where you can see the new and updated content, videos, photos and what’s on, on the island: Newsletter Links.