A small rock in the Atlantic

All about the island of La Palma, in the Canaries.

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Friday, 3 October 2008

Live Music on Friday Night

Ruido fanzine will hold a concert to launch issue seven at Jor and Jor in Los Llanos (beside the millenium cinema) at 10 pm. A measly €3 will get you in to a concert by "Casiano Melian" and "Eremiot y la tripulación", with a drink and copy of the fanzine thrown in.

And the Bar de Anne in El Paso,hosts a concert starting at 9 pm, with "Capitan Cogollo", "Carlos Katana", and "Serpielago".

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Thursday, 2 October 2008

Prices on La Palma

Yesterday I went to the local pizzeria with my son. It was €1.10 for a Nestea and €1.60 for a beer (0.3 litre), and the pizzas are between about €7 and €10. This morning I met a friend at a bar in Santa Cruz, and it was just under €10 for a sandwich, two fresh fruit-juices, and a green tea. The local ice-cream (made with milk and eggs - delicious) are €1 for a standard cone.

It's probably a lot more expensive inside the bigger hotels. But you weren't seriously planning to come to paradise only to spend the whole week in the hotel, were you?

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Monday, 29 September 2008

Fufo horses

Fufu horses in Tazacorte
Fufo horses in Tazacorte.

Today (Monday 29th) is the feast day of St Michael. Since he's the patron saint of Tazacorte, last night the town celebrated with their famous dancing horses. Famous on La Palma, at least.
Would you believe, it's the first time I've seen this in almost 18 years of living here.

Fufu horses in Tazacorte
The crowd following the fufo horses.

Well, it's fun. As you can see, a horse-shaped frame gets covered with strips of brightly coloured tissue paper. The "jockey" fits through the middle, and makes the horses dance. Altogether, there's about a dozen horses and one giraffe. Actually, whoever made the giraffe didn't spend a whole lot of time in zoos. It's exactly like the horses, except that the neck is a lot longer.


Fufu horses in Tazacorte
Fufo horse in Tazacorte.

The procession stars near the town hall. The band plays Mexican music, and horses move very fast, which makes it very hard to get a good photo, especially since there isn't much light available. They dance through the streets for maybe a kilometre, and then they have a break. at this point, a lot of people get their photos taken with the horses. Mostly, I think, children from the town. (Like most fiestas on La Palma, tourists are welcome to join in, but the locals do it for themselves.)


Fufu horses in Tazacorte
Tea break for the dancers. Well, probably not tea.

And then they dance their way back to the town hall, where the dance speesd up, and the crowd mixes in with the horses. By that time, the crowd were singing, Lo que pasa es que la banda esta boracha - "The thing is, the band's got drunk." They certainly weren't, you know, because they kept perfect time as the music got faster and faster and the dancing got wilder and wilder.

Fufu horses in Tazacorte
Fufo horses in Tazacorte.

One website says the horses date back to the 19th century, while the book on Palmeran fiestas says it was brought from Cuba "in the twenties", and the horses originally danced during carnival. I haven't been able to find out what the word fufo means. There is a Mexican word fufu, which means "to rebel against a difficult situation, like a spitting cat."
Fufu horses in Tazacorte
Fufo horses in Tazacorte in front of the Town hall.

And after the horses, there's a parade of carnival-style floats. To my surprise, there were only three of them, but they were beautiful.
Fufu horses in Tazacorte
Peter Pan float, Tazacorte fiesta
Fufu horses in Tazacorte
The beauty queens, Tazacorte fiesta

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Sunday, 28 September 2008

Fiesta in Tazacorte Tonight

Monday is the feast day of St Michael Archangel. Although he's the patron saint of the whole island, shops will be shut only in Santa Cruz and Tazacorte - that's the main town, not Puerto Tazacorte.

It's traditional to hold the best bit of a fiesta on the night before the public holiday, so you can party half the night without worrying about the alarm clock drilling into your hangover the morning after. In this case, it's the Caballos Fufu in Tazacorte at 9pm. These are pretend horses, made of cane and covered with strips of brightly coloured paper. Each one has a hole inthe middle of the back for the "rider", and they dance through the streets, led by a giraffe. At 10:30 pm there's a parade of "artistic floats".

Then on Monday, there's a special mass at 7.oo am (I'll give that a miss, myself). At 11:30 the air force will fly over. And there's mass again at noon (sung) and 7:30p, followed by a procession with the statue, with fireworks. (I'm not sure if this means pretty fireworks, or just the annoying bangs they usually have with processions here.) At the end, the town band will sing a hymn in honour of St Michael.

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