The Balconies

These are the famous sea-front balconies in Santa Cruz de la Palma. Actually these are the backs of the houses: the fronts look onto the Calle Real.

When I first came to the island in 1990, the woodwork was all green and the plaster all white. For the town's 500th anniversay, in 1993, the whole lot disappeared behind acres of black plastic sheeting for weeks while they were repainted in the best possible guess at the original colours.

Then on 6th November 1993 they held an unveiling ceremony. The new paint job was quite a surprise.

Santa Cruz does a good job of that sort of thing. We had fireworks, music, people on stilts and the giants who normally only come out for Carnival


The owners of the houses were originally promised that the town hall would repaint the balconies in green and white, but most of them elected to keep the new colours for a while. These days they're a mixture between the two styles. Some people say it looks a mess, but I think it's exactly what you'd expect in real town in a free country, rather than a museum.

They have a narrow pavement in front of them, then there's a wall and another pavement perhaps two feet higher, and a main road. The explanation is simple. The houses and the lower pavement are about 350 years old. The higher pavement and road are much newer. I've seen old photographs where the beach comes right up to the old pavement.

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Photos of Fiesta de la Cruz

My favourite! Of course this is the international year of astronomy.


The kids' cross beside the one above. This is GranTeCan, the (Big Canarian Telescope) which will open this year.


The Centro de Niña Jaubert (a home for mentally handicapped adults) produced this old fashioned cheese factory.


And the cross the handicapped people did by themselves. The decoration is pasta, sprayed gold.





Cruz de la Pasión. At fist I thought the background was needlepoint done in very thick wool. It's actually tiny screws of paper.



And in Santa Cruz, there's a street full of mayos again. We counted 332 of them. This time, the top end is full of Carnival mayos . This is the sardine's funeral. at the real event, some men dress as women. This guy obviously couldn't cope with alcohol and high-heeled shoes together.


Farther down, there's a protest. These are the top politicians on the island, cutting up a cake of La Palma, and the sign reads "And in LA Palma there's 9,000 unemployed."



And a nearby school had mayos too. I wonder if this represents a real person?

And in the afternoon there was a religious procession.


Some of the people following the cross were in clothes that must have been traditional centuries ago.

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Fiesta de la Cruz Tonight

This is a local fiesta in Santa Cruz and the Breñas, in celebration of the Sacred Cross. As often happens, the main party is the night before the public holiday. The wayside crosses will be beautifully decorated. Since most crosses are hung with gold jewelry (among other things) people stay beside them in shifts all night, and all the next day. Most holidaymakers go and admire the crosses on the morning of the 3rd (Sunday), but the locals go see the crosses starting at about 11 pm the night before, when it's cooler and more atmospheric.



For the last few years, it's been fairly common to have a few mayos or machangos beside the cross. These are giant rag dolls, something like scarecrows or the guys I used to make for bonfire night. Last year, one street in Santa Cruz was full of them.

If you've got a hire car, the best plan is to go up to San Isidro and follow the crowd down the hill. There are crosses all the way along a very steep lane, which used to be a donkey track. Tonight it'll be one-way -- downhill. (You go up the much newer, asphalted road.) As you approach each cross, you'll find a small traffic jam. You go past the cross slowly (usually saying, "Oh wow!") and drive on to the next.

If you haven't got a car, I recommend a stroll around Santa Cruz, particularly up the older bits.

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The Living Statues are Back

Every year Santa Cruz has a demonstration of living statues, and this year is the fourth.



The statues are on the Calle Real today, Saturday and Sunday.

Everybody calls the main street in Santa Cruz de la Palma, "the Calle Real", but nowhere along it's length is there a street sign with that name! I used to suspect that the whole thing was invented to confuse visitors, but now I know better. It's called the Calle Real (Royal Road) because it's the one the Kings come along to visit baby Jesus each January 5th.

If you haven't seen them before, living statues stand perfectly still (or try to!) until you put money in the hat (or whatever), and then they perform.
Last year there were different living statues each day, and you could vote for the best.
I was at work today, so I didn't get to see them myself. All these photos are by Helen Bennett

Considering how rotten the light was today, I think she did a great job.

You can see pictures of last year's statues here and videos here

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Fiesta de la Cruz (again)

Bride, groom, and bridesmaid

I was a little slow getting out to see the crosses this year, but I was glad I made the effort. The traditional crosses were much the same as last year (see http://sheilacrosby.com/fiestas/cruz.php ). But one street in Santa Cruz absolutely delighted me.


Wedding breakfast

For the last few years, it's been fairly common to have a few mayos or machangos beside the cross. These are giant rag dolls, something like scarecrows or the guys I used to make for bonfire night.


More wedding guests

Well this street in Santa Cruz was full of them. The display just went on and on. I tried to count them, but I got lost somewhere after 200.


More wedding guests

At the bottom end they, had a 1960s wedding, with bride, groom, and lots of guests.


The bride's mother perhaps?


More wedding guests

Further on, they had people picnicking at the Las Nieves Fiesta.


The picnic




I think he's hungry, don't you?

Including one man who had clearly overdone it.


And he was thirsty earlier on

Higher up there was a protest march.


The protest march.

With people watching it.




Watching the march, with the nibbles to hand

Higher up still, I found people fishing in the street.

Hope they got a good catch.

And at the very top, they had an entire Easter parade. (see Holy Week Processions)


Holy Week

No wonder they won first prize!

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Fiesta de la Cruz

Tomorrow is Fiesta de la Cruz -- The Festival of the Cross. Like many Catholic places, La Palma has a great many roadside crosses. Tonight, practically all the ones in Santa Cruz, Breña Baja and Breña Alta will be decorated, most of them gorgeously. Since most of the crosses are hung with jewelry, the people who worked on them sit close all night, usually making a party of it ans setting off lots of fire-crackers. Some groups have been working all year.

The decorations will stay up all day tomorrow (May 3rd), but most of the locals go around admiring crosses late tonight, which is much more atmospheric. If you're on the island and you don't have small kids, get a hire car, quick! The easiest itinerary is to go up to San Isidro on the road and follow the old donkey track down. Yes, it's wide enough for one car, and tonight it'll be one way, downhill, past the crosses. Just follow the crowd. Keen photographers should try to get someone else to drive, and you'll want a high ISO setting if you're shooting at night.

Alternatively, you can see plenty of crosses just by walking around Santa Cruz. Look for places brightly lit up in the middle of the night, surrounded by bunting and green branches closer to the cross itself, and follow your nose.

Either way, take plenty of small change. Each cross has a collection. They aren't trying to make a profit here, just looking to collect enough to buy materials for next year's cross.

These photos are from last year's fiesta. You can see more at:
Fiesta de la Cruz 2007

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More Living Statues

This is Aladin. to my amazement, he said he'd only been practising with the glass ball for about a year, although sometimes for hours at a time. He's from Poland originally, but now he lives in Tenerife because he's in love with the golden Fairy.


There were a couple of other living statues that did a better job of staying immobile (in my opinion) but were less interesting when they came to life.




And then there was the alien. He had a set of scary teeth, but unfortunately I didn't manage to capture them on film.

And the sailor was very cool, too.


This is the third year they've held this competition, and it seems to be getting more popular each year. So there's every chance there'll be another next year, which is fine by me.

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