Tonight is the big shopping night in Santa Cruz de La Palma. Shops will have special offers and stay open until midnight, and there’s all sorts of activities on offer. Mabel Joyeros (on the Calle Real) with be presenting their new “Star Island themed jewellery collection at 7 pm. It should be fun.
We’ve had unusually wet weather for the last few days. There’s nothing odd about the odd winter storm, although I swear they’re windier than they used to be. What is unusual is having two of them almost back to back. So I’m sorry if you’re having a soggy holiday. The rain tends to blow in and out pretty quickly, so I suggest that you at least enjoy the rainbows.
Christmas trees are a newish thing here, although probably most houses have one now. The main traditional decoration is nativity scenes. Some just show the stable, but some public ones are so elaborate that they include the whole village, and it’s always a Canarian village. Obviously that’s historically inaccurate, but no more so than all the English nativity scenes where Mary and Jesus are blond. This one was on display…
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…