A romería is a cross between a religious procession and a party. Typically, they hold a special mass and then take the statue out for several kilometres along a traditional route, followed by floats which hand out free food and wine, and lots of people, some in traditional dress, many of them singing and / or dancing. Since it’s a big event, most of them don’t happen every year. Saturday…
Yesterday evening we finally got our boat ride to Cueva Bonita, on the Fancy II. It’s a nice little boat which holds about 30, and the crew are friendly. The light was gorgeous, and I can see exactly how Cueva Bonita (the Beautiful Cave) got it’s name. At sunset, the light comes in reflecting off the water in the most gorgeous colours. And I spent the entire three and a…
Wow, what a week! I can now spout explanations of four new telescopes (although I need to work on the bit about Cherenkov radiation in Spanish) and the general talk about the observatory. It took a lot of practice, and I’m sure I must have looked quite mad, lecturing the bathroom mirror on the short history of Gamma Ray telescopes. But however ridiculous I looked, it worked. By Tuesday, I…
Wednesday was the Fiesta del Carmen, which is celebrated in Santa Cruz and Puerto Tazacorte. They have a special mass, and then they take the statue of the Virgin of Carmen out for a procession. So far, so much like most fiestas on the island. Only in this case, they take the statue of the virgin out on a boat parade, to bless the fishermen.These photos are fromPuerto Tazacorte. The…
For some time rumours have been circulating around the island’s that Brian May‘s going to give a concert here for the inauguration of the huge, new, Spanish telescope, GranTeCan. Today, the IAC announced that Jean-Michel Jarre has visited the observatories here and at Teide, and will be playing too. My goodness, I think it’s really going to happen. More details at http://www.alphagalileo.org/index.cfm?_rss=1&fuseaction=readrelease&releaseid=530918
For some time rumours have been circulating around the island’s that Brian May‘s going to give a concert here for the inauguration of the huge, new, Spanish telescope, GranTeCan. Today, the IAC announced that Jean-Michel Jarre has visited the observatories here and at Teide, and will be playing too. My goodness, I think it’s really going to happen. More details at http://www.alphagalileo.org/index.cfm?_rss=1&fuseaction=readrelease&releaseid=530918