Tourists sometimes go nuts trying to find the village of Breña Baja, or Fuencaliente. There’s a really simple reason why they can’t find them. They don’t exist. Breña Baja and Fuencaliente are municipalities, and their town halls are in the villages of San Jose and Los Canarios, respectively. It like driving all over the south east of England, looking for the town of Sussex. The map shows the 14 municipalities…
There was an accident in Tijarafe during the devil’s dance on Saturday night. There was a bigger crowd than usual, since it was a weekend. The devil tripped and fell over. That meant that the fireworks would be squirting horizontally instead of straight up. The emergency services managed to get the helmet-with-fireworks off the devil which sounds very brave. Indeed, the head of the unit had to go to hospital…
La Palma has several fiestas where the devil appears. He’ll visit Tijarafe in the early hours of September 8th for the annual fiesta del diabolo. This is the night of Saturday to Sunday. It starts off like most fiestas. The village centre is off the main road, and on the way in, you pass the usual mobile bars, blasting out music at full volume. In the main square, higher up,…
This is the main altarpiece in The church of Our Lady of Candelaria (Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Candelaria) in Tijarafe. According to the books, it’s the best baroque altarpiece in the Canary Islands. It’s certainly gorgeous, and huge. It was made by Antonio de Orbarán, and he worked on it from 1626 to 1628. It cleverly combines niches with statues and painted panels. The church itself was built around…
There are two nice fiestas coming up at the beginning of September. In El Paso, the fiesta in honour of the Virgin of the Pine will carry on until September 2nd, when there will be a concert in town followed by a special mass, procession and public dance up at the hermitage above the town. The Devil’s dance, Tijarafe, 2007. In Tijarafe in the early hours of September 8th, the…
La Palma has lots of spectacular viewpoints, (mirador in Spanish). Most people’s favourite is the at El Time, which is perched on the northern edge of the Angustias ravine in Tijarafe. It’s easy to find. Coming from Los Llanos, you drive down and down and down, round some pretty steep bends. After you cross the river, almost at sea-level, you drive up and up and up and up and up,…