A Very Special Island

Tenerife has been shaped by its history and few places can have had one as exotic, passionate, tragic and colourful as this magical gem of an island endowed as it is with extraordinary natural beauty and alive with a vibrance to its culture untainted by the ravages of modern tourism. To understand it is necessary to appreciate it from a great many perspectives. THE GUANCHE Isolated tribes of white peoples are to be found in remote corners of the world settled by ancient Europeans, from Tibet to the Atlas mountains, Turkey to the Canaries. The Guanche are of unknown origin, although going back at least 2500 years and known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as living in the ´Elysian Fields´, paradise. They mummified their dead, had pyramids, a single god (although they imbibed their landscapes with a variety of gods in the ways of the ancients). On the differing islands they cultivated different art forms and languages but they never visited each other! –Why not, they must have arrived to the islands by boat!? Stories of Atlantis abound. It took the Spanish one hundred years to defeat the Guanche- the Spanish needing the sanctuary of the Canaries to pursue their domination of the Americas. The last island to fall being that of Tenerife- the southern kingdoms including Guimar had agreed friendship terms with the Spanish and to this day the people of Guimar are not trusted by those in the north of the island. The nine kings of the Guanche kingdoms of Tenerife are portrayed in statues on the cathedral square at Candelaria. There, the greatest of all, Bencomo, stands where last he stood at a great battle in which the Spanish armies under Alonso de Lugo had withdrawn to the safety of la Laguna. Bencomo had been killed in this great victory, having killed seven Spanish before falling himself. The Spanish sent his head to the guanche to encourage them to give in - their answer was that the Spanish should look to the own heads and a few months later his son Bentor led the northern armies against the advancing Spanish It was a desperately close affair with Lugo committed to victory or death and thus an opportunity for the guanche to retain their millennia old culture and independence - but it was not be. Faced with modern arms and they with spears and bows and with thousands dead, Bentor and his nobles retreated to the high mountain passes where they jumped from the high cliffs rather than surrender to the Spanish, the same cliffs that face the island’s majestic sunsets- the sun going down, what must his thoughts have been as he fell to his death knowing that with it the world of the guanche was at an end. If the guanche were as some have suggested of Viking descent then the Valkries would have been busy that day and the Halls of Valhalla an emotional place indeed at the return of such heroes. It was of course not the end, the villages, the landscape is named from them, the goat herders most retain their age old myths and legends- our direct link to a time when we were not dominated by the gods of the humans. Guanche nobility married into the Spanish settlers, thousands hid out in the high mountains, the goat herders whose lineage goes back to before Christ carried on, slaves returned to the islands over time in their thousands. The Spanish inquisition was declared against the Jews, Moors and Guanche and with ninety percent of the current bloodline on Tenerife of Guanche descent it is clear people simply adopted Spanish names so as to operate within the dominant world empire of the time, as any visit to the mountain villages will show. The SPANISH from their beach head in La Laguna the Spanish colonized the island, inter-marrying with local nobility, and particularly so in the rich and fertile north of the island. Tenerife’s history became that of Spanish nobles as they planned and plotted the conquest of the Americas and the island’s history became that of the Americas- Venezuela is the ‘eighth’ island, all families bear stories of descendants who died or made their fortunes or fell in love or simply never returned from Cuba and Venezuela; Simon Bolivar, liberator of South America used Lo de Carta as a hunting lodge; Castro’s and Batista’s dated one another on the island before their families became Cuban protagonists; Franco launched his nationalist revolution form Santa Cruz and the streets of Arafo still bear his name; The family who built the bodega that is now the Wine Museum were presidents of Mexico; Chritopher Colombus maintained a mistress and household on the adjunct island of la Gomera; The Marquess of Florida made Buen Retiro a Masonic lodge (freemasonary is very strong on the island). Talk to any Canarian family and feel the intricate web their descendents wove through south and central America, and the more wealthy the more powerfully so. WINE for three hundred years the malmsey wines were famous the world over and particularly, importantly so by the English. Garachico the main wine port and one of the most important wine ports of the world till destroyed by El Teide in an eruption two hundred years ago whence the trade moved up to La Oratava and its port now renamed Puerto de la Cruz. The wine was especially important with the English - Shakespeare was paid in it, Nelson lost his arm trying to capture the wine island and English pirates battled constantly- Canary wines ring through the pages of English literature for centuries. Then, political allegiances changed and the English taste changed to Madeira and the wines of Portugal. the Canary wines once the most famous in the world went into serious decline but over the last twenty years have made a startling recovery with old bodegas springing back into life and Canary wines of quality again winning international prizes. The Wine Museum at El Suazal is a must as are visits to wine cooperatives and bodegas large enough to produce and promote under their own label (and also the vino del pais served in most restaurants and available in coca cola bottles from small bars all over the island – if you see a hand written sign for the sale of wine pointing down a dusty track, follow it and be prepared for an intoxicating adventure) SPIRITUAL Volcanic islands are special, and the people fortunate to live on them have lives with passions and emotions heightened, Tenerife especially so. Its nature is overwhelming, from the laurel forest of the north, deep ravines and pine forests that surround the surreal landscape of El Teide and its huge crater, Las Canadas- recently declared a World Heritage site, to the fertile valleys of the north and desert landscapes of the south and gigantic sea cliffs of the south west, the island is simply breathtaking in its beauty. There are magical natural settings on the island where connection to nature is very powerful indeed. It is a land of witches, where healers still vie with doctors and herbal knowledge is profound, and where voodoo still reaches out; of stone circles high in the mountains and extraordinary pyramids designed around the setting summer solstice sun; of myths and legends and ancient art. Home to the Guanche of whose origins we can only guess, a people who mummified their dead, and whose long elegant fingers suggest a noble character. Stories of Atlantis weave through local folklore (reinforced by the ancient Greek writers), intertwined with legends of The Black Madonna of Candelaria, patron saint of the Canaries, of powerpoints and Lay lines now followed by pilgrimage routes, and sacred burial grounds. UFOs are such a common occurrence as not to even merit front page mention in local newspapers. The Masonic link is very strong, much land is owned by freemasons and the local folklore shouts out of stories of the Knights Templar, linking them with the (Black) Madonna cult and stories of Atlantis. NATURE El Teide is the third highest volcano in the world, it casts the longest shadow in the world and the ridge that divides the island north and south is at 2000 mts high enough to block the passage of the Alisios trade winds, leaving the south a desert and the north sub tropical. Between 1000-2000 mts all around the island there are rich pine forests with the lower slopes carpeted in flowers in spring. The very north, Anaga, is sublime in Tolkean dimensions. Against this backdrop the island boasts some six hundred endemic plant species, a mass of colour throughout the year and a myriad of birds and in the surrounding oceans a huge wealth of marine life with an abundance of squid and octopus attracting over a third of all species of whale and dolphin many of which are resident throughout the year whilst others migrate through as well as many species of turtle, shark and rays CULTURE Outside of the tourists areas of the south, clustered as they are in a narrow strip from Los Cristianos to Playa las Americas the island culture is not only alive but robust and strong. Its fiestas, romeria, carnival; religious events around Easter and Christmas and the huge number of saints days as well as the Madonna cult activities including the great summer pilgrimages. The people and their lives are intertwined with south America and particularly so Venezuela, the eighth island, and Cuba although all countries of South and central America are present given the local Spanish dialect a somewhat less than perfect Castilian ring. Mixed in with this is a strong African influence, mainly from North and West Africa. This heady mix is no more obvious that in the huge Sunday market in Santa Cruz. In the villages, particularly in the mountains the culture is older, strong Guanche roots steeped in mystery and intrigue and abounding in myths and legends. Specialist shops are behind secret doors and the cycle of life carries on in a rhythm that barely changes. A sketch ten years earlier of the men standing around the main square of Arafo showed not only that ten years later men were still in exactly the same position but were in fact the same men! Meals are based on potatoes, goat and rabbit meat, maize (Gofio- a truly hideous concoction that instantly dehydrates), superb salads- tomatoes, avocados, exotic fruits, fish, potent wines and distilled drinks of somewhat dubious legality, FIGHTING BACK the ravages of mass tourism and worse still un controlled development on the island has caused huge damage but steadily as infrastructure projects come to completion and building regulations slow down (except for the very rich) particularly inappropriate developments in rural areas the island is starting to regain its poise. A great deal of money has gone into funding the restoration of rural properties, both small and large and the incomes these could generate would have a significant impact on rural economies. Similarly, the organization of rural crafts and products is now much stronger- direct outlets through farms and shops, efficient cooperatives for wine, goats cheese and other products, a network of great farmers markets, specialist shops and great markets in Santa Cruz and elsewhere.