... the most detailed English language website on the island.
After more than 20 years, posts here will now only be occasional (see why) for big events such as Tenerife Carnaval, so please "Like" and follow our Facebook Page because that's where to see future updates.
Ana María Pérez Meneses Carnival Queen in Santa Cruz de Tenerife 2005
Carnival Queen in Santa Cruz de Tenerife in 2005 was Ana María Pérez Meneses with "Rozando la piel del cielo" (Touching the skin of the sky), designed by Juan Carlos Armas and representing Centro Comercial Alcampo. Her costume, made of feathers, rhinestones and crystals, weighed more than one hundred kilos.
In 2005, the court consisted:
1st Maid of Honour: Lilián Kimberly Jerónimo Morales, with a costume entitled "Una estrella llamada Josephine" (A star named Josephine), representing Centro Comercial Meridiano and designed by Saliarca Creativos.
2nd Maid of Honour: Edesa Beatriz Medina García, with a costume entitled "Nusha", representing Barbacoa Tacoronte and designed by Expedita Hernández.
3rd Maid of Honour: Míriam Gutiérrez Gómez, with a costume entitled "Madame Butterfly", representing Grupo AC Bingo Colombófilo and designed by Juan Carlos Armas.
4th Maid of Honour:
Rosa Esther Arqués Ledesma, with a costume entitled "En el jardín del bonsai" (In the bonsai garden), representing newspaper "El Día" and designed by Leo Martínez.
The theme of carnival in 2005 was Hollywood musicals: The scenery, for the last time in the Plaza de España, was inspired by Hollywood musicals, in shades of white, black and gray. The gala, directed by Jaime Azpilicueta, had the participation of more than 1,000 members of carnival groups and troupes, who staged numbers from the most popular musicals on Broadway and the West End, such as "Wizard of Oz", "Dancing in the rain", "Grease", "Seven brides for seven brothers", "My Fair Lady", "Saturday Night Fever" and "West Side Story" among others. The jury, which included actresses Lina Morgan and Carmen Sevilla, had a difficult time choosing from among the twelve candidates.
It was almost Christmas when I was reminded that the moment that holiday was over, the daily news would be dominated by preparations for the 2005 Carnaval, starting with numerous contests, which begin on January 18th, to choose the best singing & dancing troupes, until the carnival in the street from 4th February.
The theme of Carnival in Santa Cruz de Tenerife 2005 is Hollywood Musicals, inspired in the great musicals of Broadway, particularly the musical comedies of the 1920s. The backdrop for the Gala for the Election of the 2005 Carnival Queen in the capital's Plaza España will have an Art Deco style.
This year, the festivities seem to be early in the calendar:
Tuesday 8th February - "Coso" The main parade of Carnival, which is always held on Shrove Tuesday and is usually televised.
Friday 11th February - Burial of the Sardine [1]
Saturday 12th February - Children's Carnival Parade
Sunday 13th February - Piñata Sunday. Sunday morning sees the Concourse of Classic Cars which makes its circuit of the city streets.
[1] The Burial of the Sardine has again been changed to the Friday, as it was in 2004. The traditional date for this event "should" be Ash Wednesday. But, then again, it is supposed to mark the end of the carnival, which it still doesn't with events continuing through to the Saturday & Sunday. Don't expect it to make sense.
Los Rodeos Airport By Alex Castellá from Gavà, Spain (Flickr) [CC BY-SA 2.0]
Tenerife Disaster: The collision between KLM and PanAm Boeing 747's on Sunday, March 27, 1977, which happened years ago (feature for the 30th Anniversary on March 27, 2007), still attracts many readers every day.
Los Rodeos (now Tenerife-North Airport) is, unfortunately, still famous for the fateful accident which occurred on March 27, 1977, in which 583 people died when KLM and Pan Am 747s collided on a crowded, foggy runway in Tenerife. The incident remains the world's worst aviation accident in history. Many contributing factors lead up to the crash, but the the investigation by the Spain's Civil Aviation Accident and Incident Investigation Commission (CIAIAC), concluded that the fundamental cause of the accident was the KLM pilot taking off without take off clearance.
The wreckage of KLM Boeing 747 PH-BUF
What happened on the runway?
Simply put, the KLM attempted take off, even though the Pan Am was still on the runway and the KLM had not received clearance for take off. The Pan Am tried to get out of the way and the KLM tried to climb over, but the latter ended belly up after dragging it's tail on the ground. The lower fuselage of the KLM plane hit the upper fuselage of the Pan Am plane, ripping apart the centre of the Pan Am jet.
Pan Am 1736 ablaze after its collision with KLM 4805
Whilst I have no intention of quoting chapter and verse - you can check all the background information I've used to write this summary, via the links below - here is quick rundown of the various contributing factors:
Neither plane should have been at Los Rodeos, which was not used to handling the traffic it had that day. They should have been in Gran Canaria, but a terrorist bomb attack by Canary Island separatists, The Canary Islands Independence Movement, closed the airport there.
There was poor visibility from low cloud (at ground level) at Los Rodeos. That hampered the Pan Am who was looking for a suitable exit off the runway. The one they'd been advised to take, seems an impossible turn for a 747.
The pilot of the KLM, Captain van Zanten, seems to have been in a considerable hurry to get going and appears to have held a level of authority that subordinates did not dare challenge with the necessary strength.
Analysis of the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) transcript showed that the KLM pilot was convinced that he had been cleared for take off, while the Tenerife control tower was certain that the KLM 747 was stationary at the end of the runway and awaiting take off clearance.
Reading the transcript of the radio transmissions, exchanges between the tower and the planes were ambiguous at best. One contributing factor to the accident at Tenerife was the involved parties’ use of non-standard phraseology during the critical moments leading up to the accident.
The crucial communication that might have prevented the KLM from taking off was lost in radio squelch. The congestion that results from using a single channel radiotelephone system can also lead to communications which are either missed or blocked by the transmissions of other users (Kerns, 1991, 1999). This problem of blocked transmissions was apparent in the runway collision at Tenerife, when the air traffic controller and the Pan Am pilot both tried to contact the KLM pilot at the same time.
The article on the Tenerife airport disaster at Wikipedia, which discusses the causes in more detail, also highlights one of the positive things to come out of the Tenerife air disaster: sweeping changes that were made to international airline regulations. With no small amount of irony, commercial aviation is safer today because of that terrible day in 1977, because, "It was made a worldwide rule that all control towers and pilot crews had to use English standard phrases."
The other positive move, of course, was building Reina Sofia (now Tenerife–South Airport) on the south of the island of Tenerife, which started operating in 1978. It is important to note, however, that the south airport was already under construction when the Pan Am/KLM crash occurred and, therefore, was not built out of the aftermath. Previously, passengers had faced a very rough two hour journey by coach, so it was actually a tourism concern to build the south airport.
As with most information about Tenerife, there is more speculation, myth and legend published about this crash than there are plain, hard facts. Whilst I can't claim to know the full story (I wasn't there, but I've met people who were), I hope to distinguish between items that can be verified and those which are fake news. What is certain is that Tenerife doesn't have a specially dangerous airport.
With the Carnaval Queen and her Maids of Honour having been elected in Wednesday's (Feb 18) Gala, Carnaval 2004 in Santa Cruz -- whose theme this year is a tribute to the late Queen of Salsa, Cuban-born, Celia Cruz -- is now ready to be taken to the streets to celebrate the party proper.
Here are some of the most important events for prospective revellers ...
Opening Parade of Carnaval 2004 - Friday Feb 20 - Leaving from the Avenida de Belgica and passing through; Plaza de la Republica Dominicana, Avenida de la Asuncion, Plaza de la Paz, Rambla de Pulido, Plaza Weyler, Mendez Nunez, Rambla General Franco and terminating in the Avenida de Anaga.
Coso Apoteosis (The Main Parade) - Shrove Tuesday Feb 24 at 16:00 - Avenidas de Anaga and Maritima - Santa Cruz de Tenerife
Burial of the Sardine - Friday Feb 27 at 20:00 Santa Cruz de Tenerife. (NOTE: This event has been moved from it's traditional Ash Wednesday slot this year.) Starting from the Avenida de Belgica, the funeral procession will pass through; Avenida de la Asuncion, Plaza de la Paz, Rambla de Pulido, Angel Guimera, Imeldo Seris and Avenida Jose Antonio. The defunct sardine coming to it's final rest with a firework display on its arrival in the Plaza de Europa.
Junior Carnaval Parade - Saturday Feb 28 at 17:00 Santa Cruz de Tenerife. In the Avenidas de Anaga and Maritima, terminating at Alameda del Duque de Santa Elena, where the youngsters can take part in a big kids' party. At 20:00 a Mini Cavalcade leaves the Plaza de Weyler passing through the streets of Castillo, San Francisco, Villalba Hervaas, La Marina, to the Plaza de Espana
XXXIV Concourse of Classic Cars - Sunday Feb 29 at 10:00 Parque Garcia Sanabria. From 12:00 begins a circuit of the following streets: Numancia at the corner of Mendez Nunez, Mendez Nunez, Pilar, Villalba Hervaas, La Marina, Avenida de Anaga, Plaza de Espana, Angel Guimera, Plaza de Weyler, Mendez Nunez, Dr. Jose Navieras to the Hotel Mencey.
Dancing to the various orchestras begins at 23:00 on most nights in the streets and squares. There are many other events and attractions in-between. Further details can be found (in Spanish) at the Council's Official Carnaval Site.
Natalia Acosta Jorge Carnival Queen in Santa Cruz de Tenerife 2004
Queen of Santa Cruz de Tenerife Carnival in 2004 was Natalia Acosta Jorge, in a costume entitled "Miércoles de luna llena" (Full Moon Wednesday), designed by Juan Carlos Armas and representing Bingo Colombófilo.
In 2004, the court was made up as follows:
1st Maid of Honour: Guacimara Díaz Luis, with a costume entitled 'Sutil' (Subtle), representing Centro Comercial Santa Cruz - Carrefour and designed by Santi Castro.
2nd Maid of Honour: Raquel Montesinos Rodríguez, with a costume entitled 'En son de paz' (In the name of peace), representing Floristería Tin and designed by Carma II.
3rd Maid of Honour: Carlota Hernández Delgado, with a costume entitled 'Ritual' (Ritual), representing newspaper "El Baúl" and designed by Saliarca Creativos.
4th Maid of Honour: María Isabel Fumero Méndez, with a costume entitled 'Kyda', representing Barbacoa Tacoronte and designed by Expedita Hernández.
That year, the theme of carnival paid homage to the legendary "Queen of Salsa", Cuban singer, Celia Cruz who died in 2003.
The queen's election gala, which was held on the stage set up in the central Plaza de España before almost seven thousand people and was directed by Jaime Azpilicueta, was a prelude to the carnival festivities in the streets, which ran from Friday 20 February to Sunday 29 February, filling the streets and nights of the city with hundreds of thousands of carnival goers. The tribute to Celia Cruz was made clear by the presence at the gala of her widower, Pedro Knight, who shouted the singer's famous cry of "¡Azúcar!" (Sugar!) from the stage.
The stage in the Plaza de España was decorated as a neighbourhood in Cuba, with a neon sign that read "Celia Cruz" in blue. Tenerife wanted to pay tribute to the salsa singer who had meant so much for the Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (particularly for her performance at the Guinness record-breaking party in 1987) and whose songs have intoxicated the nights of the carnival in the city streets. Also during the gala, then mayor of the city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Miguel Zerolo Aguilar, declared Celia Cruz as "Queen of Honor of the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Carnival". The gala closed with the song "El Cielo Tiene Azúcar" (Heaven has sugar), composed by Guillermo Albelo and Gilberto Martín and performed by the group "Sound Balera". Guillermo Albelo, a mutual friend of Cuban pianist Rolando Columbié and Celia Cruz, wanted to dedicate it to them.
After more than 20 years, posts here will now only be occasional (
