Point, Aim, Go!

With all the doom and gloom around surrounding health, tourism and pretty much anything else that can be thrown our way, the cheese had gone! It had slipped beyond and was probably making its way down any hill that it could find, as far away from my cracker as possible. 

The bar was fairly busy at the weekend, however there are still folk that point blank refuse to wear a mask and quite frankly i am fed up of sounding like a broken record!

"Where is your mask?"

"You have to wear it inside unless you are seated"

"Its not our rules, it is Spanish law"

Honest to god, if I hear myself repeat these phrases too many more times I might just follow my cheese down the first hill i can find, the cracker can fend for itself!!!

So, today being a new day we decided to go for a ride in the car and switch off from all the news. We had no idea where we might end up, we even toyed with booking in to a cheap hotel for a night. We got in the car and simply headed up!

Up towards Tamaimo, through Santiago Del Teide, which is a gorgeous village. If you've never been there its worth a visit. We kept heading north until we ended up at La Villa shopping center on the outskirts of Puerto De La Cruz. Upon entering the car park it seemed really busy, however on closer inspection it was pretty quiet. We took a wonder around and bought a few non essential bits of tat that we didn't need and we were on our way. I had decided I wanted to look at Bajamar in the north. It is pronounced Back-A-Mar however the sat nav pronounced it like Pajama but with a 'B which we found quite amusing. We had to go through La Laguna to get there.along with a couple of other villages and after about twenty minutes we were there. 

Bajamar is a small town on the north coast of the island and many years ago probably attracted lots of holiday makers, I would imagine these days its probably day trippers from the City or people like us exploring the island. It has man made sea water pools, a small sheltered beach and a good selection of bars and restaurants. The pools and beach area were closed as they were being disinfected but there was a few people lingering about waiting for it to reopen. On a windy day this is the place to go and see waves as they come crashing against the sea wall and its a spectacular sight. The waves weren't too high today but it was nice to visit somewhere that we had not visited before. From there it was back up to La Laguna where we found ourselves in a residential area, a long straight road, tree lined with beautiful homes either side. It was then back on the motorway and back home via the Mall for a few groceries and things that we actually did need. 

What amazes me is that we've been on this island nearly 18 years and there are still quite a lot of places we haven't visited. We feel very lucky to live here, even if it does get too hot in the summer!

So, now we get to the serious stuff........The UK news that Spain, along with the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands are no longer a safe place to travel. This was a decision that the UK government made on Saturday evening and it has come as a massive blow to all of us. Already flights are being cancelled and people are changing their travel plans. It has to be said that the Canaries and the Balearics on the scale of things are a very safe place to be and my opinion is that it ceases to be about health, and its more about politics! Just my opinion. 

The thing is when Boris wanted everyone to wear masks he gave them two weeks notice and people complained and said it should be instant. Now the government has made an instant decision that Spain is no longer safe and people must now self isolate for two weeks when they get home. What about the poor people that have to go straight back to work? or the people that own businesses that cant afford to take extra time off, it almost feels like people are being penalized!

We are hoping against all hope that this decision will be revoked and that people can at least travel to the islands without having to self isolate and that we will be given back the air bridges. We have all worked so hard to try and get back to some kind of normality and to be honest everyone is now feeling a bit deflated!

On the plus side, 60's bar will continue to be open Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday from 6.00 PM and we would love to see you!

Have a great week, and take care x

#besafe #ridethestorm

Need Coffee, Will Travel!

What a week its been! A six hour power cut, an earthquake that measured somewhere in the region of 4 on the Richter Scale, and now we have a heatwave, although when the thermometer reaches in excess of 30 degrees anything above is just hot! regardless of whether it is 30 or 38 degrees. When it gets this hot, the figures for me are no longer relevant!
We have an agreement in our house, one we've had since we started coming out of lock down. If one of us fancies going out for a coffee or a cold refreshment we go.
It was Wednesday afternoon and the power was off. Now usually we would go just around the corner to our local bar, but I fancied / needed coffee and we had heard that the electric was back on in Playa San Juan. Their electric had come on at 2pm, the residents of Los Gigantes and the surrounding area had to wait til around 4pm.
We ended up sat in a lovely restaurant over looking the beach and the sea. Now I´m not one to sit on the beach, but sat sipping a coffee or a glass of wine and looking at the view, now that is something I could do all day. I think the sea has some kind of calming effect. We only found this place thanks to Eddies desire to go out and my need for coffee, we enjoyed it so much that we have booked to go again next week (i will take photos next time).
The earthquake happened around 10 pm on Thursday evening, it happened somewhere in the north of the island at a depth of 28 kilometres measuring 4.1 on the Richter scale. I was singing at the WIne Bar at this time and I never noticed.it. It was only when i finished singing and went inside the bar that the staff told me what had happened. Although the earth didn't move for me, for many people it did, and there were reports of peoples furniture shaking and pictures on walls moving. No structural damage was reported as far as I know.
There have been a lot more tourists about this week and its nice to see some kind of normality returning to our island, and gradually more and more places are starting to reopen. If you are visiting don't forget that the law states you must have a mask with you at all times and and if social distancing can't be maintained then you must wear it. You must wear it in shops, and most other indoor establishments, bars and restaurants included, however once you are seated it is fine to take them off.
Have a great week wherever you are and if your worried about going on holiday and having to wear a mask,its not so bad. I would rather visit my favorite place and wear a mask than not visit at all!
Have a great week! 😷

Who wants a holiday?

My question of the week! Is it wrong to want a holiday after having 100 days off work? we all need a change of scenery surely??? I certainly feel like we do and as much as we love Los Gigantes they say a change does you good.
This week we have been welcoming back tourists, not many of them but they are certainly starting to come back, and its nice to see them.
A few questions are being thrown around as to whether we want them here and the simple answer for me is yes! Our resort needs them and our resort thrives on them. It would seem however that there are a few that would disagree but for me, as long as they follow the rules which are laid out by Spanish law then they should be welcome to visit.
I've had a few messages from some of our habitual visitors asking if they will be welcome to return and my answer is yes yes yes, come back!
The thing is we live in a holiday resort and most years we like to go and visit Port Pollensa in Mallorca. We meet my parents there as its a place that we all love, we´ve made many friends there and we are looking forward to going back. If we do decide to return in the near future then we hope we will be made welcome, just like we make people welcome here. I feel that lockdown might have made some folk lose sight that we live in a tourist destination and that one day we will be the tourists, and we`ll be visiting their home.
I've included a few photos from last night at 60's Bar! We are doing everything we can  to keep people safe, and remember if you do come and see us you may be asked to wear a mask at certain times, its not our rules, it is Spanish law!
Take care and have a great week!
#besafe #ridethestorm

Heat, heat and more heat!!

As you can probably tell from the title of this blog. Its hot!!! over the next few days its going to get hotter and hotter, probably unbearably so! I get it, its July, however after 20 years of living in Spain you never get used to it! although when we lived in Mallorca we did have the amazing storms to look forward to in September, something that rarely happens here.

"You must be used to the heat" people say

In a nutshell, no you don´t get used to it. The only way I can explain it is this......when its so bitterly cold and miserable in the UK you stay indoors, well its the same here, only the other end of the scale. Its too hot. Do as little as you can, stay cool and don´t go out, unless you have a nice pool you can plunge in to and nothing to do for a few hours!

Its been a busy weekend at the bar, and a fun one. Lots of supportive locals and it almost felt like it did before lock down. 

Disinfecting the chairs after anyone sits on them is a pain, especially when customers decide they are going to sit and have a conversation with folk sat at every table! Still, its par for the course post Covid and has to be done. Don´t forget to always have a mask too as this is Spanish law and if you don´t have one you may be asked to leave the premises although many places do have them should you need to buy one. Its just one more thing on that checklist when you go out, you know the drill....keys, phone, glasses, sunglasses, money...........mask!!!! That´s the one!

Its certainly strange times at the moment, we now have an entire day off on a Monday, we can go wherever we like on the island. Now that we can go anywhere we don´t really know where to go. I had a craving for some Spanish tapas so off we went to Playa San Juan and the tapas bar we like down there was closed, we decided to try one in Alcala, we found one but there were no spare seats. Off to Playa De La Arena and the two that Eddie had in mind were both closed. By now we have given up, we shot in to Lidl (it was nice and cool) bought the ingredients went home and had tapas on the couch under the fan and very nice it was too.

We are now able to do karaoke in the bar, although the mics have to be sanitized after every singer and we have disposable mic shields. it worked well and it was nice to welcome back some of our loyal singers over the weekend. We also hosted our weekly quiz from the bar and broadcast it all over Facebook too. 

It was also great to see Old Dogs back doing what they do best at The Green Corner!

We´ll do it all again this week. 

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Karaoke at 60´s Bar

Old Dogs New Tricks - Green Corner

Hosting the quiz at 60´s Bar

As you can see its getting hot! you can always add a few degrees on to those temperatures!

Quizzes and Kittens

We have been quite the social animals this week.
After reopening our bar 60´s Bar this week and having three steady nights we are now closed until Friday. This leaves us 4 days off and on Monday evening we were invited to a friends house for drinks and nibbles on their terrace. A few glasses of wine, a beautiful sunset and good company made for an excellent night.
Tuesday night we were also invited out! Another house, another terrace and a beautiful meat Paella served by Sandra and Gary, Chris and Dorothy were also invited and after hearing a constant meowing noise coming from the wall, we were all convinced that a poor cat had got stuck. After sending the men on a mission to steak out the offending wall, the kitten made an appearance.....from the BBQ. It was frightened and hungry, however after some food and cuddles from Sandra it was everyone's friend. It has now been reunited with its owner, what an adventure!! The night was then completed with some guitar jamming and singing along from Chris, Sandra and myself courtesy of Garys guitar

With it being Wednesday, not only do we do our live quiz from the spare room but we go to the Wine Bar and Terrace at the Harbour Club where we take part in the afternoon quiz presented by Dodie and her husband Kit. I went along with Eddie (My Dad, as Kit thought!) and along with a few others we won the quiz and a great afternoon was had by all. This takes place every wednesday at 4pm. Everybody is welcome, booking is recommended but not essential.

The first tourist flight has arrived at Tenerife today from Switzerland, and the weather is absolutely scorching. Could this be the start of our summer season albeit a bit late? who knows!!!
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