BENITO PÉREZ GALDOS, REPUBLICANISM & REALISM

The Grandma arrives to Confital Beach

Today, The Grandma and her friends are resting because tomorrow they are going to visit Maspalomas Station in San Bartolomé de Tirajana. They have decided to go to Confital Beach in the southwest of the peninsula of La Isleta. This beach is a narrow and hard volcanic beach equipped with comfortable foot paths and large, slanted slabs of stone suitable for relaxing, exercising and sunbathing.

Before going to the beach, The Grandma has studied a new lesson of her Intermediate Language Practice manual (Grammar 27).

More information: Questions 1

During their staying on the beach, The Grandma has been reading about Benito Pérez Galdós, the great referent of Realist Literature who was born in Las Palmas in the 19th century and who wrote masterpieces that we must read because they are universal works.

Jordi Santanyí and The Grandma are a great fan of Galdós's literature and visiting his birthplace is a good way to understand better the author and his age.

Benito Pérez Galdós (May 10, 1843-January 4, 1920) was a Spanish realist novelist. Some authorities consider him second only to Cervantes in stature as a Spanish novelist. He was the leading literary figure in 19th-century Spain.

Galdós was a prolific writer, publishing 31 novels, 46 Episodios Nacionales (National Episodes), 23 plays, and the equivalent of 20 volumes of shorter fiction, journalism and other writings. He remains popular in Spain, and is considered as equal to Dickens, Balzac and Tolstoy.

As recently as 1950, few of Galdós's works were available translated to English, although he has slowly become popular in the Anglophone world.

Benito Pérez Galdós

While his plays are generally considered to be less successful than his novels, Realidad (1892) is important in the history of realism in the Spanish theatre.

By 1865, he was publishing articles in La Nación on literature, art, music, and politics and it was clear that he was not going to pursue a legal career. His first attempt at a literary career came in 1867, when a didactic historical verse drama was rejected. His next venture into the theatre did not take place until 1892.

He had already become enthusiastic about the novels of Charles Dickens and, in 1868, his translation of Pickwick Papers introduced his work to the Spanish public. The previous year, he had visited Paris and had begun to read the works of Balzac.

In 1870, he was appointed editor of La Revista de España and began to express his opinions on a wide range of diverse topics such as history, culture, politics, art, music and literature. Between 1867 and 1868, he wrote what would be his first novel, La Fontana de Oro, a historical work set in the period 1820–23.

With the help of money from his sister-in-law, it was published privately in 1870. Critical reaction was slow to gain momentum but it was eventually hailed as the beginning of a new phase in Spanish fiction, and was highly praised for its literary quality as well as for its social and moral purpose.

More information: Casa-Museo Pérez Galdós (Las Palmas)

He next developed the outline of a major project, the Episodios Nacionales: a series of historical novels outlining the major events in Spanish history from the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 to his own times. The ostensible aim of this project was to regenerate Spain through the awakening of a new sense of national identity.

The first episode was called Trafalgar and appeared in 1873. Successive episodes appeared in fits and starts until the forty-sixth and final novel, Cánovas, appeared in 1912. Every so often, Galdós seemed to grow tired of this project and stated that he would not write another episode. However, the public bought them avidly, despite the criticism that was levelled at his other works, and they remained the basis of his contemporary reputation and income.

He conducted an enormous amount of research in the writing of these stories because official reports, newspaper accounts and histories were often rigidly partisan. To achieve balance and a wider perspective, Galdós sought out survivors and eyewitnesses to the actual events -such as an old man who had been a cabin boy aboard the ship Santísima Trinidad at Trafalgar, who became the central figure of that book.

Benito Pérez Galdós

Galdós is often critical of the official versions of the events he describes and often ran into problems with the Catholic Church, a dominant force in Spanish cultural life.

Galdós was an enthusiastic traveller. His novels display a detailed knowledge of not only Madrid but many other cities, towns and villages of Spain -such as Toledo in Angel Guerra. He visited the UK on many occasions, his first trip being in 1883. The descriptions of the various districts and low-life characters that he encountered in Madrid, particularly in Fortunata y Jacinta, are similar to the approaches of Dickens and the French Realist novelists such as Balzac.

Galdós also shows a Balzacian interest in technology and crafts, for example the lengthy descriptions of the ropery in La desheredada or the detailed accounts of how the heroine of La de Bringas (1884) embroiders her pictures out of hair.

He was also inspired by Émile Zola and Naturalism in which, under the influence of the deterministic philosophy of Hippolyte Taine, writers strove to show how their characters were forged by the interaction of heredity, environment and social conditions  -race, milieu, et moment.

In addition, these writers were keen to suggest that their works were scientific dissections of society. This set of influences is, perhaps, at its clearest in Lo prohibido (1884–85), which is also noteworthy for being told in the first person by an unreliable narrator who, in addition, dies during the course of the work -it pre-dates similar experiments by André Gide such as L'immoraliste.

 More information: The Joys of Teaching Literature by Sara Martín Alegre

Another influence came from the philosophy of Karl Christian Friedrich Krause, which became influential in Spain mainly due to the influence of the famous educationalist Francisco Giner de los Ríos. The clearest example of this influence on Galdós is in his novel El Amigo Manso (1882). However, it is also clear that the mystical tendencies of krausismo led to his interest in insanity and the strange wisdom that can sometimes be shown by those people who appear to be mad. This becomes a theme of great importance in the works of Galdós from Fortunata y Jacinta onwards, for example in Miau (1888) and his final novel La razón de la sinrazón.

All through his literary career, Galdós incurred the wrath of the Catholic press. He attacked what he saw as abuses of entrenched and dogmatic religious power rather than religious faith or Christianity per se. In fact, the need for faith is a very important feature in many of his novels and there are many sympathetic portraits of priests and nuns.

His first mature play was Realidad, an adaptation of his novel of the same name, which had been written in dialogue. Galdós was attracted to the idea of making direct contact with his public and seeing and hearing their reactions. Rehearsals began in February 1892. The theatre was packed on the opening night and received the play enthusiastically. 

Benito Pérez Galdós

Galdós took about 15 curtain calls. However, although the audience reception was good, the play did not receive universal critical acclaim because of its realistic dialogue which did not accord with the general theatrical language of the time, the setting of a scene in the boudoir of a courtesan, and the un-Spanish attitude towards a wife’s adultery. The Catholic press did not attend the performance but this did not prevent them from denouncing the author as a perverse and wicked influence. The play ran for twenty nights.

In 1901, his play Electra caused a storm of outrage and floods of equally hyperbolic enthusiasm. As in many of his works, Galdós targeted clericalism and the inhuman fanaticism and superstition that can accompany it. The performance was interrupted by audience reaction and the author had to take many curtain calls. After the third night, the conservative and clerical parties organised a demonstration outside the theatre. The police moved in and arrested two members of a workers’ organization who had reacted against the demonstration. Several people were wounded as a result of the clash and, the next day, the newspapers were divided between liberal support for the play and Catholic/conservative condemnation. Over one hundred performances were given in Madrid alone and the play was also performed in the provinces. In 1934, 33 years later, a revival in Madrid produced much the same degree of uproar and outrage.

More information: Classic Spanish Books

Despite his attacks on the forces of conservatism, Galdós had only shown a weak interest in being directly involved in politics.

In 1886 the Prime Minister Práxedes Mateo Sagasta appointed him as the (absent) deputy for the town and district of Guayama, Puerto Rico at the Madrid parliament; he never visited the place, but had a representative inform him of the status of the area, and felt a duty to represent its inhabitants appropriately. This appointment lasted for five years and mainly seems to have given him the chance to observe the conduct of politics at first hand, which informs scenes in some of his novels.

Jordi Santanyí & Benito Pérez Galdós, Las Palmas

By 1907, however, there was no sign of national regeneration and the government of the day was making no attempt to control or limit the powers of the Catholic Church.

At the age of 64, he re-entered the political arena as a Republican deputy. He seems to have undertaken the task of uniting the anti-monarchic groups, which included Democrats, Republicans, liberals and socialists. However, by 1912, Galdós was growing disillusioned with the way that the personal ambitions of his fellow Republicans conflicted with achieving genuine political change and it was becoming clear that the coalition of anti-monarchic groups was unable to exercise any great influence over developments.

He began to fade from the scene of active political involvement. In 1914, he was the Republican candidate for Las Palmas, but this was more of a local tribute to him.

In 1918, he joined in a protest with Miguel de Unamuno and Mariano de Cavia against the encroaching censorship and authoritarianism coming from the putatively constitutional monarch. He had been blind since 1912, was in financial difficulties and increasingly troubled by illness.

More information:  The Neglected Books Page

He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature for five years, 1912–16, which would both have increased his prestige outside Spain and improved his financial status, but neither was successful. Among those who nominated Pérez Galdós was the 1904 winner José Echegaray. A national subscription scheme was set up to raise money to help Pérez Galdós, to which the King and his Prime Minister Romanones were the first to subscribe.

The activities of the Catholic press, which sneered at the writer as a blind beggar, along with the outbreak of World War I, led to the scheme being closed in 1916 with the money raised being less than half what would be required to clear his debts and set up a pension. In that same year, however, the Ministry of Public Instruction appointed him to take charge of the arrangements for the Cervantes tercentenary, for a stipend of 1000 pesetas per month. Although the event never took place, the stipend continued for the rest of Galdós’s life.

In 1897, Pérez Galdós had been elected to the Real Academia Española (Royal Spanish Academy). After becoming blind he continued to dictate his books for the rest of his life.

Pérez Galdós died at the age of 76. Shortly before his death, a statue in his honour was constructed in the Parque del Buen Retiro, the most popular park in Madrid, financed solely by public donations.

More information: Gutenberg

 I believe if I should die, and you were to walk near my grave, 

from the very depths of the earth I would hear your footsteps.

Benito Pérez Galdós

LAS PALMAS, ENJOY THE BEST CLIMATE IN THE WORLD

Visiting Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands

Today, The Grandma and her friends are visiting Las Palmas, the capital city of Gran Canaria.  

Las Palmas is a beautiful city and the friends have been taken some photos for their own digital albums.

Before visiting Las Palmas, The Grandma has studied a new lesson of her Intermediate Language Practice manual (Grammar 26).

More information: Relative Clauses II

Las Palmas, officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a city and capital of Gran Canaria island, in the Canary Islands, on the Atlantic Ocean.

It is the capital jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the most populous city in the Canary Islands.

Las Palmas is located in the northeastern part of the island of Gran Canaria, about 150 km off the Moroccan coast in the Atlantic Ocean. Las Palmas experiences a hot desert climate, offset by the local cooler Canary Current, with warm temperatures throughout the year. It has an average annual temperature of 21.2 °C.

According to a study carried out by Thomas Whitmore, director of research on climatology at Syracuse University in the U.S., Las Palmas enjoys the best climate in the world.

Jordi Santanyí visits Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

The city was founded in 1478, and considered the de facto without legal recognition capital of the Canary Islands until the seventeenth century.

It is the home of the Canarian Ministry of Presidency, shared in a four-year term with Santa Cruz de Tenerife, as well as half of the ministries and boards of the Canarian government, and the High Court of Justice of the Canary Islands.

The city was founded by Juan Rejón on 24 June 1478, with the name Real de Las Palmas. Rejón was head of the invading Castilian army, which then engaged in war with the locals.

In 1492, Christopher Columbus anchored in the port of Las Palmas and spent some time on the island on his first trip to the Americas. The Colón House museum in the Vegueta area of the city is named after him.

In 1595, Francis Drake tried to plunder the town, leading to the Battle of Las Palmas. A Dutch raid under vice-admiral Pieter van der Does in 1599 was only slightly more successful; some of the town was destroyed, but the raiders were repelled.

More information: Gran Canaria

Las Palmas' seaport, Puerto de la Luz, known internationally as La Luz port, benefited greatly from the closure of the Suez Canal during the Suez Crisis. Many foreign workers migrated to the city at this time.

Las Palmas is a sister city of San Antonio, Texas, in the United States, which was founded in 1718 by about 25 Canary Islanders.

Las Palmas is divided into five administrative districts, which in turn are subdivided into districts, not necessarily consistent with the traditional neighborhoods: Vegueta, Cono Sur y Tafira; Centro; La Isleta-Puerto-Canteras; Ciudad Alta and Tamaraceite-San Lorenzo. 

Las Palmas has a desert climate with warm dry summers and warm enough winters to classify it as a Tropical climate.  

Joseph contemplates some statues in Las Palmas

Its average annual temperature is 21.2 °C-28 °C during the day and 18 °C at night. 

In January, the coldest month, the temperature typically ranges from 19 to 23 °C, and sometimes higher during the day, and around 15 to 16 °C at night, with an average sea temperature at 20 °C. In the warmest months -August and September- the temperature typically ranges from 27 to 30 °C during the day, above 21 °C at night, with the average sea temperature at 23 °C. Large fluctuations in temperature are rare.

August 1990 was the warmest month on record, with the average maximum temperature of the month during the day being 30.6 °C. The highest temperature ever recorded was 44.2 °C, and the coldest temperature ever recorded was 9.4 °C. The highest wind speed ever recorded was on 28 November 2005, measuring 113 km/h. Las Palmas city has never recorded any snow or sleet.

More information: Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

Annual average relative humidity is 66%, ranging from 64% in March to 69% in October. The amount of annual sunshine hours is above 2,800 per year, from around 190 in winter, average of 6 hours a day, to around 300 in summer, average of 10 hours a day. It rains on average only 22 days a year, with total precipitation per year of only 151 mm.

Las Palmas offers a variety of theater, cinema, opera, concerts, visual arts and dance performances. The city hosts the Canary Islands Music Festival, the Theatre and Dance and the International Film Festival. The main City Festival, celebrating the foundation of the City Fiestas de San Juan is held in June. The Carnival of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is known worldwide, and is one of the main attractions for tourists.

The city center of Las Palmas, specifically the Vegueta and Triana neighbourhoods, are included in the tentative List of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

More information: Visit Canary Islands

Happiness is actually found in simple things,

such as taking my nephew around the island by bicycle 

or seeing the stars at night.

Andrea Hirata

MERCEDES PINTO, COMMITMENT FROM CANARY ISLANDS

Mercedes Pinto

Mercedes Pinto Armas de la Rosa y Clós, Josefina Pla, Tina Suárez, María Padrón, Lola Suárez, Inocencia Páez, María Viera y Clavijo, Natalia Sosa Ayala, Cesarina Bento, Olga Rivero Jordán... are some of the most popular Canarian writers.

Today, The Grandma wants to celebrate March, 8 remembering these wonderful writers whose poems talk from the soul to express their feelings and sometimes to reclaim their rights as women in a society that must fight for equality between all people without any distinction of sex, race, religion or language.

It's difficult to choose only one writer of this long list but The Grandma has decided to talk about Mercedes Pinto Armas de la Rosa y Clós, who was born in La Laguna, Tenerife in 1883 and died in Ciudad de México in 1976.

Pinto was a journalist and a writer well-known by her political activism, her feminism and a polemic conference pronounced in the Universidad Central de Madrid in 1923 titled El divorcio como medida higiénica (Divorce as a hygienic measure). She was condemned by dictator Primo de Rivera to exile in Bioko but when she knew the sentence, she exiled first to Lisbon, Portugal and later to Montevideo, Uruguay. She went to Chile where she met Pablo Neruda and she also visited Cuba and Mexico. She didn't want to return to Spain because of the dictatorship of Franco although she visited her country some times.

The Grandma wants to read some parts of Pinto's works but she has decided to do it in the original language, Spanish, because as Catalan people say traduir és trair that means "to translate is to betray" in reference to keep the original language of the authors as a way to understand better their feelings and their words. Here some words of Mercedes Pinto from her conference El divorcio como medida higiénica (Divorce as a hygienic measure):

[…] Yo sé, señores, que esta enfermedad pueden llevarla en sí lo mismo los hombres que las mujeres, pero yo soy mujer y vengo a hablar por ellas. Los hombres casados con una enferma de este género lo tienen todo a su favor : «Pobre hombre —dicen— la mujer es insoportable, es celosísima, es rabiosa, es una fiera; debe estar chiflada, porque hace cosas muy extrañas». Por fin el marido, acompañado del asentimiento y la conmiseración de los amigos, de sus criados y del mundo, toma a la esposa y la lleva a una casa de salud, o la entrega a sus padres, quedándose él con los hijos, porque la mujer «no anda bien de la cabeza».

Así dicen; y no andar bien de la cabeza es tener celos infundados de un marido intachable, es el enfadarse sin causa, es hacer del hogar una molestia continuada, etc., etc. El hombre pues, está ya liberado.

Mercedes Pinto

La mujer en cambio se casa con un hombre sano, del cual puede hasta tener certificados médicos, no tiene tuberculosis ni enfermedades venéreas, sus hijos, pues, serán saludables. Creo además, por habérselo oído a médicos alienistas, que la «paranoia» suele estar oculta en la infancia y en la primera juventud y desarrollarse generalmente cuando las preocupaciones y cargas de la vida se acentúan y pesan sobre el cerebro… es decir, cuando después de casados, y aún después de la primera época, el nacimiento de los hijos y su sostenimiento y educación empiezan a levantar en el predestinado a la locura las aún dormidas preocupaciones.

¿Cómo va un médico que examina la sangre y el pulmón de un hombre a saber que en no lejano día el negro sadismo se levantará cruel y silencioso entre las sombras de la alcoba nupcial?

¿Cómo puede el médico adivinar las torturas a que la infeliz esposa va a verse sujeta? ¿Cómo la verán sus ojos de doctor y humanista con los dedos retorcidos y la garganta doblada bajo las presiones y las mordidas que han de dar al sádico el esperado goce?

Las infinitas crueldades que un enfermo del cerebro puede desarrollar en el matrimonio sólo puede concebirlas la mente más exaltada, los celos más insospechados, las manías más torturantes, los insomnios más tétricos, las bajezas más bochornosas…

Y eso, todo eso que parece ha de ser causa de divorcio, no lo es ni puede serlo, puesto que el Código aprecia como motivo de divorcio aquellos golpes de naturaleza tal que pudieran haber causado la muerte, y una cantidad de testigos que no sean de la familia, ni sirvientes, sino personas de fuera de la casa que hayan presenciado los hechos. De manera que todas las violencias, las torturas y los horrores incontables por asquerosos o brutales que contra su esposa pueden ocurrírsele a un paranoico, no son nada ante las leyes; tiene que esperar que le peguen un tiro… (y no la acierten) para que los jueces piensen que si le acierta… ¡se hubiese quedado en el sitio! Y por lo que se refiere a los testigos, desde luego comprenderéis lo imposible de que ciertos martirios, generalmente de alcoba y nocturnos, tengan testigos, por que no es costumbre que los amigos estén en la habitación a esas horas, y si la esposa grita, ya tendrá cuidado de no volver a hacerlo porque el marido lo impedirá, del modo que pueda, pero lo impedirá.

Además, todo el ambiente que ayudó al esposo de la enferma, al recluirla en un manicomio, o enviarla con su familia, quedándose él con sus hijos, ambiente que le harán también las mujeres que se pondrán de parte del marido, le faltará seguramente a la esposa al tratar de hacer lo mismo. Por regla general, pocas veces llega al público el verdadero aspecto de la horrible verdad.

Un señor discutidor, suspicaz, dispuesto a agriar las conversaciones con frases molestas y hasta llegando alguna vez a una agresión, no es para los ojos de los extraños más que un hombre de mal carácter, o tal vez cuando más «un señor raro»; pero esas gentes ven las cosas de lejos, no saben los disimulos, las suspicacias y los engaños con que esos hombres que no son raros, sino sencillamente enfermos, llegan a ocultar al público completamente las espantosas negruras de su hogar.

Esa locura engañadora, que lleva generalmente al que la padece a ver en los demás maldad y refinada malicia, desprestigia a la esposa del loco, por regla general, y a las iras de éste se les llamará «mal carácter», y a su sadismo exageraciones de la esposa que comprende mal las expansiones de un apasionado, y a sus celos les llamarán «exceso de amor», si es que no —¡lo que desgraciadamente ocurre!—, se vuelve la opinión en contra de la esposa, y dicen que algo habrá en ella cuando él la cela.

¿Qué ayuda puede darnos la justicia? Ninguna; porque la locura por sí no es causa de divorcio. […]

  

More information: Universidad de La Rioja (Spanish Version)

Desde el avión

A MIS HERMANOS TODOS LOS EMIGRANTES

Ya no hay largas distancias,
ya no hay mares azules y extensos
donde se ahogan los cantos perdidos
de los marineros.
Ya no existen montañas silentes
cerrando horizontes,
como negras murallas gigantes
que forman fronteras y separan mundos…
Ya se acortan los caminos largos,
resecos y crueles, por donde se alejan los seres queridos,
¡madre, novia, casa…! ¡Ya no estamos lejos!
¡La ruta celeste siempre estará abierta!
¡Nos dormimos niños, soñando en un viaje,
cabalgando,
en las verdes crestas de un fugaz relámpago!

Mercedes Pinto

GRAN CANARIA A.K.A. TAMARÁN, LAND OF THE BRAVE

Joseph de Ca'th Lon visits Gran Canaria

Today, The Grandma and her friends have just arrived to Las Palmas, the capital of Gran Canaria the next island that they are going to visit.

Gran Canaria is a unique island with different microclimes and they are very interested in discovering all of them.

Moreover, in Gran Canaria there is one of the 14 ground stations in the Manned Space Flight Network which supports the NASA and Joseph de Ca'th Lon wants to visit it.

During the travel from Tenerife to Las Palmas, The Grandma has studied a new lesson of her Intermediate Language Practice manual (Grammar 25).

More information: Relative Clauses I

Gran Canaria meaning Great Island of Dogs, is the second most populous of the Canary Islands.

Gran Canaria is located in the Atlantic Ocean about 150 kilometres off the northwestern coast of Africa and about 1,350 km from Europe. With an area of 1,560 km2 and an altitude of 1,956 m at the Pico de las Nieves, Gran Canaria is the third largest island of the archipelago in both area and altitude.

In Ancient History, Gran Canaria was populated by the North African Canarii, who may have arrived as early as 500 BC. The Canarii called the island Tamarán Land of the Brave.

In the Medieval period, after over a century of European incursions and attempts at conquest, the island was conquered on April 29, 1483 by the Crown of Castile, under Queen Isabella I. The conquest succeeded after a campaign that lasted five years, and it was an important step towards the expansion of the unified Spain.

The Grandma & Claire Fontaine visit Gran Canaria

The capital city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria was founded on June 24, 1478, under the name Real de Las Palmas, by Juan Rejón, head of the invading Castilian army.

In 1492, Christopher Columbus anchored in the Port of Las Palmas, and spent some time on the island, on his first trip to the Americas. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is, jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the capital of the Canary Islands. Gran Canaria is located southeast of Tenerife and west of Fuerteventura. The island is of volcanic origin, mostly made of fissure vents. Gran Canaria's surface area is 1,560 km² and its maximum elevation is 1,949 metres, Pico de Las Nieves. It has a round shape, with a diameter of approximately 50 km.

About 80% of the volume of the island was formed during the Miocene period eruptions, between 14 and 9 million years ago. This is called the Old Cycle and is estimated to have lasted some 200,000 years and have emitted about 1000 km3, mostly of fissural alkali basalt. This cycle continued with the emission of trachytes, phonolites and peralkaline rocks. This period was followed by one of erosion, which lasted some 4 million years.

More information: Gran Canaria

A second cycle of volcanic eruptions, known as the Roque Nublo cycle, took place between 4.5 and 3.4 million years ago. This shorter cycle emitted about 100 km3. Most of the inland peaks were formed by erosion from these materials. This period also started with fissural basalts, but ended with violent eruptions of pyroclastic flows. Some phonolitic features, like the Risco Blanco, were also formed in its last stages.

The third or recent cycle is held to have started some 2.8 million years ago and is considered to be still active. The last eruptions are held to have occurred some 3500 years ago.

The changes in volume and, therefore, weight of the island have also caused the island to rise above the previous sea level during erosive periods and to sink during eruptive periods. Some of these fossil beaches can be seen in the cliff faces of the more eroded northern coast.

Jordi & his friends visiting Gran Canaria

Until the conquest, Gran Canaria had extensive forests, but then suffered extensive deforestation as a result of continuous logging, land divisions and other intensive uses. This reduced the forest cover to just 56,000 hectares, making the island the most deforested of the Canary Islands.

Gran Canaria lies within the Province of Las Palmas, which consists of the eastern part of the Canary Islands community. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is the provincial capital, one of the two capitals of the Canary Islands along with Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

The island of Gran Canaria is governed by the Cabildo Insular de Gran Canaria.

According to the Koppen Climate Classification, Gran Canaria is considered to have a desert climate (Bwh) due to its consistent warm temperatures and severe lack of precipitation.

More information: Hello Canary Islands

Gran Canaria is noted for its rich variety of microclimates. Generally speaking though, the average daytime high ranges from 20 °C in winter, to 26 °C in summer. Some cool nights occur in winter, but lows below 10 °C are unknown near the coast. Inland the climate is still mild but mountainous areas see the occasional frost or snow.

Annual rainfall averages 228 mm, most of this falling in the cooler months, with July, August and September normally rainless. Rainfall is unevenly distributed through the island with some areas being much drier than others. Cloud cover and sunshine is often quite variable during the cooler months, and there can be several rather cloudy days at times in winter. Summers are generally quite sunny however, with the south of the island being most favoured.

Gran Canaria agriculture is unique among the Canaries Islands in that it was traditionally dominated by plantations, with much of these being grains as well as sugarcane, rather than by stock-breeding. The caves of Valerón, a property of cultural interest in the archaeological site category, in the municipality of Santa María de Guía bears testimony of it by being the largest pre-Hispanic collective granary of the Canaries.

Tina Picotes & Claire Fontaine visit Gran Canaria

This island is called a Miniature Continent due to the different climates and variety of landscapes found, with long beaches and dunes of white sand, contrasting with green ravines and picturesque villages.

A third of the island is under protection as a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO. The official natural symbols associated with Gran Canaria are Canis lupus familiaris (Canary Mastiff) and Euphorbia canariensis (Cardón).

Nearly half of the island territory -667 km² (42.7% of island)- is under protection from the Red Canaria de Espacios Naturales Protegidos, Canary Islands Network for Protected Natural Areas. Of the 146 protected sites under control of network in the Canary Islands archipelago, a total of 33 are located in Gran Canaria, the second most protected island in the group.  There are seven different categories of protection:

Six nature reserves -El Brezal, Azuaje, Los Tilos de Moya, Los Marteles, Las Dunas de Maspalomas and Güigüi

-Two integral nature reserves -Inagua and Barranco Oscuro

-Two natural parks -Tamadaba and Pilancones

-Two rural parks -Nublo and Doramas

-Ten natural monuments -Amagro, Bandama, Montañón Negro, Roque de Aguayro, Tauro, Arinaga, Barranco de Guayadeque, Riscos de Tirajana, Roque Nublo and Barranco del Draguillo

-Seven protected landscapes -La Isleta, in the capital Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Pino Santo, Tafira, Las Cumbres, Lomo Magullo, Fataga and Montaña de Agüimes

-Four sites of scientific interest -Jinámar, Tufia, Roque de Gando and Juncalillo del Sur

In the 1960s, Gran Canaria was selected as the location for one of the 14 ground stations in the Manned Space Flight Network (MSFN) to support the NASA space program. Maspalomas Station, located in the south of the island, took part in a number of space missions including the Apollo 11 Moon landings and Skylab. Today it continues to support satellite communications as part of the ESA network.

More information: Visit Canary Islands

Gran Canaria... 

El alma eres de mi tierra fuego y lava junto al mar.

Gran Canaria...

You are the soul of my homeland, fire and lava next to the sea.
 

Néstor Alamo 

MOUNT TEIDE: THE SACRED VOLCANO OF TENERIFE ISLAND

The Grandma & Claire Fontaine climb Mount Teide

Today The Grandma and her friends have climbed Mount Teide the most spectacular mountain in Tenerife, symbol of all the Canary Islands and one of the active volcanoes in Europe which was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2007.

It has been an incredible experience for everybody but especially for The Grandma, a person who loves volcanoes. During the trip by special jeeps, The Grandma has studied a new lesson of her Intermediate Language Practice manual (Grammar 24).

More information: Functions

Mount Teide is a volcano on Tenerife in the Canary Islands. If measured from the ocean floor, it is at 7,500 m the highest volcano in the world base-to-peak outside of the Hawaiian Islands, and is described by UNESCO and NASA as Earth's third-tallest volcanic structure.

Teide's elevation makes Tenerife the tenth highest island in the world. Teide is an active volcano: its most recent eruption occurred in 1909 from the El Chinyero vent on the northwestern Santiago rift. The United Nations Committee for Disaster Mitigation designated Teide a Decade Volcano because of its history of destructive eruptions and its proximity to several large towns, of which the closest are Garachico, Icod de los Vinos and Puerto de la Cruz. Teide, Pico Viejo and Montaña Blanca form the Central Volcanic Complex of Tenerife.

The volcano and its surroundings comprise Teide National Park, which has an area of 18,900 hectares and was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO on June 28, 2007.

More information: UNESCO

Teide is the most visited in Europe and the eighth most visited in the world, with some 3 million visitors yearly. Teide Observatory, a major international astronomical observatory, is located on the slopes of the mountain.

Joseph, Jordi & Tonyi visit Teide National Park

Before the 1496 Spanish colonization of Tenerife, the native Guanches referred to a powerful figure living in the volcano, which carries light, power and the sun. El Pico del Teide is the modern Spanish name. Nowadays the name Teide is also used as a personal name.

Teide was a sacred mountain for the aboriginal Guanches, so it was considered a mythological mountain, as Mount Olympus was to the ancient Greeks. According to legend, Guayota (the devil) kidnapped Magec (the god of light and the sun) and imprisoned him inside the volcano, plunging the world into darkness. The Guanches asked their supreme god Achamán for clemency, so Achamán fought Guayota, freed Magec from the bowels of the mountain, and plugged the crater with Guayota. It is said that since then, Guayota has remained locked inside Teide. When going on to Teide during an eruption, it was customary for the Guanches to light bonfires to scare Guayota. Guayota is often represented as a black dog, accompanied by his host of demons (Tibicenas).

More information: Volcano Teide

The Guanches also believed that Teide held up the sky. Many hiding places found in the mountains contain the remains of stone tools and pottery. These have been interpreted as being ritual deposits to counter the influence of evil spirits, like those made by the Berbers of Kabylie. The Guanches believed the mountain to be the place that housed the forces of evil and the most evil figure, Guayota.

Guayota shares features similar to other powerful deities inhabiting volcanoes, such as the goddess Pele of Hawaiian mythology, who lived in the Kīlauea volcano and was regarded by the native Hawaiians as responsible for the eruptions of the volcano.

The stratovolcanoes Teide and Pico Viejo are the most recent centres of activity on the volcanic island of Tenerife, which is the largest and highest island in the Canaries. It has a complex volcanic history. The formation of the island and the development of the current Teide volcano took place in the five stages shown in the diagram on the right.

Tina Picotes & Mount Teide, Tenerife

Like the other Canary Islands, and volcanic ocean islands in general, Tenerife was built by accretion of three large shield volcanoes, which developed in a relatively short period. This early shield stage volcanism formed the bulk of the emerged part of Tenerife. The shield volcanoes date back to the Miocene and early Pliocene and are preserved in three isolated and deeply eroded massifs: Anaga to the northeast, Teno to the northwest and Roque del Conde to the south. Each shield was apparently constructed in less than three million years, and the entire island in about eight million years.

The initial juvenile stage was followed by a period of 2–3 million years of eruptive quiescence and erosion. This cessation of activity is typical of the Canaries; La Gomera, for example, is currently at this stage. After this period of quiescence, the volcanic activity became concentrated within two large edifices: the central volcano of Las Cañadas, and the Anaga massif. The Las Cañadas volcano developed over the Miocene shield volcanoes and may have reached 40 km in diameter and 4,500 m in height.

More information: Web Tenerife

Around 160–220 thousand years ago the summit of the Las Cañadas I volcano collapsed, creating the Las Cañadas (Ucanca) caldera. Later, a new stratovolcano, Las Cañadas II, formed in the vicinity of Guajara and then catastrophically collapsed. Another volcano, Las Cañadas III, formed in the Diego Hernandez sector of the caldera. All of the Las Cañadas volcanoes attained a maximum altitude similar to that of Teide, which is sometimes referred to as the Las Cañadas IV volcano.

Two theories on the formation of the caldera exist. The first states that the depression is the result of a vertical collapse of the volcano triggered by the emptying of shallow magma chambers at around sea level under the Las Cañadas volcano after large-volume explosive eruptions.

The Grandma climbs Mount Teide, Tenerife

The second theory is that the caldera was formed by a series of lateral gravitational collapses similar to those described in Hawaii. Evidence for the latter theory has been found in both onshore observations and marine geology studies.

From around 160,000 years ago until the present day, the stratovolcanoes of Teide and Pico Viejo formed within the Las Cañadas caldera. The lava flows on the flanks of Teide weather to a very thin but nutrient- and mineral-rich soil that supports a wide variety of plant species. Vascular flora consists of 168 plant species, 33 of which are endemic to Tenerife.

Forests of Canary Island Pine (Pinus canariensis) with Canary Island juniper (Juniperus cedrus) occur from 1,000 to 2,100 metres, covering the middle slopes of the volcano and reaching an alpine tree line 1,000 m lower than that of continental mountains at similar latitudes.

More information: Hello Canary Islands

Within the Las Cañadas caldera and at higher altitudes, plant species endemic to the Teide National Park include: the Teide white broom (Spartocytisus supranubius), which has white flowers; Descurainia bourgaeana, a shrubby crucifer with yellow flowers; the Canary Island wallflower (Erysimum scoparium), which has violet flowers; and the Teide bugloss (Echium wildpretii), whose red flowers form a pyramid up to 3 m in height. The Teide daisy (Argyranthemum teneriffae) can be found at altitudes close to 3,600 m above sea level, and the Teide violet (Viola cheiranthifolia) can be found right up to the summit.

These plants are adapted to the tough environmental conditions on the volcano, such as high altitude, intense sunlight, extreme temperature variations, and lack of moisture.

Joseph de Ca'th Lon visits the Teide Observatory

Adaptations include hemispherical forms, a downy or waxy cover, a reduction of the exposed leaf area, and a high flower production. Flowering takes place in the late spring or early summer, in May and June.

Teide National Park contains a large number of invertebrate species, over 40% of which are endemic species, and 70 of which are found only in the National Park. The invertebrate fauna includes spiders, beetles, dipterans, hemipterans, and hymenopterae.

In contrast, Teide National Park has only a limited variety of vertebrate fauna. Ten species of bird nest there, including the blue chaffinch (Fringilla teydea teydea), Berthelot's pipit (Anthus berthelotii berthelotii), the Atlantic canary (Serinus canaria) and a subspecies of kestrel (Falco tinnunculus canariensis).

More information: The Culture Trip

Three endemic reptile species are found in the park: the Canary Island lizard (Gallotia galloti galloti), the Canary Island wall gecko (Tarentola delalandii), and the Canary Island skink (Chalcides viridanus viridanus).

The only mammals native to the park are bats, the most common of which is Leisler’s bat (Nyctalus leisleri). Other mammals, such as the mouflon, the rabbit, the house mouse, the black rat, the feral cat, and the North African hedgehog, have all been introduced to the park.

Starred night at Mount Teide, Tenerife

Teide National Park is a useful volcanic reference point for studies related to Mars because of the similarities in their environmental conditions and geological formations. An astronomical observatory is located on the slopes of the mountain, taking advantage of the altitude, above most clouds, good weather and stable seeing from the site. The Teide Observatory is operated by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. It includes solar, radio and microwave telescopes, in addition to traditional optical night-time telescopes.

Teide is the main symbol of Tenerife and the most emblematic natural monument of the Canary Islands. An image of Teide appears gushing flames at the centre of Tenerife's coat of arms. Above the volcano appears St. Michael, the patron saint of Tenerife.

The flag colors of the island are dark blue, traditionally identified with the sea that surrounds the island, and white for the whiteness of the snow-covered peaks of Mount Teide during winter. The logo of the Cabildo de Tenerife, governing body of the island, includes a symbol of Teide in eruption.

In the Canary Islands, especially on Tenerife, Teide has cultural symbolism deeply rooted in traditions and history. It is popularly referred to as Padre Teide (Father Teide).

More information: Teide by Night

Atlas is lofty and has a cylindrical form.

It is said to stand so tall that one cannot see its summit 

on account of the clouds which in summer 

as well as winter envelope it, and it is called 

by the inhabitants a Pillar of Heaven.
 

Herodotus

ÀNGEL GUIMERÀ: THE GREAT WRITER FROM TENERIFE

Jordi & The Grandma visit the Teatro Guimerà

Today, The Grandma and her friends are preparing their new trip. Tomorrow, they are going to climb Mount Teide and today they have decided to relax and rest in their hotel. Jordi Santanyí and The Grandma have left the hotel to visit the Teatro Guimerá, which is dedicated to the figure of Àngel Guimerà a writer in Catalan language who was born in Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the 19th century.

Jordi and The Grandma are great fans of this magnificent writer who is considered one of the most important authors of the Renaixença (Renaissance) a great and splendorous age in the Catalan literature.

Before visiting the theatre, The Grandma has studied a new lesson of her Intermediate Language Practice manual (Grammar 23).

Àngel Guimerà (6 May 1845 or 6 May 1847 or 1849 – 18 July 1924) was a Catalan Nobel-nominated writer in the Catalan language. His work is known for bringing together under romantic aspects the main elements of realism. It is considered one of the principal representatives of the so-called Renaixença, at the end of the nineteenth century.

He was born in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, to a Catalan father and a Canary islander mother. At an early age, Guimerà's family moved to Catalonia, where they settled at his father's birthplace, El Vendrell.

Guimerà wrote a number of popular plays, which were translated into other languages and performed abroad, proving instrumental in the revival of Catalan language as a literary language (Renaixença) in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. By far, the most famous was his realistic drama Terra baixa translated as Martha of the Lowlands. Written in 1896, it quickly became an international sensation. The play was translated into 15 different languages. In English, the play received three Broadway productions between 1903 and 1936.

Àngel Guimerà

In addition to being a popular stage play, Terra baixa was made into six films, including a silent film in the United States, entitled Martha of the Lowlands (1914) and Leni Riefenstahl's Tiefland (1954). Furthermore, it served as the source material for two operas: Eugen d'Albert's German opera Tiefland (1903) and Fernand Le Borne's La Catalane (French).

Playwright Àngel Guimerà was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature, though he never won, due to controversy about the political significance of the gesture. He was a candidate for the Nobel Prize in 1904, to be shared with the Provençal writer Frédéric Mistral, in recognition of their contributions to literature in non-official languages. Political pressure from Spain central government having made this prize impossible, it was eventually awarded to Mistral and to the Spanish language playwright José de Echegaray.

When Guimerà died in 1924, he was offered a state funeral in Barcelona of a proportion which had never been seen before and was laid to rest on the Cemetery of Montjuïc.

In his hometown of Santa Cruz de Tenerife is a theater built in his name, Teatro Guimerá.

More information: Teatro Guimerà

Terra baixa is the story of Martha, a poor girl from Barcelona, who finds herself the young lover to Sebastià, the most important landowner in the Catalan lowlands. Sebastià must marry a woman of prominence to keep his land and inheritance. To squelch gossip of his relationship with Martha but still keep her as his lover, Sebastià marries her off to the unsuspecting Manelic, a young shepherd from the Pyrenees, and sets the newly weds up in the house attached to the town's mill. Martha finds herself torn between her old domineering lover and her new caring husband. 

Another well-known work by Guimerà is the play La filla del mar (The daughter of the sea, 1900), that recounts the story of Àgata).

Her name is that of a precious stone, in sharp contrast to the contempt in which she is held. Her uncertain origins, and the fact that she had been born among Moors renders her an object of hate, branded as a heretic.

One of the few people who does not exclude her is Baltasanet, who states that When we are born, we are all Moors. Agata is perfectly conscious of the fact that she is considered a nobody and a nuisance. What evil have I done, that everyone despises me?, she asks. The discrimination she faces leads ultimately to her death.

Àngel Guimerà's state funeral in Barcelona, 1924

Agata feels attracted by the sea, which seems to be calling out to her, in the voices of her parents.

For her there is a symbolic opposition between sea and earth, the latter being all about misery and tears, whereas the sea harbours peacefulness and truth. Drowning, for her, would be a return to the amniotic fluid of the sea from which she was born. Like a sailor, she is strong, brave, and vital. At the same time she is sensitive, and when she finds in Pere Màrtir the affection she had desperately lacked, they are able to connect. She excuses his past as a ladies' man, but, overcome by jealousy, threatens him with death if he relapses.

The story of Àgata involves numerous literary allusions and archetypes, from mythological aquatic characters, to the legend of Sappho committing suicide by throwing herself from a cliff into the sea.

In his honour, the main theater of Santa Cruz de Tenerife takes its name (Teatro Guimerá), and is also the oldest of the Canary Islands. On the facade of the Museo Municipal de Bellas Artes de Santa Cruz de Tenerife are a number of marble busts representing famous tinerfeños, among them Àngel Guimerà.

In Plaça del Pi in Barcelona is a seated bronze statue of Àngel Guimerà, which is a faithful replica of the one located opposite said Teatro Guimerá of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Such Theatre is located in Avenida Ángel Guimerá, named for being the street where the draumaturgo born. There turn a similar statue one in the municipality of El Vendrell in the province of Tarragona. These three statues were made by the sculptor Josep M. Codina i Corona from a mold made by Josep Cardona i Furró. He was also named adopted son of Barcelona in 1909.

Terra Baixa/Martha of the Lowlands by Àngel Guimerà

 Era en lo temps en que las neus primeras

las grogas faldas dels turons baixavan;

y en amples collas, volejant lleugeras,

las aus sens pátria sobre'l mar passavan.

Àngel Guimerà