Almond Cakes – one of life’s little disappointments.

We were hiking in the Chinyero Reserve on Tuesday and when we finished
we headed to the Las Fleytas bar and restaurant for our customary post-hike beer. The restaurant has a deservedly good reputation for tasty, plentiful food and is also known for its almond cakes.
With Richard and Nikki (and of course Basil, the Tenerife Dogs [...]

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Managing the Wood Supply, or how to build your cat a pine staircase.

One of the delights of living in the north of Tenerife is that, although we’re now into our fifth month of proper summer (glossing swiftly over September’s propensity to cloud over in the afternoons at the moment) and looking forward to another six weeks or so of it, we do still have seasons.
With November comes [...]

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Tenerife Dreams

“Sweet dreams are made of this.
Who am I to disagree?
Travel the World and the seven seas;
Everybody’s looking for something.”

If you’re thinking of moving to Tenerife, ask yourself this; “What am I looking for?”
We were invited to a barbeque last weekend, in an exquisite contemporary villa in the south of the island. It was a sumptuous [...]

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The art of Zen healing, or, “Darling, do you mind of I stand on another man’s buttock?”

I need someone to stand on my thigh for me,” said Jésus.
It’s not a request you hear that often.
Jack, Jo and I looked at each other. No-one said anything.
It was approaching midnight on the dying embers of my birthday and the three of us were sitting on the back terrace after a very pleasant evening [...]

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Tenerife Goes Native Across the Pond

Last week on our Going Native in Tenerife blog we had a virtual house guest and he was such a success on Going Native that we thought we’d invite him over to Real Tenerife for a quick sojourn. Mike was the sort of guest who’s a real pleasure to have; he ate whatever we were [...]

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Corpus Christi Flower Carpets

Some aromas just make you smile.
For me it’s the scent of hot pine needles which remind me of hiking through sun dappled forests; freshly mown grass which conjures up camping trips to Cornwall, the Lake District and Wales; candyfloss and toffee apples which transport me back to childhood fairgrounds and …toasted grass seeds. No, not [...]

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Tenerife Beach Time

You may imagine that living on a tropical island I must spend a great deal of my time lying on a beach topping up an all-year tan. You’d be mistaken.
For one thing, I’m desperately trying to make a living which is proving particularly difficult in these times of ‘economic crisis’ and for another, my standards [...]

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Tenerife’s Hidden Depths

We woke up yesterday to cold, cloud and drizzle, cursing our luck that we’d chosen the week’s worst weather day to show a friend something he’d never seen, despite 30 years of visiting Tenerife.
As we were about to pull the front door, the electricity went off.
“I think a day out will do us good”, I [...]

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The Yin and Yang of life in Tenerife

I have long held a personal philosophy of ‘work hard, play hard’. I know it’s not original, nor is it ever going to be the subject of “Discuss” on a philosophy exam paper. In fact, let’s be honest, it’s a sort of Mars Bar philosophy on life…but nevertheless it works for me. If I don’t [...]

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The New Neighbour

Life here at Casa Monty has been hectic of late.
All summer we’ve been fully occupied producing a new guide to Tenerife, or should I say the new guide to Tenerife, as it knocks the spots off everything hitherto produced. Jam packed with insightful information, witticisms, priceless tips and tried and tested recommendations, ‘Going Native Tenerife’ [...]

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