The Cunning Canary

Stick fighting, or Juego del Palo, is used as self-defence, sport and folk art througout the Canary Islands. No protective equipment is used but the strikes are indicated rather than being applied with full force. Stick fighting is thought to have come from the Guanches (Aboriginal Canarians) hundreds of years ago.

Photo By El Guanche

If you want to see stick fighting, you could visit over Día de las Islas Canarias (Canary Islands’ Day) which is on 30th May. This is a big celebration and you can also enjoy demonstrations of other sports, such as Lucha Canaria, and there is plenty of eating and drinking. The Canarians certainly know how to party!

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When you get to Gran Canaria, there are plenty of boat trips you can do. If you’re staying in Playa del Inglés, there is no harbour there so you will need to get to Puerto Rico or book a trip which includes a transfer.

Apart from fishing trips and parascending, there are several boat cruises you can choose from, which depart from Puerto Rico.

Some of the boats (such as the SuperCat and the Timanfaya) are huge and take hundreds of people out at once. Others (such as the Sagittarius Star, Liberty or Tauro Cruises) are smaller and take around 20 people out at a time.

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San Francisco might be home to the biggest gay community in the USA but Gran Canaria is the gay centre of Europe. If you’re not gay, it won’t make any difference to you because there are plenty of couples and families on holiday too. But if you are gay, you will find many other gay people, gay bars, gay restaurants, gay hairdressers, gay gyms etc. There is virtually no homophobia here because the locals are brought up with it.

Photo By Howie_Berlin

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There is always lots going on in Gran Canaria, whether it is a Saint’s Day accompanied by a procession, a local fiesta with music and dancing or a sporting or musical event. No matter which month you choose for your holiday, there will be plenty of things to do.

Here are some of the main ones:

January 6th - Dia de los Reyes (Three Holy Kings Day)
This is when the Canarian children get their Christmas presents (but because there are so many British kids on the island now, their parents give some on 25th December too, so they don’t feel too left out!)

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This is a placeholder which will be filled in shortly with 2009 events.

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Canary Islands’ Day is celebrated on May 30th every year.  The government, 87 municipalities and town councils all take part in the organisation of a great festival celebrating the islands - how they were and how they are now.

If you plan to be here for Canary Islands Day 2008, you can expect to enjoy traditional plays, traditional food tasting, folk music, dancing to a Canarian orchestra and a demonstration of traditional Canarian sports, such as stick-fighting and Lucha Canaria (a type of wrestling).

Photo By Secret Tenerife

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