The sound of angelic voices, singing lottery numbers, floated out from all bars and restaurants, it was draw time for the El Gordo (the fat one) Spañish christmas lottery, and all eyes and ears were trained on the 4 hour television coverage of the draw. All this unfolded as I started a northern tour in Puerto de la Cruz, well I was overdue a visit and wanted to check out how christmas was shaping up.

The sea was lively at the Playa de Martianez as I headed down the hill from La Paz, and the sun was bursting through in style. The 2 sea front cafes were still awaiting demolition, under the law of the coast, but I settled on the terrace of the open one to survey the scene. I don’t think I have seen the front as busy before, tourists crammed on every seating spot and surfers enjoyed the breaking waves as a small group murdered a few tunes on the pan pipes. there is a new addition to the tourist scene, horse drawn carriage rides, a Calash, as they are called, took off with its load and did a quick tour of the city, arriving back around 20 minutes later as i finished my coffee. It’s quite a stylish new addition at 10 euros for a single passenger, 12€ for 2, 15€ for 3, and 18€ for 4.

Things change, people and places change, even my socks change now and then, and in the few months since my last visit the new fishermans workshop had taken form next to the tourist information office, tucked just off the shingle beach down Calle Las Lonjas. Puerto de la Cruz was looking resplendent with poinsetias in full red and yellow bloom and some subtle but effective christmas decorations. I love the white wire sculptures like these below at the foot of the church in Plaza de la Iglesia. Making my way to the bus station, i was unsurprised to see it still standing – just, after many more recent pronouncements that it would finally be demolished before it falls down. It’s getting really old, dirty and wobbly – mind you aren’t we all.

On to Santa Cruz and a chance to see the annual nativity scene in the government headquarters near the Plaza de España. I was a bit dissapointed to see it was condensed into one large display this year, rather than the usual sweeping landscape with shepherds, wise men etc, but it still looked good and it’s free to see with donations going to a local hearing charity, Funcasor.

The docks are always worth a nosey, and there was certainly a large crop of ships in port, from the Oriana cruise liner to the second oil platform to pull in over recent weeks. The 1,400 ton China built “Noble Hans Deul” has arrived riding piggy back on a barge called “Transporter” and will be in for repairs for a few days to come. Over in the car park area, a large stage had already gone up for the Christmas Day 10pm free concert by the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra, a fine tradition that attracts massive festive crowds.

So the preperation is almost over, and christmas is warming up in the wings. CD Tenerife gave their fans a lovely present on Sunday with a 2-1 away win at Alaves to send them into the festive break in 5th spot – maybe 2009 could be the year they get promoted back to the top league – we live in hope. Anyway this seems a good point to wish a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to anyone reading this – I can’t wait to see what 2009 has in store.

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Nice new walkways to improve access, and better facillities can make a big difference to Tenerife beaches, but sometimes the warning bells start ringing when the word improvement is used. Playa de la Enramada between Playa del Duque and La Caleta is a classic example. Last week the first stage of “improvements” were officially unveiled and blessed by the Adeje council, but visiting, a few days later, I was shocked to see what a mess has been made of the once wonderful beach after transforming it from the old look (top pic) to new.

Let’s pop back in time a few months to when  rolling banks of pebbles led down to the often wild sea, and there was a lovely white sand chill out area at the La Calete end, called El Chiringuito, which included a bar and a beach volleyball court. sadly this was all demolished as part of the 550,000 euros project. In April the first Costa Adeje Triathlon started from the beach, and was a great success, with the rugged nature of the sea, a fitting challenge to the contestants.

Now the beach has been scraped flat (below) and covered with tons of sand from the old Los Cristianos beach, other “improved” beaches around the coast have already found that new sand doesn’t bed down very well, and the new sand has been eroded near the shore, so swimmers still have to walk over pebbles. The beach is backed by high banking and has no natural character any more. there are 2 more phases to be completed, including a walkway along the rear of the beach and a park area just above and behind the sea front.

I suspect the overall idea is to make the beach more attractive to the posh 4 and 5 star hotels on the edge of El Duque, but it has just made it look bland. There was no pressing need to do anything to this beach, it’s nice to have a variety of bathing and swimming spots along the coast, but the council would no doubt call this progress -what a great shame.

What’s the best theme park in Tenerife? There’s no contest really, if you want a white knuckle ride of excitement with an unpredictable outcome, it has to be the Heliodoro Rodriguez Lopez stadium in Santa Cruz, home to CD Tenerife. On Sunday they served up another thriller that had even the most hardened fans squirming and preying to the football gods before an eventual 3-2 win over Hercules.

On paper this looked like a tight game, Hercules mean defence had only let in 8 goals all season and they were perched in 3rd spot in the Spanish Second Division. Tenerife seldom let form affect their display, and they set out at a fast pace making the visitors look very ordinary. After 25 minutes Alfaro picked up a ball from Oscar Perez (below) and fired Tenerife into a deserved lead. It was largely one way traffic and no surprise when Juanlu scored with a volley after 38 minutes to make it 2-0. It was looking almost too easy.

Time for a few twists and turns, firstly Tote from Hercules was sent off for a foul on Manolo but his team mates hit back well with Abel Aquillar pulling a goal back just before the break as the tenerife defence stood and watched.

As the second half kicked off, the heavens opened and rain poured down on Santa Cruz, Tenerife seemed to lose their way and when Sendoa tied the game after 59 minutes, the 13,247 crowd sensed the worst. Tenerife battled hard but poor finishing and spoiling tactics from the visiting goalie seemed sure to fritter away the remaining time. Hercules lost another player after 86 minutes as Sergio picked up his 2nd yellow card, and CDT surged forward.

Bertran attacked down the right and floated a cross into the box, Alfaro met it perfectly with his head and sent the fans wild with an injury time winner. Players jumped the advertising hoardings and fans vaulted the pitch surround to share their joy, a quick clearance allowed the last few seconds to be played out before another pitchside celebration erupted at the final whistle. Phew, there is certainly never a dull moment with CD Tenerife.

How wonderful, a rare chance for me to see my beloved Oxford City at Court Place Farm, and they did me proud with a 2-0 win over Bashley Town. What started as a crisp sunny winter afternoon descended into a freezing second half once the sun went down, but the hoops were quick out of the blocks with a 2nd minute goal from Jamie Brooks and added another in the second half from Craig Faulconbridge for a convincing win. Crowds are not quite so big as at CD Tenerife, in the British Gas Premier Division (that’s the old Southern League) , the only good thing about only getting 217 people in, is you can be sure to get a burger at half time.

Anyway the visit to Oxford descended after the football, into a few days of drinking, well I do miss the real ale, but at least I managed to squeeze a little work into my trip, meeting up with Pablo Gonzalez de Chaves Fernandez, a young student from Santa Cruz. Pablo is studying Sports engineering at Brookes University in Oxford, funded by a grant from the Fernando Alonso Foundation, it made a good story for the local Oxford paper.

On Monday I headed back up to Manchester and Pam’s welcoming arms, before heading out to catch my Monarch flight back on Tuesday. Before the flight we spent the morning at the Trafford Centre, not so much a shopping hall, more like a village. What a mammoth and extravagant place, full of elaborate ballastrades, balconies and statues, it’s even got it’s own cinema and a new extension with an Italian style piazza, complete with mermaids drinking out of a huge fountain. The only thing it was lacking was customers, the cleaners outnumbered the shoppers, obviuosly not impressed by Gordon browns latest ploy to make them spend, spend, spend.

The flight was on time and smooth, although barely two thirds full – another sign of the times. It’s good to back in Tenerife, now the catch up starts – and of course CD Tenerife at home at the weekend – not a bad life is it.

Maybe I am aclimatising to the frost and ice now im down in Oxford, I almost feel like skinny dipping in the River Thames – I did say almost. I have been visiting a few old haunts around Oxford during my stay, more of the pubs later. Hope you are suitably impressed by the famous headington shark, it’s been in that roof since August 1986. The house owner, Bill Heine, an American ex law student had the 25 foot creature sculpted in fibre glass by John Buckley. It arrived under a veil of secrecy, scaffolding and covers went up and then one morning it was removed to reveal the shark, much to the horror of neighbours and the indignation of the local council. After a big planning row, it was allowed to stay, probably because it had gained so much world wide publicity by then.

Why is it there? i hear you scream – I have very acute hearing. it is called “Untitled 1986” and is supposed to say something about CND, nuclear power and Chernobyl. It has done well for its owner Bill Heine, who became a bit of a local celebrity and then a presenter on BBC Radio Oxford, he later added a giant pair of candy striped kicking legs on the front of his Moulin Rouge cinema, and a giant pair of white Al Jolson like hands on his Penultimate Picture Palace – both have gone now.

When i was younger, so much younger than today, hey thats a good idea for a song lyric, I used to go to the local cinema down the road The Regal, for the saturday morning ABC Minors Matinees. Oh what jolly good fun it was, a cartoon, a main film, and a serial such as Flash Gordon or The Black Whip, try Googling them and you will probably get something much raunchier these days. The cinema closed years ago and after a brief spell as a bingo hall, was left to rot until earlier this year when 2 entrepreneurs bought it and gave it a face lift to become a big live music and private hire venue, I have been itching to have a look, in my young days it just left me itching.

As a grade 2 listed building, The Regal has been restored with all the old grandeur and ornate decoration revived. The gorgeous and very helpful Charlotte on reception must have thought i was an escapee from Jurassic Park as she let me in to have a quick nosey. The memories came flooding back, it was 6d to sit downstairs and 9d to sit up in the balcony, a good vantage point to flick sweets etc. I recall the brushed red tip up seats, the kiora and slimy hot dogs and even packets of poppets chocolate sweets. Each week anyone with a birthday was invited on stage to get a free ticket and a goodie bag, some kids seemed to have several birthdays in a year. then there was the song we all had to sing before the films started, I can remember it even now, but suffice to say it was all about how we were all jolly pals together – corny or what.Â

There was also a series of ABC Minors badges you could collect, wish i still had mine, probably very collectable these days and worth a bob or two. Usherettes ( not a job option these days) would stand down the front below the stage in the interval, in their red uniforms, selling choc ices and sweets such as Old Jamaica, a sweet imitation of tobaco, you wouldn’t get away with that now. It was a simpler age, not always better, im sure many of the kids still went out after the show and caused mayhem, shoving bangers up a cats arse or nicking sweets from Woolworths pick and mix – I always went for the raspberry ruffles. Nice to see the old place put to good use, the day after I was there, they had an afternoon tea dance-isn’t that what Max Mosley called his little parties? or is that just my smutty mind.

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Not a single drop of drink had passed my lips, yet there I was looking up at a talking moose and surrounded by clinking steins of Bavarian beer and some very British carol singing. Well I was in Manchester and christmas, a clammy fog, and frost, were in the air. What a welcome back to England for my 10 day pre yuletide visit.

Staying with the lovely Pam, I was starting on the first leg of my trip, with a visit into Manchester city centre to check out the shops and the big street markets. The millenium type, big wheel was still standing proud by the Arndale centre and shoppers were bustling, less encouraged by the V.A.T cut, brought in a few days ahead of December 1st, and more driven by a Jack the Ripper scale slashing of prices.

The biggest of the street markets was one with a European theme, in front of the Town Hall, loads of crafts and foods, mainly from Germany, France and Holland, were pulling in the punters, but most people wer cramming into the large wooden chalets cum beer kellers, and it was on the roof of one of these that the afore mentioned moose was turning his head and making small talk. We stayed long enough to enjoy the cold before taking the packed Metro back to Radcliffe to thaw out.

Then on to Sunday, we headed out to Liverpool to do the tourist thing and visit the new Liverpool One shopping area, the old site of The Cavern and Albert Docks, thankfully the sun decided to shine, raising the temperature to just bloody cold. The main focus of the day was a jaunt out to nearby Crosby beach, don’t worry, even I wouldn’t swim in this freezing weather. The 2 mile stretch of remote beach is home to a work of art called “Another Place” by Anthony Gormley, the man responsible for The Angel Of The North. As the tide was begining to seep in the 100 human size iron statues stood defiant and alert gazing out to sea.Â

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The identical statues, are 189 cm (6 foot 2) tall and weigh 650 kg (1,400 lb) and based on a cast of the sculptors body, he must have been rather happy when the cast was taken, the statues are much more perky than they deserve to be in such a cold harsh setting. This was just one feature that aroused (a very appropriate word) a lot of complaints when the statues were installed in 2005, initially for a short stay. Before dropping anchor in Crosby, the work had been in situe at Cuxhaven, Germany, Stavinger, Norway, and De Panne, Belguim.

Locals warmed to the iron men and they are now a permanent great tourist attraction and discussion point. Anthony Gormley intended them to represent the ebb and flow of life and our attitude to it, the statues are placed at various points from the shore and the tide covers them as it comes in, so you get a different perspective depending on what time of day and year you view them. They are fixed in place and unstealable but of course are open to every joker in the area. On our visit, one statue had a santa hat and beard added, i’m sure they have featured in many peoples holiday photos, some in poses that would shame a Tory MP.

Despite the shifting wet sand, the biting cold and the fact I was missing a CD Tenerife home game, I as delighted by this whimsical and visual display of art. Now how about something similar on Los Cristianos beach in Tenerife, maybe statues of typically British holiday makers with blotchy sunburn and string vests? Well, it’s only an idea.Â

Limping and dragging its wing, a large seagull flopped off an incoming wave and lurched into crash position on the beach as curious holiday makers looked on. Through the crowd, a sturdy beach buggy with a red cross flag billowing, rolled down to the shore and 2 life guards helped the injured bird into a box and drove it back to their station to contact the local bird park to come and collect it for treatment. Not the most thrilling plot line for an episode of Baywatch, but just one of the small day to day incidents that highlight the compassion, dedication and sheer professionalism of the socorristas (lifeguards) on Las Vistas beach in Los Cristianos.Â

As a dedicated beach bum and avid swimmer I get to see a lot of the work of the friendly team guarding and protecting the beach, and my admiration for them grows daily. Just last week Arona council were holding training courses for another batch of lifeguards, a timely reminder to me, to sing their praises. You can just imagine what sort of problems too much sun and drink can cause, add in people thinking they can cruise to La Gomera on an inflatable airbed and you can see that there is no shortage of incidents on the beach, good job the guards are around. Part of their 300 hours training includes basic first aid for sun stroke, swimming cramp, the odd insect bite and many other bizarre injuries.

Arona council has a multi lingual programme of Barriers Free Tourism, which allows disabled visitors a chance to enjoy the beach and a swim in the sea. Special parking zones, entrance ramps, roll up boardwalks and disabled changing rooms all go to make the beach fun for special visitors but best of all are the socorristas. They have 3 amphibian chairs among their equipment, free for use and purpose built to take disabled bathers into the sea. The guards patiently push and pull the chairs from the reserved decking sunbed area down to the waters edge and help their passengers into the sea and then wait to be called to go in and help them back out. It’s not an easy process but is always conducted with patience, dignity and good humour. The chairs need to be booked 24 hours in advance through the life guard station or on 922761600 and are only used when the green safety flag is flying.

Most people probably think it’s a cushy number watching the peaches on the beaches all day, catching a tan and putting the beach buggy, jet ski and canoe through their paces but with common sense left behind by most bathers, the socorristas have be stay alert. Even now with the rocky base of the beach fountain sealed off by a rope and a warning notice in 3 languages, people feel the urge to slip under the rope and climb up over the wet rocks. Then there is the red flag warning of dangerous waves, it merely acts as a challenge to some visitors.

Never mind, we can all feel safer knowing that from 10am to 6pm every day, the beach patrol will be ready will binoculors focussed, and red plastic torpedos tucked under their arms to stop us getting out of our depths.

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Happy and hung over, the 2,000 strong army of travelling CD Tenerife fans can hold their heads high after a great 1-0 away win against Las Palmas in Gran Canaria yesterday. Those pesky Pios are now another step nearer the relegation zone while Tenerife can use this as a launch pad for their promotion bid.

The Armada Sur gathered at the Royal Oak in Las Americas for a liquid breakfast and a 10am coach trip up to the ferry port in  Santa Cruz. With surprising promptness we were up and running and in good singing voice as we headed up the motorway. It’s a whole hour to Santa Cruz so we of course made our usual half way stop at the Oasis bar for extra singing juice. Sitting outside in the sun we met a middle aged British couple who were heading over to Gran Canaria for a few days break, I think they were suitably impressed when we told them that all the ferries would be bulging with Tenerife football fans.

Arriving at the port we had time to grab a quick beer at the bar and meet some of the other Tenerife fans that had arrived early for the later and faster ferries. Thanks to the television companies wrangling over who should show “El Classico” and when, booking the ferries at barely a weeks notice left us a bit more fragmented than usual. Normally the Armada Sur go on the one hour Fred Olsen ferry into Agaete, an hours drive from Las Palmas, but this time we were booked on to the larger Naviera Armas ferry that takes 2 and a half hours and goes straight into Las Palmas port. As we piled on board the rain arrived but it couldn’t dampen our enthusiasm, neither could over ambitious attempts to smuggle our own beer aboard, the police confiscated quite a haul from the 500 or so fans on board, they said we could have it back later – yeah really!

What a posh ferry this was, most swarmed around the large circular bar downstairs but some of us headed to the top deck where a swimming pool lurked dangerously close to another bar. The ferry company had been warned that we might like the odd half of shandy but even so they ran out of beer after an hours sailing, I was forced to go onto rum and coke, then they decided to close the bars – i’m sure that infringes our human rights.

We amused ourselves with some community singing and dumped a cuddly Tweetie Pie (a yellow Pio and therefore fair game) Â in the pool, instead of drowning it floated ,mockingly, despite our attempts to bombard it. With the bars closed and the prospect of arriving in Las Palmas 2 hours before kick off, some of the Armada Sur decided to slip away from our police cordon and get taxis into Santa Catalina, a busy bar area. The owner of the bar we descended on must have thought it was christmas as we get the beer flowing and invited local shoppers to join our party.

We suddenly realised it was getting very near to the 5.30 kick off and time to flag down some taxis, unfortunately I went to the toilet only to come back and find they had all gone. Luckily I quickly found a cab and got to the ground, the driver wouldn’t go right up to the entrances so I was left to suffer the verbal abuse (I had my Tenerife shirt on of course) of hordes of Pio fans. The General had given us all out tickets in advance so at least I knew the number entrance I needed.

Once in, I joined the swirling flags and colours of the CDT fans in the corner of the ground that we had been assigned. We rode our luck a bit and had our goalie Sergio Aragonoses to thank for some great saves but were giving as good as we got. After 30 minutes Aragoneses made a deep clearance and Alfaro jinked past his marker, Ramos, and beat the home goalkeeper to send the CDT fans wild. Not blessed lately with great defensive performances, we were a bit sceptical about keeping the Pios out, but the team stood firm and the final whistle signalled wild celebrations from the blue and white fans and the inevitable shower of missiles from the Pio fans, of course we didn’t gloat – MUCH.

We had to wait well over an hour for our coach to be allowed out of the stadium car parkbut eventually we were off to the port and up the gang plank. Guess where we stopped first? no, not the souvenir shop, the bar. It was quite a liquid trip home, fair play to our police escorts, they struck their usual menacing poses but left us to enjoy our celebrations in good voice. The crossing seemed to fly by and we were soon on our coach and heading down the motorway to Tenerife South with great memories of another jolly derby day.

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Do you remember boring school trips to stuffy art galleries, where the highlight of your day was noshing your curled cheese sandwiches and thinking that at least it was a day free from the classroom? Art has come a long way since then and the 2 week old TEA, Tenerife Espacio de las Artes, in Santa Cruz, is here to blast those memories away with a wide ranging and challenging array of photos, paintings, sculptures – and even a man with bread rolls tied round his face !

Minimalist, thats the word I was groping for as I entered the 20,000 square metre building in Avenida de San Sebastian. The entrance hall is large, open and with a high ceiling and polished light wood block flooring and leads to a tight spiral stairwell serving the 3 exhibition halls. Tear drop shaped lights hang from the ceiling with long slender stalks welling into glass bowls holding the light bulbs, quite a first impression.

Deciding to be organised about this, I started with La Coleccion in Sala A and let one of the 3 attendants pierce my ticket and usher me inside. The high, bright and white theme is repeated in here with the first 2 rooms housing giant photos of reclining figures, a couple of their subjects none too shy about what they reveal to the camera. I take photos as a neccessity to go with my writing, i’m no photographer, and I’m in awe of those who can master the lens like these exhibitors have. A familar figure reclines in the centre of the second room, Henry Moore’s “El Guerrero de Goslar” (above) has been living on the street in Rambla del General Franco since the 1973 “Art In The Street” exhibition brought several outside sculptures to Santa Cruz.

As I passed through the rooms I noticed that the few visitors on this Wednesday afternoon were outnumbered by the attendants, is it the sign of a good gallery if the security guards eyes seem to follow you around the room? A big chunk of La Coleccion is devoted to Tenerife’s famous painter Oscar Domiguez, who was born in Santa Cruz and died in Paris, where he had become a surrealist. I had only seen bits of his work but was pretty impressed with the works on offer here, he could certainly push a paint brush around.

There’s a nice mix of art at TEA, sculptures form a centre piece in most of the rooms, with paintings, pictures and even video clips around the walls. You can’t beat a bit of abstract work though, and a pair of wellies, squares of stone tiling and a ladder entwined with flourescent light tubes were among some of the more unusual and interesting sights.

Time to adjourn to the library, if Harry Potter and Doctor Who went to school together on a far flung planet, this would be their library. Massive, sprawling and very airey, the contents of the ancient Santa Cruz main library are gradually being transferred, but there are rows on rows of shelves, work desks, comfy sofas, magazine racks amd 36 internet ready computers for free use. The tear drop lights swarm down from the ceiling and when the sun shines through the side windows, the 2 wings are bathed in light amplified by the bright white desks. The attached cafe was not open on my visit but looked big enough to quench a thirst for knowledge.

Onward to the other halls, first the Sala C for Un Arma Visual, a montage of posters and memorabilia of life in the Soviet Union from 1917 to 1953. Stark, regimented and austere as you would expect, but very interesting all the same. And finally Sala B for Cosmos, in search of the origins from Kupka to Kubrick. I’m a bit of a sci fi buff so this was right up my space time vortex. A nice mix of mediums including footage from the space programme and some very speculative paintings. My favourite exhibit of the afternoon was The Last Room – a mental odyssey by Mathieu Briand. This stately cooled white room with sparse furniture and illuminated floor panels played on the senses with eerie background sound effects like breathing and the odd glass breaking, a very odd sensation.

Now about that man with the bread fettish, his name is Tatsumi Orimoto, I only got to see photos and film of his performance art exploits, but on the opening night of TEA, he and a few friends performed live with large amounts of bread rolls attached to their heads. The performance area has seating and awaits the next challenging display.

Emerging from TEA I felt I had been thoroughly immersed in the arts, and felt a lot better for it, it’s a fantastic addition to the cultural life of Tenerife. The shop next door has some unusual gift ideas for the art lover in your life and lots of specialist books on some of the featured artists. If you want to visit TEA, it’s just a short walk along from the bus station, next to Barranco Santos, opposite the African market. Opening times are 10 am to 8 pm every day except monday, entrance is 5 euros for adults, 2.50 for residents, and just one euro if you are over 65 or under 26. www.teatenerife.es

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Sometimes there are great discoveries right under your nose, this proved to be the case with the African market in the Tenerife capital Santa Cruz. Our football coach passes it on the way back from home games and I keep meaning to go and have a nose around inside. It’s referred to as the African market, but the full name is Mercado de Nuestra Senora de Africa (market of our lady of Africa) and many people, myself included, assume that it sells the sort of tacky crafts and souvenirs sold around the bars of the south. Today was a pleasant revelation for me.

Opened on January 4 1944, the arched entrance leads into three spacious courtyards and a very welcome attack on your senses. Flowers, plants, vegetables, meat, sweets, wine and much more, you name it , they have it at one of the bustling shops. The clock tower dominates the centre and the skyline of the nearby area, and today the christmas tree had just taken up residence. Downstairs is another collection of intimate shops including eco friendly food outlets, but your nose will lead you to the large fishmongers market where you can come face to gills with every manner of sea creature caught locally.

Back upstairs, there is a childrens play area, and a selection of cafe bars, including one where you can sit out in the courtyard and watch the shoppers hustle by, I had a coffee at a bar where the bar stools had home made embroidered covers, that seems to sum up the feeling of pride the traders have in their market.

There is one cloud on this happy horizon, the Sunday rastro (flea market) that takes place outside is under legal threat. Residents of a new building in Calle Bravo Murillo, have denounced the rastro for noise and mess, despite it being there long before they came along. The courts have ruled in their favour and banned any stalls within 350 metres of any building, this is potentially a blow a busy local area that also includes a permanent street bazaar in Rambla Azul. The traders in the African market are organising opposition to the ruling and apealing to the local council to find a better solution.

More power to their busy elbows, it’s nice to see traditional markets thriving in the heart of the big hi tech capital that Santa Cruz has become. The African market is open every day from 7 am to 6 pm, and is just a short walk from the main bus station.

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