Lanzarote recipe – “Huesos de Santo”
November 1st is All Saints’ Day and a Spanish tradition is to eat “Huesos de Santo”, which are finger shaped marzipan pieces with a sweet yolk filling. So here is a nice and easy recipe for you to do at home! Anyone with a sweet tooth will love these! Continue reading
Walking in Lanzarote. 30th Oct 2011. Guatiza – Los Cocoteros
A fabulous walk which started yesterday with 25 of us decending upon Guatiza. We headed to the coast from there, and through Los Cocoteros… passing the salinas. We then headed up over the hills overlooking Charco del Palo before heading back to Guatiza.
A big thank you to the staff at the Sociedad in Nazaret for feeding us excellent tapas after our hike. Tremendous value!
Other People’s Experiences – Cathy Hart
Cathy has just recently celebrated her 1st anniversary of living in Lanzarote, and whilst she was waxing my eyebrows recently (which look fab by the way) she talked about some of her experiences. She has very kindly agreed to share her thoughts with you in here… so enjoy reading!
Name
Cathi Hart
Where did you move to Lanzarote from?
I’m originally from London but had been living in Edinburgh for 4 years prior to the move
When was this?
Exactly a year ago… October 2010
Where on the Island do you live now?
Playa Blanca
Did anyone move over with you?
My then partner, now fiancé, Andy
Why did you decide to move to Lanzarote?
I’d been holidaying here for about 10 years & had totally fallen in love with the idea of living here. It just took a while to work out how!
How long after deciding to move, did you actually arrive?
After a false start 5 years ago (I stuck a pin in the map and moved to Edinburgh instead!) it was actually about 18 months of plotting and logistics before we did it. Our first port of call was actually LZ Relocation…. and it really did offer invaluable advice! (Thanks Cathi – that’s what it’s there for! Elle xx)
Is there anything you miss from UK?
Actually not much! Shopping mainly… it never occurred to me how spoilt we were in the UK. I’d give anything now for a couple of hours in Boots!
How often do you return to UK?
I went back for a couple of days in June to see my Mum. Seeing my Mum was great but I hated being back and couldn’t wait to leave!
What are the real benefits to you personally in having made the move?
It’s been a total lifestyle change. I had a tough few years before we moved and being here has enabled me become a lot more positive and optimistic. It really is an island full of opportunities.
What are the downsides if any, of having made the move?
None really. The only thing I’d say that it really is a small island and the ex-pat community does have that ‘village’ culture. There’s not much goes on here without people knowing about it! That can also be a huge plus though… there are some amazing people on this island
Your friends in Lanzarote – what country are they from, predominantly?
Mainly British but not for want of trying!
Could you speak Spanish before you arrived?
Er, no. I could order a bottle of wine but I don’t think that counts?
How is your Spanish now?
I’m actually pretty pleased with how far I’ve come in a year. It’s constantly improving. For the first 6 months I threw myself into everything. I went to classes, the Intercambio groups and had private lessons. Now I just have private lessons and accost as many Spanish people as I can along the way. It is hard as most Spanish / Canarians speak excellent English, so finding people to practice with can be difficult. I do get frustrated with Brits who’ve lived here for years but make no effort to learn. There really is no excuse.
Is your lifestyle healthier, or less healthy, since moving to Lanzarote?
100% healthier! In the 18months prior to moving I really let things slide. Since we moved here I’ve dropped 2 stone and am so much fitter. I do 4 spin classes a week and swim. I have a lot more energy than I did. Touch wood, I’m rarely ill now. I’m sure a lot of it is down to the weather. Sunshine cures all! If there is a downside to all this though it’s the lure of cheap cigs and cheap vino…..
With hindsight, is there anything you would have done differently?
All the advice before we moved was to bring as little as possible with us and to buy new here. Big mistake! Furnishings and furniture are so expensive here and choice is very limited. If we did it again I would ship everything and then decide what we wanted to keep!
Tell us about what you do for a living here?
I’m a beautician and run my own home salon and mobile service – Bliss. I offer a full range of treatments, from manicures and pedicures, facials and tinting, to waxing and body scrubs. I also work with a number of villa owners and management companies offering a bespoke in-villa service for visitors.
Will you stay living in Lanzarote?
Absolutely! I can’t imagine wanting to be anywhere else right now. Living the dream!
What is your website address where people can contact you
www.wix.com/lanzabeauty/bliss or you can call me on 00 34 619 849 416
Lanzarote Retreat
Many of you will know that Alan is in training for his upcoming charity walk of the seven main Canary Islands – and that this training is being overseen by the lovely Mitch.
Mitch has been chatting to Alan recently about a subject close to his heart, and dropped us the following email this morning:
“A friend of mine is setting up a charity to offer British Armed Forces Personnel and their families, who have lost a limb or become disabled whilst serving our country post 9/11, FREE holidays in a specialist rest and recuperation retreat that he is designing and building in Lanzarote.
He needs help getting as much support as possible, so could you please go to his website: www.lanza-retreat.org and if you think the project is a good idea, sign his petition in support of the project.
Please send a similar email to your family, friends and contacts to help build support for this very worthwhile project.
I will be working with him to help in the recuperation of Armed Forces Personnel.
The website is really worth a read and these guys need our help !”
Please do help spread the word. You can also follow them on Twitter HERE
Five Years Already??
Well… here we are… finally at our fifth anniversary of living in Lanzarote. The UK seems so very long ago sometimes… and at others it seems like only yesterday. So what have we learned? Done? Achieved? Been disappointed with?
Ah… you don’t want to hear all that stuff! I did write out an essay this week about our business… our dogs… our personal stuff. But you’d have been stuck reading forever! At the end of the day… are we glad we made the move? Absolutely! Would we ever move back to England? Hell no!
- We moved here with plans to start a business, and to build it to such an extent that we could at least be looking at semi-retirement in an achievable timescale. Thankfully we are actually ahead of schedule on that… despite the credit crunch.
- It is NOT easier here to live day to day than it is back in the UK… but the better weather helps, the fresh air and warmer climate certainly has helped my health (asthma all but gone, and my hip issues are rarely a problem now). Because we have our own business, we can take a day off when we damn well please – and enjoy a stroll along a beautiful promenade just a few minutes walk from home with the dogs.
- We have access to so many beautiful parts of the Island now, and I’m so pleased I took up walking here… I’ve discovered so much that you would miss if you stayed in the resorts, or only explored in your car.
- Alan walked from the northern tip of the island to the southern tip… for charity – look out for another post later today about his next project fundraiser – it’s a goodun!
- We have been interviewed by a number of UK newspapers and magazines about our experiences… as well as the internet interviews.
- We’ve got two amazing dogs – Guido (Beagador) and Pepper (Labrador)
- We’ve made some amazing friends… both online and offline… and we meet new amazing people all the time. There are some of you moving over in the next couple of years that we are very excited about… both for the Island… and on a social basis too – you know who you are!
- We have been able to offer a choice to Alan’s teenage sons – of where to live. Only Sam has taken us up on it… but is now very settled here full time, has an amazing girlfriend (Terrie) and a great job too.
- I’ve learned how to cook – and more importantly to ENJOY cooking! Back in Blighty we rarely got in before 9pm, and were so exhausted that we generally either got a takeaway, ate out, or whipped up a ready meal. Apart from Sundays, that is… when I would do a roast dinner. When we moved here, it was much harder to get instant meals… and we knew we didn’t wish to exhaust the Island’s restaurants quickly or we’d get bored (and broke!) quickly… so I learned to cook things from scratch. Now it’s a pleasure, not a chore – and we cook for friends at least 2 or 3 times a month.
Anyway, it’s our 5th anniversary today – so we’re going to head up to Puerto Calero for a spot of lunch seeing as we have a dogsitter (thanks Sam) … and then maybe nip out this evening for a drinkie or two!
We hope you enjoy the photo gallery – it is simply a few photos of us over the past five years with some friends too… people who live here, and some that we have got to know online too. Apologies that Alan isn’t in very many – he usually prefers to be behind the camera. There are also a couple of photos of this beautiful island that we now call home. Enjoy!
Have a great weekend everyone!
KItten in Playa Blanca needs a home
As you know we’re not cat lovers… so if there’s any way that someone can help this bundle of teeth and claws find a happy home away from our little town, we’ll be very grateful!
Only kidding of course… but it’s actually a serious request. This young cat has been spayed today, so no risk of extra visitors. She is currently living in Playa Blanca but desperately needs to find a new home.
If you can help – then please contact Bernie from 9 Lives Charity on 0034 928 520 781.
Even if you already have too many pets of your own… or perhaps don’t want one… then please pass this information on to someone who may find it useful. All pets deserve a loving home – yes, even cats 
Allan Day – Update
Many of you will have know about the accident that Allan Day was involved in around a month ago… and he has kindly allowed us an exclusive interview to see how he is feeling now, and how the future looks for him and his lovely wife, Elaine (Lainey). If you want to help, both Wax Bar & Legends Bar in Playa Blanca are collecting money to help the couple through this difficult time. You could also buy his CD from HERE. Happy reading…
On the 19th August, 2011, Allan Day was discharged from the hospital in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria and he flew home with his wife Elaine to Playa Blanca, Lanzarote where he was met by Cruz Roja (Spainish Red Cross) and whisked to Playa Blanca in their ambulance. On their arrival home Allan and Elaine were met by a hoard of local residents lining his driveway to welcome them back.
Allan knew he was in for a long haul of recovery and visits to the local doctors surgery and hospital in Arrecife.
One month on, Allan has been informed that his ribs are healing well and he still awaits a return visit to Las Palmas for a scan to confirm his fractured skull is healing well too.
Allan’s wrist was pinned during his treatment and this injury became infected so he was put on antibiotics for a week and the infected area healed.
Although they have experienced a few downfalls with medical procedures and service on the whole, Allan’s medical care has been excellent. Although Spanish is being learned, Playa Blanca’s Adam Morris helped them with communication on a number of hospital visits and many thanks goes out to him.
Right now Allan still waits at home eager to get fit and back to work. His pelvis appears to be healing well and he is just starting to put weight on his legs and in the process of beginning to walk again. His wrist plaster is to be removed in two weeks and physiotherapy will then be in order.
After the hospital recommended a private physiotherapist , to save money… Allan has been doing his own physiotherapy on his right hand which appears to be working well.
Elaine has taken on a nursing role at home and has been a major factor in Allan’s recovery. Elaine has also been working in her new job in WAX BAR.
The local community have pulled together and Wax Bar, Rooftops and Legends have been selling CD’s and taking donations from generous friends and holidaymakers which has helped with the worry of their finances.
Allan remains confident, as he has done from the start, that he will be back working as soon as he can and this will all be announced on Facebook which has been a major lifeline. Being at home alone and injured is hard but Facebook has kept him in touch with all his friends worldwide and has undoubtedly been of great help, keeping him positive and in very good humour.
Allan has a zest for life and is a happy character and will strive to get things back to normal as soon as he can. Depending on his condition he will hopefully soon be back singing his favourite songs round various hotels, pubs and at weddings and during the day he will be back gardening.
He feels he has been given a second chance and is looking forward to spending the rest of his life with Elaine who has been so supportive throughout and thanks all their friends and businesses on Lanzarote for being so generous and supportive including Paul, Nina and the team at La Bocaina, Ange, Dave and the team at MVP… Helen, Mark and the staff at Wax Sports & Entertainment Bar… Rich and Kate and the staff at Rooftops Bar… Stuart, Hannah and the staff at Legends Bar… Roy at Electrobikes for providing a wheelchair, and Alan and myself from Gandy-Draper! Of course there have been so very many people who have been such a support to Allan and Elaine… and it would have taken him hours if not days to write everyone’s names (especially as he only has one working arm at the moment). You all know who you are… and he thanks you all from the bottom of his heart.
The recovery is not over yet by far, but has been made much easier by the ex pat community who have rallied round, pulled together and given so much hope. Allan and Elaine feel so humbled and personally overcome by so much love and support that people have given them.
Community spirit has prevailed.
After 5 years on the Island Allan and Elaine look forward to many, many more years in Playa Blanca. surrounded by friends who have, in many ways, made it so possible.
A note from Elle: Allan has insitsed that we also mention how handsome he is – so we have added this little gallery so you can indeed see that a picture paints a thousand words… and a gallery paints many many more!.
Due Diligence
Due Diligence: A term most people who’ve been in business at any point in their lives will be familiar with. A simple definition in business terms might be “due diligence refers to the process of making sure that someone is what they say they are and can do what they claim (eg, does the product really work, do they really have customers, etc. )”.
If you’re moving to Lanzarote, you may want to take this a bit further and apply this to your everyday life!
I’ve written before about the sharks on the island, but here’s a recent example.
A friend of ours came over to stay last year for a number of months. At first he loved it, everyone was really nice, friendly and welcoming. But, before long, once people realised he was here for a while, it started….
“Who’s cleaning your pool”?
“Do you have a cleaner”?
“Are you buying a house”?
These statements, of course not always, but often, translate to – “give me a job” (nothing wrong with that really, that’s just networking)….
Or, far more cynically, “I have a mate that does that”… and they will give me a few Euros for the introduction (In which case the quality of the work or the service is irrelevant to the person making the introduction – they only care about the percentage offered).
Newcomers should always be aware that people all too often have an agenda – what seems like an innocent and helpful bit of matchmaking results in a proverbial ‘brown envelope’ for the introduction. What does that mean in real terms? YOU are paying for that.
There’s a real ‘back-hander’ culture on the island (as we’re sure there is anywhere you get a gathering of ex-pats) – personally we don’t like it, or get involved, but lets face it, it happens everywhere. Caveat Emptor!
But, perhaps worse than that there’s an element, albeit a small element looking to fleece the newcomers… Please, please be on your guard. Trust no-one – including us – until you know them. Do your Due Diligence, take nothing at face value… Or you may pay a high, or sometime catastrophic price. Not everyone is what they seem. We talk about taking off the rose tinted glasses on the home page of this site – you’re risking a lot coming out here, with good reason.
Alan
As a note on the content on this site – we only recommend people and businesses we know and trust. If we find out they haven’t lived up to expectations we will either drop the article, remove details or take some other action. If we do not know them we’ll make that clear, if we know that they are untrustworthy, then they won’t be on here – and if asked a direct question – as we would giving a job reference in the UK – we will not comment rather than get involved in some of the petty back-biting that rears its ugly head here from time to time.
Other People’s Experiences – Ian & Maureen Rosenberg
A few short weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Ian and Maureen Rosenberg… who own and run Tootsies Fish Foot Spa in Playa Blanca.
Normally I would talk about how people are newcomers to the Island, and how they settled in etc… but this story is a little different.Happy reading!
Ian originally came to Lanzarote in 1987 after a chance conversation at one of his photo developing shops back in the UK. A customer had popped in, and recommended the island as a good place for Ian to go and unwind. Well… unwind he did… as he didn’t leave until 1997! Nestled comfortably in Punta Mujeres, Ian enjoyed his decade here. However, in 1997 he fancied a change, and so headed to Malaga on the mainland, where he supplied gaming and fruit machines via his company, “Unimac”.
Maureen is a qualified nursing practitioner, and moved to Malaga in 2000, as Maureen Willis). In 2003, she met Ian and the romance of the century (I can hear you laughing now Ian and Maureen as you read this) began. They were married in Las Vegas in 2009.
Throughout their relationship however, Ian often reminisced about his beloved Lanzarote and made it clear to Maureen that he would love to return. And so they started coming over for holidays… exploring every inch of the Island as Ian proudly showed the Island to Maureen. Eventually, in November 2010, as Maureen and Ian were shivering in the Spanish winter… she said “Why are we still here?” And so the plans for moving back to Lanzarote began.
In May 2011, Ian and Maureen landed, and got settled into their new home. Ian is fluent in Spanish, and so got stuck straight in meeting up with people he had kept in touch with over the years, looking for suitable locations for the business. It wasn’t long before he found the perfect spot.
They opened “Tootsies Fish Foot Spa” in CC Papagayo in Playa Blanca in the summer of 2011, and were packed to the rafters from the first day! People come back again and again once they have tried the treatments. I myself had my reservations… but Ian put my mind completely at rest. I of course had seen these types of shops springing up around… but was concerned about hygiene as I’d only seen spray soap in some of them – buit Tootsies uses proper sanitiser. I also had concerns about the health of the fish (had tropical fish growing up… and know that a fine balance is needed to keep them healthy and happy) but was very relieved to hear that the water gets filtered eight times per hour! Certainly, upon my close inspection… the fish look extremely healthy.
If you’ve never had this done, do give it a try. The sensation is bizarre but certainly not unpleasant, and the little critters certainly made a difference to my talons.
There are discounts available for group bookings, as well as for residents or people who have property here.
You can contact Ian and Maureen via their website at www.tootsiesfishfootspa.com
Hearty congratulations are also in order for Maureen, who this week has become a very proud grandmother. Our best warmest wishes to the new baby and her family.
(My most sincere apologies to Ian as I unwittingly gave him the surname of Maureen’s ex husband originally! Sorry Ian! All fixed now and I will make it up to you over dinner and drinkies at Casa A&E very soon!)
New Iceland Catalogue Out Now – July to Dec 2011
Update: This catalogue is still valid for early 2012.
The new Lanzarote Iceland catalogue is out now. You can get your copy by clicking on the picture to the right. It will open in a new window. You will need Adobe reader to access it, but your computer will prompt you for the free download if you don’t have it already.
Please don’t enquire about Iceland products via email to our site, as we are not affiliated with Iceland in any way… we just like their service.
You can contact them via email on icelandlanzarote@gmail.com – simply place your order and they’ll confirm delivery.
Enjoy!
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