COUNTING ON MONTECRISTO

Hello, and welcome to the AFTCAST TENERIFE Afternoons podcast. I’m your host Tim Dowd.

Today’s episode we have an interview with Jill and David from the MONTECRISTO shedding a light on the small bar owners plight during the lockdown, how to survive and what the future may hold, plus the latest on COVID-19 and the Phase II de-escalation and the weather aftcast for last week. Enjoy the show and don’t forget to subscribe. I publish every Sunday night ready for your Monday morning commute or just to start your week off with a little bit of sun…

Talking of sun, here is the weather AFTCAST for TENERIFE week ending June 7th 2020: 

Full-on sunshine last week, the view of La Gomera was clear most days and the temperatures in direct sunlight exceeded 30°C. Temperatures in the shade were in the mid to high 20s not dropping below 23°C at midnight. We ate every meal outside. A spot of rain on Friday freshened things up with the promise of more to come on the weekend. You will be able to return to these podcasts next year to find out what the weather was like in a particular week. Great for planning your vacation.

We have now dropped below 150 active cases in the whole of the Canary Islands. Tenerife has 73 active cases with only 6 new in the past week but all of those were in the northern part of the island. Tenerife Sur has been COVID free for 10 days in Arona and Santiago del Teide 19 days in Adeje and over 30 days in the rest of the southwestern municipalities.

We have been in de-escalation phase 2 since May 18th and plan to go to Phase 3 on Monday, June 8th. More beaches are open; again with physical distancing in place. Restaurant and bars’ inside and outside areas are still accessible at 50% capacity and common sense is prevailing again this week, people seem more relaxed but still on their guard. Our pool in the complex has been open since last weekend with physical distancing and a booking system for a time slot offering a maximum stay of two hours, other complexes do not have the resources to do everything required and so stay closed… Spain is still planning to open up for foreign tourists on July 1st but there is talk of green corridors between certain European cities and some Spanish resorts like the Balearic Islands. The safety measures are still not yet in place but they are finalizing discussions between tourist ministers and other European countries to try and find a safe way to accept visitors from countries in a similar state of de-escalation. Find out next week how Phase 3 works and hopefully what the next steps are going to be. 

The interview today welcomes some good friends Jill and David who run the local watering hole MONTECRISTO which is debatably THE place to be for the local residents of all persuasions with an international clientele… and that is up next… but first…

Thanks to all our Sponsors and especially MATT for your support… you can join him by buying us a coffee at our website www.timothydowd.com and pressing the sponsor button. 

If you want me to review a cafe, bar or restaurant you can also sponsor the visit… Better still come over in person when it’s safe and be a part of the show.

Without further delay and through the power of the internet I will whisk you all back in Time to just yesterday and my FIRST IN-PERSON INTERVIEW… I just want to mention the opinions expressed here are our personal ones and are not connected to the official tourist industry in any way… enjoy…

NAMES: JILL AND DAVID business owners of the MONTECRISTO in CALLAO SALVAJE.

Together with their team of bar staff, they have given refuge to the local residents looking for a place to congregate and have a good old chinwag, a bubbly welcoming vibe for tourists who have wandered off the beaten track and regular returning visitors alike. We are sat here in their outside space which is perfectly spread out and we are complying completely with social distancing guidelines so the mic might be a tad too far away but not to worry… 

Welcome Jill and welcome David to the AFTCAST TENERIFE Afternoons podcast…

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  1. How did you two meet and what did you do before taking over the bar?
  2. What made you make the leap from what you were doing to taking over at the MONTECRISTO?
  3. BIG QUESTION: How prepared were you for the effects of the LOCKDOWN?
  4. Without going into too much personal detail how have you coped and what type of help was available from the government?
  5. Do you think that all of your fellow bar owners on the island will survive as you have?
  6. How do you envisage the road back to some sort of normality?
  7. What advice, if any, would you give to someone who wants to move over here and open a bar?
  8. Do you have any future plans that you can share with us?
  9. is there anyone you want to say Hi to…?

Thank you, Jill and David, for an insight into the workings of the local bar MONTECRISTO which can be found by taking the steps up from the Hiper Dino supermarket here in CALLAO SALVAJE if you’re coming from outside the village you can get a taxi or the bus line 473, drink responsibly and keep safe. It’s time to open up now so I’ll let you get to it… mines a large DORADA…

I hope you enjoyed that I went on to have a second beer and then things became a blur… don’t forget the MONTECRISTO is welcoming everyone just take the steps up the side of the Hiper Dino in CALLAO SALVAJE and follow the sound of fun… 

NEXT WEEK: I have an interview set up with Tenerife’s own Galloping Gourmet, Restauranteur, Radio Personality, Tourist Travel Expert and Golfer with the Rabbits… Mr Peter Quilty, so don’t miss that…

Thanks for tuning in, I publish every Sunday night so subscribe to be notified. We have a Facebook page called Living with MS in Tenerife and can be reached by searching for @LWMST plus we have a YouTube Channel at youtube.com/lwmst with new videos every Tuesday and a website at www.timothydowd.com where you can send me an email or sponsor the show, until next week stay safe and goodbye…