Madeira News Blog

TODAY’S PHOTO : Thanks to Vic … "This owl was under the airport but why in the middle of the afternoon who knows. You can see where it has last fed from the blood on its feathers".

"In a few minutes we will leave our berth in the marina, when we have filled our diesel tanks we are off to Ilhas Selvagens, about 160 nm south. The wind is very weak, therefore it will probably take about two days to get there. Then we are staying at the islands for 48 hours, that’s as long as our permit is valid. The islands are a nature reserve and bird sanctuary that’s way you have to obtain a permit here in Funchal". CAPTAIN CANTARE B LOG

"Madeira is all about water. The heights are usually clothed in clouds, so that even if it doesn’t rain there is plenty of moisture to feed the streams and rivers that have carved out the deep gorges and valleys. This moist climate contributes to making it a Botanists dream …". Quite a good read from a visitor here. MADEIRA HIKER 

Many thanks to Elaine in Garajau for yesterday’s news translations :

Retailers threaten Chinese trade in Machico. More detail about this story. The retailers are concerned and in consternation about two large Chinese bazaars opening at the end of November. They will sell almost everything (clothing, school supplies, hardware, computer equipment etc.). The smaller store of about 500 square metres will be in the Edificio da Torre, where Maxmat is. The megastore of 3000 square metres will cover the entire first floor of ‘Machim Centrum’ in the centre of the city.  The latter building was designed as a shopping centre of excellence. Manuel Severino, a hardware shopkeeper said that he is not against the shop itself, just its size. "It will  be a stagnation of trade because the Chinese stores have prices much more competitive than ours. People know that it is best to buy the traditional products, but the decline of purchasing power makes them go to Chinese stores because it’s cheaper." The economy in Machico is already fragile and the traders want just traditional trade in the heart of the city. They think at least a dozen shops will be at risk and that the Chinese shops do not come to invest, just to make a profit. The President of ACIM said, "It will certainly be a funeral and a disaster for the city’s business, which consists mostly of small and medium enterprises, all of a  traditional nature." He does not believe these stores will be granted a licence and if so, they will proceed with an injunction. The mayor says he is sympathetic but if everything is legal, they cannot refuse a licence just because the store is Chinese. Licensing is the responsibility of the Regional Department of Commerce, Industry and Energy (DRCIE) but they state they have not received an application for either of the stores. The caption to the photo states that work to adapt the centre has already begun.

Poverty in the street. The shopkeepers in Rua do Carmo are upset about the homeless eating their dinners by their shop fronts and leaving food scraps and bottles. As today is International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, Social Security are are about to launch the Regional Plan for the Homeless 2009 – 2011 to bring together all the institutions to help the homeless. The volunteers presently distribute food in the Largo de Phelps but they want the homeless to be directed to the Association for the Protection of the Poor night shelter, and canteen in the Rua do Frigorifico. In 2007, the survey showed 80 homeless men with either alcohol or mental health problems. At present, the shelter has only 15 beds and there will be a new night shelter next year to double the number of beds.

Neighbours of Santagro can’t breathe. "If it wasn’t for the smell, this would be paradise," says Fátima Baptista, who lives near the tourist complex Inatel in Santo de Serra. She came for holidays to Madeira twice a year and has now emigrated from England to here. The smell is from a pig farm and is worsening, especially during the summer. The Inatel hotel also complains, saying they have lost hundreds of customers. There have been complaints sent to the City of Santa Cruz, the County Medical Officer and to the Regional Directorate of the Environment. The manager of Santagro says that Inatel knew of their existence before they built the complex. To modernize, in an attempt to reduce 95% of the smell, they have applied for EU funding. The complaints have been passed from department to department and the present law does not take odours into account. The Directorate of the Environment said that the company will have to adapt and they will ensure this happens.

Regional drinks at reduced rate. The European Parliament is expected to approve on Tuesday, the continued  application of a reduced rate of excise duty on rum, liqueurs and other spirits of Madeira and the Azores. This should be until the end of 2013 and is considered necessary for the survival of the local industry. There are eight producers of rum/liqueurs on Madeira. In the Azores, nine companies produce liqueurs and thirty-eight produce brandy. Virtually all products are sold regionally. There are 130 associated employees in Madeira and 90 in the Azores. In Madeira, cane sugar cultivation and processing and fruit farming provides employment for about 1000 family-run agricultural businesses.

Madeira in the scene in Lisbon. A newly-launched show, ‘Grab what is honest’ in Lisbon ends with an invitation to the audience to visit Madeira during the Flower Festival. This social and political satire ends with dancers in a colourful display of Madeiran flowers and the traditional instruments like the brinquinho. It was an idea of the producer after seeing tourist pictures of Madeira and is supported by Madeira Islands Tourism. It will run for six months.

Madeira maintains the lead in national tourism. In national tourism, Madeira had the highest average nights stay in August, although it dropped from 5.7 nights last year to 5.5 nights this year. The national average was 3.2 nights. In all regions, apart from Alentejo, which has a short average night stay (mainly weekends), all areas have decreased. Madeira’s occupancy fell from 77.3% last year to 68.4%. Average was 62.6%. The drop in overnight stays in Madeira means that the increase in the domestic market has not made up for the decrease in English and German tourists.

Funchal is the top cruise port in the nation. 211,143 passengers in the first seven months of this year. Lisbon is the second port with 194,634 passengers. In Portugal, the number increased by 5.4% over last year. The cruise industry handles 10 million Americans and 5 million Europeans. In 2020, the estimate is that there will be 10 million European passengers. Presently, 3% of Americans and 1.3 – 1.5% of  Europeans go on a cruise. Estimated that by the end of this year, 49% more Portuguese will go on a cruise than last year.

Centre for Arbitration in Consumer Complaints have intervened in more cases this year. The highest number of complaints have been about properties, followed by cars, appliances, laundries, clothing and footwear, then Timesharing. This organization was set up by the Madeiran Government and can only handle complaints related to purchases in the region and if the value does not exceed 30,000 Euros. It is voluntary arbitration between the customer and the business, in an attempt to prevent a court case.

22 farmers from Normandy visit the Centre for Sheep Farming. Farmers with sheep, cattle, wine and agriculture in Normandy, France, are interested in practices used here including the utilization of by-products of the agro-industry to feed sheep and the use of cane sugar by-products for bedding. They were surprised by the lack of brucellosis. The Centre (COM)  in the Santana municipality has a breeding herd of about 180 sheep of the breed Bergshaf. ——-Translation toolbar mis-translation ‘Centre visited by 22 sheep’.

Forum Madeira has 10 bicycles for clients. If you have purchased more than 10 Euros from Forum Madeira, you can apply at the Information Desk (Floor 0) to hire a  bike to cycle along the Estrada Monumental between the Forum and the roundabout ASSICOM Piornais. From 16 October.

Crewman of the National Geographic Explorer had to go to HCF. The ship had set sail for the Desertas yesterday when a 44 year old crewman had heart problems, and the ship had to return to Funchal, so he could attend the hospital. The ship has now gone to the Canaries. ——It does not say if they still had their 1 hour stay at the bay of the nature reserve.

Electricity will increase by 2.8% next January. It will increase 2.9% on the Continent and 2.7% in the Azores. For the average 40 euro monthly bill, this will increase by just over 1 Euro.

A quick peek at today’s headlines :

Nacional suffer but continue in the cup – The Madeirans were losing 1 – 0 but they made a comeback in the second half. That could have been embarrassing, and even worse if Varzim had scored their first half penalty. There are a couple of videos from the game on footytube.

Marítimo play their home cup fixture today at 4 pm against Santa Clara.

The main headline today in the Diário : Illegal immigration has accomplices in the region : There is assistance for the contracting of illegal foreign labour, people that place staff in restaurants and women in prostitution. Yesterday two women citizens from Latin America were detained, caught ‘red handed’. This year already 21 legal actions have already been opened. The regional director for border controls says the situation here is not as rife as in other parts of Portugal, but nether-the-less there are 10 cases here under investigation. The contacts and the contracts are initiated by restaurant owners and ‘pimps’ on Madeira. The majority of the cases relate to restaurant staff, with Brazilians coming and staying here illegally, on the back of an agreement between the two countries that allows entrance to Madeira for a period of three months without authorisation documents. Those responsible risk fines of between €2,000 and €15,000, but are not deterred. The Diário does make the point that none of the cases known about involve anyone been taken (kidnapped) or working against their will. Hard to believe that there is profit for anyone to be made in employing or supplying illegal immigrant labour, with such high unemployment here and our low wages. With the reluctance of local businesses to take on foreign labour as well, I can only imagine that the restaurants involved are not normally those serving traditional Madeiran cuisine.

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Please use the comments here for general chit-chat, or feel free to ask any questions … someone usually has an answer.

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TODAY’S PHOTO : Thanks to Tobi … Sheep … rare beasts here.

The other day, someone gave me one of those English language newspapers that are published on Madeira. I don’t normally get to see them, being a bit out in the outback, but I was surprised to see an article about Ribeira Brava, describing it as "a small bustling town which (with?) a myriad of bars, cafes and restaurants as well as a newly built esplanade". Oh how I wish it was bustling, as since the construction of the via rápida, various road restrictions, and very expensive parking, the loss of European funding, and add to that the tight financial situation, bustling it is definitely not. Nearly everything closes early at night, and you won’t find a restaurant open after 10pm unless you know where to look and don’t mind a bit of a hike. As for the sugar cane factory, I didn’t know we had one … so I have learned something today and will try and track it down, though I think now the season has finished. Our town has just this week lost it’s only specialised ‘sexy underwear’ shop, which is a great loss. When sexy underwear is no longer available, then the crisis must be biting hard, although fortunately it won’t affect me directly.

Don’t forget that news / articles will be posted at various times during the day – Check back regularly and keep yourself up to date.

Please use the comments here for general chit-chat, or feel free to ask any questions … someone usually has an answer.

You can email blog@madeira4u.com with any large contributions or comments.

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(11th June). Today’s main news headline : ‘Works Costing €83 Million Get Thumbs Down From The Auditors – Madeira is one of the regions of Portugal where projects get more attention from the Accounting Tribunal. The ‘fails’ in 2008 hit 15.2% of the contracts put forward by the government and councils of Madeira’. The auditing body refused to ‘pass’ as acceptable expenditure contracts worth €631 million across Portugal, with €83 million of that total here in this region, according to the report for 2008 released this week. Certain types of contracts need pre-approval by the TC (accounting tribunal) before they can proceed, and it seem that either Madeira gets a lot of attention, or the worth or quality of the proposals is low. The report says that most permit refusals  were related to "contracts of a financial nature referred by local authorities" and of "supply to the regional government of Madeira". The TC also includes the case of Machico, where they have found "irregularities in the amount of 19.2 million Euros". According to the report this was because measures were not taken to prevent "illegal practices in the authorization of expenditures and commitments". Nobody likes an audit, but I suspect that this lot are the only thing that stops Uncle Bertie running Madeira as if it were his own back garden.

The main picture today shows a farmer and young boy helping to shear a sheep in a rural location : ‘Dedication Supports Tradition Of The Shearers – The wool of a sheep is not worth more than €0.75 and really no longer has a market’. Young Diogo is 13, and wants to be a shepherd when he finishes school. School for him has not gone well, and he feels more at home with a pair of shearing scissors in hand. He doesn’t yet seem to understand what a dull life it is, with very little reward. The passion for the work is shared by the 80 members of the Association of Cattle Breeders of the Serra do Poiso, who together have around 800 animals to raise, and they do it through like and stubbornness. The wool itself sells for €0.50 per kilo, and a good sheep provides around a kilo and a half, so it is really not worth the effort financially. A lovely story about the lives of the shepherds, but it doesn’t really belong on the front page of a newspaper.

‘Another Disappointment Before The Holidays – Queiroz took the opportunity to try out players in Estonia but the performance (0-0) was again mediocre’. That pretty much sums up last night’s friendly football match as Portugal went  to Estonia.

It’s not in the newspaper yet, but the story has already broken on this blog that Manchester United have accepted an offer for around €90 million for Cristiano Ronaldo. If all terms are agreed, he will be a Real Madrid player by the end of this month.

(10th June). There was an article about more problems with the tendering process for the redevelopment of the Marítimo Stadium (Barreiros, Funchal), a project costing €46.9 million, funded by the Madeira government. A complicated piece, so I didn’t attempt to cover it, but I thought the photo might be of interest as to what the stadium will become, or so I presume.

‘Marítimo Player Accused Of Assaulting His Wife’. Fernando Silva is accused of an assault that happened on Sunday, but denies the charge of domestic violence, saying it was just an argument. His wife took the matter to the police after being taken to hospital by ambulance, with injuries to her face and a fractured leg. It’s quite a shocking story, depending on which side you hear, but the sister of the wife says the drunk footballer punched and kicked her sister, and then fled, returning later with more aggression. And it’s not the first time the wife has been to the police with such a complaint.

A new road inaugurated by President Jardim on Tuesday, has turned a ‘shortcut’ into a decent road, at the cost of €1 million, in Santo da Serra. The street named ‘Caminho Mary Jane Wilson’, is named in tribute to a former British Sister and founder of the Franciscan congregation of our Lady of the Victories. She was well recognized by her work, and through the creation of orphanages and schools. There is also a museum in Funchal (56 – 61 Rua do Carmo) dedicated to her.

‘Tenant Protests Against Eviction Order And Destroys Building’. The tenant, in protest about an eviction order from the courts, decided to vandalise his former residence before returning it to the owner. When the solicitor for enforcement went to the building in Funchal to follow the court order, he was met with a space "transformed into a real dump". Nothing escaped the wrath of the person who destroyed everything he could including structural parts of the property, and the handrail of the stairs, and electricity wiring. It is likely that the owner of the property will prosecute. Watch out if you have a property to rent, as there will be somebody rather undesirable looking for a new home.

Tobi dropped me a line about an invasion of jelly fish. There is nothing yet in the newspaper about it, but they do usually come very year, normally earlier if I recall, and then just disappear again in a few days. Tobi says there are loads at Garajau and also at Lido.