Word: gomera
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Maria Garcia is as hip as any 11-year-old in Seoul, Seattle or Sydney. Here at the Lomada School on La Gomera, the second-smallest of Spain's seven Canary Islands, she has a cell phone tucked into the waistband of her trousers, which leave a fashionably bare patch of tanned tummy. But Maria and her classmates are also masters of a form of low-tech communication that doesn't require batteries or microwaves. Along with about 1,800 other schoolchildren on this rugged volcanic island, Maria is a student of El Silbo, the Gomera whistle, a substitute language...
...Igualero there was only one public phone as late as 1993. Townsfolk used their traditional whistle language to announce, "Call for you, Pedro!" Today, La Gomera remains home to about 18,000 residents, and tourism is helping to stanch emigration by those no longer able to make a living from farming or fishing. Ferries make the 40-minute trip from Tenerife, and one of the attractions, apart from a rich flora in the cloud-shrouded peaks, the highest of which is just under 1,500 m above sea level, is the chance to hear whistle-speak. When Eugenio Darias...
...near enough to Columbus' larger ships in rig and burthen to enable us to cross the ocean under conditions very similar to those of his day. . . ." In the Capitana they explored the European end of Columbus' routes, then headed back across the Atlantic. "Our crossing from Gomera to Trinidad was approximately on the route of [Columbus'] Third Voyage, and we made exactly the same Trinidad landfall. ..." Later they explored his routes along the Spanish Main, and Professor Morison kept retracing the Caribbean until the war made him stop...
...museum at Santa Cruz, the capital of the islands. There are also many who believe that the Guanches are direct descendants of the Cro-Magnon man and skull measurements seem to verify this. Among interesting relics left by these people are the rock drawings on the island of Gomera, the southern-most of the Canaries...
...trip ended at the Canary Islands, where we encountered the relics of the Guanches. On the island of Gomera, where Columbus outfitted before setting sail over unknown seas, is still to be seen the typically Spanish, whitewashed stone house, patio, and garden, where Columbus was entertained during his stay. The present owners of the building are descendants of those who gave hospitality to the famous explorer...
| 1 |