All about
Your expat
SEARING: Mallorca hits 40ºC
MALLORCA is to bake again this weekend after the European wide heat waves saw the hottest June on record with temperatures hitting 40ºC Medical teams on the island are preparing themselves to treat sunstroke victims after three people died across Spain in the last ten days. The soaring temperatures have been driven by hot air from Africa which reached Mallorca first before spreading to the rest of the country. Tragically a 36-year-old British woman on the Costa Blanca is among three people believed to have died from heat-related causes during the onslaught. The woman, who was not named, tragically died after getting into a pool in Orihuela and suffering convulsions. Authorities are suspecting heatstroke as the possible cause of death. Meanwhile a 93-year-old Spanish man fatally collapsed during the heat in Valladolid, and a 17-year-old boy died after jumping into a swimming pool in Cordoba. Highest-ever temperatures were recorded in seven monitoring stations around Spain, while 26 saw their hottest June days in history.
BURNT
The Catalan city of Lleida, for instance, saw its previous monthly record of 40.6ºC smashed by a 43.4ºC spike than began on June 24 last week. Spain’s highest temperature, a seething 44.4 °C in Badajoz on June 29, was still shy of the country’s alltime record of 46.9ºC from Cordoba in 2017. The searing temperatures, caused by high pressure and winds from the Sahara, have also sparked wildfires all over Spain. Firefighters battled blazes not seen for 20 years as 500 operatives controlled a 6,000-hectare conflagration near Tarragona, in Catalonia. Meanwhile on the Costa Blanca, thousands of Washingtonia and date palms burnt in the UNESCO World Heritage orchards of Elche. Trees were scorched in four separate orchards during the early hours of Saturday morning, before 31 firefighters put out the reportedly ‘intentionally started’ blaze. The hot weather turned into tempests in the northern region of Spain on Wednesday, while temperatures have platead nationwide just above the 30°C mark.
FREE
Vol. 3 Issue 58 www.theolivepress.es July 5th - July 18th 2019
Why aye read the Olive Press when I come to Toon
What happened when Letizia met Loach?
956 680 741 – 696 448 347 turmares@turmares.co m Avda Alcalde Juan Núñez, 3 www.turmares.com
E
UROPE’S most southerly town looks out across the Strait of Gibraltar where two mighty continents collide. But the clash of cultures is entirely geographic. Indeed, Tarifa radiates such a calming vibe it would threaten to relax the mighty shoulders of the titan self but there’s no danger Atlas himof the sky falling down...Hercules’
cal pillars (Gibraltar andtwo mythologiMusa in Morocco) have Mount Jebel lieved him of that burden.long since reShaded by pine forest, cushioned by soft dunes, and 14 kilometres from Africa, this Costa de la rribean-copy beaches Luz gem’s Caand laid-back vibe set it apart from the tured resorts along the more strucMalaga coast to the east. And that’s unlikely to change thanks to Tarifa’s protected location in El Estrecho Natural Park. The coastal town in Cadiz an endearing mix of beach province is bum bohemianism and boutique added attraction of greatchic, with the restorative Atlantic winds.seafood and It makes it the perfect escape (along Continues overleaf
SERENE: An inlet near Barbate, horse riding in El Palmar and arch in Tarifa PERFECT PLAZA: In Vejer
Find out why on page 3
A SECURITY guard who witnessed a horrific ‘balconing’ death has slammed a Facebook ‘league table’ mocking deaths from balcony falls. Diego Quintes has labelled the ‘Balconing Mallorca’ page as ‘disgusting,’ recalling the horrific incidents he witnessed working in hotels in the 1990s.
In the sickening ‘league table’ of injuries and fatalities, the UK comes top with six ‘points’ allocated for three injuries and one death. “I found the website disgusting and insist it must be banned and those who run it jailed. “I still have nightmares about the things I’ve seen, just imagine somebody that’s falling from 13 stories high and knowing they are going to die,” Quintes told the Olive Press this week. “Often you find them still alive, trying to move and talk to you, asking you to please help them. “And what makes matters worse are the actions of other holidaymakers, taking videos and pictures from their balconies,” he added. ‘Balconing’ sees holiday makers attempt to climb onto balconies and either jump from room to room, or into a nearby pool. Some sick memUntitled-1.pdf 1 bers 16/06/2017 15:36 of the balconing Facebook group have TOUGH TALK: Diego Quintes blasts trolls posted messages en-
M
TRAVEL INSURANCE
Y
DISGUSTING: Balconing Mallorca Facebook ranks fatal falls couraging more ‘stupid’ and ‘drunken’ tourists to attempt these life-threatening stunts. They even have a petition on Change. org as part of a provocative campaign to have balconing made an Olympic sport. “The ‘balconing’ has not only put Magaluf on the world map of risk sports but is also an effective catalyst of natural selection. “Each year, a handful of drunken tourists choose to eliminate their genes from the evolutionary race, thus allowing the fittest – the least stupid, in this case – to occupy their biological niche. “The solution to ‘balconing’ is more ‘balconing,” reads the caption accompanying the petition.
CM
MY
CY
CMY
K
96 626 5000 +44 (0) 1353 699082
Tarifa
Daily Trips – Whales & Dolphins Glass Bottom Boats The largest underwater view in the Strait
Former security guard slams Facebook page mocking British holidaymakers killed in Mallorca balcony falls
UK BASED
www.globelink.co.uk
SOUTHERN COMFORTS
TURMARES Responsible whale watching
July 2019
It’s not just the infamous Atlantic wind that keeps the Costa de la Luz so spiritually chilled, discovers Tim McNulty
SICKOS FIND out on page 3
C
for Spanish residents
10TH ANNIVERSARY SUPPLEME NT
osta de la Luz
www.theolivepress.com
E IV US CL IC EX P
Scorched
voice in Spain
Don’t miss our FREE supplement inside with everything you need to know about the Costa de la Luz
C
Avenida Rey more Jaime on 1, Santa Find out pagePonca XX 0034 871 510 277
This distasteful move comes just weeks after a 20-year-old British man, named as Freddie Pring, died on June 7 after falling from a hotel in Magaluf. Quintes, who moved to the UK in 2002 after falling in love with a Brit, wants to see firm action taken against these balconing ‘trolls’. “These people should be forced to see the aftermath of these horrific accidents so they can see with their own eyes the devastating consequences of what balconing has caused not only to the families and friends of the deceased but also to the first responders to the incident, “I don’t know how they make fun out of this. They should be prosecuted.” Opinion Page 6