Land and people
Knowing Lanzarote - Land & People
Lanzarote is no ordinary island. Formed by volcanic eruptions, this isle is unique and original. The very earth is turned inside out, more than a third of the island is covered by black lava and grey tuff, clinker and volcanic sand. Streams of lava, hardened over the years, but still seemingly fluid in appearance, thread their way through the barren earth. More than 250 years ago Lanzarote experienced the Story of the Creation again. In the Timanfaya National Park, home of the Fire Mountains, are so called “moonscapes”. From these one can really get an idea of the “sea of silence” and the powerful forces which are massed and captured beneath the earth’s surface. Yet the mountains give a tranquil impression, as though little villages were buried beneath them. Here and in other parts of the island art has been made without artists and the landscape has been sculpted without landscape architects.
Nature bequeathed the area with bizarre sculptures, painted the stage sets and wrote its own dramatic script. The island’s many contrasts are a constant source of excitement. The whitewashed houses, the black fields covered with picón (a volcanic rock and granules of lava), planted with corn and onions. Lime green, yellow, tomato red against a dark background. A dromedary draws the plough, the magos (farmers) still harvest together, from field to field. Solitary palm trees, their plams softly curling over to form a shady roof. The softly sloping mountains change their colour according to the light. He who seeks it, can find surrealism “in real life”. Natural stone walls thread their way through the planes. Wine and figs thrive in the man made craters (La Geria).
It is worth taking a walk along the west coast. On some days the on shore winds throw up rainbows in the spray. Sharp-sided blocks of magma stand out, giving the impression every now and again of figures.
Then there are the white beaches in the south – Papagayo – they are still protected against property development, but the crowds have long since arrived. They are the island’s most beautiful beaches.
Lanzarote has no woods, very few springs and no ground water. The Harmattan, Sirocco and Levant are all desert winds which have brought sand from the Sahara, which, in turn, creates new deserts. But in earth can flourish. Poppies and daisies and much besides grow after infrequent rain falls (predominantly in winter).
He who visits at any time apart from high summer can find surpringly sumptuous vegetation in the north. This is especially surprising for this dry island. Haría is a good example. In the valley of a thousand palm trees, a grove houses a village with a strong Moorish flavour.
Lanzarote possesses elemental force and aesthetic power. The architecture was adapted to the landscape. A solitary tower block in the capital Arrecife acts as a warning against high rise developments. The tourist trade was concentrated on three villages: Puerto del Carmen, Costa Teguise and Playa Blanca.
The people of Lanzarote are unassuming, hospitable people; they are slightly reserved, but their reserve has nothing cold about it. They have a happy disposition, one can see that they work hard, that the older people have known deprivation; that makes them tough, but not hard. Lanzarote, known of old as Tyterogakaet, Tyteroygatra or Tarakkaut is the most north easterly, the strangest, most original and impressive island of the whole archipelago of the Canary Islands.
