Gran Canaria:
Maspalomas, sunny south,
lighthouse, dunes and mass tourism
Maspalomas,
location
Most of the island's hotel capacity is in the south; those in the north are small. And for good reason, heliotropism ...
We therefore had to accept accommodation in Maspalomas again, but this time in an obviously very recent hotel complex, built on the slopes of the piedmont, old fields of ocher dry earth. a little high, freshly urbanized.
From there, the Maspalomas lighthouse, a famous local landmark, is 3 km as the crow flies almost straight south, down the channeled bed, dry and straight from Charca de Maspalomas.
The surroundings of the airport, but many other sites elsewhere as well, are covered with banana plantations wrapped in their canvas which makes like an ivory shroud with sharp edges.
Except for those in fields which are either fallow or perhaps awaiting the next seasonal production.
Then, the canvas is ripped open, torn, revealing the rusty rods of the infrastructure, and a great chaotic mess inside. Like a feeling of abandonment after a sudden cataclysm.
Rarely, like here in the north, will we see such powerful and flourishing banana fields bare, stripped of their protection.
In this southern part of the island, our gaze is also imprinted on these volcanic slopes which rise rapidly northward above the coast, these dry asperities, as if sterile, the vast and deep crevices of the ravines, the barrancos.
Only graceful Groves of palm trees or very tall euphorbia shrubs or other varieties of plants for dry climates gracefully break the mineral severity, forming tiny oases.
In the immediate vicinity of the west coast, above the urbanized fringe, the almost deserted slopes are harrowed with care in the direction of the greatest slope perhaps to capture the smallest drops of water and collect them.
Maspalomas,
around the lighthouse
Overwhelming with its height the newly renovated old building erected at the same time as it, the Maspalomas lighthouse remains the immovable landmark of the region, and plays on its star status, dominating the surroundings.
In the immediate vicinity, the opulent hair of bougainvillea which splendidly decorated a row of pergolas has shrunk like bald hairs. Pity.
Around Lighthouse, some immediate shops, the nearby bus station are there, intact like before.
But the shopping malls have largely developed all around, as well as the restaurants, the cafes, which skirt the corniche above the sea where the coast remains towards the west. very rocky, along the series of successive hotels.
A meticulous care of maintenance pushes the detail until drawing regular concentric circles in the sand around the base of the trunks of palm trees.
The already blazing sun makes us seek in vain a little shade for our picnic.
The hotel of our first visit has been obviously redone and only retains the name of the chain to which it belongs.
But set back, in a very large space that seems reserved and was not built anymore, we recognize the large and very original luxury hotels of our first visit and, alone behind, the very modern and still pleasant convention center.
Maspalomas,
dunes to play
The mouth of the Charca de Maspalomas is intact, sandwiched between hotel complexes to the west and the famous and still unmissable little desert to the east towards Playa del Inglès.
We do not know if the water comes here, in this small protected ornithological paradise, from an infiltration of the ocean. neighbor through the swelling of the sand of the beach and / or the waters of the barrancos of the north.
The herons and a few other elegant wading birds are still there, patiently fishing and displaying their plumage in the sun.
While on the small rotunda terrace at the entrance to the large beach, an immigrant makes his prayer towards Mecca in a discreet corner, alone, The orange rows of deckchairs and umbrellas spread out on the sand.
Towards the east, the dunes of the small desert of 400 ha begin there, a geological curiosity.
You just have to venture out from the beach to find this almost Saharan feeling, but in comfort, and without any fear of getting lost.
The magic of the marked ridges, the smooth concave slopes of the dunes, the frozen undulations is always the. Letting believe in the immensity during the few moments where are masked the blue ocean horizon on one side, the lower town on the other.
a vigorous wind stretches flat nets of sand at the edge of small natural promontories.
There it was in March 2014. Another light ...
Five years later is illustrated very concretely the answer to the enigma of the Sphinx in Oedipus: the third age, the one where the man helps himself with a cane, here it is.
But worse, the presumptuous old man needs two canes.
Very useful in any case the crutches!
At the top of a dune, a selfie couple, not narcissistic for two cents, twists to freeze their image and share it with his world of "followers".
Between these modest heights (no more than 13 meters) come snuggle up with small groups of tourists lying on deckchairs, well dried from the sun, wind and sand.
By the sea, the crowd of walkers curious always browsing this long beach that runs along the small desert, braving the sand which cuts through the skin and spins out in taut and sinuous drapes, flush with the sand which is sometimes black, almost groomed.
Nothing holds back the offshore wind.
towards the lighthouse and west
to the east and Playa del Inglès
A hut soon flaunts the LGBT rainbow flag around which nudists of both sexes and of all ages gather.
More or less discreet or exhibitionist, sometimes caricatures of flabby and overflowing flesh for the elderly, rare anatomical masterpieces for the youngest, without insisting, they try a bath in this almost icy water, or take shelter in the recessed dune hollows to capture the sun.
On the wide strip of sand, an attitude absurd : what appears to be a German is lying, alone, on a towel in the midst of a violent wind, a wind unbearable for everyone else.
Old Prussian discipline or masochistic pleasure? Both maybe my little corporal.
Gran Canaria,
towards Playa del Inglès
Continuing further east, we reach and we now recognize, on the edge of the small desert which narrows there, fixed thick thorny bushes, a wide track, sometimes wood, elsewhere stone, planted on the sand, on either side of which parade bistros, restaurants, often kitsch shops.
The top mass tourism, where you sit down to sip and contemplate the ocean and the horizon, failing to be able to immerse yourself in it.
Yes, "how not to be a sheep?" as a street ad skilfully hijacks.
On the terrace of one of these brasseries, a talented black pop singer, attracts and retains with his a capela interpretations the passing barges.
Then towards the east, the cliff rises gradually, that of Playa del Inglès.
At its top, some 50 steps higher, a long and beautiful pedestrian terrace overhangs the sea and the bay, skirting very beautiful perfectly private tourist residences.
to the west
to the east, the terraced pedestrian boulevard
Gran Canaria
an invasive carnival
In this spring period, from March 14 to 24 is held in Playa del Ingles the immense " Carnival », With a strong gay connotation, but not only. It is punctuated in the night of March 23 to 24 by a great good-natured parade which brings together all the youth of the island, part of that of the archipelago and a lot of foreigners.
The enthusiasm for this event is considerable. Even in the neighborhood of our hotel, however distant, we measure it by the influx of participants. Each, each made a real and complete effort of disguise, down to the detail. Their overflowing originality, facetious, delusional, recalls often pop characters, trendy series or designs animated, characters from marvels, drag queens ...
To the point that we have to park our rental car on a sidewalk at night, for lack of a real parking space in the street, while it is easy to find it the rest of the time.
The night is punctuated, in the hectic environment of his electro and the bursts of voices of the small groups going then returning, by the frequent sounding of the siren of the cars of the " guardia civil ".
In the early morning of the next day, many of them tried to sleep in their car, because they had not been able to book accommodation, or deliberately avoided it.
In addition to the cans, the sidewalks are littered with a few colored spoils of which many had accustomed themselves, but without letting go of those who lacked civic spirit.
So much so that in the morning, everything is calm, clean and tidy when the tourists departing from an excursion pass the sleepers, car window open, finishing their short night.