Here I hope for some help…
The plan is to describe the history here…
There is a lot in the newsletters from Alan (before 2023) , but I can not see/get the pictures, only text. It would be much appreciated if someone could help to get the emails with Alan’s Newsletters, with pictures.
Also other history, stories, old pictures etc. would be much appreciated.
I also ask for help to get in contact with Claus Bulling or any of his relatives to get permission to present translated pages from his history book here (see below).
Test – in progress… :
From Claus Bullings book “Charco del Palo Die Geschichte einer Urbanisation”
(From Claus Bulling’s book Charco del Palo The History of an Urbanization)
For our children Jantje and Lars, so they know how it all began.
© 2006 by Claus Bulling, Charco del Palo. All rights reserved. No part of this documentation may be reproduced or processed, duplicated, or distributed in any form (by photography, microfilm, or any other method) without the written permission of the author. (pending)
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For understanding
For many decades, our family has vacationed on the Canary Island of Lanzarote, located off the west coast of Africa. The small coastal town – or rather village – of Charco del Palo in the north of the island, near Mala, has always captivated us with its unspoiled charm, natural beauty, and lack of mass tourism. Eventually, we too bought land here and built a house.
Since we have witnessed the development up to the present day over the past decades and have repeatedly had to answer questions about the beginnings, this short chronicle will attempt to show the beginnings .
A proverb says, ” All that glitters is not gold, ” and that was certainly true at Charco. Wherever a multitude of individualists meet, differing opinions arise, and these diverse views can lead to heated arguments.
We experienced all of this in Charco as well , and thankfully we survived.
The accounts on the following pages are not strictly chronological; rather, the various events are grouped into thematic categories.
While this may result in slight overlaps and repetitions, I believe this format will make the various events more understandable for the interested reader.
Claus Bulling, Charco del Palo, in autumn 2006
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Charco del Palo
Lanzarote is one of the Canary Islands located off the west coast of Morocco, and Lanzarote, along with Fuerteventura and Gomera , is one of the older Canary Islands , as evidenced by the advanced erosion.
The urbanization discussed here, “Charco del Palo” – hereinafter referred to simply as “Charco” – is located in the less touristy north of the island, near Mala, about 27 km from the airport, directly on the coast. The main access road branches off to the right in Mala, immediately after the “Centro de Salud” (Health Center) when approaching from the south. From Mala to Charco del Palo, it is then another 3 km. The entire settlement now covers an area of approximately 800 x 400 meters.
The name “El Jable de Mala” – Spanish for “the sand of Mala” – which was also used colloquially in the past, comes from the predominantly sandy nature of the terrain. The original terrain is comparable to a dry semi-desert, and as is typical throughout the Canary Islands, the sand does not originate from Africa, but rather consists of the calcareous shells of millions of snails, mussels, and crabs that once lived on the island ‘s rocky base, broken up by the waves and surf. Scientists refer to these as carbonate sands .
Two names keep recurring, and their meaning and origin must first be explained:
The name “Charco del Palo”
The Spanish word “charco” can best be translated in our case as the German word “lagoon “.
It refers to the calm water behind a headland or rocky ridge.
This lagoon is today’s ” Padro Bay.” The rocks lying offshore here ensure calm waters in this area at low tide and during periods of low tide.
This sandy area in front of Mala, which, as already mentioned, was also called “el Jable de Mala” (the sand of Mala), formerly belonged to a man named “Palo,” about whom nothing else is known. For this reason, part of the area was also colloquially known as “Charco del Palo” (Palo ‘s Lagoon ).
In earlier decades , this place also had a special significance: one of the most important festivals in Guatiza is still the Fiesta “Christo del Agua” in September.
It used to be common for the women of Guatiza to go to Charco del Palo on the eve of the Fiesta to prepare for the festival .
However, there is another version: If you talk to older residents of Mala, they tell you that in their childhood – around 1920 to 1930 – they always associated Charco del Palo with collecting driftwood for the winter . When they had to collect wood for the winter with their parents, it was relatively easy to gather the flotsam and jetsam here behind the lagoon. In this case, the word “palo” is interpreted in its original meaning as “wooden stake ” in the sense of driftwood .
The name “Castillo de Papagayo”
During one of Gregor Kaiser and Erwin Parschau’s initial visits to the site, a large pile of stones, resembling a ruin, caught their eye. At first , they wondered if a finca or something similar had once stood there, but the owner explained that these stones had been stacked up over generations and had only served as occasional shelters for hunters and anglers. It was a “choza” (a type of traditional stone hut / Shelter) like those found everywhere in the fields of Lanzarote .
This “choza” (shelter) was jokingly called “The Ruins of the Parrot Castle” by Erwin Parschau.
Later, it was claimed that the name “Castillo de Papagayo” was derived from it.
From Alans newsletters: (I do not have the beginning, help?)
The Charco del Palo Story
1 Apr 2021
Charco del Palo. So how did it all start?
In the first instalment about Charco del Palo I gave you the names of the three guys who are the main characters in the whole story, Erwin Parschau, Gregor Kaiser and Helmut Kurzeja, they are all linked not only by the fact they are all German but they also lived in the same area Frankfurt/Koblenz and more precisely from a town called Bad Ems.
Without these three men Charco del Palo would never have existed.
Erwin Parschau.
An Architect from Bad Ems who was on vacation in Tenerife in 1969, could see that buying land and building holiday homes would be a good money making project.
Gregor Kaiser.
Co owner of a business in Bad Ems where Erwin Parschau was a freelance architect, he picked up on the idea and decided to follow Erwin’s idea.
Helmut Kurzeja.
Together with his wife Gerti, they ran the restaurant ‘Der Wilddieb’ (The Poacher) again in Bad Ems and Erwin & Gregor were both customers of the restaurant. Helmut later built the Tunera restaurant.
Erwin Parschau along with his wife were holidaying in Tenerife and immediately he could see the potential for buying land and in particular building holiday homes. During the evenings while talking to local people and learning the language he met a Canarian man Antonio who had recently started his own Gardening business on Lanzarote, he was visiting his home island but in fact now lived on Lanzarote and was working alongside the renowned artist Cesar Manrique transforming what by his description is the Foundation in Tahiche.
He was so enthusiastic about Lanzarote and the potential for the island Erwin enquired about the possibility of buying land and prices. Land in Tenerife had already risen steeply. But what he had seen as an Architect there was money to be made buying and selling land plus building houses and apartment complexes, business was booming on Tenerife.
Antonio the gardener who had many clients on Lanzarote assured Erwin that several of his clients had property & land close to the sea. The best part the price of land on Lanzarote was a fraction of the prices on Tenerife.
One piece of land that immediately caught Erwins attention was situated on the west coast approximately 100.000m2 about 1km long by 100m wide and this was directly onto the sand of La Santa, the price for the land 0.92€ per square meter. This he indicated would be of interest to him and would look into the matter on his next visit to the Canary Islands.
But not to pass up an opportunity Antonio contacted Erwin the following morning and told him that he had been invited along with his wife to view the land on Lanzarote, flights paid for and that they would be back in time to catch their flights back to Germany. The following morning they flew over to Lanzarote and were picked up by an employee of the English land owner, after first visiting Antonio’s project of Cesar Manrique then onward to view the land at La Santa.
Erwin was very impressed with what he saw and could see so much potential using his architects eye. He took lots of photographs of the whole area knowing that with these and a reasonable price he would find one of his friends interested in investing on the island. They agreed a price of what today would be €50.000 for the whole plot 100.000m2 Plus the English seller would set up an S.L. Sociadad Limitada which of course became Castillo de Papagayo S.L.
Back in Germany Erwin laid out a plan to Gregor who wholeheartedly agreed with with him and asked Erwin to immediately fly back to Lanzarote and buy the property for him. It happens that Gregor was afraid of flying.
Buying land was not that easy in the late 60’s but after several discussions with the Spanish consulate in Frankfurt and the bank in Bad Ems, Erwin flew with €50.000 (Pesetas in those days) in cash in a suitcase and was accompanied by a translator over to Gran Canaria then onto Lanzarote. All the documentation was prepared in Arrecife, the money now safely deposited in an escrow account, all that was needed now was the buyer to appear in person to sign the contract.
It was the week before Easter 1969.
At that time Lanzarote did not have any direct European flights, Erwin, Gregor and the interpreter wanted to fly to Lanzarote via Gran Canaria but there was a problem that there where no onward flights from Gran Canaria. So it was decided to take the local Ferry. The weather was extremely stormy with high winds and large seas. This made for a very uncomfortable 8 hour overnight crossing and they arrived in a very exhausted state both in mind and body.
Instead of making a later appointment Gregor insisted that the meeting should go ahead, so they left the ship and headed straight to the meeting with the English seller. Gregor in his exhausted state became aggressive and demanded a discount from the seller if he wanted to continue with the sale.
The Englishman said ‘I am no longer interested in selling to you at all’ Take your money and go away.
I personally would love to find out the exact wording of the last paragraph!
Next month with money in the bank let’s go and find some land.
Footnote: I have made a number of attempts to find out more about Erwin Parschau but to no avail. One person that had some correspondents with him a few years ago was told that he was not at all interested and that as far as he was concerned the story of Charco del Palo was a closed book. How sad.
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1 Mar 2021,
A suitcase full of money, let’s go looking for some land.
After the disappointment with the land sale at La Santa, Erwin, Gregor and the interpreter decided to have a day out driving around the island, looking for places of interest that could be made into a project for building etc. It was decided that maybe the North of the island had what they were looking for and after travelling around they found themselves on the outskirts of Mala where they could see the sand dunes heading off towards the sea.
So they decided to explore the area looking for ways to get to the sea and whilst doing this they unfortunately got a puncture in one of the tyres.
It happened on one of the back streets in Mala right outside the bakery. Well it did not take very long to change the wheel and when finished they asked at the Bakery if they could wash their hands.
Before long they were sitting having a glass of wine plus some bread and cheese with the baker who’s name was Victor Robanya. As they had a translator they soon got into discussions regarding land nearby. And of course our local baker owned land on the Jable de Mala. So they made arrangements to meet the following day to inspect the land. When they arrived it soon became obvious that the land for sale did not extend to the sea but Victor said that many of his family/relatives/friends owned land and he was sure that some sort of deal could be done. Gregor said he would buy his land as long as he could get an assurance of buying the land all the way to the sea.
Finally a deal was struck with two pieces of land being purchased one of 7000 m2 plus one piece that extended to the sea of 11,963m2.
At the notary’s appointment an amazing coincidence happened. Gregor and his companions had to wait because a notarisation was taking place. It turned out that the English seller of the land in La Santa that Gregor had argued with was in fact selling the land to another German guy from Hanover.
A few minutes later the Englishman came out from the Notary’s office smiling all over his face, he had just sold the land for ten times the value he had offered it to Gregor. Some time later the buyer from Hanover resold the land and also made a huge profit.
Gregor’s first land purchase was quickly followed by several more sections being acquired, with a total area of 13ha, for the English contingent just over 32 acres, this being the start of the intended first phase. All the lands purchased were duly registered at the land registry in Arrecife on May 2nd 1970.
Then the bad news arrived, the land purchased was to be designated as a nature reserve by the regional and development department for Lanzarote.
What to do next!
By now the Alcade (Mayor) in Haria was taking note of what was happening in the area of what was to become Charco del Palo, following a number of discussions it was found that many areas on Lanzarote had been designated as Nature reserves, but if there where a number of properties already built on the land then this would be considered a Pueblo (Village) then legally they could have its own Alcade (Mayor). Plus if a number of buildings were found then this would say that an urbanisation was already in place before the new development laws came into effect.
The Mayor at the time also recognised the economic advantages associated with such a project for a place like Mala and the surrounding area. He made the commitment to support the development of an urbanisation used for tourism in Charco del Palo as much as possible.
Gregor was back in Germany at this time, so Erwin went alone looking for any existing houses. But since a house could not be found other than the shepherd’s stone hut, The Choza, he had to come up with ‘a cunning plan’!
Erwin contacted Gregor in Germany and asked him to send a couple of Bricklayers/Masons over to Lanzarote, while these guys were on their way Erwin drew up some plans for a small building with two bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen and a lounge with a high ceiling in the Moorish style. This of course was to be done without any permission or building permits. Plus he also ordered building materials to be delivered, no small undertaking when considering it had to be delivered over the mountain from Guatiza past the old ruin then down the steep hill into the village. Along with the materials he was able to source some machinery and labourers to do the ground work.
The bricklayers arrived and from one Sunday to the following Sunday the ground was cleared, three outer walls were raised on foundations and an open girder ceiling was only laid in the front area of the building, incidentally with reinforced concrete girders that were made for another building and had to be cut to size. Then three windows were borrowed from a window manufacturer and placed in the empty openings.
Light-coloured sacks hung in the windows as a substitute for normal curtains, these were used because otherwise one would partly have seen the sky because of the lack of a roof and back wall. A front door was also borrowed and temporarily installed. So there was nothing inside, just the sand and an empty shell.
Then the three sides of the bungalow were smoothly rendered and painted white on Saturday. Also on Saturday, several trucks with various plants and icon were delivered plus a few dozen geraniums were borrowed – which were returned – these were then arranged for planting.
The plot was framed with field stones and whitewashed with lime and in the front garden geraniums plus other assorted plants this then created a photogenic foreground. Two large green palm fronds were also obtained. These palm branches were then held on a stepladder as if they reached from a palm tree into the picture. The point was to provide photographic evidence that a house already existed. And it worked. Picture below.
With the picture of the house and the stone built Choza, plus the plans of a fictitious house, these were submitted to the local council and were accepted. Charco del Palo now existed as a village. Plus Gregor became our de facto Mayor.
A few points of interest, the building was to be the start of what is still today part of Gregor’s house. Also a local guy still has the windows that were originally used. The bakery in Mala is not in existence anymore, the building is there and it is still owned by the Robanya family. Maybe that’s why the coastal pathway in Charco all the way from North to South is called Avenida Conde Robanya?
Next month plans are made roads are built.
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1 Apr 2021
Now the work begins.
More importantly they needed investment.
The very first people to find out about plans on Lanzarote were of course from Gregor Kaiser’s home town of Bad Ems. It was inevitable that the first prospects for holidays, apartments and land came from his local area in Germany.
Every August in Bad Ems Germany they have a festival called Bartholomaus Market which has a large parade of floats. At the parade in 1970 Maxeiner & Kaiser had its own float which represented the island of Lanzarote and the Canary Islands. Promotional brochures were distributed from the float drawing attention to the possibility of buying property and land in Lanzarote. Also at the festival trips to Lanzarote were raffled off in order to the advertised site more attractive to interested parties.
In order to draw attention to people outside of his local area Gregor placed a large number of advertisements in the national newspapers describing the Lanzarote project.
He very quickly had some success with his very first customer a Dr Hamann who purchased a piece of land right by the sea. More of Dr Hamann later.
After further talks with the Haria Alcade plus plans of the suggested development, oral building permits were given. Now general plan was needed.
It was obvious that trying to bring everything over the mountain from Guatiza was going to be a major problem so it was decided to start by cleaning up the road which of course would mean the use of heavy machinery.
So Gregor sourced an ex US bulldozer from Bad Ems, (Caterpillar, picture below) this was loaded onto a train in Bad Ems and transported by rail to Hamburg and then by ship to Lanzarote. This machine became the main workhorse for many years clearing land and in this case making the road serviceable.
The road starts just behind the Cactus Garden in Guatiza and continues up towards the old Finca, ruin, which can still be seen today, from this point the track was very rough and was then slowly cleared and widened as much as possible, there where and still are Piedra walls that could not be touched so in places it is quite narrow. Then the track drops down into the village onto what was designated Calle Montana Colorado where basically there was a small track that ran towards the Choza then continuing out over what was just a desert a track which is now Calle Seifio.
This took a number of weeks to achieve but eventually the track was finished off. A number of odd things happened while all the work was going on but one in particular that is worth mentioning. On the day the work was finished, a large red truck came down the now drivable track to a point on Montana Colorado, unloaded his truck full of stones across the track right where Casa Lousia is today, he then went to the sea and mixed water sand and cement then built a wall across the street. He wanted 10.000€ from Gregor because he claimed this was his piece of land. Soon after he finished building the wall and left, the bulldozer knocked it down again. A lawyer soon found that the man did not own any land in Charco del Palo. It was the first attempt to extort money.
The Construction of the first buildings.
By this time Gregor had also done some deals, where in one case he sold a piece of land for another bulldozer, a large water pump and a mobile electrical generator in payment for the land. With these pieces of equipment, the most important components were in place to get the planned urbanisation under way.
With a now Spanish architect from Arrecife, the first buildings to be raised were of course a continuation of Gregor’s house and the seven bungalows that are on the left as you now enter the village. The large house on the left just prior was in fact the power and water room. This building was constructed to store water, (Aljibe) plus it had a couple of generators installed. When water and power came to the village the house was completely rebuilt and is now a private residence.
At the same time, The Hamann House was the first in Charco to be built for purely private purposes. It belonged to Dr Hamann from the Black Forest, who also rented the house temporarily, but only to people he knew and liked. It was very spacious and very popular with guests as a holiday property. After his death the property was sold and converted into several apartments. Picture below with the VW Camper bus outside. Do you recognise it? Answer below.
In the Autumn of 1971 with land purchased from Castillo de Papagayo, Helmut Kurzeja was now about to enter Charco del Palo and forever change the village by building the first Pub/Restaurant know as the Tunera. Much more about Helmut later.
More and more building work started with the 16-1 bedroom apartments opposite the Tunera restaurant, then following around the corner onto Calle Seifio the 8-2bedroom apartments.
Early 1972 It became apparent while all this work was going on that access was a major problem so a plan was hatched to find a good access to Mala.
Erwin and the Caterpillar driver marked a possible route through the fields that lead into Mala.
Helmut Kurzeja took it upon himself to talk with the farmers and land owners whose land they wanted to cross, but unfortunately not all the land owner could be contacted But instead of waiting to try and find the missing owners they decided to go ahead with the roadway.
It seems amazing that the Caterpillar driver, with Gregor and Helmut behind not only got the job done but levelled out depressions in the land and cut the rough track through to Mala in two days.
The next day the missing land owners appeared, so the situation had to be resolved, so Erwin and Gregor tried talking to them. In Erwins words, ‘I gave a small speech in German, then our good Spanish friend Señor Curbelo who translated what I had said, basically the land was unaccessible but now with the track from Mala they could easily access their lands.
The possibility of water connections and electricity which will be coming to the Charco del Palo urbanisation very soon. There was an added sweetener to the deal, the possibility of further land purchases plus local workers were also needed for the proposed building projects’.
All the time this was going on the local farm and land owners were being plied with qualities of wine and it turned into a very pleasant afternoon, where eventually all the owners agreed to the track being finalised through to Mala.
This was legally notarised on the 19th September 1973. From that date it remained a rough track until the spring of 1995 when it was finally paved.
The answer to Dr Hamann’s house, it is now Finca Del Mar. On the event of his death it was sold and then turned into an apartment holiday complex which it still is today.
The large Caterpillar Bulldozer after many years of great service was finally gifted to the village of Guatiza. I am trying to find if it’s still there.
Below are some great pictures of the first stages of building, even the Caterpillar Bulldozer being loaded at Bad Ems. Finally a picture of a a drilling rig, Gregor had a brainwave and thought that it would be a good idea to drill for water, of course that was one plan that didn’t happen. My Thanks to Claus Bulling & Claudia Kraeling for the use of the photographs.
The Tunera and Helmut Kurzeja deserve an article to themselves so that will be coming in next couple of episodes. Breakdowns, Volcanic eruptions, just a taste of what’s to come.
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1 May 2021
Helmut Kurzeja, Gerti and The Tunera.
When translating the stories about Helmut and his wife, it seemed so broken up, so I have tried to set his story into some sort of timeline, I think it works better this way, but what do I know!
Helmut and his wife Gerti were running a restaurant in Bad Ems called Der Wilddieb ( The Poacher).
Gregor Kaiser and Erwin Parschau used the restaurant on a regular basis, and of course during some of the time there Lanzarote was often discussed. Helmut was keen on the idea to buy some land and setting up a home but Gerti was not that impressed and made a point of saying so.
But, Gerti did say, ‘if we could maybe buy a piece of land with a plan to build a restaurant in the village then we could talk about it’.
After many discussions in the spring of 1971 about the plans of the village, Helmut and Gerti purchased a large piece of land from the then newly formed Castillo de Papagayo SL company.
Although they had never actually been to Lanzarote they did this in good faith, trusting in pictures and plans that Gregor had shown them in Germany.
Contracts were drawn up and the final land purchase was handled through a notary in Germany.
Helmut & Gerti wanted to start building the restaurant immediately in Charco del Palo. First it was agreed that Helmut would travel to Lanzarote on his own and start getting things organised. They of course wanted to create this on their own.
So Helmut purchased a vehicle called a Hanomag Kurier and rebuilt it so that he could live in it. He created in the back a sleeping area, an area for cooking plus somewhere to sit comfortably using some seats from an old crashed Citroen. It was also a place to keep all the tools required for the building work to come.
The journey with the Hanomag across Europe to Lanzarote was of course filled with adventure and disaster and these should not go unmentioned.
Firstly the truck had to be tested, a bit like an MOT in UK or ITV here in Lanzarote.
The vehicle failed miserably, but Helmut pleading with the tester made it clear to him that his poor family were sitting in Spain waiting in vain for him to arrive.
Eventually the tester said, Yes but on the understanding that the vehicle never returns to Germany.
So with that done the trip started in October 1971.
Helmut, after much talking and a good quantity of beer, was able to persuade a bricklayer/friend Herbert Wolf to support him on the journey from Bad Ems with his VW Beetle and was to follow behind Helmut’s truck. (Herbert Wolf lived in Guatiza for many years but has sadly passed away). Once everything was ready they set off for pastures new.
‘Nothing worth doing is ever that easy’, and the first disaster happened while still in Darmstadt, Germany.
In Helmut’s words the Hanomag’s engine was broken, exactly what of I am not sure.
After talking with Gerti by phone, the motto was: We have aligned everything on Lanzarote. There is no way back.
‘Get the truck fixed and press on’.
Luckily they found a garage that was able to, overnight change the engine while we slept in the back of the truck. (Can you imagine this happening today!)
The following morning they were off again this time now into France. They got as far as Lyon when disaster struck again. A water hose on the radiator cooling system burst. They talked to a garage and were told the 20cm hose would cost 300DM close to 150€ today.
They decided that it was robbery and after bending a couple of brackets, cutting the bad section out of the hose they were able to repair it themselves.
Then they continued south thankfully without any more disasters.
After two days they reached Barcelona, here they were to join the ferry, The Ernesto Anastasia. The truck was too large to use the normal car ramp and had to be hoisted onto the ship. Once done they set sail, going from Barcelona via Cadiz then onto La Palma.
The final ferry crossing from La Palma to Lanzarote became a problem,. Basically the Hanomag truck did not fit the small ferry. After 5 days of wrangling, the Captain of the ferry agreed to try and load the truck on board for a further fee of 500 pesetas.
The truck was hooked into a loading harness and gently lowered over the deck into the loading hatch.
Since the Captain could not see the whole process, he was also the crane operator, Helmut had to signal to raise or lower also whether everything was OK.
It was obvious that the truck was slightly larger than the loading hatch, Helmut signalled to keep lowering the vehicle.
It rattled and creaked, but the vehicle was finally on board. It had squeezed through the hatch but the front and rear bumpers had been torn off.
The ferry left La Palma on the 26th October. As they were leaving the harbour, stones and ash started to settle onto the deck of the ferry, the Volcano Teneguía had literally started to erupt on the island, within minutes they were away from the problem but what an amazing experience.
On arrival in Lanzarote, the theatre repeated itself with the unloading of the truck. Only this time to the demise of the wing mirrors that got torn off.
As it turned out the problem with loading and unloading was covered under the insurance and some time later the damage was repaired.
Immediately driving from the port, North to Guatiza then over what was then a small track. In fact the track at that time was so narrow he had trouble getting through but eventually made it down into Charco del Palo.
Both Helmut and his friend Herbert who had faithfully followed Helmut throughout the journey, walked the whole site, taking in what was to be home for many years. They ended up celebrating the past days experiences and the successful arrival with unfortunately a very warm beer.
The Volcanic activity on La Palma was preceded by a number of earthquakes then the Volcano Teneguía erupted on the 26th October 1971 and continued until 28th November 1971. There was one fatality, an old fisherman got too close to the Lava and was asphyxiated by the fumes.
The story of Helmut does not rest there. He becomes one of the main players not only within the village but has an amazing true story about a shipwreck and his main role in it. More to come.
I hope you have enjoyed this part of the story, as I said at the beginning it was difficult to piece together the story from the original books. I have tried to keep things as accurate as possible. The wonderful picture of the ship is a true ticket from that era when they travelled from Barcelona to La Palma. Below some great old pictures of Helmut , his Hanomag Truck and a super picture of the Tunera under construction with the Centro Commercial on the right and Gregors house behind. My thanks again to Claudia, Inga and Claus for the photographs.
We can personally relate to what Helmut and his friend Herbert went through. Our own journey started in Norwich very early one morning, we had travelled 30kms. While approaching a roundabout the brakes on the car completely failed, luckily it was so quiet I was able to go completely around the roundabout and make our way back to our home using the handbrake all the way back. Luckily we had a second car and were able to transfer everything into that. We were back on the road an hour later. After that the trip to Cadiz and Lanzarote went without a hitch. Thankfully no volcanic eruptions!
Next month: The building work continues, more land is sold to private owners and houses start to appear. The final roads are laid out.
A problem with the border between Haria & Teguise.
And finally Helmut and the nighttime shipwreck.
1 Jun 2021,
The building of the village continues.
Following on from last months trip from Germany to Charco del Palo. Helmut along with his sidekick Herbert Wolf, is now also joined by his son Karl Heinz. Together they start to build. The Tunera certainly was not a small project.
Now the hard work began. This was not easy in any respects, it took many drawings and plans until they hit upon the right idea then it was after a meeting with the Alcade in Haria he was given verbal permission to build on the understanding that the bar/restaurant would be open to all nationalities. With this assurance given they started to work. Needless to say it took much longer than they anticipated. Until the new road/track had been cleared to Mala everything had to come over the mountain, causing a good number of delays.
Also at this time Helmut was interested in obtaining more land on the south side of the village. After approaching many of the local owners he was able to purchase many different pieces of land all with 2000m2.
These plots were advertised back in Germany and it wasn’t long before people started arriving, buying plots of land and with Helmut’s help houses started to appear. The first house on the south side was and still is Casa Luisa on Calle Estralla Polar. The house is actually quite radical in its design, even today I would imagine getting permission for a house of that design would be very difficult. At the same time Helmut’s sister Barbel Weis had decided to move to Lanzarote and built the small apartment complex opposite Casa Louisa.
It was when the small apartments were finished they came across an odd anomaly with the lines of the Municipio of Teguise and Haria. Being in two different regions was a nightmare as they both have different councils and tax systems for housing. Basically Barbel’s new apartment, the lounge was in Haria, the bedroom in Teguise. This of course caused no end of problems and in fact it took until 2005 where finally the problem was solved. You could almost say it was the Mañana attitude without the urgency!
If you walk along Montana Colorada, the first left turning is Calle Montana Redonda, looking towards the sea all the properties on the left are in Haria, all the properties on the right are in Teguise including Barbel’s apartment. After the boundary was sorted out the road following on from Montana Colorada is now called Calle Osa Major. Picture below shows how the line used to be. The Red line showing the new boundary.
The timeline is between 1970/80 when all the large projects got underway. The Tunera was completed and opened January 1974. Initially it had a bar plus seating for 25 in the restaurant, the outside terrace was later covered by a glass roof and that became the main dining area, plus a new larger kitchen was also built. It immediately became the central point of the village and was well patronised by residents and visitors alike.
Meanwhile.
Gregor and the Castillo de Papagayo company were also continuing to build.
It was also at this time that the Duck Pond was built 1974 and a wall put across the small bay. Permission was needed from the Armada. Gregor invited the Commander of the Navy to Charco. While having Coffee and Cake the Commander gave permission to Gregor with a handshake that the duck pond could be built. Once completed Gregor and about 10 children were trying out the new pool when a large wave hit the wall smashing it completely. With difficulty Gregor and all the children managed to get out of the water. Soon after in 1975 a new wall was built much stronger and is still there to this day.
The Commercial Centro was being built. Plans for the first complex were also started, 20 two bedroomed apartments, better known as Type1. This block of apartment was finished at the end of 1979.
More and more people were starting to arrive in Charco, the advertising had worked in Germany and many visitors started to enjoy holidays in the village. There was also a lot of interest in buying plots of land and building houses. These were good times for both Gregor and Helmut.
Something that has amazed me about all of the building stories is that most were done on a handshake or a verbal agreement. I don’t think that would happen these days. As we leave the 70’s behind and head into the 80’s this is when things really took off in the village. Next month major investment comes from an unusual source and the start of the naturist movement begins in Charco del Palo.
The Wreck of the ‘Domenech de Varo’
I spent many hours researching this story, mainly because when something like this happens it should be correct. The story translated from the book is very vague in a lot of respects. The boats name the Captains name are all missing plus a number of the incidents in the book don’t quite add up.
The boat was from Spain not Africa, a fishing trawler not a freighter.
There were 12 crew not 14.
The second survivor did not die the following day due to a heart attack, as of January this year he was still alive in El Puerto de Santa Maria. I mainly put this down to the fact that things get forgotten and stories get changed.
So I have written the story as from the books translation and at the end added what I have found out with the research I did.
As this is quite a long story I have put it onto a separate web page. Just click on the link below.
