La Graciosa Mi Amor EN

Party for over a year Locmariaquer, the small family Mouth finds himself on the island's most northerly of the Canary Islands, La Graciosa. In the lost paradise that inspired Robert Luis Stevenson for writing his book "Treasure Island", they discover the Blue Gold!

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After three days at sea from the port of Mohammedia, Morocco situated 40 km north of Casablanca, we come face to islands further north of the Canary Islands. Emerging from the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, in shades of tan and black, these volcanic islands are the witnesses of the forces that were expressed there are several million years. They seem so unreal that they feed the most controversial legends such as Atlantis or even the Hesperides. What is it really? We decide to anchor in the first inhabited island, the northernmost, the sweet poetic name of "La Graciosa.

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Quetzalcoatl has the honor to place himself against the dock facing the village and needed repairs to our trimaran allow us to stay there long. For more than three months as we walk the streets covered with sand, lined both sides of white houses, to meet the bona fide residents, extras despite themselves of what could be an ideal village, a village that reminds us that Locmariaquer.

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The island has always been very poor and when we ask the elders, they are sharing their lives hard and uncompromising. A fisherman's life. A life where there was no time for play is the case of this charismatic character who trusts in front of our camera, Enriqueta. In her widow's black dress, a small apron around her waist robust, a kerchief on her head from her kitchen, she talks about when she ran barefoot through the island until late at night, climbing these volcanic rocks in sharp gusts from the north, looking for his goats. In the face appear round the eyes of this young girl who could not attend school because of time. She can neither read nor write. Although today she runs a restaurant, a nightclub and a pension, it still counts with small stones. All her life she has spent working and time again and this for one reason only, to survive!

Now she is happy because her children have been educated and grandchildren can spend all their time playing in this island paradise, this island where the whale came to spend their last hours ...

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Lapping on the beach in the north, they were beginning their journey by dozens of other world. Yes, it was their graveyard before man settled there.

Today, there are only the stories of old, traditional songs and their bones. They decorate some of the small white houses similar to our homes of fishermen, gathered on themselves, with small openings. With us, it protects us from the cold. Here, the opposite, the enemy was the sun!

The ancients tell us of a bygone era, the sun has become their best friend.

The island is a protected park since 1986 and a marine reserve since 1995. This particular situation provoked a tsunami whose waves tourism have continued to surge since his last ten years. During the summer, more than 3000 passengers disembark daily water buses to share a little of this taste of paradise. As to the habits have changed and even if people distrust the tourists and show a typical indifference "graciosienne 'attitudes have followed.

Of the three great families of this village of 600 inhabitants centuries, one of them took over and never stops as appropriate throughout the island. Before fishing families helped each other cope with the natural elements that express the only real violence in this small island community.

Their relationship to drinking water is an indicator of the upheaval taking place deep within themselves. All the houses were built on tanks to capture water from winter rains. It served all their needs and as the drought were long, drinking water was their most valuable asset was their gold Blue Gold! Desalination plants have taken over Lanzarote and channel piped underwater this precious liquid for the survival of the small community. Now, more than scarcity! Farewell old tanks historic autonomy uncertain ...

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To complete this process of "rational autonomy", the ministry in charge of the park has defined the "fincas", areas of farmland, to protect the most natural state of this island in precarious balance. For several generations, people have always grown their own vegetables, fruit and grain for their subsistence needs in areas they considered most appropriate. These restrictions and the difficulties of growing in arid under the hot breath of "Kalima", sand-laden wind from the Sahara, have overcame many of them, inviting them to feed mainly manufactured goods brought in by boat.

The money that has been lacking running now afloat but at what price?

Last week, a water pipeline was damaged during the work of setting up a public lighting. Discovered the village for half a day they no longer had a single drop of water! Fortunately, Jose Luis "Potable" repair the pipe in less time than it takes to go from surprise to the awareness and spread the fear!

La Graciosa is a paradise "lost";

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Whales are dying elsewhere ...

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