Lanzarote ....The roads to nowhere

“Try this turn” suggested my son.....…On a daily basis when we wanted to explore more of Lanzarote we had needed to drive through the busy town of Playa Blanca in order to head north to the other attractions the islands offered. My sons advice seemed to make sense, there were a number of side roads that suggested they would link up with the main road in the distance which would allow us to by pass the traffic laden journey through the town itself.

 

Initially it seemed a good idea, wide modern roads heading past numerous complexes of Lanzarote’s traditional white building as per Cesar Manriques stipulations, with the main road which would lead us to Puerto Del Carmen ahead of us in the distance. We hadn’t noticed that these houses were empty but we did see the large boulders we were approaching placed to signify that the road went no further. The tarmaced surface just stopped, leaving us looking out at a view of open dusty ground with our destination agonisingly close but yet so far out of reach. Having turned round and attempted other roads in the near vicinity it seemed that our idea had come to a dead end as all the other roads were blocked by these large rocks too, as if one day the workers had got bored and just gave up on the route in the middle of nowhere.

 

 

It was a surreal experience, look straight ahead and there was nothing but dust, dirt and rocks but turn around and there was the infrastructure of a small town, roads, road signs, street lighting, houses, the only thing missing was inhabitants. In some parts of the area although no houses had been built in these sections, there were roads aplenty even with pedestrian crossings and car parks able to house up to 50 cars. This was strange considering there was no buildings within walking distance for any one to have the requirement to park there. Weeds 3-4 feet high were growing in the gutters of the roads, signifying that these through fares had been there for a while but seldom visited.

 

 

 

We decided to go back and take a look near the properties we had passed, there were hundreds of them, from a distance looking beautiful with their white washed walls and

simple "Manrique" architecture in the shadows of the Los Ajaches Mountain range. It was only as we approached nearer that we could see they were boarded up with rubble strewn across the tiled patios.  
Instead of happy children splashing around in the water, the pools were empty apart from rubbish and debris that had blown in there. This was certainly a case of the dream life which had turned into a nightmare situation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mobile sale offices were locked up, their windows full of pictures of what this place should be like, happy families soaking up the sun in their idyllic homes. This certainly seemed a case of the Planners dream going wrong. However, just like the Planners dreams, the photos were fading, the bright sunlight taking its toil on the images, gradually becoming a distant memory of what the community could have been. In one part  of the scheme there were a number of unfinished houses, building equipment still in place, as if ready for the next day but the operatives never returned.

 

Close by we came across parked cars, which judging by the dusty state of them seemed to have been there an age and had just been abandoned. In some cases windows and doors were open as if the drivers had fled some impending doom. There was an eerie atmosphere, each gust of wind breaking the silence as strange noises were emitted from within the empty properties. Creaks, squeaks and bumps echoing through the barren passageways led to an uneasy feeling as if we were being watched by some post apocalyptic tribe.....watching too many futuristic disaster movies seeming to play overtime in my mind. It was time to leave and return to the normality of a seafront bar with views of the island of Fuerteventura in the distance.  

 

 

 

 

Back at the idyllic harbour resort of Marino Rubicon, I asked a couple of local waiters about the area, the story seemed conflicting. One claimed that the project was abandoned due to the poor sales of the units, whilst another explained the authorities had withdrawn planning permission due to the failure to adhere to Cesar Manriques guidelines on the setting up of residential areas.     

 

It is hard to imagine that a deserted area like this could literally be a 5 minute drive away from the tourist resort of Playa Blanca and it's hive of activity, a sharp contrast to the Domesday type scenario witnessed. However with its infrastructure still pretty much in place perhaps there is a chance that one day this area will serve the purpose it was built for, allowing families to make the most of the many superb attractions this Southern coastal region offers.