Information wanted about Tenerife cave dwellers

[markcrowther125]

Hello!

I'm new to this forum, and I'm hoping that some of the residents who post here can help me!

I've just returned from a week driving round Tenerife, and I was interested to see many caves that looked like they were lived in (washing outside and curtains pulled across the front). I have looked online and can see that historically the first people to live on the island were cave dwellers, but I cannot find any current information about the residents of these caves. I think they could tell some interesting stories, and wondered if anyone has any information about them (how they make a living, how they are accepted by other residents, what's the official view - illegal or accepted)

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,

Mark.

[LUCKY]

Hello!

I'm new to this forum, and I'm hoping that some of the residents who post here can help me!

I've just returned from a week driving round Tenerife, and I was interested to see many caves that looked like they were lived in (washing outside and curtains pulled across the front). I have looked online and can see that historically the first people to live on the island were cave dwellers, but I cannot find any current information about the residents of these caves. I think they could tell some interesting stories, and wondered if anyone has any information about them (how they make a living, how they are accepted by other residents, what's the official view - illegal or accepted)

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,

Mark.

Hope this helps a little :flatcap:
i too would be interested in similar stories
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/canary-islands/tenerife/history

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApBTOzRPFOM

[markcrowther125]

Thanks. The cave houses in the YouTube video are well developed and look great. The cave houses I saw on Tenerife looked more like Berber caves. If I'd had more time (or maybe better courage and Spanish language skills) I'd have tried to talk to the people who lived there. I don't know why, but I'm interested to listen to their stories. Maybe this is an excuse to return to Tenerife!

[universal]

I thought the following extract from "Hub Pages" may be of interest:

Chinamada

From descriptions on the Internet and elsewhere Chinamada may sound like a remote and quite primitive place where people live in caves, cut off from the outside world, and living by subsistence farming in the high mountains. The reality is very different with a road going all the way to the hamlet.

Yes, the residents do live in caves that have been converted into houses but they all have electricity, street lighting outside and rubbish collection bins. There are satellite TV dishes, there are well tended gardens, driveways, metalwork gates and everything else you would expect of modern but rural houses.

As for the tiny village itself, Chinamada has a very recently-built-looking square with a tiny church, and, past the houses, there is even a bar restaurant for locals and visitors. This eating place is aptly named La Cueva, which in Spanish means "The Cave."

So although Chinamada is a very remote mountain hamlet and the people who live there really do live in caves, it has all been brought very much into the modern world. Chinamada is very much connected with the outside world of Tenerife today and is easy enough to get to. It is well worth visiting because it is very unique and nothing like the traditional images of Tenerife's tourist resorts and beaches.

[primrose]

I thought the following extract from "Hub Pages" may be of interest:

Chinamada

From descriptions on the Internet and elsewhere Chinamada may sound like a remote and quite primitive place where people live in caves, cut off from the outside world, and living by subsistence farming in the high mountains. The reality is very different with a road going all the way to the hamlet.

Yes, the residents do live in caves that have been converted into houses but they all have electricity, street lighting outside and rubbish collection bins. There are satellite TV dishes, there are well tended gardens, driveways, metalwork gates and everything else you would expect of modern but rural houses.

As for the tiny village itself, Chinamada has a very recently-built-looking square with a tiny church, and, past the houses, there is even a bar restaurant for locals and visitors. This eating place is aptly named La Cueva, which in Spanish means "The Cave."

So although Chinamada is a very remote mountain hamlet and the people who live there really do live in caves, it has all been brought very much into the modern world. Chinamada is very much connected with the outside world of Tenerife today and is easy enough to get to. It is well worth visiting because it is very unique and nothing like the traditional images of Tenerife's tourist resorts and beaches.

Sounds fantastic,on my list of places to see thanks to your post.

[AL JAY]

A few videos on this link also...

http://tenerifeislander.hubpages.com/hub/Chinamada-cave-houses-and-the-walk-to-Punta-del-Hidalgo

[ribuck]

Mark, I guess you're not asking about the "proper" cave houses like those in Chinamada, but about inhabited ramshackle caves such as those in the valleys beyond La Caleta. This area is nicknamed "Hippie Valley" and a few dozen people seem to be living an alternative lifestyle and squatting in the caves.

I assume they are tolerated by the authorities, because they have been living there for years.

[celine]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-brTVDJPWrg

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXAMIuosIfs

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qriDq2Qzabo

[Margaretta]

I think that many Tenerife residents are cave-dwellers because it made sense for many mountain and coastal houses to be developed from caves: warm in the Winter and cool in the Summer. There are some between Old and New El Poris with satellite dishes etc. It is just a good place to have houses by the sea. You don't always realise that there are cave-dwellers because rooms are often built out from the hillsides. Fascinating though. One you can easily visit is the pilgrimage centre of Hermano Pedro at El Medano but of course it is much adapted for purpose inside.

[LUCKY]

old news but linked with history:flatcap::feret::feret:
http://www.tenerifenews.org.es/2013/04/your-invite-to-annual-pilgrimage/

[universal]

The following is an extract taken from:
Popular Science Monthly Volume 41 May 1892
Cave Dwellings of Men
By William Henry Larrabee:
"Many accounts of travelers go to show that residence in caves is not rare in modern times, and that it constitutes a feature of life, though not an important one, in some of the most civilized countries in Europe. Sonie of the most interesting pages in Mrs. Olivia M. Stone's account of her visit to the Canary Islands (Teneriffe and its Six Satellites) relate to the cave villages, still inhabited by a curious troglodyte population — mostly potters — found in various places in Gran Canaria"

[RichardPrince]

You can get those information here:

http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/europe/travellers-guide-gran-canaria-8928657.html