For many of us, memories of summer holidays are associated with specific places that mark one of the best stages of life. It was when we hung up our school bags and lived without a care in the world, with flip-flops and without many of the worries that creep into adulthood to annihilate any trace of innocence that once made us so happy. The landscapes of many of those places have changed, but their essence remains in those of us who remember how special those places were, where some learned to swim and others, a bit older, shared their first kisses on those unforgettable summer nights. Those of us who lived in the North used to go to the South. It was curious how we would find the same people from here, over there. In Los Cristianos and El Médano, for example, those of us from La Orotava would spend our holidays, while in Playa de La Arena, people from Los Realejos and Icod de los Vinos would usually go.
Among all those holiday spots, there is one in the North that is very special for those who left a piece of their heart there. In Rojas, there were no luxury hotels, apartments, nightclubs, or restaurants, but the people who spent the summer months there remember it with nostalgia, proving that happiness is often far from luxury and comfort. “I would love for my daughter to relive those barefoot summers, among puddles and sea salt,” says Mónica González, who spent long seasons there with her family. “We all knew each other. We mainly came from the municipalities of La Matanza and El Sauzal once the school year ended. My father helped his father set up one of the first caves, which we shared with my uncles and cousins, then wooden and concrete huts began to be built.”

The coast of Rojas / El Día
El Cangrejillo, Las Monjas…
“In that whole part of the El Sauzal coast there were different areas, like neighbourhoods. There was El Cangrejillo, Las Monjas, or El Puertito, among others, and each family would usually bathe in the ponds closest to the cave they had taken over, although we all knew each other,” recalls Mónica. “Essential supplies were bought at the canteen, and once a week my father would bring the big purchase that was a great effort to transport back to the cave. Of course, we had no electricity and we lit up with candles and camping gas. The fridge was also gas-powered, although some neighbours did use a motor for electricity supply.”
“The day passed between ponds that had their own names. There was the Mar de la Fuente, the Charco de la Fuente, La Caletilla… As we grew up, we were allowed to take floaties to a virgin beach called La Salvaje, which could only be accessed by sea or by the rocks. The chapel was the meeting place for young people on summer nights.”
Every year, before the start of the summer season, the elders would get the caves ready and deal with the effects of the harsh northern sea in winter. It was time to replace doors that were missing, air out mattresses and other belongings, whitewash the caves to prevent sand from falling from the ceiling, and repaint those more rusty iron furniture pieces.
José Manuel Martín was another neighbour who spent the three summer months there. His cave did have electricity, thanks to a generator that would run at certain times of the day so that the elders could watch the soap opera every afternoon. José recalls watching the final of the basketball Olympics in Los Angeles between the United States and Spain in 1984 on a small black and white TV there. He also remembers the gatherings to play card games or table football at the canteen until late at night. “They were wild but unforgettable summers where people chatted and socialized much more than now. My grandfather already had his cave with another area made with blocks, and all the neighbours took care of making the environment comfortable, building several hermitages, squares, and setting up a sort of public lighting with light bulbs. It should be noted that over 1,500 people would gather there during that time,” he recounts.
Access by car was through a private estate where the sharecroppers were in charge of collecting the corresponding fee from anyone who accessed the coast, monitoring it through a sort of sensor in the form of a hose on the ground that counted each vehicle passing. The fee was initially about a hundred pesetas, and in the final stretch, it went up to three euros.

Evolution of the Rojas coast / El Día
Cliffs of Acentejo
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The residents of the region who descended to the coast and who began occupying those caves as a summer area. From the caves they went on to build wooden huts and blocks, which in some cases were even sold to third parties through a kind of code of honour or tacit contract without any title of ownership.
Intervening in the entire coastline
Despite the affection she still feels for the place and the memories of those years, Mónica acknowledges that an intervention was necessary. “In recent years, the deterioration of the environment was evident, although much remains to be done to maintain its natural beauty”. José Manuel delves even further into this issue and denounces what he considers to be “an abuse of power” by whoever held the Mayor’s office at that time, while still acknowledging that “it was wrong but could have been resolved in a more consensual manner”. According to José Manuel, “they should have gathered the residents and explained the situation to offer us the opportunity to also improve the environment ourselves, as has been done in other areas. They invested 12 million Euros of European money in an intervention that has not led to the environmental improvements that were intended. You just have to walk around the area and see how the caves are full of rubbish, many of them used as public facilities due to the lack of them. On the other hand, access is very complicated with a narrow two-way road and scarce parking spaces that further complicates the situation.”

Blue summer / Marta Casanova
Recovery project
José Manuel does not deny the need for an intervention, but along the entire coast and not just what happened in Rojas or Chovito. “What about other places like Punta Brava or Boca Cangrejo, where, for example, there are other constructions with asbestos sheets or plastics? The aberrations on the coast are evident and are not being addressed with the same yardstick,” he emphasizes.
In the City Council, its mayor, Mariano Pérez, confirms that there is a pending intervention that has been authorized by Coastal authorities for the improvement of the pools with an investment exceeding 300,000 Euros from the Council. The rest of the improvements will have to wait for the Special Plan of the Protected Landscape of the Costa de Acentejo, whose draft was drawn up in April 2019, once the competencies were established for the Council to formulate this planning instrument.
In this document, it is recognized that “the demolition and recovery work on the coastal strip, with a 1,500-metre-long pedestrian promenade or recreational and parking areas, have not been sufficient”. “An underutilization of the space is observed, probably due to the difficulty of accessing it, with disorderly uses. This affects its state of conservation. This area also houses the only natural population of the endemic plant species of Tenerife called Pico de El Sauzal (Lotus maculatus), classified as an endangered species, and whose current conservation status is alarming. Problems have been detected related to improper vehicle traffic to access the El Puertito dock, the picnic area, fishing areas, etc., and people straying from the designated paths. There is therefore a significant environmental and spatial planning problem in this area that needs to be addressed through the Plan.”
In this regard, sources from the island Council confirm that progress is being made towards its final drafting, encompassing not only this enclave but the entire coastal strip of the municipalities of Tacoronte (Mesa del Mar area), El Sauzal, La Matanza de Acentejo, La Victoria de Acentejo, Santa Úrsula, and La Orotava (El Rincón area), with an approximate surface area of 401 hectares. Much of the landscape is a rugged cliff area, with several ravines breaking the line of the cliffs and opening to the sea.
A unique enclave
Truthfully, I hope and desire that this intervention will help to recover a unique enclave, like the entire coast of our northern Tenerife, and that it will not be forgotten like the remains of that Douglas DC-3 plane from the Spantax company that crashed there since in 1966 two nautical miles from El Puertito when it was travelling between the islands of Tenerife and La Palma.