The snow returned to dye the Teide National Park weekend. The first big snowfall of the year has left the summits of Tenerife white covers. The images on social networks were immediate and, as is tradition, as soon as the weekend started, hundreds of people rushed up the road with the aim of capturing the landscape, spending the day and having a hot chocolate.
There, among families repeating habits, tourists surprised by the snow on a sunny island and children sliding down the slopes, is Mela, one of the professionals who works as an itinerant in the National Park.
Its function is to enforce the rules so that this space continues to be the same one that was declared a World Heritage Site in 2007. “I am surprised because there are fewer people than I expected,” confesses Mela, who works at Gesplan, a public company that is in charge care of the area.
In a driveway between illegally double-parked cars, Mela warns stragglers that vehicles can be ticketed at any time. During the weekend, the Civil Guard patrolled the space while recording images of cars and vans blocking the road or parked on endemic plants. The brooms are the main affected, since by improvising parking lots next to the traffic routes, many of them end up crushed.
