“The south begins in the Güímar tunnels”

The inhabitants of the island of Tenerife they are used to indicating the location of towns by referring to the cardinal points… but not all of them, only two: north and south. However, this simplification does not always coincide with the actual geographical location and, in fact, it is sometimes stated that something is in the “north” when in fact it is in the west, or the south, being more precise that it is in the east of the island.

The two most important cities of Tenerife, Santa Cruz (the capital) and La Laguna, make up the insular metropolitan area and are neither in the north nor in the south, but rather make up a direction in themselves, like Mount Teide, in the center of the island. If a person is in the south of Tenerife and heads north, they will say that they are going towards Santa Cruz, as if it were a cardinal point in itself, and more specifically they will say that they “go up” to Santa Cruz, because the south is understood to be “down”, “down to the Americas”, for example.

The same thing happens in the north but with respect to La Laguna, it is a reference in itself for the inhabitants of the north of the island, although the northernmost part is in Anaga, and for example Tegueste is further north than Icod. Even Santa Cruz is further north than Puerto de la Cruz.

This way of speaking leaves out of the denominations of north and south a specific area of ​​the island, the area south of the capital and up to half of the coastal area in a southerly direction, that is, from Santa María del Mar to the Guimar tunnels. That area is not south south, what would be popularly said, but that it is the east and, as that reference is not used, it remains in a geographical limbo that all the people of Tenerife understand and have assimilated, but that is difficult to explain and that even, as we will now see, generates a certain debate.

A Twitter user (@NPCvirtual) published a few days ago a map of the island expressing this curious division, so internalized by the islanders: north, south, Santa Cruz, La Laguna… and a question mark in that area of ​​the Güímar valley. This immediately generated a great discussion on the social network in which users commented on what that part of the island is called and where exactly the southern part begins. “The south begins in the Güímar tunnels”, stated one user, to which another replied that Güímar is the south and after the tunnels the “south south” begins. “How is Güímar going to be south if it is more pal north that pal south?” asked another.

Alternative maps began to be published immediately with other denominations for the different areas of the island and some other observation: in Gran Canaria the geographical indications seem to be simpler.

Geographically, the southernmost point of the island is Punta del Médano, and the northernmost is in Anaga, and what is called the south, the tourist areas, are on the west coast of the island; Güímar and all the towns up to Médano are on the east coast, although nobody uses those indications. The debate is still alive on the net.