Every day, thousands of visitors stroll past an unassuming figure that has stood silently for over fifty years. Positioned a few meters from the main entrance of Lago Martiánez in Puerto de la Cruz, this tree witnesses the constant flow of pedestrians along Colón Avenue, as generations have come to enjoy the renowned location designed by César Manrique. Around it, the terraces bustle with patrons at all hours, whilst nearby, various individuals strive to earn a living through street vending. Though its appearance may not captivate attention—being neither extraordinary nor particularly striking—it is a tree of significant importance, with a remarkable story hidden within the lush greenery surrounding the iconic work of the artist from Lanzarote.
The tale of this tree traces back to the latter part of the 1970s, when César Manrique, during a visit to the construction site of the large artificial lake, discovered a small, nearly lifeless tree among the rubble, just outside the pool complex’s perimeter. Braving the threat of destruction from construction machinery, this little tree was fortunate enough to catch César’s eye, leading to its eventual preservation.
Together with his team, which included engineers Juan Alfredo Amigó Bethencourt and José Luis Olcina Alemany, who were key material architects of his visionary dreams, Manrique resolved to protect this resilient plant by incorporating it into the landscape of the new aquatic centre as part of the exterior flora. This decision assured its survival in the pedestrian zone designated for benches, planters, and a balcony overlooking the interior.
Today, some twenty meters from the entrance of the expansive pool, the spared species, known scientifically as coccoloba uvifera and commonly referred to as sea grape, remains. Native to the Caribbean, it is both long-lived and remarkably resistant to seawater and soil salinity, as noted by Pedro Luis Pérez de Paz, a biologist, clinician, and Botany professor.
“From the moment César chose to rescue the tree, he made a point of visiting it each time he arrived in Puerto de la Cruz to oversee the work; he never missed an opportunity and treated it as what it was—a living entity he had saved from certain demise,” recalls Amigó. He fondly remembers how the artist would stand before it, touch and caress it, and speak to it in a private kind of ritual that was entirely his own, witnessed only from a distance by others. “It showcased another facet of his humanity and his profound sensitivity towards nature.”
The tree saved by Manrique and his team now stands nearly five metres tall, its leaves forming a semicircular pattern across its branches. It is located in front of the historic Tenerife Playa hotel, established in 1960, which holds two significant memories tied to the sculptor and painter born in Arrecife. Here, at its entrance, the professional relationship, marked by camaraderie, developed between César and his “chicharrera family”—Amigó and Olcina—following a commission from Cándido García Sanjuán, the hotel’s proprietor, to design an expansion of the promenade along Colón Avenue in September 1967.
During that initial discussion, the businessman introduced them to an artist who was “doing remarkable things in Lanzarote” and who had surprised many with a mural in the Casino of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Thus began the intertwining of their lives with the renowned contemporary art figure of the Canary Islands, a partnership later joined by builder Luis Díaz de Losada, which would last until his untimely passing. Fate dictated that César’s farewell, due to a traffic accident only a few metres from his foundation, occurred on September 25, 1992—exactly 25 years to the day after their initial encounter.
In April 1977, at that same hotel, César Manrique and his team ascended to the roof to gain a bird’s-eye view of the finished project, an idea he had sketched years earlier on a paper napkin during lunch with his two collaborators in a local pizzeria. What began as five quick lines depicting a large emerald eventually formed the basis for the proposal they presented to Mayor Felipe Machado González de Chaves in the ensuing months.
Upon gazing down at the jewel in the crown of Portuense from the hotel rooftop, the Lanzarote visionary was overcome with emotion, confessing to his team that they had made his dream a reality: “It’s precisely as I envisioned; this is exactly what I wanted.” This moment marked his signature in the air of his grand masterpiece.
