No hikers allowed on Mta Tindaya without an official guide

[Maggie76]

Hi I'm new to the island and the forums. This forum is great, found so many answers already!

I have seen you can get a permit to go up tindaya, is that still the case? I studied history and I would love the chance to see the podomorphs for myself!

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

Hi Maggie

Welcome to the Forum, and Fuerteventura of course! Glad you seem to be enjoying your stay and want to stay longer - it's caught us all in it's magic!

Mta Tindaya - it's a long saga, if you've read all this thread you'll be partway to understanding it. Unfortunately the issues have still not been resolved and despite a contract being awarded well over a year ago (perhaps 2 years?) the proposed improvements have not yet been instigated by the winning company. 

The result being that the Cabildo stopped issuing permits and providing guides and the new company has not yet introduced them, or done anything that is visible.

So, it is still prohibited from ascending the mountain. There is a big sign at the start of the main route up stating this but many people ignore it. The original reason for prohibiting access to this 'monument' is that the podomorphs were being defaced and in some cases removed, or at least attempts were made to do so, destroying our history.

This is a link to the Cabildo website which confirms access is prohibited  - it is also where I check regularly to see if anything has changed. You will see some adverts for online talks about the mountain that took place in September - the talks are due to be published online for general consumption (probably just in Spanish) but the original talks/lectures via Zoom did show some good perspectives of the pods so you might want to watch out for these becoming available and see them vicariously!

http://www.cabildofuer.es/cabildo/?s=tindaya

The Casa Alta building in the village is also closed at the moment while new exhibits are prepared/staged. The building itself is lovely to see and is used to host displays relating to the mountain, most recently the controversial plan to excavate a large hole in it as an artistic interpretation thingamy proposed by the late artist, Chillida.

As an alternative there is a track which goes right around the base which is a good walk with several interesting old things to see. Keep looking up near the top of the NW face, it's where a pair of guirres nest. They raised 2 young earlier this year and the 4 are still circling on the air thermals together - you can recognise them by their  enormous wing span and piercing eerie cries!  As you walk this track you may come across what looks like wild melons, about the size of large tennis balls - do not eat, highly poisonous!

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

For the second time in a week there have been people up the mountain after dark - lunatics!  I suppose they can't read the 'closed' notice in the dark  

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

In an online article today about museums there was this statement,
 "In addition to the Upper House of Tindaya, whose comprehensive museum project will go out to tender in the coming months, but will open its doors shortly with a surprising temporary exhibition."

(Upper House = Casa Alta. This is where the previous exhibitions have been, related to the mountain. I'll keep watch for the 'surprise'!) 

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

I glimpsed an article in a 'paper' newspaper the other day but couldn't get a copy to bring home, I've searched online with no joy. The headline was something along the lines of 'The Chillida family are demanding XX millions of euros compensation'.
I'm taking this to mean the project is not going ahead - hooray - but compensation??
Has anyone else seen the article/can shed more light?

[classic]

Tindaya, al descubierto: la familia Chillida pide ahora una inversión pública de 25 millones | Diario de Fuerteventura

hopefully this link works

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

Thanks Classic - that's the one!
Seems like it's not compensation the family are after but public investment!

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

Rivers of ink don't dry out. The mountain of Tindaya and the project of the sculptor Eduardo Chillida, which he devised almost three decades ago, are back to date. On the one hand, the artist's family claims that "at least a third of the total cost of the work", some 25 million euros, leave the public coffers to make execution viable. On the other hand, the Government of the Canary Islands has decided to expand the Cultural Interest Good (BIC), which now only protects the summit, to the whole mountain, which would make it impossible for the controversial project to empty a bucket inside Tindaya to one day see the light.
Five years ago, the Government of the Canary Islands and the Cabildo de Fuerteventura constituted the Monument to Tolerance Foundation. The last thing the entity has done has been to receive a study from the consultancy SILO, hired to poll the feasibility of the Chillida project, a cube with sides of 50 meters inside the mountain, with an estimated investment of 75 million euros. The intention was to launch a "market consultation." Euphemism means checking whether private companies are willing to make the economic disbursement, under what conditions and in exchange for how many years of operation.
In the "preliminary" study, the consultant met with Lorenzo Fernández-Ordoñez, the architect who signs the project devised by Chillida. He also met with the artist's family and the Swiss gallery Hauser & Wirth, which manages the Chillida-Leku museum. To explore business routes, he met with Cristoph Kiessling, vice president of the Loro Parque group. "The objective is to resume Eduardo Chillida's project and, to do so, it is crucial to establish an adequate model of exploitation of Tindaya's sculptural work," says the report commissioned by the foundation.
The architect estimates that the "mountain emptying" would take two years and that the total implementation of the project would be four years, at least." However, last year, in an intervention at the School of Engineering of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Fernández-Ordoñez recognized that, although the last technical study invites to "think that it can be done", only direct intervention on the stone "will tell if the mountain will really withstand the emptying".
When the foundation was established, in 2016, Chillida's family saw the execution of the project imminent. With a change of political direction in the Government of the Canary Islands and an economic crisis arising from the Coronavirus pandemic, the priorities seem to be others. The sculptor's family considers it necessary "to publish a declaration of intent by the public administration, committing to carry out the work" by Chillida. And he is also aware of the "need to improve the image about Tindaya's project".
Against materializing the idea of Chillida has been articulated a movement that has crossed the borders of Fuerteventura and germinated on other islands. The family proposes to "schedule meetings with environmental associations and other stakeholders" to "report on technical aspects" of the work. It will be difficult for any of the organized groups to feel. In fact, the Tindaya Mountain Coordinator has just claimed that the foundation of the Chillida project should be dissolved.
black hole
On the "need for political support" also demanded by Chillida's family, more than doubts arise. Since the foundation was created five years ago, the project has not really been on the institutions' agenda. A red line, after the Government recognised in Parliament at least EUR 17.5 million spent on tindaya's monumental project, has been not to allocate any more public funds.

This mandate the courts have decided on 3.1 million of an old lawsuit and 5.9 of an endorsement

However, the actual invoice has been higher: the last audit of the general account of the autonomous community indicates that, in November 2019, an agreement was concluded with the companies FCC and Necso, which were awarded in 1998 of the contract to empty the mountain. The Canary Government disbursed $3.1 million to settle the open lawsuit, and another million in late interest.
In addition, last September, the Court upheld a BBVA lawsuit against the autonomous community for a 5.9 million guarantee granted to the public company Proyecto Monumental Montaña de Tindaya SA, which became a black hole: it is in liquidation, drags 19 million euros in negative from previous years and has short-term debts exceeding six million.
Despite this background, Chillida's family considers the implementation "unworkable" of the project "if the public administration does not make financial commitments for its implementation", as reflected in the summary of the interview included in the siLO consultancy's report. In its view, there would be entities, it is understood that private, "interested, if the public administration undertakes to invest at least one third of the total cost of the work". The Swiss gallery that manages the artist's work, however, considers it "complicated" that cultural management companies can be "involved in the current situation of the project".
Complicated investment
The numbers that are handled are huge: Chillida's family defends 25 million euros of public funds and 50 million contributed by private investors. His approach to free "preferably" access clashes with the reality of the figures. Entrepreneur Cristoph Kiessling stresses that "the greatest complexity lies in the execution of the work itself and the need for it to be financed entirely by private investors".
[img=645x0]https://www.diariodefuerteventura.com/sites/default/files/styles/media_thumbnail/public/archivos/2015/Mayo%202015/130531-chillida660.jpg?itok=nhQaZI2c[/img]
Although there was public investment, Kiessling believes that "project management must reside in private entities, because of the efficiency and agility offered by the sector". The manager of Loro Parque consulted for the study hired by the Monumento a la Tolerancia Foundation sees "possible business models", in which private investors never lose. For example, an annual number of visitors would be established. If this threshold is exceeded, "the successful tenderer shares benefits" with public institutions. But, "if the number of visitors is lower than stipulated, the public administration will compensate the concessionaire." This model, kiessling says, is the one that is applied in Poema del Mar, in Gran Canaria.

In the case of Tindaya, the entrepreneur considers it necessary to guarantee between 300,000 and 400,000 tourists a year. And also reduce the "economic impact" for private companies "with the aim of making investment more attractive." In what way? With the reduction of the levy to be disbursed by the concessionaire and signing a long period for tourist exploitation, about 50 years with the possibility of extension.

The conclusions of the consultancy hired by the Foundation admit that "if there is no strong public contribution, with the aim of sharing risks and benefits in the execution and subsequent exploitation of the project, it will be very difficult to attract investors" to "undertake a project of this magnitude".

Political "uncertainty", in the lack of "unanimity" or "enthusiasm", and doubts about the evolution of the tourism sector in the coming years, following the Coronavirus pandemic, are other elements against the development of the project, as recognized by the consultancy. In this context, "it is not possible to launch preliminary market consultations", which was the option to check the response of companies, "given the high level of risk" and that the project does not give "interest".

BIC expansion

The current Tindaya Cultural Interest Good (BIC) is limited to an area of 1,442 square meters on the cusp of the mountain, with a protective environment that encompasses a radius of 100 meters and covers a total of 75,332 square meters. The inventory that was taken as a basis points to the existence of 111 engravings, with 244 podomorphs and eight incisions in the form of lines, "concentrated around the top, except two engravings located on the back of the southern slope of the mountain".

Government stresses tindaya's value is "from its base to the cusp"

However, the Government of the Canary Islands commissioned a comprehensive study of the mountain and, at the end of last year, urged the Cabildo de Fuerteventura to open a dossier to expand the surface of the BIC to the whole mountain and protect "all the values of Tindaya". Its objective is that the delimitation of the Good of Cultural Interest is equated with the surface of the natural space, almost 1.3 million square meters.

The new advisor of Culture and Historical Heritage of the Cabildo, Rayco León, explains that the project is to empty the sacred mountain. The Government stresses that Tindaya's value is "from its base to the cusp" the technical analysis carried out by its department concludes that there are not "sufficient values" to extend the Good of Cultural Interest to the "rest of the mountain". The government, the counselor says, states that there are "indications," like mounds, but "there is no clear evidence." "There are deposits on other parts of the island that would have greater value," he adds.

The Cabildo brazenly took the "comprehensive protection" initiative of Tindaya, as requested by the Government, which on the first Friday in May disclosed that it had initiated the dossier of its own motion. The Government advocates protecting "a cultural landscape that overflows with the simple archaeological fact". A recent study documents 95 elements of high equity value and another 24 of average value.
"Cultural manifestations" are "consubstantiating to the mountain itself, from its base to the cusp", emphasizes the regional government, protagonist of a paradox: as a member of the foundation it bets on the Chillida project and, at the same time, launches a rule that will prevent it. The battle in public space is served. Once again.

 Project infographic

Article and photo copied from Diario de Fuerteventura, as per Classic's link.

Tamara: going by the required visitor numbers suggested above it would need 1000 visitors per day, every day of the year!

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

another article in DiariodeFuerteventura:

Tindaya beyond Chillida

• Neighbors regret that the administrations have focused on defending the project in the mountain and have forgotten to meet the demands of the people.
  

Chillida's name came to Tindaya in the mid-1990s. The people saw in the Basque sculptor's project the door that would open them to tourism and international recognition. Little by little, the idea was losing steam and Tindaya began to appear in the headlines linked to one of the largest corruption cases in the Canary Islands. Then, most of them stopped seeing a savior in Chillida and sided with those who defended that the monument already existed and that no hole was needed in the mountain to make it important.

A few weeks ago, the news arrived of the declaration of the entire mountain as an Asset of Cultural Interest, a legal mechanism that protects it and buries the possibility of drilling it . The inhabitants of the area years ago had already erased the idea of Chillida from their heads.
Pamela Espinel was a teenager when the sculptor of El Peine del Viento set his eyes on Tindaya. He remembers going one day with his high school classmates to see the model of the project. She was not yet very clear about her opinion on the subject. He was young and thought of other things, but he was surprised that the town did not appear in the sketch. “No one spoke at that time of fixing the town. It gave the impression that the mountain was one thing and Tindaya, another ”, he says.
It's five in the afternoon and Pamela goes with Alicia Reyes and Verónica Suárez to the town square. They do it to chat and demand improvements for Tindaya. For some time, the neighborhood association has been inoperative. They are reluctant to throw in the towel and continue to demand improvements for the place. With the support of other neighbors, they continue to organize the La Caridad festivities in mid-August. They are the only event that breaks for a few days with the silence and monotony that is breathed throughout the year through its streets and alleys.
They sit on the walls of the plaza in fear of ending up with their whitewashed clothes. The square asks for a reform, but it is not the only thing that needs an intervention, although that will be discussed later. The first thing is to talk about the sacred mountain and the first to do so is Alice. “At first, people liked the project. Many agreed. I was one of them ”, he acknowledges. "As long as the state of the mountain was preserved," he clarifies.

They stopped believing in the project when they saw the money disappear

At first, many of the neighbors were enthusiastic about the idea. His past linked to the primary sector, especially livestock, was still very close and they believed that the idea of the Basque would make Tindaya known beyond the borders of Fuerteventura and that it would bring wealth. The elders dreamed that the monument would translate into jobs that would guarantee the future for their children and, best of all, close to home.
Chillida's history with the mountain began in 1994. The artist chose the enclave to make a gigantic sculpture of tolerance, inspired by Cernuda's verse, “the deep is the air”, by casting the mountain. In 1995, the Government of the Canary Islands declared the project of national interest. Three years later, the Sociedad Proyecto Monumental Montaña de Tindaya was created, responsible for the project and formed by the public company Saturno y Canteras de Cabo Verde.
The politicians passed through the town, spoke to the local people about the benefits of the project, took their photo and left. Meanwhile, the neighbors kept getting up early to take the car and go to work in Corralejo or Puerto del Rosario. Years passed and the project was still not done. Government of the Canary Islands, Cabildo and City Council of La Oliva continued to defend the idea, although some of their representatives were already doing it tooth and nail. At least 18 million euros had been allocated - the accounts have never been entirely clear - without moving a stone around Chillida's work.
Disappointment and courts
Little by little, Chillida's project ceased to be a topic of conversation in the town's bars. The disappearance of public Money, the sentences and the headlines in the press where Tindaya was associated with corruption has arrived. “People started to get discouraged. They saw the Money disappear and no one gave an explanation of where it was or if it was going to be done or not. We only saw how they passed the buck to each other in the media, ”Alicia recalls.
Verónica was always clear about her position against the project. The question is still being asked why they were going to "carry a mountain". Perhaps, he thinks that all that commotion was to take the stone to other places. “If that work were to be carried out, what was going to be generated around it? The economy would be there, but the people were not going to find out, "he says.

rom the beginning, the scientific community defended its importance without the need for artistic intervention. He cried out to value all the natural space of Tindaya for its geological wealth, by having a trachytic python, testimony of an ancient eroded volcano, and for its archaeological interest, by preserving more than 200 podomorphic engravings, which makes the mountain in one of the most important cave sites in the world.

In all this time there are those who have defended turning Tindaya into an archaeological park, an initiative that would revalue the enclave, generate wealth and avoid looting or projects of doubtful environmental respect. The bet of tourism linked to archeology seems to convince the neighbors. There are even those who have dreamed of having it declared a World Heritage Site.
“They have focused on the project and not on protecting the mountain. If they had protected her, Tindaya would have been a benchmark for a long time, ”says Pamela. It explains how people continue to climb, despite their access being prohibited. “It is being seen that there is a claim, so why hasn't a path with surveillance been set up? In the end, that also creates jobs, "he says.
The Cabildo rehabilitated and opened the Casa Alta a few years ago, an old construction located at the entrance of the town, with the idea of turning the space into an interpretation center for the Chillida monument. After a few years open showing the model of the project, they decided to close it. A few months ago, they reopened it. It was one of the last acts of the progressive government before Sergio Lloret came to the chair of president of the Cabildo. "The neighbors see it open or closed, but nothing else," says Pamela.
Alicia regrets that the people of Tindaya cannot enjoy it. "They have not motivated anything for the people to go and enjoy it," he says. He comes up with thousands of ideas that go from a point where local artisans can sell their products to a place where they can set up a market and "whoever plants a chard can sell it." At his side, Verónica adds: "The house was very beautiful, restored, but no one has offered it to the people to use it."
During the conversation, cars pass by on the village road. Some may go to Jarugo Beach. The three women agree that Tindaya has become a place of passage towards Jarugo, but nothing more. They miss a signposting of the places. They even bet on signage that provides information on the location of the two cheese factories in the town and thus help generate an economy in the place.
They also demand a clear commitment to improve common spaces such as the square. “It needs to be cleaned up. All the towns have their new square. They have evolved at the infrastructure level, but Tindaya is abandoned ”, assures Pamela. The neighbors remember hearing about the creation of a picnic area in an old park, in the lower part of town. One day the swings were taken, although the furniture for the picnic area never arrived.

Sport in the enclosure

Children and not so children who want to play sports in the town have all the fencing to do so, but not sports infrastructures according to the 21st century. The sports hall is still standing, but with the door closed. The last time they remember the enclosure alive was with the visit of the clown Miliki more than twenty years ago. Some time ago, they painted a soccer field on a part of the floor of the sports hall, but to access it you have to ask for the key.
Verónica believes that, if the sports hall were fixed, a thousand activities could be carried out, from a camp in the summer months so that parents have a place to leave their children when they go to work to markets and concerts. "It is a large space with possibilities, but it is closed," he laments.
The soccer field seems to have some life in recent times as it was enabled as a training place to do CrossFit. Alicia, Pamela and Verónica also celebrate the increase in activities in the cultural center in recent times, although they miss activities for adolescents.
The residents look forward to the palm grove they have created at the entrance to the town, but they would like to have more green areas in Tindaya. Also more lighting in some parts of the town and sidewalks. Those who want to take a walk have to do it along the edge of the road with the danger that a car will appear and take them ahead. They also ask to improve the asphalt. Alicia estimates that her street, Lomo La Palma, does not exceed 800 meters. He has counted up to 17 holes in the road before reaching his home. "You have to go back and forth in the car to avoid holes in the asphalt," he explains. They are unable to give the exact number of neighbors who live in the place, but they estimate that between 800 and 1,000. In empty Spain, where the inland towns are left without people, Tindaya seems to be one of the towns that make a difference.
The three neighbors have been talking for almost an hour around the town. It is now Alicia who asks her companions how the La Palma fountain will be, a historical fountain that quenched the thirst of the people of Tindaya in times of misery. The woman remembers her mother, María, with chants in tow coming from the fountain. He would like to value the place. The three believe that a route could be made through the podomorphs of the mountain, the hermitage, the fountain and the statue of Miguel de Unamuno, in Montaña Quemada, where the oblivion of the monument has condemned the writer to a second exile.
The conversation ends at the bar in front of the square. Verónica and Pamela now look at the square from another point and imagine everything that could be done in it and its surroundings. In addition, they dream of being able to spend a week without water cuts in the town because Tindaya is not spared the scourge of water cuts that affect half the island. They also remember again, laughing, Miliki's visit to the sports center. The clown asked them “how are you”. Perhaps he was the last to ask Tindaya's neighbors how they were doing.

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

Second half of a transcript of an interview on Radio Sintonia (first half is in Wildlife section as it concerns Houbara)

Second interview: Rayco de León .- Minister of Culture of the Cabildo of Fuerteventura, we asked him about the information that appeared about the BIC of Tindaya.- He explains that it is a news that appeared that reflects an old report where the technicians of the Cabildo and the Government of the Canary Islands had disparity of criteria in relation to the expansion of the Asset of Cultural Interest of Tindaya; that in no case is it treated as some media have said that the Cabildo is trying to promote Chillida's work. "Nothing further away, currently," says Rayco de León, "we all want to protect the mountain and its natural and cultural heritage. On the other hand, there is the project of the Basque sculptor who has his journey and his own causes". Currently there are planned archaeological surveys in the mountain of Tindaya and its surroundings, which we hope will bear fruit with new findings and of course attending to these new archaeological values the BIC was expanded.
At the moment, says the Councilor, we are also reforming the musealization of the Casa Alta de Tindaya to give priority to the natural and cultural values of the Mountain, as well as to the existing archaeological sites and what appears in these new excavations.
Tindaya has several owners and some have contacted the Cabildo of Fuerteventura to know the situation of the expansion of the BIC, for our part we have simply addressed the request to the Government of the Canary Islands.
Rayco de León recalls that currently the ascent to the Mountain is prohibited, we are trying to create a path so as not to damage the podomorphs that are superficial in stone plates that are very delicate and that by day when people climb they are not seen, so any step unfortunately can damage them. But as long as the BIC file is active, we cannot take any action.
We talk about ethnography and the need to protect the gavias, as well as the stone walls declared a World Heritage Site. For Rayco de León the collaboration of the people is necessary, these declarations are unfortunately not binding and sometimes there are cases where municipalities modify their aesthetics or transform these elements without maintaining their properties. That is why it is important that people and institutions value these ancient structures and be aware of their conservation.In relation to this topic, the Counselor gives an example to a twelve-year-old boy who has found a unique aboriginal piece in the Canary Islands, and has delivered it to the Cabildo, so that it is part of the Archaeological Museum of Fuerteventura, where from today it is exposed to the public. Actions of this kind should serve as a model for citizenship, as a child is proud to expand the cultural value of his or her life.