(Un)-employment on Lanzarote

I have a dream – a dream that one day I will be able to run my business from just one laptop, and that with that laptop I will be able to move to Lanzarote.

From there, I would sit on a balcony over looking the old harbour in Puerto del Carmen and provide remote IT support or web-design services using that very laptop.

All that before taking a dip on the pool.

OK, so that dream is still some way away, and perhaps even more so after I read that the Canary Islands have almost 150,000 unemployed.

It’s not the sort of thing that you see or even think about as a tourist.  In the bustle of the local shops and restaurants, you get the impression that everyone on the island has a job to do, sometimes even two.

On the other hand, I guess that the number of jobs on the island is limited and so moving for your dream job can mean moving away from the island and thus from your home.   Can you imagine leaving such a beautiful part of the World in search for work?

I for one, could not.  Perhaps I should remain a tourist and do my bit to reduce that unemployment figure!

El Golfo and the green lagoon

El Golfo is situated at the south-west end of the island. Itself a small fishing village, it has one big attraction – the volcano crater with the green lagoon.

The crater in itself is fascinating enough – parking at the shop and restaurant just outside the village, you walk along a narrow path with a handrail on one side and the rock face on the other until you reach a natural viewing platform.

At this point you are in the crater – only half of it is missing, wash away by the Atlantic ocean.

Looking landwards the remaining side of the volcano towers above you, black and red layers of dried lava and other rocks make for a stunning view. It is not hard to imagine the power that this volcano once had.

But that is not all – down below is the green lagoon, a naturally formed pool of water that shines bright green. The effect is caused by minerals left over from the volcano’s active days. The water flows in from the ocean by an underground channel and mixes with these minerals to give it it’s green colour.

On the way back to the car park you can pick up a piece of green rock for a reasonable price from one of the collectors’ tables – often unmanned with just a collecting tin to put your money in.

For more elaborate souvenirs there is the shop at the car park, as well as Teguise market.

Please click on ACCEPT to give us permission to set cookies [more information]

This website uses cookies to give you the best browsing experience possible. Cookies are small text files that are stored by the web browser on your computer. Most of the cookies that we use are so-called “Session cookies”. These are automatically deleted after your visit. The cookies do not damage your computer system or contain viruses. Please read our privacy information page for more details or to revoke permission.

Close