After three years of romance, at the beginning of September his heart broke in the coastal center of Bocacangrejo, in the municipality of El Rosario, bordering Santa Cruz de Tenerife and on the southwestern outskirts of the metropolitan area of the island, Rafael Marichal (Rafa), a 73-year-old neighbor, had a good day 2021 to start decorating part of the small path by the sea of the first section of houses, as chaotic as the accumulated self-construction that marks this typical example of land occupation in many areas of the Canary Islands before the urban plans that tried to bring some order.
He did it around the small beach of callaos in this part and using intense colors and hearts of different sizes that, little by little, thanks to word of mouth and, above all, thanks to the incessant social networks, converted Bocacangrejo (combination of the names that separate the road signs: Boca Cangrejo) into a world tourist reference and an almost obligatory visit for many people who wanted to immortalize themselves next to this open-air museum dotted with sea salt, sun and shadows of the adjoining houses.
All different houses, all with sacrificial fathers and mothers, usual weekend jobs (“tenderete pa’ la plancha”, as they used to say so many times in the 70s, 80s and 90s), to have a first or second home on the Atlantic coast in an overwhelming sensation of living almost in an authentic urban western at the time.
Rafa’s idea was so successful, his cheerful seal became so famous that the neighborhood ended up getting fed up with the unstoppable presence of visitors from the Canary Islands, the rest of Spain and many countries who only asked for hearts to get their rigorous photos. Many neighbors, in fact, knew from afar that they would be questioned about the whereabouts of the hearts and Rafa himself gave away bracelets made by him, as well as viralized on the networks, as an additional memory. The phenomenon was such that the city ended up being nicknamed “the city of hearts”, with millions of video views recorded on TikTok or Instagram. Something very shocking for many residents or owners who once enjoyed the tranquility of Bocacangrejo, despite the demands for services and some inconveniences that they suffered for a long time, as well as the threat of demolition of the houses by Costas or the Housing Agency. . Half given what happened in other similar areas because, in many cases, they did not have the required licenses, as happened in the areas of the annexed municipality of Candelaria.
Of course, some ate at the restaurant in this neighborhood of El Rosario; Of course, there are neighbors who were not bothered by hearts and tourists and who were bored, and of course the municipality, in part, was interested because, right next door, there is the beach of La Nea (of considerable size and fine, black volcanic sand) and the marina and the different seaside areas of Radazul (smaller and recreated, but very charming), with a much greater gastronomic offer.
However, the majority of owners or residents of Bocacangrejo, where vacation rentals have also been established in an equally typical paradox, have exploded because, in addition, the access road has no exit, parking is very limited and cars collapse. increasing and unbearable on the narrow two-way road, especially on weekends, and the tranquility of yesteryear had simply disappeared without any sign of recovery.
An anonymous reaction that changes everything
The situation reached an almost extreme point and resulted in an anonymous and vandalistic attack on a part of the walls decorated with beating hearts, crossed out with spray red and black in a clear cry of “so far”, cowardly because the paternity was not made explicit (it was speculated with two hooded men), but synthetic and effective. This was denounced in the media and networks as something intolerable, insensitive and almost disastrous, but the debate intensified and Rafa, brutal and denounced for his paintings in public spaces and others, decided to cut his losses by resorting to gray paint (on the ground and steps) and white (walls), and erases for two nights a large part of his successful and atypical work, leaving only a small area (see photos) with hearts still virgin. And it’s normal, it’s right in front of your house.
Although in the rest of the walk and now on the grayish and white walls, the profiles of the once multi-colored hearts have been marked, the sensation is that of a fade to black, of the end of joy, of donkey belly (name given in the islands to the intense accumulation of gray or black clouds due to condensation, especially in areas such as the La Orotava Valley). Of course, tranquility has returned to Bocacangrejo and visitors continue to come to see what was, what remains and what can be unleashed elsewhere in a wonderful archipelago that, however, and in an almost global phenomenon, suffers every time. mass tourism, the perverse or ambivalent effects of social networks and the understandable or, at least, well-founded reaction of some “local” residents who, aware of the vital importance of tourism (35% of Canarian GDP and 40% of employment), in many cases they shout that “not like this”, as demonstrated by the more than successful demonstrations of April 20, with about 200,000 people in the streets of all the islands, but especially in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
Rafa doesn’t want to talk to anyone. He locks himself in his house and the people of the city know that he is going through a difficult time. Someone has broken his heart and his multi-colored joy, but the lessons of this story with a sad ending, in large part, should serve to reflect on the sought-after tourism and coexistence with the locals and the improvised and popular art of sensitive people. and with different and joyful visions of existence.
Crabmouth has lost a lot of its heart, although that’s just one way of looking at it if you really live from the heart.
