It seems that there are tourists who come to the Canary Islands with the same mentality as when they stroll through a Chinese bazaar: “what I like, I tear it off and take it with me”. In Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, they are no longer satisfied with the photos, the sun and the “all inclusive”. Now they believe they have the right to plunder nature as if they were Indiana Jones in a flip-flop and Decathlon hat version.
On TikTok, the latest gem: a lady tearing off rofe and stones in El Golfo, with her family filming and laughing, shouting “my aunt saving on souvenirs”. Well, yes, honey, free souvenirs... at the cost of ruining a protected space. Because laughter always comes easier when the island pays for the damage and not you.
But it doesn't stop there. Because at Popcorn Beach, in Fuerteventura, tourists with beach Diogenes syndrome have been insisting on taking dead coral algae —which look like popcorn, hence the name— as if they were fairground sweets for years. The result? The beach is becoming poorer and more degraded, because people think it's “very cute” to take a handful to decorate the living room vase.
What they don't understand is that Lanzarote and Fuerteventura are not Ikea. You don't come here with the yellow bag to see what matches your sofa. They are fragile territories, a Biosphere Reserve and, to top it off, the few virgin corners we have left. Each stone, each popcorn, each grain of salt has its function in the ecosystem, even if it only serves as an exotic coaster for you.
And of course, they upload it to social media, proud, as if they were influencers of ecological vandalism. Then, when someone points out the atrocity, they utter the classic: “we didn't know”. Well, look, I don't know neurosurgery either, but that's not why I go into an operating room with a kitchen spoon.
Do you want a souvenir of the Canary Islands? Take a fridge magnet, a bottle of honey rum, or if you're unlucky, a sunstroke that will be remembered on its own. But stop emptying beaches and tearing stones, because every souvenir you steal is an insult to this land and the people who take care of it.
So, free advice: if you only come to plunder, better not come. It will be cheaper, more sustainable and save us the embarrassment of seeing how they turn our land into the shoddy flea market of their low-cost trip.
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