"I first heard of this man through the many references made to him by my dear and beloved friend Manuel González Barrera. In addition to having been his partner, along with Gorgonio Martín (now deceased), in the adventure of the Cíclope publishing house, Manolo and Félix Martín Hormiga are close friends.
From hearing Manolo so much, my curiosity was piqued, and searching through the Internet, and with people who knew his story, I learned about who this man was that everyone spoke of with such admiration and affection. I learned of his warm way of writing, so from within, so gentle in his ways.
This simple man does not pretend to lecture when speaking. He simply speaks as a wise man would when telling his little grandson snippets of his life.
One day, by chance, I started watching an interview with a bearded character with gray hair, who was conversing with an attractive journalist, at the souk of a window, where the "Puente de las Bolas" appeared almost drawn. Having turned on the TV with the interview already started, I only realized that by the way he expressed himself, spoke, and told everything he was telling the beautiful interviewer, and despite not having heard the name of the interviewee, it could be none other than Félix Martín Hormiga.
I listened with true delight to the entire interview-conversation. In later days, I mentioned it to our mutual friend Manolo Barrera, who in turn told me a lot of anecdotes lived in their long friendship. Some time later I had the pleasure and the honor of Manolo introducing me to this man whom I admired without knowing him and I can say, without any embarrassment, that I was hooked by his easy and pleasant conversation, treating me as if he had known me forever. Something I deeply appreciated, as I felt infinitely small, listening to two monsters of literature.
One day I attended a folk festival in Tías, one of the many on the island, but this one had the particularity that it paid tribute to Félix Hormiga. I was able to enjoy his words again, his experiences, that particular way of recounting what he calls "his stories", listening to the delightful story of the sailor and his oar.
I am from the peninsula but in love with this piece of hot and arid land to the bone. Not in vain, when someone asks me, "What have you come to do here, in the decline of your life?" I invariably answer in the same way: "I have come to die on this island."
I think that every day I find a new reason to ratify my decision, and knowing that Félix is one of them. For me, Félix Hormiga is part of the essence of this island, an indissoluble part of the feeling and the conejero living.
I do not have the pretension of affirming that I am a friend of Félix, among other things because it would not be true. I am simply an acquaintance, and I only wish with these letters to express my admiration and respect towards the man who in my opinion is the greatest bastion that currently exists of the culture of Lanzarote and by extension of the Canary Islands".
