Homage to the Bajada

The "Homage to the Bajada" statue.

I love this statue.

It stands about a kilometre outside Valverde, on the road down to the port and airport, which means most people are going to see it fairly soon after they arrive on the island. As the name suggests, it celebrates the Bajada, the big once-every-five-years fiesta where they take the statue of the island's patron saint to the capital for a month.

The back of the statue

I wrote a post about this while it was being built, and I was fascinated to see the finished statue. It meant so much more, now that I've seen the bajada dancers.

The biggest archway in the Canaries.

The artist, Rubén Armiche, clearly has a good idea of what appeals to kids aged from 4 to 94. This archway is only one of the ways into the statue. He calls it the biggest archway in the Canary Islands, because on a clear day it frames Mt. Teide. (Shame about the haze when I took the photo.)

Holes for peeking through.

There are actually two archways, side by side; one is adult size and the other kid-sized. Better yet, there are peek-holes between the two.

The scaffolding for the huge statue is made from things like old washing machines, which saves them going into landfill. And as you can see, some of the details on the outside are recycled too.

Detail of the statue. Yes, they're bottle tops!

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Homage to the Bajada

The artist Rubén Armiche is creating a huge statue called "Homage to the Bajada", just outside Valverde. It's something he calls "re-use art", because it's made of things like old washing machines covered by chicken wire, sacks, and finally cement. He plans to finish it in time for the big festival in July (the bajada, hence the statue's name), so I hope to see it then.

The bit in the photo is only one end. It will eventually form a giant arc, with an entrance archway which frames Mt. Teide on Tenerife. Actually, there's two archways, side by side, one adult size and one for kids, with a peep-hole between the two. I think the kids are going to love that!

Rubén was born on Gran Canaria in 1973, but his parents were from El Hierro, and he loves the island. Apart from this statue and similar, smaller ones elsewhere on El Hierro, he's painted several murals and written and illustrated two comic books, one about the bajada, and one about the Garoé.

He's also very friendly to wannabe journalists who interrupt his work.

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