I took part in an Erasmus youth project that was held in Lanzarote, Spain. I arrived a day early and had previously found out that the island had 2 abandoned resorts that I wanted to check out, so I did. I hitchhiked to the first place and took pictures there until the evening arrived. It was a tiny village of small abandoned houses, it looked like a film set for an old west movie:
I was expecting Clint Eastwood to step out any moment:
Find your language?
The owners ran out of money, that´s why they abandoned this "work in progress":
The place would have also been perfect as a computer game arena:
Abandoned pools were a sad sight, a lot of money went into this at some point, and it never served a purpose..
From afar, I spotted a man, who was obviously squatting in one of the houses, didn´t get a picture of it, but you can imagine, it´s an okay place to live at:
After a while, it was starting to get darker, dog for scale:
My plan was to find some random place to sleep at, I thought the weather would be warm enough to sleep outside. Turns out, moisture and wind are not a good combination when the only blanket you have is a thin towel, even if it is +15 (which is warm by Estonian standards). Since the island is volcanic, there were no trees around and I literally had to sleep on a bush. I could choose between a thorny bush and a bush, which broke easily and secreted a milky, glue like liquid. I chose the thorned bush. It hurt, but it was softer than sleeping on the ground...
I was in the middle of nowhere, a few kilometres from the nearest inhabited place, and it was completely dark. I woke up after a few hours, shaking from the cold, looking for a better sleeping place with my phones flashlight. There was nothing around, everything was a wasteland of volcanic rocks and the occasional thorn/glue bush. The stars were beautiful, but it was hard to appreciate beauty since I was so very cold:
After a kilometre or two I finally found a new place - a literal ditch with a plastic drain pipe, that I could barely fit in (picture taken the next day):
It was far from perfect, one of the most uncomfortable nights of my life, but I survived and could even get a few hours of sleep. I was very grateful when the first rays of sunlight pierced the sky.
I set out towards the next resort:
When I got there, I kept quiet - it was obvious someone had been living there at some point. After a while, it became clear that no-one was there at the moment and I could take pictures of this majestic carcass in peace:
The view was great though, these rooms look better without walls:
Who knows what rituals have been held here:
Again, so many wasted resources...
The complex was creepy, even though the air was almost 30 degrees:
Eerie interior, I really hope no-one raised a child here:
A puny fence at some parts:
King sized bed. I´m not sure if I would have slept on it, if I had found it before:
Flag:
After I was done with my adventure, I hitchhiked back and could start with the project, like nothing had happened. Thanks for reading!