Lanzarote, Jardin de Cactus

Not knowing about its exsistance we discoverd beautiful Jardin de Cacrus (Cactus Garden)
The Jardín de Cactus is found on the outskirts of Guatiza, on the road to Mala. It is in this area where during more than a century the cochineal beetle has been cultivated - an insect which lives in the cactus and whose larva are used to produce the valuable natural colorant, cochineal.

From the road, one can easily recognise the entrance to the cactus garden, as there rises up an 8 metre sculpture of a cactus (fake). In this tourist centre, an abandoned 'rofe' (volcanic ash) quarry in the shape of an amphitheatre has been used, in whose terraces one can admire more than 10,000 (1 400 differetn sorts) different kinds of cactus from the Canary Islands, America and Madagascar.

In the centre, stick up stone monoliths that complement the design of the garden. On one side, rises up an old windmill, restored in 1973 by Manrique, in which is produced 'gofio' (corn flour), consumed by the islanders' ancestors.