Right next to a road outside the town of El Médano on Tenerife’s south coast is a green and blue tent on a makeshift campsite, a mum and son now call home. Joshua Castiglioni, 27, who worked as a barman near Milan, Italy, told the Express that he flew to the Spanish island with his mother, Paola Nigro, a 63-year-old cleaner, three months ago in search of a different life due to family trouble.
Now, they are waiting for new work documents after losing their original ones. Once he gets a job, Joshua plans to save up and rent a home with a solid roof and walls. Earlier this month, locals took to the streets of Tenerife’s capital to protest against overtourism, which they claim has priced residents out of accomodation. The duo tried to live on a beach on the other side of a small highway bridge, but they had a “problem with the police”, who moved them on. “Here is a free zone,” Joshua said. He added: “It’s good because the weather is good here, we have the sea.
It’s easier than Italy, for sure, but it’s always complicated for some stuff because you don’t have the light.”
They use public toilets, and for food go to nearby restaurants.
“We ask and they give us something,” Joshua said. “The food is never a problem here. They are so kind, everybody.
“You’re free to be yourself, for sure. You have no rules. After the bridge there’s all the rules.”
Other people live nearby in their own DIY homes, connected by an improvised footway swept into the surrounding sand and shrubs, including one with what looked like its own outdoor toilet hut.
Another had an improvised front gate seemingly made from the back of a wooden dining chair. Others have utlitised caves.
Joshua said: “A lot [of people] live here. We’re like a family. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s not good. It’s normal.”
“Here, it is quiet. The same on the beach, but the police come every time to say ‘go away'”.
His mother said, via her son as a translator: “I like it. It’s like a vacation.” Paola added that she hopes to have a house in the future, but, for now, living as they are is okay.
She added that she likes the freedom, and, in Italy there are a “lot of problems, a lot of rules”.
Paola too likes the weather, as well as being able to go down to the whenever she wants sea.
Marco Gaudio, 51, also from Italy, moved to Tenerife for work a year ago having left behind a job in a restaurant kitchen.
Waking up from a nap in a tent next to Joshua and Paola, Marco spoke to the Express while lying down and shirtless.
“For the moment, it’s ok,” he said. He added that he has a child in Toulouse, and he is waiting to find a job to bring them here for a better life.
When asked if he was ever ever got scared, he showed off his biceps, adding: “No problem.” When asked if he was bored, Marco insisted he was not, but he would like to work.
