Los Loros - El Carmen

The Barranco de Ingenio neighbourhood

Located in the highest part of the Barranco del Ingenio ravine, we find a neighbourhood at the foot of the mountain where there must have been lush forests of Canarian Laurel, which was ploughed during the first centuries after the conquest to use the wood for the sugar plantations. The forest gave way to a special environment that still preserves a unique set of terraces and palm trees, with some 35 buildings that have not been so well preserved or have been taken over by new plants that have almost completely eliminated their former colonial beauty. The neighbourhood is home to fruit and vegetable crops, vines, potatoes and yams, in a series of particularly beautiful terraces, and several well-kept rural tourist houses. The simple, centuries-old Ermita del Carmen is located here. The feast day in her honour is held on 23 July. Every five years on 16 July the Virgin is moved to the church of San Juan Bautista in the centre of the municipality and returned on the 23 of the same month during the Fiestas Lustrales de Vallehermoso. The main paths that connected the Ingenio ravine with the higher parts of the island started in Los Loros. From here you can walk to some of the most emblematic areas of the Garajonay National Park, such as the Marichal forest trail and the ascent from there to the Laguna Grande, or the paths that take you to La Meseta, La Cañada de Jorge or the Jardín de Las Creces.