Volcano homeowner fed up of gawping tourists

Amanda Melián, whose house was almost completely covered by molten lava from the volcano La Palma 3 year’ ago, is sick of the gawpers.

Owner of what was once a quaint little mountain cottage on the Canary Island of La Palma has taken to covering what is visibly left to see of her home with tarpaulin, fed up of tourists travelling to see and take photos of her home.

She has been subject to so much bureaucracy, arguments with the public administration over right of access, safety regulations, and the right to rehabilitate her house, that she has had enough. And now with hiking excursions deliberately making her front door a stop off photo opportunity, she has come to the end of her tether.

Volcano covered cottage taking years to recover

Amanda Melián’s house became an icon of the devastation during the eruption of the Tajogaite volcano, making the front page of both national and international print and digital media. Amanda claims that, from the Public Administrations, the only person to contact her has been the current mayor of El Paso, Eloy Martín, who has just confirmed to her that the latest decree published by the Government of the Canary Islands states that her house can indeed be rebuilt and rehabilitated.

‘I still can’t go in my own home,’ she says, ‘I’ve been waiting for years for papers and permits, but every time we go there are tourists taking photos of my house.’ Some visitors enter the house to try to get the best snaps for their social media, while others actually have vandalised parts of what’s left of the cottage.

Her plan is to eventually excavate the house and restore it, but the wheels of bureaucracy move so slowly in the Canary Islands, it could take years before works can start. So, for the time being, it remains wrapped in tarpaulin like something by the artist, Christo.