The women of La Graciosa travelled from the island daily with baskets of fish on their heads. Thus, at dawn, they reached the Lanzarote towns of Haría, Guinate, Ye and Mague, where they offered fish from door to door. And in exchange they obtained meat, potatoes, gofio, millet and other agricultural products. Sometimes, also on their heads, other essential items were taken back, such as clothing for the family or furniture and household items.
On the way back, almost at nightfall, it was all about retracing the tortuous Risco until reaching the coast. Here they lit the tegalas, a kind of torch with which they announced to their husbands that they could pick them up in their small boats.
The Camino de las Gracioseras was much more than a commercial route. It was also the route that allowed the visit to the doctor, requiring the patient to travel or be carried to the doctor’s office. At weddings, if the priest from Lanzarote could not travel to La Graciosa, the bride and groom themselves had to brave it together with their guests in order to get to the church. And even at burials, families carried the deceased along this stony path to give them a Christian burial.
From 1880 to 1950 the trail remained active for all these purposes. Then, of course, it fell into disuse with the regression of traditional tasks (salt pans, grazing…), the improvement of water supply and, especially, the appearance of the first maritime and land transport that allowed, finally, La Graciosa to be connected with the rest of the islands.