Three incredible disappearances have shaken the town of San Bartolomé de Tirajana. Luxury beds vanish, a scepter lost just before the Carnival queen was crowned, and a work of art whose whereabouts are unknown. Maspalomas, the tourist capital of southern Gran Canaria, seems to be experiencing a comedy of errors in broad daylight.
The famous €2.000 Balinese beds that never reached the sand of Maspalomas have disappeared without a trace, without security cameras, without an official inventory, and without convincing answers. The public denunciation of their disappearance may seem like a gesture of institutional responsibility, but it is also interpreted as a low blow to those who now manage the municipality, including former government colleagues. Meanwhile, San Bartolomé de Tirajana continues to lose resources and direction in the midst of the battle to recover its tourist excellence.
"The famous detective Sherlock Holmes scanned the sands of Maspalomas with his magnifying glass," without finding a trace of the famous Balinese beds. "Curious," he murmured, "not even the sun remembers seeing them." After reviewing invoices that smelled of institutional dampness and nearby security cameras that conveniently seemed to be looking the other way, he concluded ironically: "Ten citizens rest like kings while the municipality sleeps in ruin."
And to make matters worse, even art seems to vanish in Maspalomas. The renowned Gran Canaria artist Pepe Dámaso has reported the disappearance of one of his works, loaned for the Regional Folklore Festival in 2023, which never resurfaced. Although it was initially intended to be displayed at the festival's opening event at the Maspalomas Lighthouse, it ended up packed away and, since then, has been nowhere to be found. Has it reappeared without anyone informing the public?
And as the icing on the cake, the Maspalomas International Carnival scepter also decided to play hide-and-seek. Valued at over 12.000 euros, the scepter that the new Carnival queen was supposed to hold in March 2024 temporarily disappeared, sparking nerves and running around the halls of the town hall. Luckily, the object was found in time, although the organizing team can't shake the scare.
