Niche of the Virgin of Guadalupe in La Meseta

This niche is located within the Garajonay National Park and is one of the three religious images devoted to the Virgin of Guadalupe in La Gomera; the others are located in Guará (Vallehermoso) and in the area of Puntallana (San Sebastián de La Gomera), the latter being the island’s patron saint. In 1925, several residents of Hermigua asked the mayor of the town for authorization to build a square in La Meseta, where there is currently a niche with a religious image devoted to the Virgin of Guadalupe. The neighbors had collected a certain amount of money to carry out this work, which would be eventually authorized by the mayor. La Meseta makes us enjoy one of the El Garajonay National Park’s streams. This type of humid environment, so rare in the Canary Islands, is the habitat of the sauceda (willow), a tree formation that grows when there is water, in which the exclusive presence of the Canarian sauceda (Salix canariensis) characterizes the only riverside forests of Canary Islands. The path that runs from El Rejo to the hamlet of El Cedro, connecting this religious place with The Chapel of Lourdes in the middle of El Cedro forest, is nearby this niche.