Garoé

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The Garoé was a tree sacred to the Bimbaches, the older inhabitants of El Hierro in the Canary Islands and was one of its symbols.

Due to its location, where tradewinds cocur, the water from the couds is condensed from the branches from the trees and it later pours rain around the island. This phenomenon takes places in the entire Canary Islands. The legend sayd that the Garoé was a large laurel tree that assured the life of the Bimbaches providing them water in sufficient amounts for their survival. The Bimbaches later filled its water chaffs and transported to towns to all parts of the island.

One of the many lagends tells that the water originating from the tree was lead to a hole from which the Bimbaches could provided the same one. It was from this form as they managed to reject the Castilian or Spanish invasion for a certain period of time.

The origin tree fell because of the storm in 1610. In 1957, another laural in the same location where the Garoé was located, that has been growing and presently surrounded by mosses. The clouds continue to passes through the summits of the island and during foggy days, it observes the phenomenon of horizontal rain. As it happens with all the legends, the Garoé has been left in herreña conscience as a sacred tree able to provide water to the island.