The water of Chiñama provided the village with water to drink.
The nucleus of Chiñama and Charco del Pino, like so many other pagos and villages in the Canary Islands, developed in this place because there was water available for the settlement of the population. Some say that “Chiñama” is a Guanche word meaning “fountain” or “mountain of water”. Later, the settlement adopted another name: “Charco del Pino”, which also points to the availability of water.
There is no doubt that the Guanches inhabited Chiñama, as the archaeological finds in the ravine and around the mountain show. They used to pass through here with their livestock to drink water from the pools in the ravine. Later, the peasants, monks and fish sellers also followed the Camino Real here in search of water.
In the Chiñama ravine there is an “ere” where water was obtained in times of drought. It is a deep hole or well in the basaltic rock, covered by the sand carried by the riverbed. A large quantity of water is stored there underground. In times of drought, the local people dug small holes in the sand so that the water would rise by capillary action, allowing them and their animals to drink.