Tuineje

In the centre, the magnificent church and the nondescript administration building, serving a district that includes the town of Gran Tarajal, stand facing each other. There is a black memorial plaque on one of the houses near the church, a reminder of the work done by Lucana for the benefit of Tuineje. The main riad boasts one of the few traffic lights on Fuerteventura.
The patron saint of the town is the holy Virgen de la Salud. The double-naved parish church, which bears the name of Archangel Michael (San Miguel de Arcangel), was completed in 1790. The central part of the rococo altar is adorned with a sculpture of Saint Michael. To his left, the Virgen de la Salud watches over Tuineje´s destiny.
An unusual feature in the lower part of the altar is two images of the victorious defence, against English pirates, who were defeated in 1740 by a cunning strategy involving dromedaries.
For many years, Tuineje was an agricultural centre, lying as it does in the middle of an extensive fertile plain. Gran Tarajal grew up much later, but is now more important than Tuineje due to the economic role it plays. Even so, the district is still administered from Tuineje.