A jovial and courteous lunch companion, Jesús had difficulty taking himself seriously as a prospective interviewee. The incredible backdrop of Teide easily visible through the restaurant’s windows and the gastronomic delights set before us acted as further distractions. However, we soldiered on.

The Parador hotel chain started as the brain child of the Marquis of Vega-Inclán to provide hotels of a certain standard and recuperate a series of important buildings of national heritage. Gredos, the first to open was inaugurated by King Alfonso XIII and the chain has become one of the most prestigious in the country although as a state owned chain, they go gently on the publicity so as not to compete too fiercely with the private sector. The Parador at Las Cañadas opened mid 1960 and during the 1996 renovations was extended to include the present restaurant and the bedrooms above. There are very few rooms without superb views of the national park, either sunrise or sunset and it was the only Parador in a National Park, until the extension of the Pico de Europa National Park a few years ago, which took in the Parador de Fuente Dé in Cantabria.

I asked Jesús what in his opinion was a Parador?  “It’s a hotel,” he smiled.  “No seriously, one of the characteristics was that Paradors were always started where there was little or no private enterprise. To restore or maintain Spanish heritage, castles, monasteries, if not they’d be abandoned like so many others. It’s a very important task and it’s an idea that has been copied by other countries. In some villages the Paradors were the biggest if not the only employers. It was a social commitment and a historical commitment to preserve the heritage. Lately we don’t cost the public purse anything, we’re financially self sufficient.”

Jesús was born in the town of Oropesa in Toledo, his mother and father both worked in the lovely Parador there, converted in 1930 from a thirteenth century castle.  It was in this establishment that Jesús began his working life with the Parador group of hotels.  “It’s always been a family orientated business, in my family starting with my paternal grandparents who were the first head porter and cook when it opened.  I started part time as a page boy at the age of 14, then full time from 16.  Boy did I study tourism!

“When the hotel closed down for renovation, I had the option to go on the dole or transfer to another hotel.  I was young and didn’t want to go on the dole, so off I went to León.  From there I started to do the rounds.  I think that what hurts is that first separation from your home town, once that’s done, it’s all the same.  I’ve worked all over and done every job, I’ve served more tables than anyone”.  A director’s job is very time consuming, “but I’ve got my own little ‘apartment’ in Teide, I live in a National Park, not everyone can say that.”

Jesús sleeps in the hotel five or six nights a week despite being married for, “38 or 39 years, I can’t remember!  I’ve always said it’s the only way the marriage has lasted, I sometimes feel I was born married, and in a Parador.  My day to day consists of keeping an eye on all this, Saturdays I go for a walk in the park, but the rest of the week I’m here.  I dedicate a lot of time to human resources.”

He claims that the hotel hasn’t really been affected either by the much publicised downturn in tourism on the Island or the eruption scares, “we’ve been filled with scientists – it’s been good for business!  July’s supposed to be a low season, so we’ve got staff on holiday but we’ve started seeing more and more day visitors for lunch.  The overnight stays to study the stars are also increasingly popular and anyway fifty per cent of our clients are residents who repeat their visit with us time and again”.

Recently there has been a call for more Paradors in the Canaries.  “Look at La Laguna, the council have just offered a building for a Parador, and we’ve been offered the old Casino in Puerto, we must be doing something right.  It obviously gives a certain prestige to have a Parador in the town.”  I asked Jesús his opinion on the claim that there should be a Parador in each of the seven Islands.  “I believe the first Parador in the island was in Arrecife in Lanzarote but it closed down, I don’t know why and of course they’re working on Tejeda in Gran Canaria.  In the province of Tenerife there are Paradors on all the islands, in Gran Canaria not one.  It’s four-nil” he said with glee, obviously having been infected with something of the infamous East versus West provincial rivalry.

Not all buildings are suitable for Paradors, for example it is very difficult to install a lift in a 13^th century castle but Las Cañadas didn’t have that problem, in fact they have a lift that goes up an extra floor to serve just one bedroom – now that’s luxury!  “I believe it’s the newlywed’s most favourite hotel room on the island.”

Jesús strikes you as a contented and fulfilled man, with a great love for the national park where he spends so much of his life.  “I enjoy walking.  Every Saturday, before I go home, I go for a walk somewhere in the park.”  When the park reopened in 1996 the National Park and the Parador cosponsored a leaflet by Alfonso Monje (a SEAT top businessman) for hikers staying at the hotel.  “He actually walked all over every route, not once, but many times, the guide is great.”  I asked him his view on the cable car, much criticised by the ecologists, should it stay or go when the ground rental period runs out?  “It’s been built now – leave it.  I’ve been walking all over this park for 24 years and there will come a time when I can’t walk up Teide.  It would be nice to know that the cable car’s there for when I need it.”

In all his years as hotel director, Jesús has seen many famous people come and go but, “I don’t really take that much notice of them.  I’ve been here 24 years now”.  Lance Armstrong has been coming here for a long time and has just finished his pre Tour de France training there.  “They’re here to train.  They enter and leave by the back door and use a private dining room”.  I recalled coinciding with Mrs Thatcher on one of my visits to the hotel.  “Yes, she was here to lunch – she looks a lot older in real life.  I didn’t come out of my office.  The staff said ‘Thatcher’s here’ and I said ‘So what? Look, look after her well and see that she enjoys herself and that’s that’.  There’s been lot’s of top models here too and you see them first thing in the morning with their hair pulled back and no make up and you thin, they’re not that hot.  Then you see them later and what a difference, beautiful.  One day there was a famous Extrameñan female duo here and I caught them jumping over the back fence.  I said, ‘Excuse me, don’t you have gates and front doors in your city?  Here the only ones who jump fences are the goats’.  They went back, came through the doors and had lunch.”

As is usual I asked Jesús if he would like to send a message to Island Connections readers about this, the highest Parador in Spain.  He replied, “the best message will come from you as a regular client, I’m selfish, if it was up to me they’d shut the park!”

I’ve been luck enough to visit the hotel many times and I believe that the Paradors in general and Las Cañadas in particular are great value for money.  Public rooms and bedrooms are super comfortable and most have incredible views.  The food is superb and hubby looks forward to diving into the extensive breakfast buffet for days.  There are special offers for the young and the over 65’s, two or more nights, off peak periods like July and residents.  The staff are more than helpful and will look for the most economic option for you.  They also have special deals to make the most of the full moon and the regular as clockwork showers of shooting stars, including storytelling and the use of the Parador’s telescope.  Ring them and ask - it’s cheaper than you think (922 386415).