The village of Cofete and the Winter villa in Fuerteventura

Another attraction of Cofete is an enigmatic villa situated above the village, the villa Winter, to which are attached extravagant German submarines legends and national socialists networks, although this villa was built after World War World.

To achieve Cofete from Morro del Jable you have to take a vehicle track - but difficult - that crosses the edge of the caldera with a collar located 350 m above sea level. Shortly after the pass is the viewpoint of the Degollada de Agua Oveja, 230 m above sea level, where the view on the wild beaches of Cofete and Barlovento is splendid. This stone track was built in 1946 by prisoners of agricultural penal colony Tefía near La Oliva (Colonia de Vagos y Maleantes, "vagrants and crooks colony”). From Morro del Jable it takes ¾ of an hour to travel the 19 km of track to Cofete, preferably all-terrain vehicle. Cofete is also the goal of many jeep safaris organized from Morro Jable. The track is often narrow and does not permit the passing of vehicles.

On foot you can reach Cofete from Morro del Jable through the Barranco de Gran Valle; hiking is a little less than 8 km long. One can observe endemic plants of Jandía or the Canary Islands: the beginning of the hike we find euphorbia of Jandía (Euphorbia handiensis) then, at the approach of Cofete, many euphorbias populations of the Canaries (Euphorbia canariensis) , large succulent plant similar to cactus shaped candelabra.

To the east of the hamlet we see a large bronze statue of Gustav Winter accompanied by his inseparable black dog; Villa Winter is located 1.5 km south of the hamlet at the foot of the slopes of the mountain. The monument to Gustav Winter is built on top of a lime kiln (horno de cal) used to produce quicklime.

Because it is part of the Natural Park of Jandía, the area around the beach are inconstructibles and Beach Cofete remained a wild beach.

The wind is usually quite strong, as ocean currents: swimming can be dangerous. The surf creates strong very popular rolls surfers.

On the beach of Cofete, in a reserved area, is conducted reintroduction experience of the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) disappeared from the island of Fuerteventura from the early twentieth century. The eggs were collected from a colony of the southern Cape Verde islands, the environment and the beaches resemble Cofete, particularly by the quality of water, sand and especially sufficiently warm climate. The eggs of turtles are raised in artificial nests and before the young turtles cross the beach crawling to venture into the ocean, they are captured and transferred in aquariums from a breeding center located in the port of Morro del Jable. When they are strong enough to swim, a chip is implanted them in order to follow them and releasing them in the ocean on the beach of Cofete. It is hoped that as adults these turtles return to lay their eggs in Cofete and thus, the species happen again spontaneously on the island of Fuerteventura.

The villa was built from 1946 by a German engineer and entrepreneur, Gustav Winter, although in an interview given to the magazine “Stern” shortly before his death, it shows the date of 1958. The villa was restored in 1985 - probably with the intention of making a hotel - but is nevertheless in poor condition; the mezzanine openings are bricked up; the facades are crumbling. Villa Winter is the destination of many jeep safaris from Morro del Jable; visiting the court is authorized and guides that know they say - tip against the guards - to visit the interior of the villa.

Gustav Winter was born in 1893 in Neustadt am Titisee near Freiburg im Breisgau in the Black Forest. After earning a degree in electrical engineering, Winter traveled to Argentina, where he put in service of electrical installations in large haciendas. He decided to return to Germany was triggered when the First World War, but the ship that brought the Argentine was intercepted in the English Channel by the British Navy and Winter was interned for a year in a prison ship at Southampton; during a mass escape of prisoners he was able to embark on a ship, the Hollandia, which called at Vigo in Galicia. Winter had to stay in Spain, where he put in service several power plants (Ciudad Real, Zaragoza and Valencia). He left the Canary Islands in 1925; in 1926 he played an important role in the construction of the power plant of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria to CICER company (Compañía Insular Colonial de Electricidad y Riesgos). In 1933, sailing on his boat, the Argos, he discovered the almost island of Jandía, was seduced by the beauty of the place and moved to Morro del Jable - which was then a small fishing village. He tried to build a fish cannery and a cement plant, but both projects were unsuccessful. In July 1937 Winter rented the entire peninsula of Jandía to the heirs of the Count of Santa Coloma, who owned; he made a fence 2 meters high which prohibited access to nearly island. 1939 Winter was mobilized and in 1940 he was found to be responsible for the construction of shelters for submarines on the Atlantic coast of France. In 1941 the peninsula of Jandía was sold to the company Dehesa de Jandía including Gustav Winter was mentioned as the administrator.

After the war, in 1946, Winter returned to Fuerteventura and began building his villa in Cofete, while living in Morro del Jable, where he built a school and a church. He began breeding sheep and goats and in the production of cheeses sold under the brand “Dehesa de Jandía”; he also tried to produce tomatoes - despite the unfavorable environment - which were to be exported from the port of Gran Tarajal, Winter also made ​​an attempt afforestation Massif de Jandía with 10,000 pine seedlings Canary; Nothing remains of these woodlands.

At that time the Anglo-Saxon secret services communicated to the Spanish Government a “black list” of 104 names of alleged Nazi agents - which included the name of Gustav Winter - by requiring their deportation to Germany for trial; none of these alleged agents was finally expelled. In 1956, the family Winter moved to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, without ever having lived in the Villa Winter in Cofete. In 1962 the company Dehesa de Jandía gave in 2 300 hectares of land between Morro del Jable and Cofete to Gustav Winter; these lands will prove to be a gold mine when part of the land will be sold as building land for tourism projects (tourism boom Jandía began in the early 1970s). In 1971 Gustav Winter died in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria at the age of 78.

Shortly before the death of Gustav Winter German magazine sensationalist “Stern” published on Winter - who had granted him an interview - an article entitled “Die Glücksritter” (soldiers of fortune). This magazine will be illustrated in 1983 by the publication of false diaries of Adolf Hitler. This article on "the mysterious villa Winter and his mysterious owner" appears to be the beginning of rants about Gustav Winter and Villa Winter. Over the years journalists a copy of evil multiply sensationalist hacks and publish bad spy novels with the villa Winter as a backdrop. The unusual situation of this large secluded villa in this area difficult to access and inhospitable, nourishes fantasies, as well as the strategic position of the Canary Islands that could be appealing to the belligerents.

The legend, which then creates, the villa Winter a secret base of Nazi agents whose function was to supply German submarines during the “Battle of the Atlantic”; the tower of the villa would have served as a benchmark for submarines; shelter for submarines would be built in a volcanic cave in the villa; underground link the cellars of the villa at the shelter for submarines; the villa would have been the brothel for German submariners who were relaxing with prostitutes on the beautiful beaches of Cofete; two U-booten missing since the end of World War II still would also docked in the submarine base of Cofete. After the war the villa would have served as a lodge for National Socialist dignitaries exfiltrated to South America secretly arrived in a submarine, and after a cosmetic surgery operation to give them the face of their new identity, they resumed their journey with false papers since the airport that Gustav Winter had built in the Punta de Jandía, 7.5 km southwest of the villa. Chancellor Adolf Hitler himself would have passed through the villa Winter. Not to mention the inevitable “Nazi gold” - indispensable element of any phantasmagoria of “nazi-business” - that would be hidden somewhere in the vicinity of the villa.

Gustav Winter was probably an honorable engineer, nature lovers; anyway these legends only add a little mystery to the romantic charm of the long solitary beaches of Cofete.