sa trinxa – the one and only

What a meeting: Olivier Mourao, artist of whole blood, Guillermo, owner of Sa Trinxa and me are sitting and talking about the history of Sa Trinxa and Ibiza in general.

Olivier, tell us how you got to know Sa Trinxa.

O: Many years ago i was walking along Salinas, passing Guaraná and Malibu and i saw this Chiringuito at the end of the beach and fell in love instantly. It was the most authentic place offering good food. Those days Nito was the man in charge and Guillermo was still a boy with 12 years but he was already working there. We became friends and the place started to grow, we celebrated the first full moon and magic moon parties and all the Ibiza family came to celebrate with us until 10 in the morning.

It soon became THE reference for good parties not only on the weekends but every day. The family grew and we were all very intimate, the first parades were held where the dancers would give away free tickets to the crowd knowing that these are exactly the people they wanted at their parties.

That is why i still love so much spending my time there, to see Guillermo working, now as the owner but still being the same as ever, now a real man with children and a marvellous wife, and Nito who was the owner in the first years and still is in a very good shape, all that gives me such pleasure as no other place on the beach on the island. today Sa Trinxa is not ‘only’ a Chiringuito, it is a very good restaurant and a meeting point for many with the guarantee to have a perfect time, and more than that.

All those new places, lots of them are built on commercial purposes without any beauty, with no contact to nature and without any style looking like they were teleported directly from Miami, St. Tropez or Marbella, those do not represent the image of Ibiza, as hard as some might try to make us believe. Ibiza is a magic island with magic people, you can not convert it in something that it is not. Nowadays the clubs do not interest me so much any more, so i move in places like Sa Trinxa at daytime or Km5 at nighttime to meet people and to have fun under the sky.

I feel ashamed that many people take the commercial road, leaving behind the natural beauty and the magic. Guillermo and family are working hard since many years to make this place into what it is today, with a unique vibe. And i miss Dieter sin Plomo playing there, for me a DJ with an immense talent. For sure Jon sa Trinxa is a great artist as well and the other DJs spinning records there are of the finest too to enjoy unforgettable moments in peace with great ambiental sound.

Sa Trinxa 2013:

What was the idea behind Sa Trinxa?

Guillermo: My brother Nito had the idea to create a place directly on the beach, that was in 1982 if I remember well. The 80s and 90s were a ‘little bit’ crazy, when I was 12 years old my parents send me there to work alongside Nito and I thought ‘oh my god what’s this?’ but i loved it straight away, and now, since 14 years, I run the place trying to preserve the vibe, just adding a bit more seriousness but with the same spirit.

It is this ‘just a bit more seriousness’ that makes this place so special. When i came the other day and i saw you and Olivier i said to myself ‘this is exactly the same as it ever was’ as i got massive respect for you to know how to preserve it.

G: We are no Beach Club, we are Sa Trinxa, here people of all ages, rank and nationalities come together, and we treat them all equal, there are no differences and especially no VIP areas. Here in Salinas you got something for everybody, we are the same as ever, improving in quality year after year, not in quantity nor price.

Guillermo, actual owner and his brother Nito, founder of Sa Trinxa:

What happens to the natural park of Salinas?

G: For the moment i don’t see that they do a lot for the park, we are the only ones that clean the beach and take care of the environment. But what really sucks is the problem of the ambulant sales. We got at least 40 of them going around Salinas selling everything from fruits, drinks, CDs, sunglasses, even drugs. They sell it in front of our eyes and this affects our service, our sales and the image. We spoke to the Government and the Mayor, we do not understand why we have to fulfill all sorts of restrictions when they sell hot fruit cut with an oxidized knife, premixed Mojitos and whatever more. Where are the sanitary controls for that, we have to pay for all and they for nothing. The answer from the Government is there is not enough money to get hold of them. In the beginning it was one or two, selling products from their home countries and we gave them water and bocadillos because we felt sorry for them, but today this is a real Mafia, an invasion.

Another problem we got is that there are places who sell tickets for the dayparties in their Beach Clubs from 6 pm onwards and they take away our people, all of a sudden the beach gets empty because they offer them a reduced price if they come early. With this practice we loose a very good time slot, the cocktail hours, as we do not make much money on food because the quality is very good for a reasonable price.

And finally I do not understand the politics of the opening hours of the clubs. Before you could go for dinner around 11pm, then have a few drinks somewhere else before going to the clubs, then in the morning to Space for a great after-hour before getting back to the beach, to sleep or directly to work. Today there is no official after hour in Ibiza, in any other place in Spain like Benidorm or any village, or many other places on earth you can go partying for 24 hours however you want. If you tell this to anybody they stare at you with disbelieving eyes, having in mind that officially it was Ibiza who invented the after hour. You can not avoid that people make after hours, after leaving a club you just can not go home, and if they would let one club open its doors all the people would be in the same place, not distributed all over the island in private houses or wherever.

Fancy a cool bath in Salinas?

How do you see Sa Trinxa in 20 years?

G: If we are still alive it will be pretty the same. You always have to improve, in fact this year we refurbished the whole kitchen, now we can truly work professional and productive, not to increase prices but quality and service.

This is the direction which the island needs to follow, the rise of quality, not quantity. We live in such a privileged place we have to pamper the people who come, not steal from them.

We are the place with the best prices in Salinas, we do not want to steal from the people, we live well and that is enough for me, if I see my clients smiling this is my biggest reward. I don’t care for low class, middle class or high class tourism, we all have the right to go to the beach and have some great food. If you can then order a T-Bone Steak, if not then take a bocadillo, all for a reasonable price.

O: This is the secret of success, we have to give it all so people are happy and feel well-attended, we shall not attack each other to mark our territory trying to kill our neighbour. Freedom is possible, we achieve it from the inside and live and let live.

This seems to be the perfect phrase to end this conversation. Thank you so much both of you, you are of the greatest this magic island has to offer.