Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Tenerife: Don't Stop the Carnaval
After some pretty heavy rain, the wind dropped, the sun came out, the weather alert ended and, as was hoped, thankfully, the unusually strong winter storms this weekend mostly stayed north and passed Tenerife without incident. We did wonder, if there might be some snow on Teide, but recent photos and webcam images seem to discount it. The forecast is cloudy, with a chance of rain for Wednesday and Thursday in Tenerife, so lets not be too smug. :)
Meanwhile, this weekend, on Sunday, February 17th, both carnival parades on the south of the island, in Los Cristianos and Los Gigantes, were able to go ahead as planned, with plenty of blue sky and bare flesh in evidence: 
Los Gigantes carnaval have a novel new website. It takes a while for it to load, but once it does, just click on any of the "polaroid snapshots" and it will pop up in larger size. Use forward and back arrows to flick through the pile.
TenerifeSur say that more than a 1,000 took part in Los Gigantes' main carnaval parade that was a show of rhythm and colour, from 5 p.m. Sunday. As with Los Cristianos, they were giving their sardine a sendoff on Monday night.
LosGigantes.com also have photos 
of Los Gigantes Carnival Queens 2008.
Vida de Sol en Tenerife sent an online postcard after the carnaval parade in Los Cristianos yesterday. More photos from Los Cristianos Carnaval
Meanwhile, for reports from Puerto de la Cruz Carnaval, you need go no further than husband an wife double-act, Jack and Andy (Andrea) Montgomery's blogs, where (currently) recent posts will tell you all about their carnaval capers.
La Opinión de Tenerife show us one tantalizing photo of the classic cars on the final Sunday morning of Santa Cruz Carnaval and another image here, showing the extent of the massive crowd in the Plaza de Candelaria during that day's Carnaval de Día (Daytime Carnaval) events, that were introduced as a novelty this year and that have been declared as being a total success.
There are a few images here too, but those who read Spanish may enjoy this article, Recuerdos históricos y tradicionales del Carnaval.
Barring any more photos, videos, etc., that we might find from now on, that really is it for Carnaval 2008 and for another year, although, there has already been a news item saying that Tenerife wants its own version of La Palmas Drag Queen Gala next year - or, at least something "specially dedicated to gays".
There's talk of it being a Rey del Carnaval (King of Carnaval).
Dates of Tenerife Carnaval 2009 and beyond ...
You would not be the first to ask, so here we go:
- • Santa Cruz main parade on Shrove Tuesday, February 24th, 2009.
• The Burial of the Sardine on Wednesday, February 25th, 2009
• The final weekend, therefore falling on February 28th, 2009, when Santa Cruz Carnaval ends, Puerto de la Cruz holds their main, closing parade and when the whole thing moves on to the south.
• The date of the Los Cristianos and Los Gigantes parades, should then be Sunday, March 8th, 2009.
We have the Tenerife Carnaval dates right through to 2025 here. Listen, I just translate 'em. Personally, I haven't a clue what I'm doing tomorrow! :)
(Always providing that the authorities don't alter the dates or that the weather doesn't, but we can't be held responsible for these outside issues.)
Labels: Carnaval 2008
2 Comments:
Pamela Heywood wrote (on
February 22, 2008)
Andrea says that there has been a little bit of snow up there - that she can see from Puerto - pretty much since Christmas. She also says that snow is forecast for tonight (it's cold enough here), but I agree, I was expecting more, especially from those recent storms.
I could see a little snow on the very top of Teide from La Palma, but I was surprised not to see more. It had gone by the next day though.