the carnival of life

The night carnivals in Tenerife were fun and debauched, but the daytime ones were somehow even more fun. People of all ages in costume, roving groups of musicians and queens, grumpy children in costume accompanied by parents who seemed to be having a better time than they were (might have to do with the bottle of rum and coke stashed in the stroller, techno-dancing in the mean square... and all that was just Sunday!

We also ate well:


ridiculous portions of chorizo and barbecued ribs the first day sent Amandine and I straight back to our hotel for a siesta.


Papas al pobre kept me more or less coherent mid-party...


And I wanted, but didn't quite let myself have, a dulce de leche stuffed churro. Sooon....

On Saturday, we went to the neighboring town of La Laguna, which had pretty colonial architecture:




But yeah, it was all about the madness on Sunday. My favourite moment actually went unphotographed: as Amandine and I crossed the park near our hotel on Sunday morning, still bleary-eyed, one of those miniature park trains went by, absolutely bursting at the seams with drunken revelers from the night before. This was about 11 am, but they were still smiling, still singing, and still joking with bemused bystanders. I have no idea who was driving the train. Meanwhile...











I was Little Red Riding Hood in a headpiece made for my friend Anna by her grandmother when she was three years old!


Amandine making friends





And then we had a little nap in the park in the sunshine, and I trundled off to get my plane back to Barcelona


Adios Tenerife! See you next year! (Although next year, I'm kind of thinking Rio...)

la gente está muy loca, and other tales from tenerife

Carnavallllll!!! Ages ago, my friend Amandine tried to convince me and a number of other people to come to Tenerife with her and celebrate Carnival. My reply went like, "hmmm, maybe, thinking about it, mmm money, probably not..." and then less than a week before thought "Oh what the hell, I'm GOING!" And I went. Which turned out to be a great idea. Costumes, all night street parties, colour, madness, music. Three days of that in the middle of February in a warmish climate (the Canary Islands are basically Africa, but it was windy) were just what I needed to get a big dose of joie de vivre. Tenerife is supposed to have the biggest Carnival after Brazil, and it was properly crazy!

Anyway, here's some pictures from the night carnivals. Crash course: men dressed like women, women dressed like angels or mice, everyone drinking rum and coke out of plastic bottles, everyone pretty much insisting you take their picture. "Why didn't you take a picture of me? Why didn't you use the flash? Are you a photographer? Add me on facebook!"

I started out the night sort of costumed as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz (this is Ruby Slipper Journeys after all), but somewhere along the way I acquired a pink wig which I'm completely in love with now!




Nerds was also a popular costume!






Batman waiting for his churros






A lot of straight boys letting their inner drag-queen out.



Then we walked back to our hotel by vomiting Snow Whites and traffic directions given by fake policemen, waved to the fallen angels in the park and headed to bed!