Dear Marta,
How strange it is to me to write you a letter! But it is what you wanted and your wishes are orders.
The first thing is that you know that it was very very rare to go on a trip without you. It has been more than twelve years since we inaugurated our traveling “tradition”. Along the way a million things have happened to us, some better and some not so good, but this is the first time that one of us has stayed on the ground. Damn appendix! To you, it must have seemed like a joke of destiny to see you the night before in the emergency room, especially when this year you had been the one who had chosen destiny. Fortunately, you are already like new and as promised here you have a detail of what our Carnival in Santa Cruz de Tenerife has been.
For the record, before we start, that we miss you a lot and that we remember you all the time. But, above all, I want you to know that it is not my intention to put on your long teeth or kill you with filthy envy, but it is that they have been some incredible days! But if you had come it would have been perfect. Well, Marta dear, make yourself comfortable and get ready to experience what our carnival was.
As you know – you prepared the trip – we arrived on Thursday night and the truth is that, although we were a little “pluff” knowing that you were suffering with your appendicitis, once in the hotel we decided to bite the bullet and go out to eat the Carnival. That was your trip and we had promised to live it in style.
That night Santa Cruz was dressing up. The people of Tenerife walked in the streets, toasting and dancing to the sound of their carnival and eager to show it to outsiders. Music flooded the streets and more than walking we were dancing while we looked at the costumes, the laughter and the joy that populated every corner. The atmosphere is contagious and between dances, laughter, drinks and brass bands, we were thinking of you until the late hours.
We woke up on Friday, late but full, knowing that this was going to be one of the great days. We spent the day walking through Santa Cruz and checking that carnival is lived both day and night. At eight o’clock we had an unavoidable appointment, the Great Announcing Parade. For that party – which you were the first to tell us about – we had prepared the first of our costumes. There we were the trio, a pity not the quartet, of Rastafarians. You know, afro wigs, peace & love t-shirts, lots of color and good vibes.
Dressed like Bob Marley’s white sisters, we went out to what, we thought, was going to be like watching a parade. But, dear Marta, that parade is not seen, it is lived. Thousands of people take to the streets among music, dance, color and a crazy desire to have fun. You laugh to rage at the lyrics of the murgas, which you have to listen several times to, with the mess that there is, to be able to catch all their bad slobber. You see yourself wrapped up in the rondallas and in their “performance”, freaking out with the show they give us. But that’s when the Ladies and the Carnival Queen arrive, when people go crazy. It is not for less. The costumes they wear are authentic works of art and they are artists who, in some way incomprehensible to mortals, manage to move with elegance, rhythm and style those wonders that must weigh quintals.
Total, that Friday night we got into the parade, we let ourselves be carried away by the bustle, the color and lots of people enjoying the carnival. It would have been one of the great parties of our life, if it had been you.
On Saturday there was a radiant sun that invited us to go out and be seen for a while. It is true, I am not going to deceive you, that at our age and after the first two nights of carnival, all three of us were exhausted but also happy and missing you. Still, we had the firm intention of seeing it and living it all, if only to be able to tell you about it.
We hit the streets shortly after noon and the party was already everywhere. In the morning we hooked up with a troupe. Batucada, dance and a little bit of son. We accompanied them for a couple hours, participating in their dances, creating new choreographies and entering into the occasional musical “war” with the troupes that we were meeting. After eating, a nap was imposed to be able to hold the carnival rhythm. A couple of hours of good sleep, a shower and the second carnival outfit.
It was the night of the coven. All three of us were in stark black with quirky makeup, a couple of hairy and fake warts, and some wonderful folding brooms that we could slip into our purse if they got in the way. And ready to give it your all!
Saturday is the day of the carnival in the street. With nothing special programmed, everything is at your disposal. Murgas everywhere, giving the satirical and funny point to the night. Comparsas and drums, music and costumes. All of Santa Cruz de Tenerife takes to the streets. Differences to the people of Tenerife from strangers-tourists, mainly due to the quality of their costumes.
Everyone is dressed in something, everyone is having fun and having fun, filling the squares with color, imagination and life. We didn’t do anything other than blend in with the environment and have a great time.
We woke up on Sunday very tired but delighted with the plan you had prepared for us. It was the day of the street shows. And, again, we follow the plans that you had drawn up. We started at 12 with a rondalla and a play, something similar to zarzuela, with a lot of grace and a lot of satire in the Plaza del Príncipe. We continue with the peculiar and interesting orchestral concert, where we listen to great pieces of classical music, adapted to the carnival, as well as Caribbean music and percussion.
In the afternoon we went to a costume contest, where we could see how seriously they take carnival in Tenerife. The costumes were imaginative, very elaborate and very funny. After the contest, a good dinner to face the last night with guarantees of success. It was time again for the drinks, the laughter and to get back into the carnival atmosphere. We were successful again.
The weather was gray on Monday and we were a bit too. As you had planned, it was the time of tourism. We spent the day walking around the city. We visited the Castillo de San Cristobal and San Juan Bautista, we went to the church of San Francisco de Asís and got lost in the center.
It was just after 8 o’clock when we took the taxi to go to the airport, knowing that the carnival would continue to animate the streets of Santa Cruz de Tenerife while we walked away to return to the routine. We barely had a couple of hours left in Santa Cruz and yet the carnival still had a lot of cloth to cut. When we return, we will return together, we have to extend the trip a couple more nights to experience the great Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday, because we have been wanting more carnival in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
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