https://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=124984
Image: Sergio Betancort
Great atmosphere at the massive Playa Blanca Carnival parade. The town came out to meet the parade to catch the joy radiated by batucadas, dance groups, hundreds of masquerades and a dozen original floats and companions. More than six thousand people, including many tourists, enjoyed the lively southern procession.
The public took advantage of this Saturday's summer afternoon to settle down early on both sides of the route. The parade started from the Flamingo area illuminated by the last hour of sunshine. In the first meters of the route, from the starting point to the roundabout at the pier, you could see a significant number of spectators, which gradually grew as the parade approached the center of Playa Blanca.
The presence of the public was also noticeable on Avenida de Canarias, but the entrance of the parade to Avenida Papagayo was simply apotheotic. The attendees, of excellent behavior, respected the ordered fencing on the margins of the street and enjoyed the show without problems. Night fell on Playa Blanca and the thousands of people concentrated around the parade did not stop in their attempt to get the best snapshot.
The figure of the always acclaimed Charlot led the carnival parade. From the characterization of one of the great masters of cinema, majestic dance groups appeared with cadenced movements to the rhythm of the unmistakable batucada drums. The palms and cheers of the public accompanied them.
The party was already more than lit, but the "invasion" of floats was missing. The decorated vehicles are an indisputable attraction of the Carnival. They did not disappoint in Playa Blanca, nor did the hundreds of masquerades, children, young people and adults, who pulled ingenuity and recycled material to laugh at reality and ironize about the crisis. All of them, together with the public, co-stars of the Carnival, deserve the greatest recognition. The Yaiza City Council, through the Department of Festivities, appreciates its incalculable contribution to the party.
The floats that adorned the parade, in their order, were: Mario Bross, JR, Jonny Amigos, Recycled Butterfly, Mazinger Z, Rubimar, Pirate Era, Caveman Float, Cotton Club, occupied by elders of Yaiza, The Invention of Hugo, winner of the first prize in the Arrecife Carnival, El Circo and the Fregona Group.
Men and women from the twenties, children's characters, 'Correos' employees, old men and women who do not feel their age, clowns, daring girls and boys setting trends in fashion, cheerful widows, superheroes not as muscular as Superman or Batman and with a belly, but happier and closer, and an endless number of costumes that achieved their goal: to elicit laughter and that the public had a good time, as was the constant in Playa Blanca, paraded through the Playa Blanca parade.
Among the participating groups, batucadas and troupes, the murga Los Gorfinijos, the Timanfaya Lanzarote group, Cumbancheros, Rayo de Luna, Bentchey, Chimbay, Sur Caliente and Villa Pipol stood out. This last batucada went on stage in the town square to finish the job. Villa Pipol performed before thousands of people who at no time showed signs of fatigue. On the contrary, they took a second breath to dance in the verbena enlivened by the Melao Boricua orchestra from Tenerife and Grupo Bomba from Fuerteventura. The party lasted until dawn.