Gran Canaria Carnival Las Palmas 15 Feb to 12 March 2011

The Las Palmas Carnival started on 15 February and finished on the 12th March with the burning of the Sardine .
During this time, New Zealand's Christchurch was been partialy destroyed by an earthquake, Pro-Democracy protests in the middle east have continued following the stepping down of Tunisia's and Egypt's presidents, Gaddafi ruthlessly bombed his own people in Libya and Japan is battling to survive the tragic 9.0 earthquake and tsunami, complicated by nuclear power station near-meltdowns.
However, life must go on and Las Palmas enjoyed its annual carnival.
We enjoyed several of the many events, the first for us being the selection of the child carnival queen.



Many of the events took place on the very elaborate specially constructed stage in Parque de Santa Catalina

Another event was the selection of the senior lady carnival queen - some of the contestants were at least in their 70's.
The weather was not too kind for the Grand Carnival street parade - rain poured down for much of the evening. This amazingly did not dampen people's party spirit.



The glamorous Carnival Queen was towed along in the procession
at times needing an umbrella
followed by her equally glamorous competitors


The senior Carnival Queen was also there

Couldn't resist taking this picture of these two delightful youngsters




The dogs were not forgotten - they had their own Canine Carnival show


The Sunny Carnival procession along the northern beach promenade, Playa de las Canteras, was a very colourful event - and the weather was perfect for it














On the stage at Santa Catalina, there was a Body Make-up contest - amazingly elaborate designs painted on almost naked bodies



The handicapped people were also not forgotten and gave an unforgetable show at the Social Integration Gala

The penultimate night was the funeral procession of the Sardine
complete with mock cleric in a landrover conducting a "funeral service"
as the huge Sardine was born through the streetsfollowed by mourners in black, and beautiful ladies in blue on stilts

and various sea creatures
Click on the bottom left arrow to see a movie of the procession:-



On the final evening, the Sardine was towed through the streets from Parque San Telmo to the Playa de las Cantares preceded and followed by various bands and carnival clad figures



Once at the beach, the Sardine was carried to a raft and towed by an inflatable dinghy a few meters offshore
There it was set alight

A very impressive firework display then signalled the end of Carnival