Festival of the 'Three Kings', Santa Cruz
Bus Route: 470 [Los
Cristianos] to Las Chafiras, 111 [Santa Cruz].
Return: 111 [Los
Cristianos, Las Americas] to San Isidro, 470 [Los Cristianos] to Los
Abrigos.
I had a look around the Sunday market at the top of the Avenida de Bravo Murillo (incidentally they have now finished the sculpture along there) then I had a chance to take some photos of the Nativity scene in the foyer of the Cabildo (Parliament) building before wandering up to the junction opposite the flower clock at the Parque Garcia Sanabria. This should afford a reasonable view of the parade I hoped.
As it
grew dark a vehicle from the 'Proteccion Civil' lead the parade with
the must have giant sound system on the back. This was followed by a
dance troupe and the 'posties' of the Correos on motorcycles,
scooters and vans giving out sweets to the children. The Bomberos
followed and their 'youth division' did some nifty ladder work to
deliver presents to children on balconies. The Policia Local, the
Santa Cruz Hells Angels and even the Education Authority got in on
the act along with the usual array of cartoon characters. Floats
then arrived bearing the story of the Nativity with soldiers of the
Roman army and dancers from the east following in their wake. At last
three giant banners heralded the arrival of the Three kings on their
camels accompanied by dancers and maids-in-waiting. Oxen pulled the
carts of gifts to be distributed to charities later. A noisy,
exciting and magical time for the children and a different theme to
that of Los Cristianos.
After the parade had
passed and the crowds started to disperse I wandered down the street
in search of somewhere to sit and have a drink. Everywhere was packed
with families or groups of friends having a social get together or
dinner out. It seemed that the whole of Santa Cruz was out enjoying
itself. I came across a craft fare under the twinkling lights in the
trees of the Plaza Principe Asturias. There were some amazing skills
on display and I could have bought loads, particularly the pictures
produced on leather of traditional and typical Canarian rural scenes.
The fair was going strong at nearly midnight and all of the shops
were open. A unique sight as the sales signs went up at midnight even
as people were purchasing goods – did they get the sale price or
were they too hasty?
I was wandering along
the Plaza de España thinking of returning home when a hand tapped me
on my shoulder and it was off for drinks with my good friends from
Santa Cruz.
Our first stop for
drinks was at the Restaurant Tascafiore 23, Plaza San Francisco where
I was introduced to Britney Manila on her 'round the world
tour' – you can follow her adventures on Facebook. In the centre of
the plaza was a tree which gave the children no end of entertainment
swinging from its dreadlocks as we sat around the heaters having a
drink – funnily the locals were cold!
We finished the evening
in a disco bar where Yaisa's boyfriend was DJ. Eventually I had to
head off for the 04:00 111 back to San Isidro - I discovered that the
Sunday market was starting to close up at around 03:30 hrs – that's
what I call stamina! - as I figured that all of the taxies at Las
Chafiras would have disappeared or it would cost a fortune in fare so
I would wait for the first 470 from Granadilla or so I thought. I don't know if it was the spirit of the festival or the fact that parents wanted to see their children open their presents but there wasn't a bus to be seen anywhere so at about 07:30 I admitted defeat and got a Taxi home.
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