Dedicated this time round to the theme ‘The Mad Twenties’, the Santa Cruz 2002 Carnival poster was recently presented to the public. The picture announcing Tenerife’s most entertaining yearly event is a faithful reflection of the Santa Cruz carnival itself, impish, daring, outrageous and, above all else, fun.

The poster, designed by Guenda Herrera, proclaims the crazy and fun-packed nature of a week of outdoor partying which is on a par with other internationally famous carnivals such as Venice or Brazil even. But here, people of all ages and backgrounds dress up and parade and dance in the streets, unlike the rather élite character of their Venetian counterparts, and disorderly behaviour is restricted to the occasional quarrel in contrast to the frequent violence that, sadly, occurs during carnival time in Rio.

Except for intolerance and delinquency, anything goes in Santa Cruz as is evident from these hairy legs of the man in the poster. Like many other people, locals and tourists, he’ll be out in February to spend a week of fun and games, complete with garter, feathers and the long necklaces favoured by the more liberal women of the age of the Charleston without, of course, giving up the extremely masculine habit of enjoying a good cigar!

La Gaceta Hotel