Those high high heels...

Here I am with the last and maybe the funniest night of the Carnival. This was the 14th race for men on high heels. The main point of this event is that men have to dress like women but in different funny and creative costumes as it is not only a running competition but the judges also award the best costumes. I don't remember when did I see as much creativity as I did this night. Let me illustrate it with some pictures. 

Don't forget to keep an eye on the shoes, the requirement was minimum 10 cm high heels! 

from current movie ideas...

through actual events (as it was one day after Valentine's Day)

until the rest of the Christmas decoration:)

 Of course there were also great fashion mistakes such as the sport socks...but come on! We can not expect men to pay attention to every single detail do we?!

Please if you can figure out what is this let me know. Put it was super cool how he/she carried that table with the chandelier all night:)

The evergreen superhero costume on a slightly different way

And one of my favourites...the fat geisha:)

After the procession of all of the competitors, the run has started which was probably the slowest running competition in the history:) Especially the part where they had to handle some obstacles:

Runaway Bride 2...Julia Roberts doesn't have a chance here:)!

Horizontal pole dancing 

Some of them solved the problem on a very original way, this mermaid (who is everything but little) simply rolled under the barrier.

And the winners of the "most drunk participants" prize

And I could also record the biggest fall of the evening for you...it must hurt like hell!

Any finally without any serious injuries the party could get started after a wonderful 2 hours with lots of laughing. 

Finally: THE carnival

As I couldn't participate on Saturday, on one of the biggest nights of the Carnival this was the only impression I got from the last night party:

Poor duck couldn't handle the Saturday night of the Carnival.

Anyway obviously there is also an option for those who prefer to dance in the sunshine and for families with small children. This is the Carnaval del Día. The are not too many differences, the music is the same loud, the people are super nice, friendly and smiling at everyone, everybody is dancing on all of the streets and squares and of course there are the amazing costumes! (Okay, maybe there are a little bit less drunk people, this is the most obvious difference). When I say amazing costumes I really mean it! If it is a pirate, it can not exist without the parrot, the eye patch, the hat with plumes and the sword. But this is only one example. They spend a lot of time and money on the best costumes and on the top of this, they always wear different ones on the different days of the carnival! 

The live music was provided by the local beer company: Dorada with the nice Teide logo.

They made a huge party, let the people play on their drums and creating different dancing games.

My favourite scene from this day when the small pirate, prisoner and indian are finding a treasure on the ground while the pirate, prisoner and indian parents are having a nice conversation with a drink (this second part is obviously not visible here:))

The inevitable part of the carnival is when men are dressed like women. This is the way how once a year they can show their feminine side. There are some who dress expressly vulgar but some of them put a really big effort to look beautiful. (Even though it didn't work:))

When the night started to come all of the small princess' returned home and gave the floor to the bigger ones for the night...

So to give you a quick look also from the night carnival I can share my Monday night experiences in a few words: Huge crowd, nice music (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nBFWzpWXuM), creative costumes, a lot of peeing people on the streets (boys and girls equally), but still hilarious atmosphere.

And this is still not the end of the story...

Sad starter

The first night of the carnival was absolutely not that amazing as I expected. Not only because I was still totally sick but because the big opening ceremony which I was waiting for so badly was cancelled. I should have felt bad because I could not see this amazing event, but I couldn't think of myself when this terrible thing happened. The parade was cancelled because one day before, at the competition of the Queen of the Parade, a fire broke out and a beautiful competitor got burn very seriously. She has to stay in hospital for weeks and most likely she won't be able to participate ever again in a Beauty Queen competition. It made me really sad. How this can happen from one minute to the other? Your whole life can change terribly during one night. Because of one moment. It was so shocking for everyone that they decided not to celebrate the queen of the carnival without her. I consider this a very nice gesture. So I was also not in party mood after all of these, but at least we went out to look around and try out the costumes we were so excited about. 
Here you are:)

A happier entry about the carnival is coming soon...

The big preparation

I would like to apologize to those who have honored me with reading my blog about neglecting it in this last month. My visit in Hungary for Christmas had a big effect on me, but unfortunately not only on the positive way. Since I am back I am constantly sick, I have no idea why, I guess it is just a too big change for my organism. Anyway, this still didn't change but I don't use it anymore as an excuse and I am writing you from my bed with a little bit of fever. I also have a reason why it is not possible not to write now: Carnival.

This is the biggest event on Tenerife, the carnival in Santa Cruz is said to be the second biggest after the one in Rio. The Big Opening Ceremony is tomorrow at 8pm so for now everybody has to be ready with their costumes. There are stories going around among the "Laguneros" which was the most creative costume in the last years, my personal favourite is the "chewing gum under a chair". I can not wait to see this craziness:)
My costume is way more simple and less creative: to be old. This is what nobody wants so I thought I am going to look at the face of the white hair-wrinkles coupling. We will see how it will work out tomorrow.
The big hesitation is taking my camera or not...I think it is better not but somehow I will solve the problem to chronicle everything for you, I promise:)

The voluntary weekend

I am very late with this post. Although I know that it would be possible to change the date of publication, I don't want to. This is the story which gave me the first Christmas feeling this year and even if the whole holiday period is gone now I would like to tell you how I was preparing for it. The first sign for the fact that "it is coming" was not given by the snow or the Christmas songs in the radio, but the public transport company in Tenerife. When the bus is not going anywhere simply wishes Merry Christmas:)

Christmas can never be affectionate without making other people happy. It was very easy to find the people who I want to see smiling this year. The old ladies who we are visiting every week were sitting there with tears in their eyes during the Christmas concert I organized for them. The special part of this concert was that we were singing typical Canarian Christmas songs in Spanish despite the fact that we are from Germany, Poland, Austria, Bulgaria and Hungary. We spent an unforgettable afternoon with them. Some of them introduced me to their family members, but the most magical moment was still the one when they started to sing the songs with us. This was my main aim with this concert to make them sing and smile.

Another event which prepared me for Christmas was a charity night in the main square of my city, La Laguna. A few companies decided to organize a day when they were collecting nutrition for the poorest people of the seven islands. Anybody could bring any type of food and those who brought something could stroll the red carpet. They collected more than 80 tons of bread, bananas, milk, water, pasta, rice, sweets, etc. I didn't know about this action before, but I was lucky as I live 5 minutes from this square, I run home and took many things I had at home. So I didn't have to miss the red carpet:) Anyway it was a great feeling to be among thousands of people who are celebrating with a small carnival that we can join forces for a really good aim.

With this small experience from the old year I would like to wish you a very happy new year with lots of goodness and helpfulness! And don't forget: volunteering is sexy:)!

La Isla Bonita

That is the name which was given to La Palma because of the beautiful forests, mountains and other green areas it has. AURI, my wonderful hosting organization and work place, organized a 5 days long trip here. This is another experience which is really difficult to describe with words. I will try it but I guess the pictures will tell more this time. We had three amazing natural sights, I would like to highlight them in this entry.

This is the volcano which erupted in 1971 so it suppose to be the "freshest" one. 

And the one with a wonderful view

Undoubtedly my favourite spot was the Roque de los Muchachos

Here at the altitude of 2500 meters, there is the observatory where you can find the biggest telescope of the world.

The expert lady (!) told me that they can see until 30 billion light years with it... Maybe they can see it, but it is impossible for me to imagine this distance...

The very first day we did a 13 km long hiking through 13 tunnels. One of them had a waterfall above so actually we had to wade a small river while it was also falling like a heavy rain, indescribable experience.

I am still huge fun of lighthouses, this one was specially nice as next to the new one we could see the old one too.

Besides the beautiful nature, La Palma also has something really interesting to show. The Salina, which means the place where they are producing salt, is located right next to the ocean so they can lead the water into different pools on different weathers and the help with the sun and wind they can make the water evaporate and manufacture the finest salt. We tasted a special version called "salt rose" which is flowing on the top of the water (unlike the "normal ones" which sit on the bottom of the pool) and has a very special shape. This is one of the most interesting places where I have ever been. It is a simple idea though it's simply perfect!

Sunset above the Salina

When it is ready to be packed:

I was wondering, for how long would this mountain be enough for my mum to prepare my favourite dishes...?!!

Well, as I started this also as a small gastro blog I should not leave out our delicious pumpkin cream soup and goat cheese dinner with candle light in the capital, Santa Cruz de La Palma. Perfect ending.

Tablas de San Andrés

In Tenerife the only place where sometimes you can find snow is the top of the Teide. I will never forget the moment a few weeks ago when we were in the mountains, inside the rural house (vid. Viva la vida nómada!) and suddenly somebody shouted: "Dios mío! There is snow on Teide" everybody run out immediately and we were standing out there in the cold staring at the volcano for long-long minutes. Magical moment. A really special one. 

This means that the concept of sledging also has to be different. Icod de los vinos is a town famous of its wine...except one day of the year when they celebrate the day of San Andrés with a very special event. Namely they take a piece of board and they slide down with it from one of the steepest street of the city. It is a very old tradition which makes the whole place full of life as everybody is participating. The braver ones are doing it meanwhile the rest is watching and eating roasted chestnuts. The event can not be the same without this epicureanism. It is only me who connected this event to the first snow in Hungary (as we are actually doing the same thing on a snowy hill), but originally here it is the celebration of the new wine. This means that we had to organize a trip here for the Erasmus students as all of the wine producers offer their wine for a free taste:)

Not only adults but children are also big fans of the "Tablas". This group was nice enough to lend us their board for a try-out. Marcos (in the middle) was the star of the street as he was the fastest and coolest from all of them:)

And there is the adult version...

I find it important to emphasize that there are serious injuries every year so don't try this at your home city!:)