The Coso

The arena is the apotheosis of Carnival in Tenerife. It is held in the afternoon on Shrove Tuesday. This year it started to rain just before, but in the end the parade was not affected by rain. They do it by the waterfront, and people arrive hours before in order to get good spots. There are some chairs, but in general, unless you're in the stands, you'll watch the parade standing. We arrived just before it started, so we had to be behind other people - it was a bit of a shame but you could still see. It is the largest parade with costumed children, adults, carnival queens ... queens wear a different costume to that of the day of their election.