Preparations for the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Carnival begin weeks or even months in advance, but the festival proper begins a week before Ash Wednesday with the election of the carnival queen, continuing with a cabalgata (horse parade) and a whole weekend of cross-dressing, mad street partying and revelry.

The Santa Cruz de Tenerife Carnival's current reputation rides on its extraordinary pre-Lenten activities. Shrove Tuesday is marked with a great parade and Ash Wednesday with the entierro de la sardina. The burial of the sardine, where a gigantic effigy of a fish is buried, represents the end of carnival madness, a farewell to the flesh and the death of the spirit of carnival. The following Sunday, the carnival finishes with the Carnival Procession, cabalgata, and fireworks.

By that time you'll probably be more than happy to go home and sleep, but if you want the full Santa Cruz de Tenerife Carnival experience, drop by a church on the way back from the funeral and witness the puffy, sleep-deprived locals making their peace with God before stumbling off to bed...