Maria del Carmen Ramos Quintero rose, last Sunday, as the new Queen of the Elderly 2022 of the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Carnival, with her fantasy Rozando el Cielo, by Alfonso Baute, and on behalf of the Center for Alternative Therapies Oroterapias. And for this 68-year-old carnival woman, it is “a dream come true” that she dedicates “to my mother and to the island of La Palma, because she is having a hard time.”
Because María del Carmen Ramos has been living in Los Realejos for 36 years, but she is a native of Tazacorte, on La Palma, and she admits that she always carries the island with her. “I go two or three times a year and now I have not been able to go, I will go now when the Carnival is over”, she stated excitedly during her interview with DIARIO DE AVISOS, which she attended accompanied by her designer, Alfonso Baute, both very happy.
It is not the first time that María del Carmen has taken to the stage and won an award. She remembers how she was elected “Queen of the Winter Festivals, which was what they used to call the Carnivals of Tazacorte in 1971”, as well as first lady at the gala of the largest pilgrimage of the San Benito Festival in 2019. “But I I wanted to try the Carnival, in a big way. Now I felt like it, 50 years later, and for my children to have that memory, ”she says. And the opportunity came to him from the hand of Alfonso Baute: “It was through a mutual friend who asked me if I had a candidate, because I had the idea of presenting myself, and I told him that I did not have and he told me that he had the ideal candidate. ”, which was Maria del Carmen. “I called her and went to her house and I was directly convinced that she was going to say yes, and so was she. And that same morning we decided yes, and I took some palm desserts that I was preparing for Christmas, ”he recalls with a laugh. “I didn’t doubt it at all,” she emphasizes.
María del Carmen affirms that the experience has been “great”. “With them, as part of the family, both he (the designer) and the sponsor are fantastic. And the entire team at Alfonso is wonderful,” she notes.
Of his fantasy, Rozando el Cielo, the designer relates that “it was an idea that is not even embodied in a sketch. I had in my head what I wanted to do and I knew that I had to wear those beautiful dragonflies that fantasy wears, it was the basis of the design, and the rest was all coming out. Even the title came after starting the fantasy. Other years it’s the other way around, I look for the idea, I capture it… but this year everything was so rushed that it came about like this”.
Alfonso Baute wanted to thank the sponsor for his “support from the beginning, because he was the only person who trusted us, when many were able to collaborate and did not want to, and we have to thank him”.
It is not the first award for the designer, who has already achieved another Queen of the Elderly in 2009 and a first lady in 2010; in addition to a child Queen in 2005 and two bridesmaids in two editions of the Gala for the election of the adult Queen.
María del Carmen remembers that moment on stage when she was named the new Queen of the Carnival Seniors, as “incredible”. “I thought more about him (Alfonso Baute) than about me, and about my mother, who was there. Happy and glad. Do not Cry. The designer cried more here than me, because I was what he wanted and he was happy, ”she jokes.
He also highlights the support of his family from the first moment “and last night was crazy. My daughter came from La Palma, I have one in the Peninsula that couldn’t come, but my granddaughters came and it was great. The three who are in Murcia, well, crazy with photos, calling me, because they couldn’t come because of my daughter’s job”.
“I feel happy, well, because it is what I wanted and I wanted to bring him (the designer) the award. It is a dream come true, but right now it seems that I am still flying”, she affirmed, since she recognized that she was “tired”.
But ready to enjoy this June Carnival and the experience: “Since it’s only going to be a few days and it’s different, we have to live it more, to the fullest and everyone out on the street, we have to dance. And of course I will go out. If they give me time, because it’s three days and we have so many things… but of course, on Saturday I’d like to go a little bit with my friends”.
