At 8:29 p.m. this Tuesday, July 12, Puerto de la Cruz and the island of Tenerife experienced one of the most anticipated moments by locals and visitors: the long-awaited embarkation of the Virgen del Carmen at the fishing pier of the tourist city. To the traditional cry of “Nothing happens, the Virgin is on board” more than 20 thousand throats cheered the Patron of the Seas who from the New San Ramón set course to reign over the seas three years later. Minutes before, San Telmo, on the back of the loaders, was also experiencing that moment that identifies so much a tourist city that once again lived a historic day with civility and good coexistence.
From the departure of the Parish of Our Lady of France after the concelebrated mass and accompanied by those porters who live their faith in such a particular way, the Virgen del Carmen and San Telmo paraded along the traditional route attended by the president of the Cabildo de Tenerife Pedro Martín, who, together with the local corporation and other positions and civil and military authorities, were part of the entourage that arrived at the pier to meet those thousands of people who were anxiously awaiting the appearance of the queen of the seas .
Once again, the fishing pier was the epicenter of some events that took place from the start of the morning with the mass at the altar of the pier, which was attended by almost a thousand people who would later enjoy the traditional hot chocolate offered by the Brotherhood of the Virgin. del Carmen, who this year, after its reconstitution, fully participated in the organization of each and every one of the events with his older brother Santiago Rodríguez at the helm.
There on the quay, all the emotions that found their voice, that of everyone from Porto, came together in the songs that are also poetry by Isabel González, Tony Acedo and Chago Melián, also the town crier of this year’s festivities, which with his art he created the most respectful silence so that the crowd listened enthralled to his heartfelt and emotional interpretation of the Ave Maria, saying goodbye to the Virgin and Saint Telmo with the also classic Bendita Tierra Guanche.
After their arrival from the sea, and back to the neighborhood of La Ranilla, the images continued their journey until late at night in a festive atmosphere, full of emotions that were experienced on this day, the Tuesday that the Virgin returned to the sea with all the and in praise of multitudes.
In order for everything to take place in that environment of civility and coexistence, a device of more than one hundred people was deployed between the Local Police, the National Police, Civil Protection and the Red Cross, coordinated from early in the morning from the advanced command center that followed minute by minute the development of this holiday.
The Great Festivals of July do not stop and continue these next few days with a whole calendar of top-level activities with culture, music and traditions as protagonists, including the concert of the legendary British band Pet Shop Boys that visits the Canary Islands for the first time in their more than 30 years of musical journey in which they have sold more than one hundred million records or the Cook Music Fest that began this past weekend with an overwhelming success by Luis Fonsi and whose programming can be consulted on the web www.bigfiestasdejulio.es.
