The eager faces of the children, all clutching plastic bags, ready to fill them with sweets, could be seen lining the streets of Almuñécar in anticipation of the arrival of the Three Kings or Cabalgata de los Reyes Magos.
As it turned out, there was quite a bit of delay to the start of the procession, mainly due to the enormous floats used to carry the said royals being just a tad big to get out of the football stadium… However, after some minor adjustments to the floats and some local palm trees, they were on their way.
They arrived at the stadium by helicopter and greeted the crowds, all the photos available of this moment, of course contained a politician or two, mainly the Mayor. One can only imagine that she must have been there over 2000 years ago and therefore had every right to hijack the images.
There followed the procession through the town, with Spiderman on top of a fire engine, along with young children on floats, all trying to remove the eyes of the children on the street with boiled-sweet missiles. Meanwhile, their majesties duly offloaded further bucketfuls of sweets, as well as plastic footballs and swords onto the cheering children below.
The important thing is that all the children, including mine, had a great time, dancing to the music and in awe of the Kings and Spiderman. However, there was disquiet amongst some parents, who suggested that the parade wasn’t as exciting or colourful as in previous years. Perhaps, said one parent, too much of the budget went on the helicopter, which served as a backdrop for the photos of the mayor (oh, and the Kings).
It would be impossible to report on the 3-Kings parade in Almuñécar without mentioning Jacqueline and William Pearson, a British couple, who generously donated 1,200 euros to the parade to purchase toys for the children. This gesture is not a solitary one because these kind, Almuñécar residents have been cooperating in a similar manner for the last twelve years when Christmas comes around.
(News: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)