Post 13 (11/15/25) SATURDAY: PRIDE DAY!!!

Since I did not get to have my cheesecake and the requisite photo of same on Friday, this needed to happen on Saturday morning. And it did. I am calling this "the best cheesecake you've never had", and I guess you'll just have to trust me on this (or come to Gran Canaria and find out for yourself).

The package:

 

And in close up:

I guess they give you this tiny fork (barely longer than a finger) so you will enjoy it slowly and make it last while savoring the special creamy deliciousness...

The moment:

And back to the room I went to rest up a bit for the big afternoon ahead. The parade officially started at 4pm, and there was a "pre-party" starting at 3pm. I left the hotel around 3:00 to walk down to the starting point. 

The receptionist took a couple pics for me on my way out, so you could see my whole costume:

I walked through the Yumbo Center and the Tom's Cruising Bar van was parked near the back exit, so I had to snap this one:

The whole long main street of Avenida de Tirajana was closed off already, so I was able to walk down the middle of the street. The sidewalks were filling with parade viewers, and given the light flow of us trekking that way, we all got eyes on us. Some were already shooting pictures and video. I started a little game where if someone took my picture, then I went up to them and took a selfie with them. But after all the amazing selfies I took later with people in costume, I ended up deleting all these as they were quite boring in comparison. haha

I reached the two big trucks that were to lead the parade and the courtyard in front of the Riu Palace Hotel, which fronts the dunes on the other side. It is the southernmost hotel in this area of Maspalomas and is quite a landmark and rather palatial. I started seeing other police type costumes and began my string of selfies with them:

And the devil himself:

These crazy characters:

The literal Queen was there!!!

There were a bunch of flight attendants, obviously my favorites were in blue:

And then I ran into my friend Alex and his Irish date John. We spent a bunch of time together, and started the parade together.

There was this biiiiiitch:

This Pride guy:

My first "drag pirate":

These random characters:

This extra crazy Dolly Parton type drag queen:

And an even more playful one with her:

This colorful character:

Random blond drag queen:

This festive fella:

A couple of indigenous types:

These two look-alike queens:

I captured a little overview video of the pre-party:

This guy was super cool:

 This construction bear:

This colorful dude:

This sparkly cue ball:

This fabulous lavender angel:

This spirited lady:

And this guys, whose back says "dance or die" in Spanish (baila o muere):

I was stationary with Alex and John for a while, then decided to take a walk and get a bunch more pics. And was I ever glad I did based on what happened after the next 21 pics. (hint of good things to come) 

I saw this spirited fetish queen:

This cool looking Greek god type:

These two amazing pink clad queens who puckered up with me for the shot:

This leather crowned fetish queen (who kind of seemed a bit into me):

Cool colorful dude:

Loved this drag thing:

This Daddy & Bitch pair were super fun:

You gotta love these wild ones:

These guys were extra friendly:

You know I loves me some blue:

Fetish pig in red:

Fetish pig in blue:

If you're gonna go drag, might as well have long hair:

Lady (drag) in red!:

Ladylike drag:

Fun rainbow hair:

And his matching partner:

Spirited lady:

King Tut style Egyptian:

Silly pink queen:

And a silly white rabbit:

So Dino had texted me to ask if I would be in the parade, and I told him I would and that I would see him there. He claimed that without a meeting point it would be impossible to find each other in that crowd (later reported at 40,000!). I expressed confidence that I would find him. Sure enough, when I was walking back from my last round of photo seeking to re-join Alex and John for the start of the actual parade, I ran smack into my Italian stud! And was HE surprised!! First pic is him looking up to see who had grabbed him. I really caught that moment:

Then we posed together (I love how he looks toothless - he is so not!):

And I could never resist having one closer up of him. He's just so darn hot (to me)...

After visiting for a few minutes, he needed to catch up with his friends, and I did with mine as well, so we parted for the moment. Back to selfie taking, I found this fabulous guy in blue:

This insane queen who was so much fun. We chatted for a few and I got kissed on the lips! lol

This mellow fella:

Another colorful rainbow character:

And figured I'd get a solo selfie of my upper costume before the parade got rollin' (thanks to Laurie for the Tiburon Police patch. The fun thing is that tiburon means shark!):

Top hat drag queen:

Fabulous pink curler queen:

Another flight attendant (with tall hair!):

Sweet smiley lady:

Pretty indigenous dressed lady:

Blue Scottish outfit guy:

And then we were OFF! Happy Winter Pride Parade Maspalomas 2025!!! This is what I came here for:

Selfie video with the marching crowd:

Crowd trying to keep time with the rhythm of the song (hopeless - haha):

After a while of being in the parade, Dino texted me to tell me where he was stationed. When I reached that point in the route, I found him right away. He told me to wait a minute, said something to his friends, and then turned to me and we connected completely. It was OUR parade now!! I had the most amazing time walking in the parade with a guy I really liked. I shot this selfie video and you can see he pretty much thought I was taking a picture. Ultimately you can hear him saying something in Italian, although what, I have no idea. I do not speak Italian!! lol At one point the parade came to a halt. I was in front of him en route, so I turned around and we were face-to-face among the crowd. I went to kiss him and he totally went for it. We were standing there full-on making out in a crowd of thousands. It was a blissful moment and quite memorable experience that I will treasure, especially having this video as a reminder of our time in the parade together.

I handed him my phone to capture a quick clip of me walking in the parade. Friends had asked me to share pictures from my trip, and this is mainly what I had in mind, as it was the target event of the trip and the reason for my timing to come here. This way you can see me actually moving along in the procession. So much fun!!

After a while, I got very thirsty and told Dino I wanted to get a drink at one of the parade route restaurant stands. There was a full on bar, so we got drinks. The two trucks leading the parade got held up for quite a while at one point, and we literally walked past them to the point where we were ahead of the parade itself. These gorgeously costumed showgirls were at the front of the parade, so since we caught up, I got to snap selfies with a couple of them.

Both so much fun!

We kept on walking, leaving the parade behind us. We came to the point where my hotel was to the right and his was to the left, so we kissed goodbye and that concluded our parade experience together. I was so glad to have had that opportunity. He was so sweet to me, and I treasured having met him. This was his last full day, so I knew I would see him at the bar later and that would be it...

As a follow-up/wrap-up I made this one once I got back to my hotel:

Now out for the post parade evening festivities in the Yumbo, I stayed in costume, but changed from my daytime, hot weather shorts to more sensible, cooler evening pants. Many people were still in costume at night, and this was one of the most beautiful drag queens I have ever seen. And this pic does not do it justice at all, and is colored by the lights in the bar...

I met a sweet (and cute) local man named Fidel, but we didn't spend much time together, although I had intended to speak with him more later, it just didn't happen.

Another fun costumed guy at the bar:

And I met Joe Acacio that night too. He is a former ballet dancer who is about Bill's height at 5'3" or so. We had a really nice time together doing all the fun stuff that one can do at that flirty, sexy, wild bar!

On my way out later I captured a couple videos to give an overview of what was going on at Yumbo for the night of Pride, this one in the middle of the crowd:

And this one from upstairs: