U.S, March 29 -- For many travelers arriving in Playa del Ingles yesterday, the confusion began before the celebration.

Carnival, a fixture of the island's cultural calendar, had been postponed by a week after bouts of extreme weather-high winds, dust-laden skies, and unsettled conditions that disrupted preparations across Gran Canaria. When the festival finally resumed, it did so not gradually, but all at once.

Visitors who had booked quiet beach holidays based on the original dates found themselves stepping into the middle of one of Europe's most exuberant-and overwhelming-street parties.

"It wasn't on our radar," said a Dutch tourist, wheeling a suitcase past a line of stalled taxis. "We thought the season was over. Apparently, it w...