Irie goes to Trinidad: Carnival Tuesday

Us on Carnival Monday

So let’s talk about the big event. Carnival Tuesday!!! Click here if you missed my recap of everything that happened before. I already spoke about how much I think there really doesn’t need to be two days of road march. Especially if everybody is wearing t-shirts and tube-tops on Carnival Monday. But let’s start from the beginning. Did I mention how horribly people drive in Trinidad? Yow, I thought Jamaica was bad but these people scare me. It is obviously an epidemic over there too because they had the brilliant idea of saving some of these crash cars in hot spots like roundabouts and steep corners. I tried to catch a pic but didn’t want to distract the driver -__- So yes, on Tuesday morning bright and early on our way to our Carnival meet-up spot, we randomly saw an accident that resulted in a pick-up landing on it’s side. Like…seriously. I hope that person is ok…what a way to start your Carnival morning. I was impressed with how quickly the police picked up when we dialed them though…let’s not compare to Jamaica. Heh

Anyway, we weren’t in costume so here I am ready to be a straggler.

Those are earrings on my top. They weighed like 5lbs a piece and I decided not to do that to my ears so I stuck them on my shirt instead. So genius that I’m gonna do it permanently as epaulettes, jazz up this simple crop top. Look out for that DIY. I saw a poor young girl suffering with the same earrings in green. Every minute she took one out. I just nodded like, I feel your pain girl. That’s why I was smart about mine. Here’s our host, my travel buddy’s good friend and my new friend Whitney in her costume:

You know I loved that she paired pink sneaks with her costume right? Funky! Carnival Tuesday was…weird for me. Sure, it was beautiful! The costumes really blew me away, nothing like Jamaica for sure. But what I missed was the actual dancing and general palaaving in the streets. I think too much time was spent walking or waiting to go on a stage. Apparently, this band that we followed on Tuesday has to cross 3 stages, possibly 4 but we skipped out on the last one. The elite Tribe band that I mentioned in my last post (the one with all the hotties and tourists) only crosses the main stage then goes for lunch and refreshing before hitting the road again for a much shorter stint. This, I think I could work with. Even the wait to cross the main stage seemed way too long and hot and sweaty for me, but at least I could see people dancing and having a good time at this point. Having to do that three times? Too much. The route we took is much too long and too much on the body, without much actual dancing, at least that’s what I observed. It cemented the fact that if I ever do this in costume, I have to go with Tribe. They just seemed to cater much more to the party-er and less to the die-hard carnival traditionalist. I am here for the party. I know nothing of Island People and all the other bands that played mas, I plan to research to see if any offers a similar experience to Tribe because Tribe isn’t cheap. But it seems worth it.

One thing I loved about Trinidad was their street food. Even though nothing compares to some good pan chicken, the streets were lined with stalls set up with drink bars, doubles, corn soup, gyros and then of course fried chicken, wings, hot dogs, shrimp, whatever you fancied. I had an absolutely delicious lamb gyro and an overpriced Johnny Walker on the streets and the snowcones along the way kept me cool. The sun went hard all day long! In Jamaica, carnival is normally marred with a bit of welcomed rain. Not in Trinidad. I was baked! I still have the tan to show! I’ve made my Trinidad album public on Facebook so you can check out a few flicks from my perspective. Here are a couple of my fave moments:

Hey Mr. Blue man, sir. I want to say thanks to Whit and her family who welcomed me into their home and took such good care of me. This whole trip was made so much more special being with a family who lived in Trinidad and offered great hospitality. I could so use a pastelle right now! LOL. It was on a whim that my friend told me she was going to Trinidad to stay with her friend Whitney and Whitney also offered me a spot in her home when I expressed interest in making the trek as well. Isn’t that something? Accommodations and ground transportation can kill any travel budget so though I know you have a ton of people in Jamaica, I wouldn’t hesitate to return the favour! Thanks Whitney for making this totally unplanned trip so awesome, I fell in love with Trinidad and can’t wait to visit again!

So what were the highlights of Trinidad Carnival 2013 for me? The fetes, the food, the hot guys, the awesome costumes, the awesomeness that seems to be Tribe and J’ouvert. Wow, I had fun!!! I really want to visit Trinidad outside of Carnival, I hear Tobago has great beaches and from what I could tell, Trinidad’s night life is banging. I wanna go on the hip strip and lyme! Can’t wait to go back.

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