Irie goes to Trinidad Carnival

Hola! OMG I wanted to get this post out while everyone was still talking about carnival but I came back to Jamaica with the WORST flu ever. I’m not even sure it’s a flu. I’m STILL feeling like a zombie. But…let’s not start with the bad part -__-

So it all started in October I believe, when my friend randomly said to me “OMG I’m going to Trinidad for Carnival!!!!!!” and then of course I said “I want to come too” and unbudgeted cash randomly yolo’d out my account and here we were ready to board our flight a few months later:

Miraculously, there were no delays and we landed and were treated to pastelles, my first taste of Trinidad. It’s like a patty but not with a crust, with soft cornmeal instead and we got them wrapped in fig leaves. The beef one was super yummy.

Like the rockstars we are, we headed out that night to go find the hottest party. We ended up at what would essentially be the “hip strip” first to check out the hot spots and ended up at a street side party in front of a bar. Reckless. Abandon. Trinidad was already showing out. At around 3am we decided to go try and get into one of the fetes happening around the place. This is where things get interesting. Trinidad has a thriving scalper culture, so we drove round and round in search of someone willing to give us the best price for tickets to the party. 30 minutes later, a scalper decided they wanted to get home to their bed and we got tickets for less than half off the gate price. Trinidad parties are expensive, we started at US$100 and eventually made it down to someone willing to take $40…

Once I was inside the party, I definitely felt like I was at a $100 party. Remember, this is well after 3am, I’m thinking the party is about to start winding down any minute. Not according to the overflow of food stations that were still all packed with food, everything from crab and dumplings, doubles, ribs, sausages endless dessert stations and corn soup! I had the most heavenly cup of corn soup at this party and it tie me! It was the richest, most flavourful cup I had while in Trinidad, and I tried many times to find a cup that was as good.

It was at this party, the name of which by the way was Island People’s Girl Power, that we randomly ran into Kes and snapped a pic ^_^

There was a performance by a band that was great, complete with confetti and nuff wining. But listen, at around 5am we realized the party was never gonna end and had to throw in the towel. We had spent all day travelling after all.

On Saturday, we went to the mall. And I damn near lost my mind. I felt like I was in Miami, we have nothing close to this in Jamaica. You know, the indoor malls that are AC’d and offer amazing variety? And the stores were actually great, I almost left with 3 pairs of shoes!!! I had to reel in myself and leave a pair or two… -__- I went buckwild all over again in the accessory store… lawd.

Saturday night was Scorch, the party where I saw all the Jamaicans so I knew it was one of the premier events, except Girl Power blew it away by far in terms of food and bar service. The party itself was great, I did have a blast. But by this time my ears were dying to hear likkle Kartel, some Killa, maybe likkle Beenie Man? I am not a die hard soca fan, so you’ll have to excuse me. But the music got repetitive quick. They were hell bent on playing soca music from only this year it seems and so it became very possible to hear one song 5, oh 10 times… They teased Major Lazer’s Pon Di Floor beat for a quick minute and I nearly lost my mind…

If this Patron bar had stayed open all night long, I might a had a whole different night all together 😀 Trinidad has some HOT guys <3 <3 <3

This party ended very early and I felt like we should have been going to an after party somewhere, but we went home after what was another long day. Sunday was supposed be a relaxing day at the beach but we got rained aaaaalllllll the way out. Everybody kept telling me it was a blessing in disguise because Maracas Bay isn’t the prettiest beach in the world. The scenery looked lovely tho! And It was here I finally sampled what was my first Bake and Shark. I was told to get it with green sauce but I had long figured out that green sauce was made of chadon beni, cilantro’s long lost cousin, and I hate cilantro. Yech! Trinidadians put this herb on EVERYTHING.

A pic of Maracas Bay that I swiped off google images. Doesn’t it look like it has some potential? Anyway, Trinidad has oil, they don’t need pretty beaches. I wish I was paying what they are to fill up my tank…

Anyway, we trekked back home with our Bake and Sharks in hand to go rest up for J’ouvert! Whooohooooo! Can J’ouvert fit in this post? I think I’m gonna have to break this up into more bits than I had planned… See ya on the flip side! Have you ever been to Trinidad for Carnival? Tell me about it!

The J’ouvert post is here and the Carnival Tuesday post is here. Enjoy!

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