Carnival!

We little knew what to expect when we arrived in Trinidad, the Carnival was much hyped and would surely disappoint, accommodation was all booked up months in advance and everyone we spoke to warned us how dodgy it was. It did take us a couple of days to find a place to stay but when we did it was locationally superb, right in the heart of the action, with a lovely landlady and friendly neighbours.

The first inkling that Trinidad might deliver on its hype came when we attended a Miss Carnival beauty pageant at a Port of Spain nightclub and were asked to be judges for the swimwear section. Although this was a job of sorts, and therefore not in keeping with the mission statement of our trip, the duties were not too onerous and it's good to help people out when you can.

Six bikini-clad beauties paraded in front of us working hard to catch the judges' eyes. Keen to avoid any allegations of partiality we declined to look them in the face and cast our gazes elsewhere. It turned out to be a close fought contest, but our robust, four-category points system eventually decreed that contestant number one be crowned Miss Tropikini 2009, in the process winning a photoshoot and a weekend away in a plush hotel. The only downside to the whole experience was that by picking a winner we had made five beautiful ladies hate us which, whilst far from a record on a night out, was still an unwelcome stat.

Our evening of work behind us all thoughts turned to Carnival and we spent the next couple of days working out how all the different parties fitted together, securing costumes, getting in some warm-up drinking and touring the panyards where steel bands practice for the main event: Panarama. The final was on Saturday night and we went along to support our favourites, Silver Stars, whose panyard was in our 'hood. This time we could only watch and hope the judges were as discerning as those at the beauty pageant and, as luck would have it, they were and our boys walked away with the title. Carnival was getting better and better.

Next on the agenda was J'Ouvert (pronounced dew vay). Finishing drinking at 3am on a Monday morning is not normally a good idea, but somehow starting at that time really works. In fact it's hard to imagine a better start to the week than getting daubed in paint and mud, drinking heavily and parading through the streets until dawn, all to the accompaniment of, you guessed it, Silver Stars. Maybe Carnival could live up to the hype after all.

J'Ouvert finishes about 8am which gave us just enough time to go home and scrape the worst of the mud from our bodies before going out to play Monday Mas at 11 o'clock. This time the musical accompaniment was of the lorries loaded with speakers variety and the dress code: undress to impress, which a lot of the ladies there certainly achieved. Entering into the spirit of things I was soon topless and covered in gold glitter which seemed to go down well, the only problem being I didn't get a picture in the Hitchin t-shirt first. Schoolboy.


As darkness fell we could feel proud of our efforts for the day, but there was not yet time to rest on our laurels as the main event still remained. The 6am start time was again somewhat ambitious for an all dayer and the dress code... well take a look at the pictures, but bear in mind that to play Mas you have to wear a costume.
Carnival Tuesday truly is the stuff of legends. It's fourteen hours of chip chipping through the streets, wining with the gorgeous ladies, climbing walls and drinking rum, all whilst dressed as a member of the Persian Empire. But that hardly begins to desrcibe the experience. If an alien race were making a documentary on the human race they would send the ET David Attenborough to Carnival to document the behaviour there, it's that bizarre and amazing.

If Glastonbury is to retain its top festival crown it had best be good, the bar is very high this year.

Photos at: http://don-simon.smugmug.com/Travel/720011

Tune of the moment: Faye-Ann Lyons-Alvarez - Heavy T bumper. But you probably had to be there to like it.