Travel Vibes: Trinidad Carnival

Trinidad Carnival was an amazing experience. All the work that went into organizing and preparing was totally worth it. As a newbie to Trinidad Carnival and playing mas for the first time, I was determined to just go with the vibes! Trinidad Carnival is definitely about pacing yourself, which I did pretty well. I went to a few fetes, ate roti and corn soup on de road, got dutty at J’ouvert, played mas with Yuma and made a few friends. Major shout out to Carnival Jumpers for helping me with the entire process! I joined their Facebook community and booked my hotel through them, I also got all the tips on how to navigate before and during Trinidad Carnival through their members sharing information.

 

Hotel & Logistics

 

I stayed at the Marriott in Port of Spain. The staff was amazing, it wasn’t too huge or overcrowded. It was also a great location because it was close to most of the planned activities. Surprisingly, the food at the hotel was great as well. It wasn’t an all-inclusive, but the prices weren’t too crazy. The hotel also offered great extras like a Carnival social, outdoor showers to rinse off after paint events, massage after mas and a welcome 6-pack of Carib, Stag & Shanti! I used the taxi service at the hotel Europcar to get around, so ride sharing was pretty easy. I ate so much food! All things fried and curry!!! Doubles, Roti, Bake & Shark, Corn Soup…did I say Doubles?!  

 

Fetes & Events

 

Canboulay was a great cultural experience. It’s a reenactment of the Canboulay Riots and old-time version of mas that took place:

 

As leading scholar JD Elder noted, “Canboulay is basically a ceremony symbolising cane-burning that Africans of Trinidad devised to celebrate their ‘freedom from slavery’ in 1838.” For Elder, Canboulay represented a ceremony of resistance in which African dance, theatre and music combined in street theatre as part of Carnival, with stick fighting, drumming, singers and flambeaux. (More history)

I got to see characters like Dame Lorraine, Blue Devils & Moko Jumbies and of course experience steel pan bands and stick fighters.

 

_uck Work started late, but luckily the Hyatt had an amazing view so we chilled by the bar and ate at the restaurant before waiting going into the party. I loved the pool party vibe. Although it was crowded, we weren’t on top on one another. This one felt like more like an “after work Thursday” kind of turn up.

The Hyatt Carnival Market had me spending all of my money! I met up with Trinidad based, natural hair & lifestyle blogger Nelly and she took me to the Hyatt Carnival Market where I got to see some amazing locally made products. I bought all my gifts to bring back there and even got a few things for myself! Candles, beauty products, jewelry, jams and more.  

Soca Brainwash was a visual treat and a lot of fun! The day experience was very well organized and a great use of the space. Definitely worth all the drama to get tickets for. The food options were plentiful and the bars had no long lines because there were quite a few. The DJs were great and we had an amazing time. No special guests just straight vibes, which I loved.

Sunny Side Up was a breakfast fete. It included great eats and drinks. The cover band was really good, this did most of the popular songs that we knew and loved. Patrice Roberts, Ricardo Drew and Blaxx made special appearances singing The vibe was a bit more laid back than I anticipated, but overall was a good time.

 

Fantasy J’ouvert was the best! It was just the most amazing experience of the trip. There was some confusion on where the truck was so I actually ended up meeting a few new people and we hung with them the entire time. While the band seemed to skip the “pre-game” but once we got going, PURE VIBES!

YUMA Monday Wear

Monday is essentially taking a similar route as the parade that day before. You can freestyle your costume or buy a Monday wear swimsuit from a designer. I opted to wear a colorful bathing suit I had in my closet. If you play with you mas band there’s security roped around the music and drink trucks. There was so much creativity on the road with the different costumes that people designed. I was a little tired from J’ouvert so I left a little early.

 

YUMA Mas – I absolutely loved my costume! I played with the band YUMA, they’re theme this year was Fatal Attraction, I played in the Obsession section with a backline costume. I didn’t want too many elaborate features, but they looked so vibrant on the road, it was a beautiful sea of red. I got to meet the costume designer, Rawle Permanand and took a quick flick on de road.

Overall, it was an amazing time! I would definitely go again, but I think I’d do a few things differently (I’d go to Tobago to “wind down,” do more local carnival festivities, swap a few parties and skip Monday Wear.) I also look forward to visiting Trinidad & Tobago outside of Carnival season.