I know I have been M.I.A. for a while please excuse me but Life happened (I’ll detail all the ‘happenence’ in another post). From here on out I promise to update content frequently … when and if life permits (you know I had to put a caveat in there lol). But anyway, I really came back to tell you all that if Trinidad Carnival is not on your bucketlist-YOU NEED TO ADD IT NOW!
Aside from visiting family and working on a project, I came to Trinidad with one goal in mind: to fog up de place. I didn’t set high expectations for this trip since I’ve heard first hand accounts of Carnival horror stories to tales of epic proportions. I only anticipated getting next to no sleep, plenty vibes, and a strict Johnnie Walker diet. Don’t think because you’re coming to Trinidad you have to run down fête (aka be in the mix and party every single day). Going to 2-3 fêtes a day will get exhausting (I haven’t even mastered that level of pace yet). If you’re built to run on 36 hours without sleep then by all means indulge!
To the newbs who are planning for next year, I highly suggested securing your fête tickets in advance. If you’re unfamiliar with the Trini Carnival scene you have to know a committee member or have a connect if you plan on attending the all-inclusive fêtes of the season or risk paying ridiculous scalper prices at the door. I’m not about that scalper life, so my friends and I brought our tickets in advance. Third party companies like The Carnival Connection and IslandEtickets.com facilitates the process which makes it easier for international partiers.
Before I landed at Piarco International I already dubbed C’est La Vie as the fête to kick off my Carnival week. Really it should have been Beach House. But see what had happen was ah stick (stick= Trini slang for delayed) on Beach House tickets so I ended up with CLV tickets instead. So anyone planning to go to Beach House in 2014, doh stick on those tickets! This is last time I’ll discuss CLV, the fête that never was LOL. Tickets to premium all inclusive fêtes can fall between the range of 900-1,000 TT ($150-$167USD). For various reasons, circumstances beyond my control I never made it to Maracas on Thursday to drink all the Blue Label my young heart desired. Wasting $154 didn’t hurt as much as the fact that I was so close yet so farrrrr.My friends and I just had to take an L on this fête. But as my good friend pointed out, this would have been a whole other level of hurt feelings had I missed Beach House.
Feeling salty about missing one of THE biggest fetes on Thursday I had to do something to rectify the situation. I refused to be fête-less and spend another night liming on Ariapita. The next big fete Thursday night was TRIBE IGNITE premium drinks inclusive ($100 USD) with Machel, Kes and Bunji on the line up.With only 15 minutes until the mas camp closed I booked it from Roberts to Rosalino St. to get tickets.Hot, sweaty, and annoyed as hell I barely made it by the skin of my teeth before they closed. Thankfully there were still tickets left and I was able to salvage my Thursday.
TRIBE IGNITE delivered. Premium drinks in abundance, good looking crowd, soca pumpin, I had no complaints. I even left the venue for a bit and security let me back in without a hassle. Mind you there was no wristband, or X on my hand to verify that I entered beforehand.
Machel literally fogged it up, Bunji, and Fay-Ann delivered in their high energetic style as usual. I only missed Kes’ performance.
IGNITE gave me all the vibes I needed to kick off my very short Carnival season. I left around 4:30am in the morning because I needed every ounce of energy for Fantastic Friday!
