Our Stupendous 5 Day Weekend

Hello, hello!

So, wow, we had quite the weekend. These last few days have been exciting and a bit bittersweet as our time together draws to a close. =(! Before we start the waterworks let's tell you about our weekend. This week was Carnival. Ever since we have gotten here locals have been hyping up the two day event. We were told of the loud Soca music, the fantastic costumes, and all the energy. Essentially, our weekend revolved around Carnival which actually happened on Monday and Tuesday.

Carnival originally took place in February as a pre-Lent event, however it was moved to July as a way to draw more visitors and reduce the competition with Trinidad & Tobago. It is essentially a huge festival that allows Lucians and visitors to clamor through the streets. People can participate by joining a band which is an organized group. In each band there are many sections and there is an overall theme. A few themes we witnessed were Redemption and Tomas (as in the hurricane). The bands parade through the streets on both Monday and Tuesday, but Monday is judging day. Bands are judged based on their theme and how they portray the theme with their costumes and presentations. The parade begins outside of Castries and concludes in the center of town, it is a very long route.

Though the actual parade doesn't happen until Monday and Tuesday there are Carnival events beginning in early mid-July. We attended such an event on Saturday night with Jenny's nephew, Claude, and his brother and cousins. This event was the final Soca competition. It was held in the cricket stadium in Gros Islet. Performers did their best to win the crowd over and show off their unique Soca persona. We enjoyed the music but we were very tired by around 2 a.m. and decided to head up into the stands and watch from afar. We were lucky we left the open area when we did because it began to pour! It was a funny view to watch the packed stadium suddenly become a very small crowd. People ran for coverage, though a few huddled under umbrellas or simply braved the rain sans coverage. The performers were hardly unnerved by the sudden change in weather and kept on performing. We ultimately did not get home till around 3:30 a.m. It was honestly a very tiring night.

We were even more tired because earlier that day we went zip lining with Sharon and her friend in Dennery! It was a fantastic experience. We glided on 12 zip lines through the rain forest. It was exhilarating and we felt like we were flying. Another bonus was our delicious lunch at Plante's Place, a local roadside restaurant. We enjoyed some fish fry with plantains, bread fruit, rice, and salad for a mere 14 EC.

Before we went zip lining!

Sunday was an exciting day as we attended Mr. Sweeney's, who is the ex-director of CEHI and now administrator of the GEF-IWCAM project, exclusive all-inclusive pre-Carnival fete. We had a great time dancing to the current Carnival songs and enjoying some rum and delicious local food. We were able to socialize with some of our co-workers as well as other foreign friends.

When Monday morning came, we were ready for Carnival. We met up with Sharon to head into Castries where we would be joining her and her friends at their trailer set up to view the spectacle. However, getting into town was quite the endeavor. Traffic stretched throughout the island as roads had been closed for the parade. After we finally reached town, we walked to the trailer. It was hot.

Sadly, it took a very long time for the parade to actually begin so were waiting for hours. We did enjoy some interesting conversation including with a woman who was the first national female scholar of St. Lucia and who started a refugee trauma program at the U.N. When the bands began to appear it was very spaced out, apparently there had been a change in the judging station and organization so when we did see the bands they were pure chaos. However, it was still fun to see all the participants come by dancing in their extravagant costumes. It was even more fun when we saw people we knew!

On Tuesday we returned to the scene and were able to see the other bands that had not passed the day before. It was a calmer day and things moved with more speed. We were lucky and got the opportunity to actually join one of the bands with Claude! It was really fun to be part of the crowd and dance. We are determined to return one day and jump.

Our Carnival finds!

Us and Claude!

Maddie and Kusbert!

We spent Wednesday relaxing and recuperating to return to work on Thursday. Tonight is our last day together so we plan on eating out at an apparently superb Indian restaurant.