Trinidad Carnival 2011: Day 8 Trinidad!

Trinidad Carnival 2011: Day 8 Trinidad!

Photojournal of the ride from Port of Spain to and through Chaguanas, Point Fortin, San Fernando and it's Gulf City Mall, the La Brea Pitch Lake and the Caroni Bird Sanctuary (we got severely rained out at the Pitch Lake and barely made it to the bird sanctuary after, so that was it for TNT tourism but I got plenty in for just one day!)

Pics only, videos coming later on the blog's YouTube page!  Didn't forget the remaining days, was just hoping to do them in order but most of my Maracas (Day 7) pictures are on someone else's camera and I am waiting like two weeks now to get them! smh Such a painful lesson on why to double and then triple check the memory card in my own camera...could have avoided this delay although I was PROMISED I would get them in a timely fashion!

Enjoy!  I had put captions but they all got erased except the first one, and as life rushes on after carnival with a lot on my plate and a major national standardized test coming up...the captions are going to have to wait! :)

And yes, the Trinidad Carnival 2011 SUPERPOST! blog has been updated!

TrinidadCarnivalDiary mentions my blog! Yay!

And that fact is worth mentioning cause one: any publicity (that's hopefully positive) is good, and two: that blog post (or her blog itself, TrinidadCarnivalDiary.com) drove a lot of visitors to MY blog recently and that's always great since she's a Trinidad carnival veteran and doesn't have to give any recognition to us newbies!  Thanks Saucy for reading AND posting a positive review about it!

This pic just SAYS carnival to me...can't explain it!

P.S. she had also given me a great review when the blog was even younger, fresher, greener...here!

Eloquence, Inc. Trinidad Carnival 2011 Pics Now on Rockwildaz.com!

I don't know if I had shared the exciting news that I had been asked if I wanted to work with Rockwildaz (IF?!!!) a few weeks ago, but it's official...and they've got some of my Carnival Monday and Tuesday pics up to prove it!

Check the pictures out here (the albums named, appropriately, "Carnival Monday" and "Carnival Tuesday")!

Eloquence, Inc. pics on Rockwildaz.com: TNT Carnival 2011!

Trinidad Carnival 2011 SUPERPOST! Pics AND Videos!

Don't forget to check the Eloquence, Inc. YouTube page for individual videos (slowly but surely they are coming!)

 Click on the link above each of the pictures to see the album showing all the pictures from each set.


Hundreds of Pics & Videos Coming!

Trinidad Carnival 2011: Summary

Day 1: Getting To Trinidad

Day 1: Tobago

Day 2: Liming and "Housekeeping" Errands

Day 2: Girl Power fete

Day 3: Insomnia fete

Day 4: Jab Molassie, J'ouvert/Monday mas prep

Day 5: Carnival Monday (Chocolate City J'ouvert, D'Krewe mas)

Day 6: Carnival Tuesday (D'Krewe mas)

coming soon:

Day 7: Maracas Beach

Day 8: Trinidad

Day 9: Getting Out of Trinidad

Trinidad Carnival 2011: Day 6--Carnival Tuesday! (D'Krewe Carnival, YUMA, etc.)

Trinidad Carnival 2011: Day 6--Carnival Tuesday! (D'Krewe Carnival, YUMA, etc.)

Pictures AND videos!

I heard I have the most pics of D'Krewe...I think they should just go ahead and give me a free costume for next year and make me the official photographer cause boy...I got it IN! :)

Trinidad Carnival 2011: Day 5--Carnival Monday (J'ouvert & Monday Mas!)

Trinidad Carnival 2011: Day 5--Carnival Monday (J'ouvert & Monday Mas!)

Pictures AND videos!

More J'ouvert pics later, I had camera issues as stated before and could NOT take my phone out to get chocolate on it! I took a waterproof camera but of course those pics are not developed yet.  Stay tuned!

Mas with D'Krewe Carnival.

Trinidad Carnival 2011: Day 4--Jab Molassie/D'Krewe Mas Camp (again!)/ and J'ouvert Prep!

Sunday was more of a chill day due to the incessant swelling of my feet that began from my first day in Trinidad...and because of a SERIOUS problem with our Sunny Side Up All Inclusive tickets that I am still waiting to see if I get my money back on time from before I say much more than that! :-/

Trinidad Carnival 2011: Day 4--Jab Molassie/D'Krewe Mas Camp (again!)/ and J'ouvert Prep!

The Jab Molassies and following masqueraders were, I believe, the start of Dimanche Gras carnival Sunday.

I also had to make a run to Chocolate City's mas camp cause my crew picked up the wrong type of shirt for me...my registration said female top but I got a t-shirt.  Sorted that out immediately cause I had no razors to cut up a t-shirt and wanted my tank!  That was resolved fast and painless thank God.

Back at D'Krewe's mas camp cause one of the crew whose costume was actually one I ordered then transferred to her, was somehow not ready til Sunday (and a quick call from me to Akeisha) despite it being ordered before my second order for myself when I changed my mind AGAIN and went with Tempo section in D'Krewe over YUMA's Capricorn (which can't come in monokini).  I paid mine in full same time as I registered though so I think those who paid in full prior to the week of carnival, their costumes got made first. Don't know what was going on but at least we got it...cause one guy didn't get his costume til he was already on the road...I still rate whoever stayed behind to finish his costume and bring it out to him while we were jamming on the road though!

My registration personally had no hassle. Just the waitttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt Saturday to pick up when I had scheduled all the housekeeping stuff for Friday was a no-no.  However, that was their scheduled day for Tempo (Saturday), and they were open one set range of time that never changed (1pm to 10pm)...which was not a time I had anything planned to do so I was cool.  I showed up, after the wait that people suffered at most mas camps anyway, my costume was there, it fit nice, it was as pictured, and it looked great on me even women i didn't know who passed by the room I was trying it on in said "yuh mas look nice!"

Big ups to Mark who was assisting us D'Krewe newbies free of charge on behalf of the band lol!  The D'Krewe masqueraders were definitely like a little family...people remembered each other from mas camp, from carnival Monday, and on the road Tuesday!  It's a medium band and the size was perfect for my first time.  YUMA, as I saw the 2,500 of them out on the road ahead of us to get on stage...would have been way too big and way too much press of people as I try to move around on the road!  Now I have the experience I feel like I could handle it but one of my crew did play in YUMA and fainted in the heat...which could easily have been one of the rest of us if we had played with them cause it was ALL of us first time...so again I'm glad I saved myself that massive crowd!

Trinidad Carnival 2011: Day 3--Insomnia!

Trinidad Carnival 2011: Day 3--Insomnia!

Pictures AND videos!

Trinidad Carnival 2011: Day 2--Girl Power 2011!

Trinidad Carnival 2011: Day 2--Girl Power 2011!

Pictures AND video!

Trinidad Carnival 2011: SUMMARY!

More straight albums of just pics (lots more pics) and videos coming but just to get some news and views out for now!


Blog and youtube coming with the rest of the HUNDREDS of pics and videos!

But summary of the major things:

TOBAGO:



GIRL POWER:

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INSOMNIA:

I can't talk about this without talking about my first encounter with a RHYTHM SECTION! This guy was on the most GINORMOUS drum I've ever seen in my life...not sitting by it sitting ON it, and banging out the rhythms like his SOUL depended on it! The beats and melodies are hypnotizing...and something about those drums brings the ANIMAL out of you! I thought I loved pan but I think I ADORE this! AND D'Krewe had Siparia Rhythm Section on the road!


BEFORE the water:

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AFTER the big water hose wet up EVERYTHING in sight!

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J'OUVERT:


(most of these are still on my waterproof camera...have to wait to get those developed)

The men on stilts were wicked, but the WOMEN on stilts RUNNING, WINING, and strutting around like they run things...were wickeder!


MONDAY MAS:

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TUESDAY MAS:

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MARACAS:

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^^^we know where I was half the time right??? lmao! SOOOO hot just leaned up there!

Oh yeah the man cute too! lol He saw me give the bikes side eyes twice and told me to come sit on one and take a pic, I know I want to!

I said ahmmmmm YOU'RE RIGHT.

TRINIDAD:

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FOOD:

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^^thought that was my first time having it then realized my favourite bartender at Insomnia gave me that with Johnny Walker Black and I just didn't know wth LLB was at the time! Nice!


:)

Downsides:

1. Forgetting my 16 gig SD card. 
2. Nasty heat rash and apparent allergy to the sunblock...standing for hours waiting to cross the Savannah Monday is a hot sticky drippy affair = bad for my skin. Learned to walk up and down and take pics and vids after that, not wait...
3. No sunblock tuesday turned everything to a nasty sunburn...I'm peeling now
4. Jammed big toe against one of the carnival crew females' sneaker (the HARD part at the bottom, not the sneaker part) and it still swell/burn/pained up...probly going to lose that nail...and it wasn't even during parade, it was during Insomnia...and no the crowd in general did not step on my foot whole night, I just shoulda been partying out in the crowd whole night it was safer, clearly!
5. Trinis fry so much stuff...saheena was the spiciest thing I tasted and that was just hot enough to clear my sinuses after a couple of them lol. But the food overall is good...Arab food in San Fernando's mall was WICKED I think I inhaled that!

But that's it. I lasted all day Monday from jouvert straight through to Monday on the road, sitting down for only about 5 minutes to cut-and-swallow a sandwich for lunch...all day tuesday from about 10am through Las' Lap, ate lunch at a more relaxed pace in the cooldown bus provided by D'krewe...

and YES I crossed the stage...


TWICE! ha! Wined on stage, on stage manager, on cameraman...

The soca song phrase that describes me for Trinidad Carnival 2011 must be "tall ting, short ting, I wining up on all ting!" AND "go gyal go gyal go gyal GO!"

Several man tell mi seh di wine illegal lol or as that one said coming out of Insomnia (I kept tiefing more wines instead of just walking straight out) "yuh waistline RELL LOOSE gyul wayyyyy!"

:)