So almost three months before the start of Trinidad Carnival festivities, I decided I wasn’t going to participate. I had the vacation days already in my schedule so I figured, I would still go down to Trinidad but only participate in two, three fetes. The theory was if I wanted to move into my own condo by my birthday, why spend all this money in Trinidad ?
Well…..
8 fetes and 2 Days of Carnival later, here I am, sun kissed and booking my fifth year of mas in Trinidad in the Choonks Carnival logs.
I switched up my fete schedule quite a bit since everything I attended was either bought the day or two days before the event.
My revised fete schedule went as followed:
1/27: Soca in D Drome
1/28: Bacchanal Road
2/4: Jam Nation
2/6: Pree Dawn
2/7: Scorch DDI
2/10: Am.Bush & Soca Brain Wash
2/11: Soaka
2/12: Carnival with Tribe
2/13: Carnival with Tribe
I tried not to do the back to back feteathon I usually do because I’m still enrolled in school and taking online classes so, realistically I needed to balance work and play. Ironically, most of my assignments fell due after Ash Wednesday and allowed me to do as much as I wanted without jeopardizing my school work.
Even for a last minute trip or last minute set of fete arrangements , I had a blast. Maybe it’s the realization that I wasn’t really supposed to be doing any of these damn things made everything so much more fun. I had an amazing time in every event I attended except Soca Brain Wash (due to me not being able to find any of my friends).
My best fete for the season is a tie between Bacchanal Road and Scorch DDI. Scorch DDI is usually embedded in my carnival schedule every year due to it’s no stush vibes, beautiful people and great musical cast. The Boatride phenomenon works well in Trinidad and being on a boat full of beautiful people, swimsuits, abs, sun, flowing drinks and great music never fails! It’s a cooler concept and hosts some of the best djs in Trinidad. The boat almost traditionally pulls out the harbor late so patrons drink, lime and vibe to music until we set off to sail. By that time, everyone’s drunk, enjoying life and always does the boat stay out later to make up for the delay. The only thing to say is : VIBES.
This year was my first time attending Bacchanal Road and definitely will not be my last. Caesar’s Army, the same creators of Am.Bush came hard to deliver. They slighted a lot of patrons with their last minute change of venue from Hasley Crawford stadium in downtown Trinidad to Brian Lara stadium in south Trinidad. Me, an eastern Trinidad Native was distraught. Even though the drive is a 40-45 min drive down, I complained prior. No one REALLY ever wants to go down south, if they don’t have to. It’s almost like a far away, mystical and foreign land.
My friend and I ended up getting a driver to drive us down and on arrival, I’m glad I still decided to go. Bacchanal Road’s concept is one that executed an alternative version of mas. Similarly to mas on Carnival Monday, there are drink and music trucks following each other, while masqueraders follow them. Masqueraders are encouraged to wear their monday wear in the venue and it gives the overall feel of the experience of a Bacchanal kinda road. The trucks drive around the stadium in a circle but as the all inclusive drinks flow, you barley notice your circular pattern. Each truck boasted a cast of different djs and running from drink truck to music truck was easy. The vibes were amazing and although it rained heavily throughout the night, that was nothing but an injection of adrenaline and more excitement to us patrons. I could go on and on but hands down, Bacchanal Road inches to best fete #1 over Scorch DDI.
The honorable mention fetes are Jam Nation & A.m Bush.
Jam Nation, a bigger version of the summer time fete , Jam Naked or A.M Naked was a hit. Yet again, people with vibes , great music and the cooler fete concept dominated the event. Something about Trinidadians, water and powder elevates a party to another level and Jam Nation was one of those. The event starts at 3am and once the sun starts to rise and water hoses started spraying out water, people went wild. We didn’t even need the artiste performances but when the Machel and Super Blue came out to perform, I became an avid lover of the Soca Road March winner, “Soca Kingdom”.
Am.Bush, an alternative jouvert concept fete held in the bushes of Macqueripe was another (usual) hit. Am.Bush is another fete that doesn’t budge from my fete schedule. If you know me you’ll know, I LOVE a jouvert fete. Especially, an all inclusive jouvert fete. Something about getting dutty in an unconfined space brings about epic vibes and no behavior. Like I did last year I rode down to Am.Bush on the SkotchWheels bus, run by SkotchKrew the one group I’m affiliated with. To say the least, I remember very little but my lack of memory proves I had a great time.
Each fete had it’s amazing points. Pree dawn, had a great dj cast. Soaka was the epic water fete and mas with tribe was memorable.
With Soca brainwash my negative review is moreso because of my inability to meet any of the people I planned to meet inside the fete. After coming from Am.Bush, there’s no real sleep going from one fete to the other so the vibes at the next fete have to be there for me to really enjoy it. After reaching SBW and only getting sleep on the car rides to and from home, I spent hours in intervals walking through and about the venue looking for friends. After getting a new phone in September, I forgot to unlock my phone which meant I was unable to use a Trinidad SIM card while in the country. Sprint probably has the worst roaming service in the Caribbean and in such a highly populated area, that made the connection terrible, even on local cell service. Although people around me seemed like they were having a great time, I was tired and me not finding my crew turned me into a stush Sally. I would’ve enjoyed myself if I found my group of friends but after a while I gave up .
On Carnival Sunday I was able to go from being costumeless after selling my costume to getting back in the same section I sold out of but in frontline. I would never do a frontline again, mainly for the same reasons I do not play in the option. I LOVE looking at a large, elaborate, pretty costume but big backpacks are not for me. After a couple pictures and crossing the stage, I’m good to go with the backpack. It either gets tossed on the road, put on top of a truck or given to a child.
Compared to last year I will say Tribe was a lot less packed of people (which was my issue the year prior). Tribe in conjuction with Caesar’s Army released a new band named “Rogue”, which I believe recruited a lot of the overflow masqueraders from Island people who crowded Tribe last year. Even still with less people,I do believe I had more fun in my previous years with Yuma. This year, felt like I practically played mas by myself and met some friends on the road. Most of my hard-core masquerader friends played in Rogue and the two bands did not cross at any point where I could meet them. At some points throughout Monday and Tuesday I bounced into my friends (Big thank you to Shane and Hassy) but there were various periods throughout both days where I was alone.
It was a good attempt but like my previous years, I will be going out on the road with a crew.
The only thing I would say negatively about Tribe is, their lunch park situation needs to improve. Last year when it rained, getting shelter and mats to lay on felt like I was in a refugee camp shortage situation. This year there were more tents, umbrellas and a lot more mats but I still feel like Tribe can accommodate for their masqueraders with a lot more. Walking to meet Tribe on Monday, I passed by Hart’s lunch park and the differences are substantial.
All in all, I had an amazing experience. I’m taking a break from Trinidad carnivals for the next few years (no I’m not pregnant) and going to focus more on traveling, vlogging and blogging my adventures.
WATCH my vlog of my 2018 Trinidad Carnival experience HERE
– Choonks ❤