Carnival Parade and Judging

Tuesday, July 9^th. CARNIVAL PARADE AND JUDGING

We had a really big storm overnight. Woke up a couple of times to rain pounding on the roof. It looks like it might stop soon as the sky seems to be lightening and I can see clouds now instead of just grey. I hope it clears up as we are supposed to be going to see the carnival parade this morning. I'm looking forward to that.

We were picked up by our driver, Wayne, at 10:00 and headed into town with Ken (our host) in tow too as he is one of the judges of today's festivities. When we were dropped off Ken took us to the stadium where the competition will take place and then he took us on a walking tour of the carnival area of town. Jane met us there about 11:30. We returned to the stadium and waited patiently for the pageant to start. When it finally did George and I went up as close as possible to take photos. The costumes were beautiful and the music loud. The first 'band' (large group of participants) was divided into about six smaller groups and each was judged separately. As soon as the first band finished the skies opened up again and it rained. We sat in the stands for about three quarters of an hour. Finally it let up and the competition continued... I returned to the fence. Later George came up too and he suggested that we go around the fence for an even closer look. No problems, either security didn't care or they thought the white guys were press photographers. Anyway, we took hundreds of photos and the parade of 13 bands continued for about two hours.

After that we rejoined the women and walked the streets where all the bands were now parading with the big trucks with the huge speakers. One big noisy street party, with lots of dancing, music and drinking. They sure know how to party!

Just as the sun was going down, about 6:30, it started to rain a bit again, so we decided to pack it in and head back home. We ate a little of the leftovers from the other night, sat around doing e-mails and photos and then headed to bed for another early night, as tomorrow we start working!