2) Chaguaramas, Trinidad

February 6, 2005

                                                                                                                   

We are in Power Boats boatyard in the town of Chaguaramas on the island of Trinidad (off the northeastern Venezuelan coast) outside the large city Port of Spain which is approximately 61° 31’ W 10° 39’ N and is roughly 600 miles north of the equator. 

Geographically we are 4 hours ahead of California.                     

 

                                                             (You Tube clip)
                                                       Power Boats boat-yard

We are staying in one of four rooms at the end of a boatyard building.  The boat is still on the hard (you can just see the light blue hull to the left in the far distance) and much has to still be done on the boat by the locals.  It’s during Carnival and it seems that the yard has shut down.  So, no work is being done on the boat.

Jeff and I managed to get the dinghy off the boat, mount the motor, paddle to the fuel dock to get gas and miraculously the motor started.  We have transportation!  All the cars were rented on account of Carnival and we have been using cabs and the bus.  We’re about 20 miles away from town where it all happens. 

Since we now have a dinghy we need to park it when we aren’t using it.  We figured this dock area was convenient right outside our front door and we would be the only dinghy there. We didn’t notice the sign until the next day.  No, it is not our private dock so we decided to move to the more congested dinghy dock near the fuel dock.  It takes only a couple minutes to walk there.

For the afternoon Jeff and I sat at a restaurant table on the water and had a beer and some food.

Pete.

Pete showed up in the late afternoon and once again we were at the restaurant having a beer.  We were drinking one of the local brews.

The idea came up to go get some sleep and wake up around 1-2 a.m. local time and go to town.  Why?  Well, one of the main events actually started at 4 a.m. on February 7^th and we were told it was something to see.  It is called ‘Jouvert’ (pronounced joo-vey) and is the official start of the final 2 days of Carnival.

Taxi.

At the boatyard front gate we managed to beg our way into one of three cabs (similar to little Volkswagen buses) that were filled with tourists in semi-costume going to Carnival.

We made it to a part of town where there was a judging booth and bleachers and used that as our starting point.

Here it is 5 a.m. and the streets were filled with thousands of people and blasting music everywhere and vendors and….  In our strolls we found a pizza place and why not.  The picture does not do justice.  It was great!

 

Jeff in the white t-shirt with shirtless Joby.

A flatbed truck filled to the edges as high as it could go with audio equipment

and live bands blasting festive dance music would travel slowly down the parade route followed by hundreds of supporters in costume that were dancing.  You have to see it to believe it.  In the foreground, that’s Jeff on the left with the white T-shirt and Joby in front of him with the green shirt around his waist.

We saw several steel drum bands up close.  These people were awesome.  The sounds generated were an incredible rhythmic work of art.  

We basically wandered the streets with tens of thousands and when the sun came up we started making our way to the bus.

The rumor about people covered in mud is true.  Here is a graphic example of the mud supply.  It is suggested that you don’t wear nice, clean or white clothes for this event.

            This is one of the only locations where all the buses and taxis and people collect.  In the background the sun is rising.  We witnessed thousands of people participate in this early morning event.