The Good:It’s rare that
I hit a carnival where I am able to party and also relax.I usually party my life away and come home
feeling like I need a vacation from my vacation.I got to actually take in the splendor that
is Barbados.Would you believe I’ve been
to Trinidad six times and have yet to chillax in tropical paradise of Tobago
(that will all change 2015).
The Bad:I was on the
road carnival Monday asking myself, “How long has Barbados had a carnival?Seems like they are rather new to this rodeo.”
Lot of amateur type mistakes.
The Ugly:I had a
good time, I had a REALLY good time, but when you put all things into
perspective Crop Over just didn’t produce enough bang for its buck.Once Crop Over crossed the $2,000 threshold
it was encroaching on Trinidad territory.I never compare any carnival to Trinidad, but Crop Over asked for it
with that price tag.It just didn’t produce
$2K worth of (or Trinidad type) fun.
As LehWeGo says, "Do the Triple!" (3 big carnivals TnT, JA & BIM). My peeps & I all
landed in Bridgetown, Barbados early Thursday afternoon, rented our car and
headed to our 3 bedroom villa on Surfer's Point.We rented this lil
car with no doors that we named Meep Meep (like the Road Runner sound), I would
never step foot in that car in the USA, but it was rather fun getting lost in
the islands in it. Wrong move coming down a curvy road and you might go flying
out the frekkin side.Anyway, we got
settled in our lil villa briefly then headed to Lush cooler fete at
Pollards Mill.It was a beautiful
location where people have weddings and sh*t like that.As you can see, everyone drank, drank, drank
and danced their dayym lives away.
Lush Cooler Party
After party with my bottle of champagne
8am the next morning we headed to Canboulay, for those that aren’t
familiar it is a jouvert.You already
know Angela Panama LOVES jouvert.Sorry
I had to slip into third person so you know just how crazy I am about
jouvert.It started off slow as most Caribbean
events do.Not because of the promoters,
but because Caribbean people just have no concept of time. Around 10am there were plenty people running
around dutty dutty dutty.The event was
held on the beach so I slipped out for about an hour to sit on the beach and
enjoy the view.This is apparently when
everyone got OUTTA CONTROL and had absolutely no behavior.I just heard rumors tho, haven’t seen any
photo evidence.
Canboulay BIM
After Canboulay we headed straight to an unknown location to
pick up our Caesar’s Army packages.My
navigation skills were really put to work as I had to read an old fashion map all
weekend and guide the driver.WHEW as
P-Square would say, “E No Easy”.Afterwards
it was back to the villa to wash our asses and get ready for the Candy Coated Cruise.There was a tropical storm passing through
the area so the waters were insanely choppy. None the less we drank, ate, danced, the
works.The Candy Coated events are
always small, intimate gatherings.Seeing these folks carnival after carnival, its like we are one lil fete’n
family.There was a boat across from us
as we boarded with about 10 bazillion people on it and I just knew it was going
to explode & sink at any moment.
Much needed nap in MEEP MEEP as we waited to board the boat
All hands up in de air
Beautiful, yet very choppy waters
Miss Candy Coated Events
Rum Fire literally set my esophagus on FIYAH
After Candy Coated we
stopped at some deeelish local eatery for grub. Wish I could remember the name
of it, just ask for the “Deelish local eatery” if you ever visit Barbados!Got about 4 hours of sleep and then headed to
Caesar’s Army AMBush at 2am.*Drum Roll Please*I’ve had the honor of getting dutty with
Caesar’s Army many many times through the years:annually at TnT carnival, TnT Independence
weekend, Jamaica carnival and now Crop Over.I love jouvert and Caesar’s Army is the MONARCH of jouverts!!!Do you hear (read) what I am saying to you?If you ever have an opportunity to
participate in a Caesar’s Army event … act like Nike and Just do it!!!They always have an awesome performer and
they always have a water truck.The one
thing I love more than jouvert is Wet Fetes so when I disappear at AMBush its
because the water truck has arrived and I am jumping up and down like a little
kid in front of the hose.
Caesar's Army Ambush BIM
Ambush Wet Fete
Sat we skipped the afternoon, evening & late nite events of Scorch cruise, Bliss all inclusive, and JAM breakfast party and saved $270. We shoulda went to sleep after AMBush but instead we had a
private beach fete (well we headed to Krave mas camp to pick up our costumes first. Shout out for the easy breezy pick up). What does a private beach fete entail you ask???Blasting chunes from the Bose, the inflatable
cooler, lots of champagnes, rum and good friends.It was so awesome; we were out there until
around 5pm. That’s when everyone was drunk, burnt, and hungry. I did a mini photo shoot while we were out there.
Chunes powered by DJ Private Ryan
MEEP MEEP
That nite the homies went back to that deeelish local eatery that I told you about for grub. I was just craving more champagne so we got some overpriced champagne with cobwebs on it from the local mart.One thing I learned in TnT is that cheap champagne aint so cheap once its imported.I then drank& listened to chunes by the sea until around 1am.One of the most relaxing days of my life.
Sunday was the Limerz Cruise, it was beyond amazing, one of
the best boat rides/fetes I’ve been on EVER!! 8 catamarans cruising through the
Caribbean Sea side by side.Each with
its own DJ, bar, and catered lunch. I took a “boat load” of amazing pix that
day, but sadly had an incident and broke my phone b4 the pix could be backed up
to the cloud.Here are some pix borrowed
from various sources (Lehwego, Jermaine & Charmaine). *Update* recovered 80% of my pix and wrote a blog just for Limerz Cruise.
Thanks to LehWeGo for capturing the moment
Limerz Cruise
Monday morning was Kadooment Day aka Road March. The bands met up at The National Stadium at 7am,
but we arrived at 10am (because we know how Caribbean people operate).We lingered outside the stadium till about
11am while we waited for our turn to cross the stage.This would have been a perfect time to get everyone
liquored up, but the booze didn’t start flowing for about another hour.We crossed the stage around noon and then marched
through the very narrow streets of Bridgetown.The parade was supposed to end at 4pm, but it kept going much
later.Around 3pm, my body said, “F*ck
this sh*t” and I pit stopped at KFC. Nom nom nom!!!Around 6pm there was a stop on the road for
food, but by then most of the food had gone bad.The homies came back with plates full’a
nothing, while I was rubbing my satisfied belly.We ate breakfast around 8am, so how they survived
that long boozing and wuk’n without food… iDunno . All in all I had a good time
on the road, its hard to NOT have fun when you are pumped up full’a
liquor.
My DIY feather collar and its new owner
Road March video
You can get with this...
Or you can get with that.
We debated going to Caesar’s Army OH SHIP (last lap boat ride) after carnival,
but my homie Charmaine & I opted to sit on the balcony and drink another bottle of champagne.One of the crew said F*CK IT and kept the
party going for the rest of us.
If u cant tell by now, I really love champagne
Some of the crew flew out Tuesday morning, but Charmaine and
I stayed to max and relax longer.We didn’t
do anything other than just get wasted on the beach. That my friends is how you
define True Happiness, getting wasted on the beach with awesome chunes blasting in the background.
Like I said above, I had a dayyym good time, I just didn’t have
$2,000+ worth of “Good Time”Because I
live my life on a series of financial spreadsheets I can truly equivalate fun
into $$ and I had about $1,400 worth of fun.I suppose I coulda saved myself $400 and not played
mas or made my own costume and stormed the bands cause security wasn’t very
good.Maybe that’s what I’ll do if I
ever come back. See you at Miami carnival as we do The Quadruple, as LehWeGo says!
About the Tribe: Created by Evita Robinson and stemming from her travel series Nomad·ness TV, is an urban, travel, online social community of over 7,500 members. We're the edgy, under represented demo in the international travel industry, and we've formed our own Tribe. In the invitation-only platform, we share stories, advice, photos and conversation about our personal experiences around the world. We are the new age travel movement! Those without at least one passport stamp, need not apply. www.nomadnesstv.com
Evita Robinson
The Tribe members in various cities around the globe have
regular meet ups, especially when someone is visiting, but this was something extra extra special.This was the annual BBQ where tons of members
came on planes, trains, & automobiles into my city of Atlanta, GA for a marvelous weekend of partyn & chillaxin
with other people that love to travel!Just wanted to share pix of the awesome event with all.
The Ultimate Selfie
After the party, its the AFTER party! Everyone proceeded to consume even MORE liquor and dance their lives away
