Very Spicy Indeed

Spectacular Costumes: 
All photos from Pretty Mas & Parade of Bands

Spice Island Carnival was the order of the day, so we put on our glad rags and prepared ourselves mentally for this exuberant event.  Toes in the water, so as to speak, with our choice to attend the tamer option, Pretty Mas & Parade of the Bands. Well, we could only hope!   Our driver briefed us before releasing us into the chaos.  He tipped us to watch our belongings carefully, where to find the best viewpoints and tastiest local food.  He also gave us an event overview/history from a local perspective.  Mas, he said was not church mass but a masquerade and dated back to the times of slavery.  So armed with beginners luck,  it was a charge for the Tropicana Restaurant where at 4pm, some of yesterday's revellers were still recovering and trying to regroup for this next round! From Tropicana's elevated vantage point, judges preside over the parade to decide on winners, so we hoped for a good view and to be close to but not in, the action.  

Luckily, we spotted a wall, sheltered by a shady tree, to sit on, then waited – even island time slows down for Mas.  Eventually, stragglers from the previous day’s events filled the streets and before too long, a Chinese Dragon heralded the start of this hedonistic parade.  Lots of music, feathers, sequins, flesh and alcohol. 

Carnival is not a brief affair; it lingers, happily over many, many months.  Lots of fetes (fay-tays) or partying, drinking locally made beer & rum, making (LOUD) music, liming (more partying) and having fun.  Some of the events we had already missed were the Panorama (steel pan bands performing competitively), Dimanche Gras (Soca & Calypso competitions) and Canboulay (local celebrations).  We visitors had the option to attend one or all of Spicemas’s main events.  One was enough for us.  The main program included:

J’ouvert Morning. Day 1.  Starting around 3am, this morning parade offers lashings of oil, paint, chocolate, molasses, alcohol and sequins whilst dancing to some head-splitting Caribbean music.  Huge boom boxes on the back of semi-trailers belt out the local SoCa vibe.  Revellers in sparse but elaborate costumes, make dance moves your mother would not approve.  Locals call this event Jab Jab.  Jab Mas has its roots in pagan traditions and is about playing the devil and mocking fancy costume parties (Mardi Gras) attended by elites back in the days of slavery.  Today, the parade is a contest of bands and their exotically dressed (to a theme) followers.  The most popular in the parade are the theatrical jab jabs who coat themselves in motor oil (don’t forget to coat yourself in Vaseline first!), paint their tongue red, wear a horned helmet and perhaps, for an added touch of bizarre, decorate with a bleeding animal tongue or whole octopus.

Night Mas.  Day 1.  A Street Party follows J’ouvert (obviously to assist with recovery) with the same loud SoCa (Soul Calypso) music and a show of flashing lights.  Apparently, it gets going about 9pm.  Still lots more oil, coloured powder, alcohol and partying. 

Pretty Mas & Parade of the Bands.  Day 2.  Starting at 4pm in the cooler evening, Pretty Mas features bands and exotic costumes, wild colours, and dance moves.  The parade loops along the main road that follows the bend of the Carenage.  We had hoped to see a showing of steel drums too!  Blame the overcast weather?  So, sadly missed out.  

Rain threatened but didn’t eventuate.  Our ear drums will never be the same.  A dance move called “twerking” might cause many grandmothers to faint.  It’s a wonder those scant costumes stayed in place.  It was a warm evening; drink was flowing and music pumping.  Pure bacchanalian.  

The next day, and as a form of "recuperative therapy", our Cap’n & Mr Lozza put their heads together to solve the riddle of WJ3’s diminishing power supply and a not-so-happy alternator.  Unable, between the three of us, to conjure any Gordian knot solutions, a miserable Cap’n decided that Trinidad was the place to be for repairs and maintenance.  We were up at the crack of dawn – it’s a long 80 nm trip (11 hours at the helm) – only to discover that the alternator was MIA.  Whoops…  Well, perhaps we'll leave tomorrow then?  We're in need of a spot of repair work!  

So, we fixed it (well, our amazing mechanic Mr Lozza did), and then, we prepped for yet another early start next morning.  And so, leave Grenada we did!  Just for a change, the weather gods took pity on us, and the Motley Crew left for destination, Chaguaramas, in excellent sailing conditions!