Our Weekend

As Barb noted recently, we are in the midst of Carnival season in Trinidad. Carnival is the biggest event of the year here. Tourists come from all over the world to see and take part in the festivities. Carnival Monday and Tuesday (Feb 15 & 16 this year) are not "official" holidays, but there is no school and very few people go to work on those days. In fact, from what we're told, we can expect that many places will already be closed on Friday, and may not open until the following Thursday. We were told several months ago by some former missionaries that Carnival brings out both the best and the worst of the country. The best is the amazing music and culture on display in this season. Many Carnival costumes are truly works of art. Calypso features insightful social commentary. And steel pan bands feature the national instrument, which Trinis are proud to note is the only non-electrical instrument that was invented in the twentieth century. The worst is the incredible amount of drinking and overt sexuality that can be found at many of the Carnival parties or "fetes." More than one of our friends here have told us that the rate of HIV infection rises dramatically following Carnival.
This weekend, we again tried to find ways to explore some of the best parts of Carnival. We had purchased tickets for a Children's Carnival Fiesta that claimed to feature many different aspects of Carnival in a family-oriented atmosphere. By now we knew to call in advance to check whether or not the fiesta was still happening. We found out that it was not going to take place on Friday afternoon. In fact, they weren't sure yet exactly when it was going to take place. They suggested we call at the beginning of this week to find out. Instead, I returned the tickets for a refund today.
On Saturday, we again tried to find some good Carnival entertainment. We had been told that the best way to enjoy steel pan music is to go to the panyards where bands are practicing. But we never really knew where the panyards were or when the bands practiced. One of the members of our church in Diego Martin offered to take us to a panyard that he knew of. When we arrived there late Saturday evening, however, we found that they weren't practicing after all because a fete down the block was too loud for them hear themselves. We were beginning to wonder if we were ever going to be able to see any Carnival events while we were here. Fortunately, Sunday turned out to be much more successful for us.
~Richard

However, before we took part in any Carnival, we went to church. When we first came to Trinidad, the Diego Martin Mennonite Church had an adult Sunday School. Then around the Christmas Holidays, they went on break. Next week they will start up the adult class again. They were not having any children's Sunday School, though, and so Olivia and I were anticipating possibly being bored during those times. There is this newer family in the church, though, who have two daughters, ages 5 and 7, I think. We were thinking that they might be in the same situation on Sunday mornings. So Olivia and I offered to take them then, and do a Sunday School class with them then! We aren't exactly sure what to do for that, but we decided we've been to enough Sunday School classes to come up with something. Along with Sunday School starting back this week, youth group at Diego Martin will be starting this week too. My parents will be in charge of that, and they have asked us to help them plan the first one, which at least I am happy to do, since we have had some experience with Trinidad youth groups. I guess we have some planning to do this week!
~Roxy

On Sunday, after church, we went out to eat at Roxy Pizza Hut in Port of Spain. We heard that there would be a parade around that place and time. As soon as we walked into the Pizza Hut, we spotted some kids dressed up in elaborate costumes eating there. As we ate, a crowd began to gather right outside. When we were finished eating, we walked out and stood outside, thinking that those were people gathering to watch the parade. But, then we noticed that quite a few of them were in costume or getting in costume. We asked someone there, who told us that it was a gathering place for the people involved in the parade, and if we wanted to watch the parade, we should go up the road a little ways. As we were walking up the road to find the place where the parade started, there were many people in costume that we passed or that were heading the same direction. We were beginning to wonder if there was more to the parade than people walking around dressed up in costumes. Roxy suspected that maybe the parade was just people in costume walking along the sidewalk and that since we were also walking along the sidewalk, maybe we were in it too. But, then we found a street that was blocked off and where people were lining up. We found a place to stand that was far enough away from the blaring music that we could hear each other yell and then waited. Soon a group of children in brightly coloured costumes started walking. Some of the costumes had big things sticking out. Some of the kids were jumping to the music. I thought that would get tiring fast, especially in the hot sun. Plus, some of them had costumes that looked really hot! Each group walked for a little bit, then paused and the kids danced around for a while and people took pictures, then they started walking again. It was really fun to see all the creative costumes!
~Olivia

We watched the parade for a while and then decided to head out to the savannah to try yet again to hear steel pans. Sunday was the junior pan competition. Because this is happening a week before the actual carnival and because these events were centered around youth, they were a little tamer.
Well, we finally got our pan music. The competitions for the primary and secondary schools were already over, but we got to see most of the performers from the under 21 category. They were amazing! We had watched some of the pan semifinals last weekend on TV. To our untrained ears, the difference in quality between the adult and the junior groups was slight.
Since we had heard that hanging out where the bands are practicing is the way to hear pan, we left the competition for a little and went across from the savannah where an adult finalist band was practicing. It is amazing that we could walk right up to them and interact. I was close enough that I could have grabbed a stick, and believe me that was a temptation. Ah, but no one in the band offered me the chance to join in. The only connection I was able to make was to compliment one guy on his tee shirt, which had pictures of the Obamas on it. The finals are next weekend and these folks are in serious practice mode at this point.
After a couple of weeks of trying to find healthy ways to connect, it was great to finally have our day nibbling at the best of carnival.
~Barb