A taste of the Caribbean

I haven't posted on here for over a week now and have been nagged several times by Tina for updates so here you go....

Last Saturday I got up sooooo early to go to Caribana. We left the hotel at about 8:30 as Lindsay had been informed that we needed to be there about 9 to get the best spots (duff information if you ask me). So, we hopped on a streetcar




and got to where it was all happening, well, I say that, except nothing was really happening...maybe a few floats, a few people dressed up but not much else. We did finally work out we were in the right place, but I suppose I should have guessed that a Caribbean festival was never going to start on time.

Anyway, we wandered around the road where the parade was supposed to go for about an hour but we couldn't find a good spot to park ourselves, so eventually we paid the $21 to get into the grandstand, which, it turns out, was well worth the money as, later on, we were able to take pictures from really close up, and also watch the guys and girls shake their booty for the judges. This whole parade was actually 12 'bands' up against each other to see who wins, so the judging part they actually put a lot more effort into.

Here are a selection of pictures I took: -










My experience of parades led me to believe this would be over within a couple of hours, but no way. We eventually left about 5 o'clock and it was all still going strong. A lot of the music that was played for each band (Note each set had their own DJs/Bands/Singers accompanying them) was the same, but I really liked it and was doing an awful lot of dancing (ask Lindsay or Albert). My favourite of the songs I heard was this one - Band of D' Year, although I don't think this was the same version they were playing, it was really catchy.....

Lots of people come to Toronto for this festival, from places in America such as New York and Detroit, and also from the Caribbean and further afield. During the day it was all good, but I did notice at night the atmosphere changed and there was an awful lot of attitude around. There were loads more police on patrol (I believe some people were shot here last year) which is strange for here as there doesn't look like there is ever any danger of any trouble happening. We had booming base speakers pumping from cars, parties all night, lots of bling and plenty of bowls, just like being back in some parts of London really. Tom (obviously led a sheltered life) was amazed at how stereotypical some of the guys looked (he called it the Puff Daddy look, I suggested maybe he keeps his thoughts to himself until we were a safe distance)

It was a very good day though, and I'll try to catch up on the rest of the week soon....