Some of the stunning carnival costumes
I've never been one to be overly superstitious, but this Friday the 13th certainly lived up to it's name for us. Firstly, our flat screen tv on the boat just decided to spontaneously die, then Ron went to start the generator to charge the house batteries and the pull handle was gone so the cord was now coiled up inside the unit. The other way to charge the house batteries is to run the main engine. Ron had been cleaning a few things in the engine room so had left the door open and went up to start the engine. As soon as he did, I walked by the engine room and saw water spraying everywhere all over the engine. It turned out that the anti-syphon loop from the engine was the original one and had corroded through. So we now had no way to charge the batteries which run all the boat systems including the bilge pumps and the batteries were at 12.28 - when they drop below 12, the batteries are being damaged. While Ron was trying to fix that, I went to get a few groceries and Olivia opted to stay and watch Curious George (a family favorite)on the laptop. Sooo...while Ron was in the engine room and I was out, a small squall passed over and a lot of rain came through the port window and on to the laptop computer, which apparently went unnoticed by the monkey smitten 4 year old. Water and laptops don't mix well and we are now out one laptop and all of it's pictures and data.
Unfortunately, there won't be pics for a few weeks - we are now working off our small netbook that doesn't have a card reader. The good news is that we have all our photos right from day one still on the memory cards in the event of just such a disaster.
As I write this, the generator is fixed, the engine is fixed, the TV is at a repair shop deciding IF it will be fixed and the laptop is still resting in peace. Hopefully, we can get it repaired when we fly back to Canada for a short while next month, but I think that's very wishful thinking.
On a much more fun note, we did have the good fortune of being in Grenada for the annual Carnival, which I can only describe as the most insane 4 days of street parties we've ever witnessed. I don't care much for big crowds, and this life rarely sees cruisers awake after 9 pm, but this was a one time opportunity that couldn't be missed. There were many events going on all over the place - some I still don't even understand, but we took in some of the main ones. On the Friday night, we went to the Steel Drum Finals competition at the main stadium here and except for the fact that the stage was too far away from the crowd, the music was incredible. Most steel drum bands that we see are usually 4 or 6 or maybe 8 players, but these bands had 40, 60 or some even had 80 players. The talent was amazing and the music was mesmerizing.
Lots of the cruisers we have come to know have been here for Carnival in years past and told us we simply couldn't miss an event called J'Ouvert. Directly translated, J'ouvert is a French contraction for jour ouvert or dawn/daybreak. We had to get up at 4:30 am for this event and our wake up call was one of the other cruisers banging on our hull. We were told to just make sure we wore old clothes that we didn't mind getting dirty. J'Ouvert is really the big kickoff to the Carnival parade events and the parade happens in the wee hours of the morning where paraders are masqeraded in full body paint of various colors and sometimes wearing little more than a loincloth, they parade in packs with their color group of pink, red, green, blue, yellow, purple, silver and black behind floats that carry the the biggest speakers you can imagine turned up full blast playing whatever soca song is the most popular of the day. While parading and dancing, these masqueraders will randomly splatter or rub off their paint on to unsuspecting parade watchers and often drag them into the streets for a dance or two - and we were not immune to the splatter!
The origins of street parties associated with J'ouvert coincide with the emancipation from slavery in 1838. Emancipation provided Africans with the opportunity to not only participate in Carnival, but to embrace it as an expression of their new found freedom. Some theorize that some J'ouvert traditions are carried forward in remembrance of civil disturbances in Port of Spain, Trinidad, when the people smeared themselves with oil or paint to avoid being recognized. By the time we left, all three of us were well covered in very colorful old attire. The whole thing is very bizarre and difficult to describe but I can say it's now crossed off the "Bucket List".
Later that same day was the parade with all the big flamboyant costumes and they were spectacular! Still the same boom box vehicles playing the same music over and over at such a high volume and bass, I though my internal organs were going to rattle right out of me. That night, there was yet another parade where anybody and everybody participates by purchasing a "package" at one of the sponsors a few days prior to the parade. The package contains a shirt of a specific color, a goofy hat of some kind that lights up, a lighted wand of some kind, a lighted bracelet and a mug. You are then expected to march with everyone from that color group - with of course, the same boom boxes and the same music. It turns out that each group (or "Band") plays whatever song they think is the most popular of the day and the one that is played most becomes the theme song of Carnival. It is definitely not like a long weekend parade and festivities we experience at home and the energy level and enthursiasm here is unrivaled. Carnival is celebrated in each of the Caribbean islands at different times and I think the only ones bigger than Grenada are Rio in Brazil and Trinidad, although Grenada is still reported to have the biggest and best J'Ouvert.
Throughout our time here, we have really been enjoying the complany of friends from other boats, especially Henryk, Mariola and Lala off the 42 Tayana, Lala. We have been spoiled by the luxury of the Port Louie Marina, which we are leaving today and have grown to really love the island, the culture and most importantly the friendliest and kindest people in the Caribbean.
Olivia and her pal, Lala
Pics to follow.
