{"id":10706,"date":"2020-03-02T08:16:50","date_gmt":"2020-03-02T13:16:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=10706"},"modified":"2020-03-02T08:16:50","modified_gmt":"2020-03-02T13:16:50","slug":"a-most-amazing-party-carnival-martinique","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=10706","title":{"rendered":"A most amazing party. Carnival, Martinique."},"content":{"rendered":"

We are in St-Anne Martinique at the southern end of the island, where we arrived a few days ago.\u00a0 It’s a lovely spot, a charming little town with long sandy beaches and more cruising boats than you can count.\u00a0 And, nearby is La Marin, home of the largest, if not the largest, marina in the Caribbean, with access to most anything that you might need for the boat.<\/p>\n

It’s quite quiet, St-Anne, a welcome break from the craziness of Forte de France, the constant ferry traffic and the noise of Carnival.<\/p>\n

We stayed for much of Carnival but decided to skip the last day even though we likely missed the biggest parade of the four day celebration.\u00a0 However, the third day of celebration, “the day of the devil” was crazy enough with thousands participating in the parade and perhaps even more spectators, nearly all dressed in red.\"\"Each day had a different theme and some participating in the parade showed up with a different costume on each time.\u00a0 This guy was one of the most elaborate and was clearly enjoying himself, mugging it up for the crowd. \"\"This was him the day before.\u00a0 And yes, he knew then that he was fabulous then as well.\"\"Not to be outdone, this was also quite the get-up. \"\"And, from the back, making his best impression on the day of the devil.\u00a0 Oh, you devil, you!<\/p>\n

\"\"A high point for many participating in the parade was to coat themselves from head to tow with cane syrup, mixed with ashes, a slimy gooey mixture.\u00a0 You could smell them coming.\u00a0 I can only imagine how nasty they must have felt in the heat and humidity.\u00a0 \"\"Earlier in the afternoon, near the beach coating each other from buckets and liberal use of paintbrushes.\u00a0 If it were me, I’d have hightailed it to the beach to wash off after only a few minutes. \"\"The parades, and each day had it’s own theme, was louder and louder with huge crowds lining the route.\u00a0 The procession of revelers went on and on for hours with some groups coming by time and time again.\u00a0 I doubt that this car has much use outside of Carnival. \"\"This rolling “boom box” was just one of many vehicles piled high with speakers,\u00a0 all louder than the last.\u00a0 \"\"And where there is noise, responsible parents do their best to protect the little ones. \"\"“Mommy?\u00a0 Is that man hurt?\u00a0 No honey, he’s just channeling the devil.” \"\"Amazingly, in spite of the throngs, there is very little police presence and unlike the good old USofA where there would be ambulances and firetrucks along with heavily armed troops everywhere, here it was just thousands of people having fun with a minimum of mayhem.<\/p>\n

And the fun they were having,\u00a0 drink in hand.\u00a0 Of course, you do have to stay hydrated.\u00a0\"\"No getting face cramps for trying to smile for hours.<\/span>
\n\"\"There was also an endless “parade” of spectators dressed for the occasion.\u00a0 I asked if I could take a photo of them. They where thrilled and agreed provided that I took a photo of them with their camera as well.\u00a0 \u00a0For my money he was a more convincing as a woman than she was as a guy.\u00a0 Perhaps it was her glasses that gave it away.\u00a0 Or was it the vinyl bikini top?\u00a0 Hard to say.\u00a0 Funny how both women and guys want to dress up as a woman and yet, not generally the other way around.\u00a0 “Honey can I wear your jeans?\u00a0 You know, the ones that you wear half falling down below your waist?”\u00a0 Not likely. \"\"“OMG dad, did you see that?”\"\"Again and again the “cane sugar crowd” would pass by.\u00a0 You could always smell them coming.\u00a0 “Hugs, anyone?\u00a0 Hugs? “\"\"And speaking of hot and sticky, I wonder how it feels to be inside this.\"\"Or this. \"\"Real wigs?\u00a0 Only their hairdressers know for sure. \"\"“Does this dress make me look fat Charles?”\u00a0 Only when you aren’t smiling so just shut up and have another beer.”\u00a0 \"\"Do you think they talked that morning before they got dressed?\u00a0 What to wear?\u00a0 What indeed!
\n\"\"Love the hat.\u00a0\"\"Here kitty, kitty, and a matching purse.\u00a0 Perfect.\u00a0\"\"Some political statements about pesticide use.\u00a0\"\"“Yes Mom, I’ll be home soon, I promise.\u00a0 Just out picking up a few groceries.”
\n\"\"This woman would move along a few meters with others in her group and then stop to strike a pose.\u00a0 Something about clay.\"\"Daddy,\u00a0 can I march in the parade next year?\"\"I just love face painting.\u00a0 There were a lot of elaborate costumes, day after day.\u00a0 It’s amazing what you can do with a bit of chiffon and devil horns. \"\"Colors from every part of the rainbow. \"\"And pink, red and pink.\u00a0\"\"And, of course, what’s better than a guy in drag with horns.\"\"What is a parade without stilts.\u00a0 I’ll bet that the view from up there was terrific. \"\"Loved her headdress.\u00a0 \"\"However, nobody had quite the “stage presence” as this woman.\u00a0 Let’s call her the “Budwiser girl of Martinique”.\u00a0 That’s a LOT, LOT of bottle caps and pull tops.
\n\"\"These guys were into the moment and came by multiple times.\u00a0 If it’s worth parading once, it’s worth doing it again.\u00a0 Besides, wasn’t it once said that “these\u00a0 boots were made for walking…”\"\"I liked this little guy the best.\u00a0 However, I doubt that he will wear this costume when he’s a teenager.\u00a0 Perhaps then he will be in drag just like the rest of his friends and probably his dad.\u00a0 \u00a0Bumble bee or not, I’ll bet he’s a bit of a devil himself.\u00a0\"\"Yes, he was having a blast, just like everyone else at this most amazing party.<\/p>\n

Carnival,\u00a0 Martinique.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are in St-Anne Martinique at the southern end of the island, where we arrived a few days ago.\u00a0 It’s a lovely spot, a charming little town with long sandy beaches and more cruising boats than you can count.\u00a0 And, nearby is La Marin, home of the largest, if not the largest, marina in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","_s2mail":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10706"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10779,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10706\/revisions\/10779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}