Carnival - St. Lucia Style

We stopped in St. Lucia for a couple of days and it just so happened that when we arrived the local Carnival was underway.  Shops and businesses were closed on Monday & Tuesday afternoons so we decided to join in the fun and took a bus down to Castries, the capital town.  The parade started with true island style about four hours late, but that was okay, it gave us lots of time to try out some of the local street fare:  bits (bakes), fried chicken, cold pitons, roti - all delicious.

Sunny & John from Notre Vie with their guest Dave joined us and we all enjoyed the local scene.

Accras - fish fritters were a hit.

Bits and chicken frying up.  Note the creative use of an old car parts, a wheel hub in the background and a clutch casing forward with charcoal burning under the pots.

Mr. Gilbert meet Mr. Gilbert!

Loved this t-shirt!  Look closely and you'll a bride & groom...

Mocko jumbles got the party started.

Followed by towers of speakers dispelling bone-jarring beats.

These boots are made for walking ... The parade route is over five miles - can you imagine?

Indian princess?

End of the parade and these revellers are just happy to have made it.

Only in the Caribbean, you say!
- the parade route looped around on itself creating a traffic jam within the parade
- one of the many bands had 1500 revellers
- the speaker trucks were too tall to pass under the overhead wires so guys climbed up on top and used sticks to raise the multitude of wires
- we all got an eyeful when an old guy bent over in front of us to pick up old butts from the pavement - he was wearing only a shirt belted at the waist, let me stress, only a shirt.