About Carnival

Carnival was introduced to T&T during the late 18th century by the French, whom would parade down the streets for the two days preceding Lent. This tradition was parallel by the African slaves whom eventually turned this celebration into one of the greatest festivals of all time! They influenced the music (pan, calypso, soca), the costumes and large array of events to occur during the “Carnival season”. A few of these events include Kings and Queens competitions, Steel Pan competitions, Kiddies Carnival, where the atmosphere is pulsating with non-stop positive energy.

How to Attend/ Play Carnival?

Start your journey to Trinidad Carnival by picking a costume in a band i.e. your ticket to Carnival! This costume allows you to be a part of a band or “play in a band” that is moving along a pre-planned and secured route throughout the streets of Port of Spain (Trinidad’s capital city).

Carnival is a competition of bands in which masqueraders parade in beautifully hand decorated costumes competing to win the best band of the year. The largest and more up-beat bands are: Tribe, Bliss, Harts, Fantasy, Island People, Trini Revellers! For the last few years, I have played with Bliss Carnival Band in the Bikini Cabana section and I must say that this band sure is worth every penny and is unbelievably fun!

Bliss launches its costumes for the following year about 6 months before Carnival so usually in the summer months of July/August. Check out Bliss’s social media platforms and website here to keep up to date on all events:

Website
Facebook
Instagram

Bliss’s costumes usually sell out within weeks of their summer band launch so best to purchase as soon as you decide to visit T&T for Carnival!

Carnival Monday

Mad J’ouvert

If the hot sun and small bikini costumes are not for you, I highly recommend taking part in J’ouvert. J’ouvert (pronounced “Jou-vay”) comes from French patois meaning ‘daybreak’. It signifies the official start of this two day festival across T&T.

J’ouvert is an event that starts in the wee hours of the morning around 3am – where you arrive in Port of Spain with an old pair of clothes and sneakers or ones you don’t mind getting dirty. You will parade with your J’ouvert band in the streets until sunrise where you will be covered in mud, paint, powder or even cocoa powder. If you are lucky, you may come across some blue or red devils that blow out fire against the pitch black sky of the gorgeous Carnival night. Best to organize your J’ouvert ticket/package a few weeks before Carnival and I highly recommend my Band from 2018 called “Mad J’ouvert”.

You can follow find more information here on Mad J’ouvert:

Website
Facebook
Instagram

Bliss Carnival

The Carnival Bands usually start around 11am in Port of Spain. I highly recommend getting a driver, as driving back home after the festivities may not be the best plan unless you have a designated driver! Carnival Monday is also known for Monday wear i.e. another mini costume usually a self-designed / bedazzled monokini costume …. so you can save your amazing carnival costume for the Tuesday parade.

Make sure to pack a little bag with essentials such as phone, id, cash, makeup, sunscreen and camera!

Your Carnival band will provide you with food and drinks and if you join Bliss Carnival Band, you will be well taken care of; even with a glass of bubbles! Take your time as the sun is hot but enjoy yourself and dance to the sweet soca music until sundown! Have a good night’s rest as Tuesday is going to be a long but fabuolous day.

Carnival Tuesday

The bands start much earlier than Monday and everyone is in their full Carnival costume ready to cross the STAGE. It is quite the sight! Especially at the stage where the costumes come together to present a show to a range of judges, whom select the a winner to be the band with the most awe-inspiring costumes for that year! It is a long day and there are even after parties in secret locations for selected bands. Have a great time and keep dancing until you can’t anymore!

For more information on all the amazing events during the Carnival season, check out my other article on Carnival here. It also outlines all the essential items needed for the festival and how to book your trip!

An awesome video done by TF1 (number 1 station in france) on Carnival for 2018 with Bliss and myself – see here.

Other articles for more information on the best places to stay, the best places to eat and top activities to do in this beautiful sister isle nation can be found here.

Grab your friends, choose your favourite costumes, book your flight and get some good dancing shoes as this is a once in a lifetime experience!

I had heard of many great stories about a NGO named “Healing with Horses” that was doing fabulous work in the island of Tobago. So of course during my last visit to Tobago, my friends and I had decided to reserve a horseback riding tour with “Being with Horses”, which is the business initiative to support Healing with Horses, and see what it was all about. To get a preview on the amazing work done by the Foundation – click here.

Upon arrival to our Saturday morning swim and trail combination ride, we were introduced to all members of the Being with Horses Family – Veronika and her amazing team as well as their healthy herd of gorgeous rescue horses. Veronika sat us down in a circle around her and revealed to us on how the foundation came to be. It had all started when Veronika, a native German, had met her husband Lennon, a native Trinidadian, while she was on vacation in Trinidad and Tobago. They fell madly in love and shortly after, they co-founded the Healing with Horses foundation. Their mission is to give therapeutic services to hundreds of differently abled individuals from Tobago and Trinidad, using Equine Nature Therapy, free of charge. The horses are free to roam for 16 hours a day in their farm located a few miles up the hill, which are brought down to the stables for the therapeutic and riding sessions.

We were then asked to make our way to the horses; each situated in their homely and beautifully decorated stall. Veronika would then introduce us to each horse one by one with a little story on how they came to Healing with Horses. Subsequently, the horse would slowly make their way out of their stall and walk up to the individual with whom they would like to partner up with. This was quite the experience. I was slightly anxious especially as I was one of the last individuals to be selected by the horses. Luckily, one of the most beautiful horses in the stable, named Princess, slowly walked up to me, gave me a nod as she waited for me to offer her a little snack. I had only ridden once before, so was nervous to get up onto Princess but once I did, it all went rather smoothly.

We began the ride by making our way out of Buccoo Village, past the goat race track, through the wetland mangroves and onto the beach. Princess surely had a mind of her own as we ever so often ended up on the other side of the mangrove, away from the rest of the group. I trusted her and knew that I was well taken care of. Princess was slightly uneasy upon entering the water but with a little nudge, we were on our way to riding past the rest of the group. It was so picturesque and an unreal experience; feeling the power of the horse while riding through the clear and calm waters of Buccoo Bay.

We finished the ride through the waters made our way back to the stables where we said bye to these amazing creatures. Just before I left, Veronika had showed me a video about my horse Princess and the incredible journey she went on after falling 40m off a cliff a few years prior. You can watch the video here to see the amazing work done by Veronika and Lennon in enabling Princess to have a full recovery.

Also during our ride, we were very lucky to have a group of professional photographers – Gabriele Boiselle and her TEAM Edition Boiselle – whom specialize in photographing horses. All the photos seen in this article were taken by Gabriele and her team. You can find more information on Edition Boiselle here.

Learn more about Healing with Horses here and book your next ride with Being with Horses here to support the foundation and this great cause!

The Amerindians, which were the indigenous people of Trinidad & Tobago, had first named the island of Trinidad as “Iere” (or “Irie” nowadays), meaning “Land of the Hummingbird”. The hummingbird was a scared animal to the Amerindians as it was the symbol signifying the soul of their ancestors. Shortly after Christopher Columbus arrived in 1498, the name of land was changed to “Trini” representing the three hills Christopher had sailed passed on his journey into the New World. This little yet most fascinating piece of history was given to me by Dr Theo at the well-known Yerette Hummingbird Sanctuary.

Yerette (another Amerindian name for the hummingbird) is Dr Theo’s home, which he and his wife opened up to the public in 2010 to show the world the spectacular-ness that is the hummingbird. Bright and early Saturday morning we left home to make our way through the Maracas Valley region of Trinidad to Yerette to arrive right on schedule for the first tour of the day. We all sat humbly around Dr Theo, while he told tales of and described the countless remarkable characteristics of this fairy beauty. As we listed to these intriguing stories, we became entranced by the magic of a creature I knew so little about; ever so often distracted by the buzzing of their strong wings – the mystical sound of the hummingbird.

Of course me and my nerdy-self had to make copious notes on all the elements of these attractive beings, so I will share with you some of my favourite facts about the Hummingbird:

1. The Hummingbird is exclusive to Western Hemisphere (USA, Canada and even in Alaska).
2. There are 345 species of hummingbirds in the world; 18 in T&T and 14 in Yerette.
3. Average life span of 5-7 years but they can live up to 15 years.
4. They push the limits of biology as their wings beat 25 to 200 times every second, they can take 250 breaths per minute and they have a resting heart rate of 200 beats a minute. That’s insane!
5. They must eat every 10-50 minutes. When they fly long distances, they must prepare for the flight by doubling their body weight.
6. 90% of their diet is nectar and 10% is insects.
7. They are the only birds that can hover mid-air, fly backwards and fly upside down.
8. Powerful national symbol – They can be found on T&T National Coat of Arms (You must look closely as I actually never realized this before)

Dr Theo became a hummingbird ambassador through his love for photography and his amazing ability to capture the true beauty of these colourful creatures. One day, he started placing hummingbird feeders around the garden to bring them in and then slowly realized that something unusual was happening. The hummingbirds came in huge numbers and then they had realized that they had wanted to share this experience with others.

Yerette is also known as a place where persons with various medical conditions can come to relax and receive therapeutic comfort through the positive and happy energies of this delightful place. Rainy days may even be the best time to visit as a shower of hummingbirds is known to come in and completely occupy Yerette on these days.

Sit back and enjoy the live show as well as the happy energies at Yerette Hummingbird Sanctuary so as to get some of that healing power.