Kings and Queens

This year, we were looking forward to the Kings and Queens competitions. We were not disappointed, and ended up staying much longer than last year. Both the winner from South Trinidad and a popular Port of Spain competitor, Brian McFarland, had to contend with strong winds knocking over their costumes. Interestingly, McFarland is opposed to using wheels in his designs because he considers them an impurity of costume design, which makes building a perfectly-balanced 20-foot dragon even more of a challenge. The last queen’s costume fell off the front of the stage and she wiggled there for a few seconds until I ran up and pushed the wheel back up so she could continue the competition. I love how Trinidad’s size makes it possible to be involved.

Kiddie Carnival

The time, creativity, and love put into the Kiddie Carnival costumes overwhelms me. Every time I look up..

Aaron was ready to move on long before I was, so we ran into a now-normal occurrence we never met before we moved here: what do we do when we want to do different things? It’s not that Trinidad is the most dangerous place on Earth, but, still, we don’t take unnecessary risks…which means we stay together. All the time. I’ve gone to the gym and I’ve gone to the mall a few times by myself, during the day only, in the last year and a half, but that’s it. Fortunately, we share hobbies and enjoy each other’s company, so it hasn’t been much of an issue beyond existing as an imminent conversation. Still, it has been an adjustment to become a constant-couple as opposed to a couple-who-hops-on-our-bikes-and-meets-up-later-without-any-hesitation.

But, surrounded by parents filling their brightly-colored kiddos with popsicles to keep them cool in the blazing sun, I got to dip my toes back into some independence. And flit around for hours snapping photos. On my own. There’s much to love about the spirit of Carnival.