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Last Updated: Sep 8th, 2010 - 9:44:15 |
IslandEvents touches down for Crop Over 2002
AAH, Crop-Over in Barbados! The event is long gone, but the exciting memory keeps ringing in my mind.
We arrived on Thursday night at 11:30pm, ‘Bwee Standard Time’ – delayed for three hours. It didn’t matter, with our spirits high, we still made our way to ‘The Ship Inn’ on St. Lawrence gap.
Its a very social and bright place, kinda like Pier One! and we were pleasantly surprised to see so many Trinis representing. Familiar faces like the Soong ‘Taipan’, Dane Lewis, Lake and Darian Warner, to name a few, were liming amongst some beautiful, curvy Trini and Bajan ‘shortys’.
Since we were playin with Baje, Friday was spent hangin out with them at the mas camp. As well as having to put the finishing touches on the costumes, Baje were also having a band launch that night. We limed with Val, Richard, Kevin, Ian, and the whole crew. The launch was good; it was well attended and I noted that the number of costumes continues to grow.
Later on the rain fell, causing a couple of delays, but they weren’t enough to dampen the spirits of the scantily dressed crowd, most of whom were already drenched and painted in mud, ready to proceed to the J’Ouvert celebrations in Spring Garden.
On Saturday night, after picking up a friend from the airport, we decided to take them straight to ‘Baku,’ which is a club on the West Coast. After the band ‘4 D People’ was over, we went by the ‘Power x 4’ band launch at the ‘Sherbourne Center.’ There the cadence of calypso and some hot lyrics seduced us. Soca fever in Bados is never complete without hearing what Allison Hinds has to offer – this year though, I can't say I was too impressed!
Sunday was the ‘Booze Cruise’. By 10:30 am there was a total frenzy of people trying to buy and barter tickets for what was obviously the hottest ride in town – the ‘Jolly Roger’ boats. It was a toss up, red ticket, or green one? Green seemed to be the more popular and requested one.
No problem. Thankfully our spot was assured, my cousin Kashka, was the Skipper of the more popular ‘green’ one. On board representing for T&T were familiar faces like Monty, Tonya and Darren alongside beautiful women of all shapes and sizes. The electrifying atmosphere was bolstered by commentary from Phillip, legendary ‘Jolly’ rum punches, and scintillating calypsos from Rupee and Lil Rick.
Monday we moved out at 10:00 am to meet Baje. The band had already crossed the main judging point at the stadium, and the masqueraders were ready to loosen up and get tight, so we were just in time!
Baje was very well organised, local beauties like Meredith, Tonya and Shelly, alongside the bandleader Richard Haynes made sure everyone was comfortable. Drinks were flowing like water and the band members seemed to be hypnotized by the sweet sounds of Hyper Dog, Tempted to Touch, Jump up Till Mornin’ and I Feel like Wukin' Up.
At around lunchtime the rains came pouring down and did not stop for most of the day. As we Trinis know, this just makes what was already a wild and fun day 10 times better!
The women did not even have time to notice that their makeup was all over the place and some were even looking like wet pompeks, it was fantastic! No one cared about anything but ‘wukin' up’ (which is the local term for wining down). Of course, the Trini girls took it upon themselves to jump up on the walls of every house on the route. Luckily, they were all very sexy in true Trini style. I hope no one got bitten by any dogs!
It was almost 2 p.m. and we were near to Spring Garden -- the end of the route. I had a 5 p.m. flight, but did not consider leaving the festivities. (Of course, I paid the price by facing the drama at the airport the next morning.)
We eventually reached Spring Garden, where wet masqueraders finally realised they were tired, wet and drunk. With military precession Baje set up lunch camp at a large field just off Spring Garden where we met two long lines of hungry, ravenous masqueraders. Of course my luck at knowing someone at the front of the queue didn’t go down too well with those further down the line. Hard luck Stephen and Alicia!
Eventually, it was time to head home. As it was about fifteen of us, we needed a minibus. No self-respecting taxi driver wants a soaked ride, and with everyone looking like wet swamp things every bus we approached blanked us. We kept limin until finally we got one to agree to transport the drenched crew and we were on our way, jokes and scandal in hand!
Thanks to Baje for the best Crop Over yet!
See you all next year.
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