Saturday, September 11, 2010 – Day 04

I got up late and then worked on the netbook for about two hours. The plan was to go to Caye Caulker, which is an island accessible from Belize city by boat. At the same time, however, this was the carnival day and it only made sense that I make the move only after I took a glimpse at the carnival. So, I went out and by asking people, I understood it the carnival procession was going through town from one end to the other. The question was where it was at this point. I followed instructions and ended up at Central American Avenue. This is the avenue w/ the traffic light.

When I arrived, the crowd was jubilant and the chariots w/ the parade following them were already in motion. Almost all the chariots were trucks converted for the occasion.






The chubby group






The star of the day




More


Some have taken up the habit of walking on their heads




Some should have been in the procession but were not


The steel band chariot. In my opinion the best one.




The marching band


The kids


The star



The steel band





As I was walking along the park Shakira, who was standing there recognized me in the crowd and called me. I stopped there and after she introduced me to her friends and relatives that were w/ her all sitting at a table at the park we had a couple of beers to celebrate the occasion.

Photo w/ Shakira



Shakira told me that she unfortunately had to report to work at 18:00. So when the time came I walked her for a couple of blocks in the direction of the hotel and then veered off to watch the last throes of the carnival. I was a bit lost and walked up and down the Baymen av. a couple of times till I got my bearings straight. Many of the parading crowd had already abandoned the effort and were returning home dressed in the carnival clothes.


When I found that park again, there was no parade left. I walked back and on my way stopped at the Shakira’s hotel. Michelle, her friend that she had introduced to me was there and after chatting a little we decided to all go out to a Karioki club later tonight. I left for the guest house to take a shower and get dressed and then returned to Shakira’s hotel. I was a bit early so I had to wait for an hour and a half till Shakira was off. After she had finished her shift we put her two kids as well as Michelle’s daughter that were all sound asleep on a cab that was waiting for us and drove to their house. They left the kids and returned to the cab and we headed for a club. The disappointing thing is that everything was either closed or dead. We ended up at the casino hotel where we had a couple of drinks and then took another cab to a karioki place. We stayed till 2:00 in the morning. Shakira sung two songs and I must say that she has a very beautiful voice, she is talented. She needs to work on it. Even I sung a song. It was the birthday song for Michelle. A little before 2:00 we left and drove home.