Caribana 2006 Weekend

Well the weekend has come to an end and my feet are killing me. Wow, my sister worked me like a slave on Saturday. On Sunday I went down to Harbourfront for Island Soul , I had a henna design put on my hand (pic below). My sister had her head wrapped at the Rasta market, and I ended up running into one of Toronto's great spoken word artists Dwayne Morgan from Up from the Roots (pic available). Island Soul is one of many events that took place over the Caribana weekend. It's also a long weekend for those folks in Ontario, Canada.

I chose not attend the parade this year or any of the endless parties because the Caribana scene has changed. Friday night used to be the best night, you just hung out on Yonge street (downtown Toronto) and 'people watched' until the wee hours of the morning. The last time I was down there I saw little girls walking around in there underwear (well close to it) being violated by men three times their age. That is just not my idea of fun. Although the people watching is still fun, I still wonder why women chose to take off all of their clothes and parade around downtown in front of hungry/thirsty men. Is it really for the attention? Or is there something about the weekend that leaves them feeling free? I'm thinking, your co-worker could be in the crowd or maybe your mom's good friend from back home. What would they say if they saw you in your best Caribana 'batty riders'.

Nonetheless, it's still a fun weekend, but its time for me to experience the original carnival in Trinidad and play mas, yes play mas. I wonder if I can do it undercover? Next thing you know I'm on the front of the Share newspaper (one of Toronto's Caribbean papers) or yet a student from school sees me (LOL) oh lawd.