Belize City’s 2014 CARNIVAL: PHEW. It NEVER Disappoints
Yesterday some friends and I hopped aboard the 11:30am San Pedro Belize Water Taxi to Belize City for one of the highlights of September Celebrations – the Belize City Carnival.
It is a hot, crazy, sweaty, loud, gritty, fun event fueled by beer, body glitter, Belize energy drink – “Full Throttle”, lots of attitude, TONS of attitude and very loud music. Even just watching is exhausting – THE HEAT! THE CROWD! – I’m not sure how these participants do it.
And these costumes are no small feat. Fundraising begins months ahead of time. Bras and glitter must sell out country wide! It’s definitely a labor of love.
We arrived RIGHT ON TIME to watch at the very beginning…which would insure that I would be on a water taxi back home at the end of the afternoon.
We joined in the crowd as the Carnival slowly went by…
I took about 400 pictures. 95% of them HORRIBLE! Here’s what I extracted. CARNIVAL!
This is not little floats pulled by cars or pick-up trucks. These are HUGE rigs. Here comes Panerrifix, my very favorites. The steel drum band.
The entire truck is bouncing and rocking. LOVE IT.
Or just make your own entry!
My friend Ashley had a GREAT vantage point by the round-about. Don’t all the flags make a beautiful backdrop? Note to self…
The kids generally go first and then the adult groups.
Always behind a HEAP of speakers.
It was HARD getting smiles out of people. HARD!
And then the adults…led by Belikin’s big rig. Oh! And for the “adult part” of the parade – this seemed to be the theme song. Play it if you want the correct mood. Mr Killa’s “Rolly Polly”.
“Ah want a big gyal, you make me bawl holy moly”…
I loved this construction themed steel pan group…
The crowd…
Can you feel the heat?
THAT is the punta face.
The detail on the homemade costumes is incredible. From make-up to shoes…
One thing that I LOVE about this carnival is that you feel like you are in the parade. You are actually welcomed to join in…
WOWZER. I’m telling you, I was ABSOLUTELY exhausted and all I was doing was taking pictures. What a wild event.
And there are many more parades to come. Lots of these costumes head to Orange Walk for the 21st – which many will argue BEATS this one. The grand daddy of all September parades.
I want to go to it but I wouldn’t miss the San Pedro parade on September 21st for the world. I love it.
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