Carnival!!!

Well honestly... we were kind of let down by Carnival.....

Carnival is a festival that happens once a year and is basically a week-long party/cultural celebration. Every island has their own Carnival and they are at different times throughout the year. Kids have off from school almost the whole week, businesses close or just have wierd hours and traffic is insane! Carnival village was set up just down the hill from our house so we didn't have to go anywhere and we heard EVERYTHING that went on.


It kicked into gear Monday night when the village opened up. We went down a couple of nights, listened to some steel pan, ate some local food, which is really good (although we ran into a lady from church who wanted to share her snails or something or other with us - i braved it - barely!) They have about 4 rides that include a slide, tilt-a-whirl, merry-go-round and this kiddie motorcycle ride. They had a bunch of Carnival games which were SUPER expensive and the prizes were NOT worth it! They also had a bunch of stands selling wierd dollar store type toys. Each night they would have live music from about 7pm to around 2am (sometimes we had to close the hurricane shutters just to sleep).

Wednesday night the music was going all night long because Jouvert begins around 4am and goes until 10am. It's basically a parade through the streets where people just dance behind a truck. Needless to say we had to work Thursday morning so we missed it.


Luckily we had Friday and Saturday off because those are the days of the Children's and Adults parade. Friday morning we walked down to the main square at about 9:45 to catch the Children's parade which started at 10. This was the first of many discoveries that redefined what the concept of a "Parade" is. The "parade" got going about 10:45 (island time). And it wasn't a parade in that people march on through.... they stop before each "act" enters the square and prep for like 10 min. before the group comes through... The groups were basically just ten million versions of kings/queens/princes/princesses riding through on convertibles, girls twirling batons and about three steel pan bands.

The music never stopped thumping... when the parade ended the village bands began... we went out to dinner that night, just to go to the other side of the island to get a break and some quiet solidtude! Then saturday was the adult parade.

This was also supposed to start at 10am, but began more like 12! It went for 7 HOURS!!!! it was nuts... we watched part of it on TV cuz it was a lot of the same stuff as the day before, just bigger people. The commentators were so bad... they had nothing to say except "We're having such a wonderful time down here!" (cut to a shot of miserable people crowded under tents and umbrellas fanning themselves). I can't get over the fact that people hang out on this parade route for over 7 hours! They only got excited when the sun was setting and a truck came through with (superman, spider man and batman) standing on top of it along with "Jam Band" -the most popular Quelbe band down here singing their hit song "Spiderman". Take the words above in parentheses, add the word like in front of each one and you know all the words to the song. They played this song all day long - because everyone loves to listen to the same song for 7 hours straight, right?


Anyway, there was some cool costumes once they hit hour four and the best part was the Mocko Jumbies. I would have expected the commentators to add a little historty about each group as they came by, but the limit to their vocabulary was, "Those costumes are fabulous!"

So now that you have experienced Carnival with us, i would encourage you to head to Rio deJanero (sp? i'll figure it out later, i'm in a hurry) if you are still interested in seeing/learning more. Apparently that's where this stuff all began... But in all fairness, i'm sure we would have enjoyed Carnival much more if we were A: Big partiers who wanted to take advantage of all the Rum stands that were every other booth, or if we were West Indian and this was our culture.

until next time.... or we see you on the 18th/21st/72nd

Jando Sighting!!!

There is rumor of a Jando sighting . . . . . .

at the Lost and Found Concert . . . . . . .

at Zion Lutheran Church . . . . . . . . . . . . .

in Clarence Center, NY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

on May 21st!!!!


Catch them if you can . . . .

. . . otherwise you may lose them forever to the vast no-man's-land of South Dakota!!!

Dakota Day Dreamin'

Good (Insert time of day here)

It’s morning here. Side Note (but aren’t they all?): I once worked with a man who, when greeted with a toothy “Good morning!” from me would snap his head around to reveal crazy hair and mangy beard while replying,
“What’s so good about it? Just say mornin’!” At the same time, the cab of the pickup we were riding in would fill with his rancid breath that had a hint of 1952 left in it.

Gettin’ psyched about one more day of work before two days off. To make matters more splendid, we basically only have a half day of work today and will spend the rest of our afternoon in St. John. After the two days off over Easter, we don’t have a day off for another ten days. That may be a pain in the arse, but then Carnival (THE celebration of the year in the Caribbean) will be here, so all will hopefully be fine and dandy.

Oh yeah, the reason for this blog entry…not that anyone reads it…did you see how many people posted comments on the last blog entry after I pleaded for them to do so?….oh yeah, you didn’t read it…basically this is just a glorified diary…sorry I’m so cynical this morning…I just emailed my friend Ann Skoglund—you can blame her (she is the epitome of what it means to be a South Dakotan by the way)…did I have a point here?

That’s right—now I remember! We’re done with work in the ever so fulfilling cruising industry on May 17. We’ll then fly out on the 18th. The plan is to spend a few days in Syracuse before swinging through Clarence Center and Chautauqua on our way to the wide expanse of openness known as the Dakotas.

I don’t have any pics to put up today, but check back next week. Maybe we’ll do something fun this weekend.

Hope you all have blessed Easters wherever you may be. We’ll look forward to seeing you in a month or some other time throughout the summer!

Update from the Coconut Telegraph

Peace In.

Since it seems that I haven’t added anything to the blog since the Reagan administration, here I am to hop on the blog-wagon once again.

First off, I’ll let you know about the pictures you see alongside my words. We have yet to figure out how to place the images where we want them, so once it’s uploaded it’s a crapshoot. Any chance any of you could tell me where the word crapshoot comes from? I’ve repeated it over and over for about 39 minutes, and now I’m not even certain it is a word. (Editor's note: Before the time of publishing, Lando used his limited computer skill to solve the picture problem.)




The two pics of the boats (one which lost it’s battle against a hurricane and the other that looks like a hurricane may do it some good by putting it out of its misery) are from our kayak adventure a few weeks ago. Jaca promised more pictures and rather than have you slander her name all over the place, here’s some eye candy.


My favorite picture is the one of Ms. Jessica on the famous 99 Steps (note to future St. Thomas visitors: Save your dignity! It’s a lie, there’s really 102!).





Here's one of me in our Jeep. We rolled down the top to let the wind blow back our hair as we cruised around the rock on Friday. And cruise we did…I topped out at a law-shattering 45mph! Speaking of hair, earlier in the day I got my semi-annual haircut…which explains why my look is somewhere between George from Grey’s Anatomy and Carol Brady.

Not quite sure what else there is to share, because it seems that we are on the treadmill of life these days in the Caribbean. You know, when you are constantly moving, but the world around you doesn’t quite seem to change as you move along. I don’t know what it is specifically. Life becoming routine? Working a job that I’m convinced could be completed by a chimpanzee after a week of training? Take your pick. It’s all good for the moment, but we are definitely getting excited about the opportunity to return home.

We are preparing for a move back to the states in the very near future. If everything plays out as planned (meaning: our current boss gives us the go ahead to leave STT in May with our contract completing bonus $$$ in hand), we’ll be flying back to New York a.s.a.p. We’ll then embark on the thousand plus mile journey from Syracuse to northeast SD with our cats, kayaks, guitars, exercise equipment (we’re so out of shape), and plenty of Caribbean memories in tow.

By the way, if there are any vets out there (the cat kind, not the war kind), I’d appreciate an answer to this question: Is it safe to travel two days and 25 hours of driving with cats secured in kayaks on the roof of a car? How ‘bout if we duct tape all the crevices shut?

Anyway, the summer plan is to live at a lake (in SD), work at the Pickerel Lake Lodge, and have plenty of time to spend with family and friends…not to mention the 493 weddings that are scheduled to happen this summer.

As far as the fall is concerned, it’s all up in the air. As neither of us really knows what we want to do when we grow up, we’re open to suggestions. In fact, let’s make it a contest! If you have a suggestion for what we should do or where we should go, post your ideas on the blog. Whoever posts the winning entry will receive a jug of Pickerel Lake Iced Tea and a fresh pack of Swisher Sweets! (Disclaimer: If the winning entry is from a person under the age of 18, he/she will receive a year’s supply of Clorox Disenfecting Wipes) Kazawooiee poopaw! This deal is so sweet it deserves the coining of a new phrase.

Time for me to be on my way. Farewell.