Carnival Monday was the best day ever!

OK, that might be a slight exaggeration.

But probably not.

Anyway, Monday was one of the most fun days of my life.   We’ll leave it at that so as not to offend anyone who thought they lay claim to any other “best day EVER” I might have had.

We got ready with plenty of time and wakefulness, having not done jouvert this year.  Can you tell I love my Monday wear?

We headed into town and got to Woodbrook by 10:30-ish, which gave us plenty of time to catch McFarlane’s  presentation “Humanity:  Circle of Life” getting ready in their Monday wear–they looked very cool:

I had my first Inappropriate Meal of the Day as soon as we got to YUMA’s starting point (what, you don’t eat chips with ketchup and pepper sauce at 10:45 a.m.?):

We nabbed our first drinks from the bar, which was both open and very friendly by this time, and chilled (while sipping from my glitter-blinged cup–great in theory, but in practice I ended up eating a whole lot of glitter and probably won’t be metal-detector-proof for months) until the band took off at around 11:30:

We hit the road later than scheduled, but I can’t say I’m surprised or disappointed–people were still having a nice time in their Monday wear, looking cool (and some not so comfy–how do girls manage to give themselves an intentional wedgie while wearing tights and therefore flouting the laws of physics?

All joking about precarious asscheek situations aside, I was really, really pleasantly surprised at how awesome the Monday wear looked on us YUMA ladies.  The gray shorts were distinctive from the masses of boy shorts in other bands and gave us a really unified look, and the tank top was a great option for those not wanting to mash up their bra on Monday.  Most ladies also put their own touches on the standard wear by cutting and decorating their tops, and a few even went my route and wore a tank top in the color of their section.

Soon enough, the barriers were up:

The standard-bearers came out (with my big-ups to this particular Oracle standard-bearer, who danced and chipped along with us all day long):

And we were on the road!

It was high-energy shenanigans from the start from the YUMA masqueraders.  There was wining, dancing, jumping, waving, and all kinds of carnival hijinks, such as the on-the-wall wine-off between a set of YUMA menfolk:

And a reply wine-off by the ladies on the wall across the street:

There were, of course, the various standard group wines:

As we chipped and wined down the road and through Tragarete and St. Clair, we noticed that some pretty scary-looking security men with rather large automatic weapons were acting as security for the band:

The big guns made sense, however, when we realized that they weren’t out to protect OUR tails–they were out to protect the venerated tails of the President of Trinidad and Tobago and his wife, who were in our band on Monday:

I’m sure that, if the President were in your band all day long, the security detail and fuss would get a bit tiresome.  However, I just felt swanky as hell for as long as it lasted–which was until lunch, when we got to the CIC cricket grounds for some delicious food (amazing, tasty food from Hakka–you bet I’m going back) and a bit of rest (and respite from a quick rain shower) under the tents and on the blankets provided:

Compared to the QRC grounds rest stop with Spice last year, this was WAY better organized–the food lines moved quickly, the portapotties were accessible, plentiful, and very clean, and cold soft drinks were provided (which was NOT the case with Spice last year, where we had to leave the rest area to scrounge for a bottle of water and ended up buying one from a street vendor).  The blankets were much more comfortable than the bleachers and deck chairs provided at QRC last year, too, and though more tents would have been nice, people seemed pretty relaxed and comfortable for the rest stop (which lasted a bit longer than I would have liked, but no big deal there):

After lunch, we met up with our posse (who had needed a bit of extra R and R after jouvert) and we all made our way out and down towards Woodbrook, which is always my favorite part of the route:  I am a total carnival diva and I love the spectators, the crowd, and the cameras.  So you can imagine that your girl was having a time, shaking her booty–a true “woman wining on anyting:”

As if I weren’t having a memorable enough time, the eagle-eyed Mr. Man spotted a familiar face among the Ariapita bar stands–Mr. Idris Elba himself! That’s him, shirtless, with the blue shirt over his shoulder and a mustache–and he even hollered back a “hey” for all my screaming:

It got later, and the lights got dimmer, but the crowds never died down–and the YUMA good vibes only got better!  This band had more energy than I’d ever seen in my three years of carnival, either playing or as a spectator.  We hit Frederick Street at dusk and the party just kept going (as did my growing hunger for all things street-food):

Eventually, I threatened to turn my wining from people and cars to food stands, at which time we had reached NAPA and the vex money(emergency cash stash, in Trini slang) came out for some pholourie (fried dough with mango and tamarind sauce and pepper sauce):

Now, here is where hapless, never-crossed-the-Savannah-stage Laura just had a great time looking at Napa and checking out the crowds.  I realize that here is where a lot of YUMA masqueraders probably came to the disappointing realization that we were not crossing the stage on Monday, after all.  Knowing what I know now about the stage experience (which just came down to endless waiting for two seconds of stomping), and disregarding all the rumors and maccoing about the reasons why we didn’t cross the stage, I am EXTREMELY happy we didn’t cross on Monday.   As it was so late in the stage, we wouldn’t have missed out on much if we’d had to line up for an hour or two by the Savannah, and I’m sure that the energy in the band would have made for a good time while waiting (as long as security was TIGHT)… And yet I’m happier to chip along the road and move.

And move we did—all the way back to St. Clair, where after more wining and partying, the trucks wrapped up the music, we got a good YUMA “good night” and we headed home… though not before Mr. Man and I did a detour for a mini Ariapita lime, beer, and feeding (fried chicken and MORE chips… oh, the deliciousness).  If you can’t tell, playing mas makes me HUNGRY, and I just can’t keep away from a street scene and street food.

Overall, I think the band ended around 9 p.m., and I feel like we definitely got our Carnival Monday’s worth of party.  The energy was frenetic all day, our fellow masqueraders were really friendly, and the bar and security staff were on point all day long (with the exception of one particular unholy and bitchy bartender in the last bar truck, who would only serve what SHE wanted to serve you).  The security did a great job of keeping stormers and randoms out of the band, they were polite and non-trampling of masqueraders, and the general mood was completely fun and relaxed.

If I were to base playing with YUMA again on the Monday experience, there would be no question:  I’d be a YUMA for life.

But Tuesday happened… And the second part of the review is coming up tomorrow.  In the meantime, I truly want to thank every single one of you who has taken the time to provide your (very detailed!) feedback on the Tuesday experience–and if y0u haven’t done so already, please throw your two cents in!