We are coming upon a much anticipated 5-day weekend here in Haiti. Carnival officially starts on Sunday night and continues through Fat Tuesday. The clinic is closed Mon-Wed. I'll probably spend one night down at the main festivities and one other night at one of the many concerts going on around town over the weekend. I am most excited about getting to sleep for a few days without setting an alarm. It's also a great chance to catch up on a my lagging personal correspondence and a lot of administrative work.While the official Carnival celebrations last 3 nights, Carnival is better thought of as a long party season that starts in January with the first Carinival music being played on the radio (There are radio stations that play all Kanaval music all the time - just like Christmas carols between Thanksgiving and Christmas in the USA) The season continues with big parties every Sunday night until the big celebration in the days leading up to Lent.
Some of the smaller cities host their own Carnival celebrations the week before the big event here in Port-au-Prince. Last weekend I went down to Jacmel, the same southern beach town I went to last year, to experience their unique festivities that feature parades with hundred of people wearing incredible paper-mache costumes. Here's a link to some more photos.
2 comments:
Seriously... I feel like it was just the other day that I was talking to you during last year's Carnival. But yes, I guess it would be that time again here, too. We just don't do it up quite the way you do down there. Although there was an article in the paper yesterday about these special Fat Tuesday Pennsylvania Dutch doughnuts. They sounded pretty yummy.
Have fun and don't get into too much trouble! :)
Forgot to leave my initials but you know who I am ...
SLS :)
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