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Grenada Carnival! Monday Night Mas

Even if the hangovers haven't, Carnival 2013 has now come and gone from the Isle of Spice!

Last year I came into Grenada right after Carnival so I missed everything entirely. This year though, I was determined to watch at least some (more tame) parts of it all.



I just grabbed this picture off the internet, but the "Respect the Nutmeg" makes me laugh, maybe CeCe and Katie can pin down why exactly.

In order to get the full effect of this post please pick one or more of the following inappropriate soca songs. Turn up your speakers, plug in some larger speakers, multiple sets if you can, and place your ear on the speaker. And maybe hide your children, grandparents, and parents. -UNLESS it is carnival. In that case everyone get up and DANCE!

Lizard & Madlock Ft. Jentle - Washie You Know (Grenada Soca 2013)
Boyzie - Drink (Party Up) (Grenada Soca 2013)
Sheldon Douglas - Touch Me (Grenada Soca 2013) 

Monday night was an event called "Monday Night Mas."  Which upon first listen sounds like a nice quiet, tame worship service in a beautiful church.

Au contraire!

Travelgrenada.com offers this definition of Monday Night Mas for us:

"Carnival Monday ends with the Monday Night Mas' street jump-up, where party goers in brightly coloured T-shirt bands wave fluorescent wands and dance through the streets into the wee hours of the Tuesday morning." 

It was late Monday night and I wasn't sure if the parade would already be over. After 15 seconds of contemplation I laughed at myself. Blame it on only being back for almost a month, but I had already almost lost all memory of how Grenada works! Not only would they have started late, but of course the party would still be going!

My amazingly incredible friend Jillian offered to chase the parade with us and drop us off. So Ross and I jumped in her escudo and zoomed along towards Saint George's until we caught up with it. Jillian must've given some shimmies and winks to the Police Officers because they kept moving the road blocks for us. Sweeet!

Soon we caught up (Thanks again Jillian for the ride!)! Backin' the pack we had this mobile bar in the back of a pick-up. Business was good.

You can see the streets are packed! Ross said, "it's pretty much like a mobile rave." Ross must know from his younger college days.

In the distance of the above picture, you can see a big double-decker party truck with HUGE speakers and insane sound. I know this from my younger college days. And don't forget varying levels of drunken dancers on the top of the truck!

Every once in a while the DJ/ emcee would turn down the music and shout things like "point to the sea! Saint's George's! Sea! Saint George's!" (at least as far as I could make out). Here you can see everyone pointing with their light sabers.

This is one of my favorites. As everyone was heading down the hill towards Port Louis, you can see the masses in the streets and a river of glowing florescent color! 

Just in case you still don't feel like you were there, here is a video. In the end you can see a beer truck. It had huge kegs as well as glasses of bottles. People would hand up their cup or water bottle and get it filled. 

Ross and I didn't stay the whole night, but I am glad that I went. It was really fun to see some Carnival festivities!