Mindelo Carnival
Ile Jeudi
Bob and Lin Griffiths
Tue 12 Feb 2013 17:36
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Tuesday 12 February 2012
Today is Carnival Day. In truth it's been
carnival day for the last 3 or 4 days, there having been several parades and
marching bands already.
Paul and Rachel had been
invited by Tom, the owner of a nearby bistro called 'Simpatico',
to view the parade from one of his apartments above the bistro.
They asked us to join them and we had a nice lunch at Simpatico before going
upstairs.
The parade was due to start at 3pm and there were
various little groups strolling around before hand. Here is a bunch of
guys walking by confidently in nappies! I think this sets the lighthearted
tone of the day:-
 Some cars had been left parked on the route and
after various phone calls failed to work the forces came along.
This Suzuki was lifted on to the kerb. I wouldn't want to get the
wrong side of these guys:-
 The parade starts with the leading group
holding the Cape Verde national flag:-
 And then we were off. Lots of happy smiling
faces:-
 And colour:-
 Many of those in the parade were young (the average
age of the poulation is less than 20). Any shortfall
in polish was more than offset by enthusiasm, happiness and a
geat sense of sincerity. We felt it added to the charm of the whole
event:-
 Did I mention the colour? :-
 They like their drums and there were several
energetic groups of drummers throughout the parade. So many people seemed
to be able to perform and their timing was perfect:-
 Some floats were very high. You might be able
to see two people dancing either side of the sphere at the top, on small
platforms with only two 'bits of stick' for support:-
 This group were one of the best
coordinated and performed one of the more complex sets of
moves:-
 These children must have been so
tired:-
 It had been a long day made longer by an apparently
unscheduled break of an hour or so in the middle. The last floats arrived
as dusk fell:-
 It almost felt as though there were more people
taking part than viewing! There was a wonderful happy atmosphere to the
day and it was quite an experience and we were glad to have been delayed long
enough to see Mindelo Carnival.
Now we will start to study the weather to decide
when to set off for Barbados. Probably sometime this
weekend.
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