How I long to wear another skimpy jeweled, beaded and feathery carnival costume on a hot Caribbean island – let me count the ways. With all my pals over in TnT calling and telling me how the band launches are kicking off, parties running into the midnight hour (as if they ever stop) and how the season has officially arrived or ‘reached’ I can’t help getting a bit worked up myself. Take me away! I want to go – now! After my first masquerading experience in Trinidad & Tobago’s 2006 Carnival I’ve been trying to fight developing an addiction, but as I sit and write this I’m clicking back and forth from various island websites scoping out the details for 2007 Carnival. Not to say I didn’t have a phenomenal time in TnT this year, but it never hurts to look around.
So far I’ve been looking at the details of Bahia, Brazil’s popular place to be during the season and stumbled upon Aruba’s calendar for next year. While Aruba isn’t one of my must-see destinations their events don’t look too shabby. Plus they have this music called Antillean tumba which I don’t think I’ve heard before, but appears to be a mixture of Calypso and Salsa with Dutch flavor. Sounds very, very interesting. If you’ve wanted to do something like this, let me tell you now is the time to start planning. It’s so worth it and don’t worry, not all of the costumes are skimpy. Go to the Aruba photo gallery for an idea of Carnival in Aruba. The fesitivies take place the month of February and the big event days are Feb. 17-18.