Made in Spain
Made in Spain
32. Part 1: Carnival In Port Of Spain, Trinidad
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Port of Spain flips a switch when Carnival season hits, and suddenly the city isn’t just hosting a festival, it’s showing you what identity feels like when it’s sung, danced, and defended in public. We’ve just come back from Trinidad and Tobago, and this first part of our two-part Carnival series is our debrief on what surprised us most: the pace of the capital, the warmth of the people, and the sense that even outsiders get pulled into something that feels generational.
We trace the roots of Trinidad Carnival through colonial history and cultural remixing, from French masquerade traditions to Canboulay and the pushback against suppression that helped shape modern street culture. That context changes how you hear everything, especially soca music. Once we understood soca as the high-tempo evolution of calypso built for the road, it made sense why it’s everywhere, why artists grind all season, and why Road March matters so much.
Then we get practical and very honest about the Carnival ecosystem: fetes like Hyatt Lime, ticket access, day parties, cooler party culture, and why waking up at 3am for Soca Street somehow becomes a highlight. We also share a few slice-of-life details that taste like Trinidad to us, from Crix crackers to salted prunes steeped in tequila, plus our giveaway with a boutique museum hotel in Patzcuaro, Mexico.
If you’re curious about Trinidad Carnival, Port of Spain travel, soca culture, and what it really feels like on the ground, hit play, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave us a review. What part of Carnival would you want to try first?
Sponsor Message And Season Return
SPEAKER_02This episode of the Maiden Spain podcast is powered by Goco Energy. Clean natural energy for life at the speed of Go.
SPEAKER_04All right, welcome to season six, episode two. This is Carnival in Port of Spain. Roots, Rhythm, and the rise of Ahsoka. Laura, this episode and the following episode has been a long time in the planning. Um, and actually, I have to say, I'm a little bit nervous to do this episode because so much went into us actually arriving to Trinidad and Tobago for carnival that it this is a good debrief. Because I actually haven't really seen you since we left.
SPEAKER_02This is the first time we see each other since our trip. Okay, so uh before we get to all of that, I'm Nalini Sharma and I am Laura Senior Garcia, and we are super happy to be co-hosting the Maid in Spain podcast back for our listeners.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and if everybody wants to just uh follow us, where can they find us, Laura?
SPEAKER_02So I would say in any of the podcast platforms, it is tremendously helpful if you follow the podcast, because that is the only way you'll get notified when a new episode comes out. It really does help us to grow this project. We just uh hit a huge milestone of 250,000 downloads for the podcast today, which is very significant for a self-produced podcast like ours. And we can't do that without our listeners. So if you want to follow, and then obviously on socials at the Maid in Spain podcast or on TikTok, it's a slightly different tone that the actual podcast, but I think you know, for people that want to get to know us a little bit better outside of the podcast construct, they'll love it. So please follow along.
Carnival As Identity In Port Of Spain
SPEAKER_04All right. Now, Carnival isn't just a party, it's rhythm, resistance, and release. And in Port of Spain, it becomes something larger than a festival. It really becomes your identity. And even if you're not from there, when you're there, you're a Trini.
SPEAKER_02Everybody is. I found myself almost wanting to learn how to do a Trini accent when I left. So, first of all, I just want to say thank you to all the people from Trinidad who received us there, part of your family, you know, the people who we played with in terms of the band, everyone. It just made it so special. So, really, really excited, but also really excited for Nalini to share her connection to Port of Spain and to Trinidad.
Nalini’s Trinidad Roots And Diaspora
SPEAKER_04Right. So now my family, that is where my parents are from. I have a sister who's there. Um, my brother was actually born there. I was born in Canada, but he was born uh there, which I like to tease him about, but that's okay. Um, and it's one of those things where I grew up in Toronto, and Toronto has a huge Caribbean population. I mean, from just every part of the Caribbean, you can find it in my city, you know, my hometown. Um, and that's also because there was a wave of immigration in the 60s and 70s, where Trinidad was part of the Commonwealth, and it was easy for people from the Caribbean to immigrate to Canada. The doors were open at that time. And just like there were, you know, a lot of Italians that came over, a lot of Europeans. Um, so I grew up with the culture, even though I, you know, I'm a Canadian girl. I'm from Toronto, but we had a very sort of, I would say, traditional, you know, West Indian kind of house. I grew up eating the food, um, observing, you know, parts of the culture. My mom had a very, you know, Trini accent, our family, you know, extended family. And they, my mom would always say she would refer to it as back home.
SPEAKER_03Oh.
SPEAKER_04And even though she spent far longer in her life living in Canada than she did in Trinidad, she always referred to it as back home, which to me is really, I don't know, it was very interesting. And I think a lot of people who move from Trinidad in particular, they would still, they could be in their 60s and 70s, 80s now, and they still refer to it as home, as home. You know, it has that pull. So um the, you know, I did a little bit of research, but the actual the capital of Trinidad and Tobago is Port of Spain. And like most places in the Caribbean, you have colonialism. You had, you know, the Spanish, you had the French, you had the British. So when Spain uh was they were the original, you know, sort of what word do we want to use? Colonizers. Call colonizers.
SPEAKER_02I mean not passing judgment here is history.
SPEAKER_04History. So I mean, that was they they founded, you know, the port of Spain in the mid uh 1500s. And, you know, they just called that was the name that they gave it.
SPEAKER_02But it's kind of crazy if you think about it, because Port of Spain, so again, we're the Made in Spain podcast, and we're like, okay, what's the connection with Trinidad? Obviously, we've got Nalini, you know, who's integral co-host of this podcast who has roots in Trinidad. And but then when we start looking at it as well, it's like Port of Spain is the only city in the world that has the word Spain in it.
SPEAKER_04It's the only city actually in the world. And I mean the Spanish called it by its Spanish, you know, translation. But then when the British took over in the 1700s, they just kept they just translated into English and it became Port of Spain.
SPEAKER_02But it's interesting that the British didn't change it. I I do find that interesting because it, you know, when Puerto España, Port of Spain, it's like, okay, you know, they kept the name.
SPEAKER_04They just kept it. So and it serves, I mean, Port of if anybody who has been to um okay, you can picture the Caribbean, uh, you know, the you know, the white sandy beaches, and that people just think it's you know, you're you're in a hammock all day and it's palm trees and relax. Trinidad, I would say, is uh vastly opposite to that. It is, it's almost, I mean, Trine's refer to it as the New York of the Caribbean, and it really is. It is a little bustling city where you have traffic, it is busy, there's industry, there is natural resources, you have banking. Um, and it's just it's a city. However, Tobago's different. Tobago's very different. That's that is the island kind of vibe, you know, the the you know, the slower pace of life, the beautiful beaches. Um, and it's not to say that Trinidad doesn't have beautiful beaches, they do. It's just a very different vibe. So if you were to just, you know, go and you're thinking you're gonna end up in this kind of tropical paradise, it's like Arubo or Barbados. It's different than that. It is a working, busy capital city in the Caribbean.
SPEAKER_02Isn't there because we saw a lot of movement in the port as well? Isn't there like uh some energy sector representation as well?
SPEAKER_04I think they have that. They also have the pitch lake, which is you know a natural one of the natural wonders. Um, and they have they have a lot of natural resources. So they've never had to rely on tourism per se, whereas other Caribbean islands, that's their bread and butter. Exactly. That's the only thing. I mean, in fact, there are no all-inclusives in Trinidad.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_04There's that's not that's not a thing there.
SPEAKER_02That definitely tells you something, though.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, there's no all-inclusive. You have um hotels, and we'll talk about your hotel experience, which is super traumatizing. Yeah, like PTSD from the traumatizing then, but kind of funny now. Yeah, and now we can look back and laugh at it. But uh, so that is like just the different vibe of it. So, you know, we arrived, you were there prior a long time ago, but you didn't really remember much of it.
SPEAKER_02Well, I went for a work trip for a couple of days, and it was uh a basically oil rig that was coming from the Gulf of Mexico being brought to Brazil, and the stopping point was Trinidad. Right. And we were doing a session there, and I remember think because at that point I hadn't spent any time in the Caribbean. Right. And again, to your point, I had this mental picture or uh the mental picture that a lot of Spanish people have of the Caribbean, and I remember walking out of the airport going, okay, like 15 years ago, this does not look like what I thought it would. No, so but then afterwards, again, for me, I love going to places like Trinidad because number one, I love places that are a bit unique, a bit different. I love the food, I'm not an all-inclusive kind of person. So I love that kind of adventure part of it.
SPEAKER_04Um, and before I forget, there was actually a very funny connection with the ship.
SPEAKER_02Do you remember that? It was, yeah. I think they were a naval ship, so it's like naval training. Right.
SPEAKER_04But they were from it was from Spain.
SPEAKER_02Yes. Um, I think a lot of the people on there were from Cádiz. Yes. Shout out Cadiz, like always, always in our right outside the hotel. And there was like 300 people who were training. This was like their training, but it was a map, it looked like a pirate ship almost because it had the big kind of what do you call them? The sails. The sails. Uh, so it's a massive sailboat, and I think they said they were doing six months at sea, right? Uh, stopping in different places. One of the stops was Trinidad, and they were from Spain.
SPEAKER_04They were from it's so super funny. And then you spoke to a couple of the students, yes, and they were so shocked that you were from Spain and that what we had been to Cadiz, they were really recently been to Cádiz, and they had such an accent from Cádiz. But it's funny, you know, when you go, you're in this tiny little island off the coast of Venezuela, and literally there's a Spanish naval vessel right outside the where you're yeah, where you're eating your dinner. So you know, they say small world.
SPEAKER_02It is it definitely is. So before we move on from actual Port of Spain, uh Nalene, do you just want to give because I think one thing that's very unique about Port of Spain, at least from an outsider looking in, is the cultural mix that's there of people. And, you know, it's it's just such a melting pot. I mean, really is.
SPEAKER_04Well, when you look at the names of the cities and towns across the island, they have um Spanish, they have Dutch, you have French, obviously English. Um, it is I I always say that I think the Caribbean is one of the world's first sort of melting pots, really, because you had all of Europe uh settle there and not just Europe. You also have um Indians, yeah, you have blacks, you have and the people who came from India, I think they came like 110. Yeah, like maybe 150 years. Yeah, you know, you have that, you have um Asians, so you can have, I mean, uh, West Indian Chinese food is a thing. Yeah, it's Chinese food funny too. Yeah, it's made in that sort of that style of cooking, so but it's made by Chinese people who are Trinidadian, but there's also like a Creole influence as well. So you have I think everything there.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's and so tasty. Like the food is so good.
SPEAKER_04No, it is, yeah, it is very we we could do a whole episode just on doubles, but yeah, like it's so it's very indulgent, I would say, but also very um, I don't know, like homey.
SPEAKER_02Yes. However, and now we're probably going to transition soon to soon to the the actual time that we were
How Carnival Becomes Resistance
SPEAKER_02there. It's very homey, but for I guess a month out of the year, the whole island totally changes.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Well, for Carnival, you know. So Carnival, I mean, Trinidad is not the only island that has carnival celebrations, but it is the only island that does it to that extent, that has that many people. You have I I might be wrong about this, but let's just average it at 10 to 12 other Caribbean islands that have their own carnival celebrations throughout the year. It's not always followed through the Christian calendar, but car carnival in Trinidad is.
SPEAKER_02So like Barbados cropovers in August, right?
SPEAKER_04Is in August. So they have maybe there's a different, I haven't done a lot of research into it, but maybe there's a different connotation to it. But um, there is no party like the carnival in Trinidad. Even I know Brazil is that's completely different. So you can't really, I mean, I think people like to compare the two, but I don't think you can because it's very different. Very different.
SPEAKER_02I think the key difference, I was at pre-carnival in Brazil. Uh, I think the key difference between Trinidad and Brazil in a very simplistic way is that if you're not from Trinidad and you're not um, you know, part of the bands before, you can go and take part in this experience. Yes. It doesn't matter where you come from, it doesn't matter if you've ever been. There's a lot of really great companies that help you get it's open to all. That is not the same case in Brazil. No. In Brazil, you know, you are have to be a part of one of the samba schools. Like there's a lot of different things. So a lot of people go to watch Carnival in Brazil, and in Trinidad, you go up to you can watch it, yes. Also, very entertaining, but you can be in it.
SPEAKER_04Right. And I think the Brazil carnival is more of a, if you had to describe it, more of a show.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04So you would sit as a spectator and you watch, and it's, you know, it's spectacular. Whereas Carnival in Trinidad is an experience, you are part of the experience, you're living it.
SPEAKER_01Um I love that. Like the show versus like the actual lived experience.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it a hundred percent. So now the word carnival, I learned this yesterday, is from the Latin word carne valley. Which means farewell to the flesh.
SPEAKER_02Ah is that because of the pre-Easter thing?
SPEAKER_04I think so. So the way um, the best way to kind of think about it, carnival is celebrated here too, in in any Catholic country for the most part, for the most part. There's this sense of um, you know, party. You know, you look at Mardi Gras, it follows the same sort of calendar where you have um on the Tuesday, they call it Pancake Tuesday, right? So in North America, you have, you know, they call it Fat Tuesday, where you indulge, and then the next day is Lent and then you give something up. So you party, party, party up until Tuesday, and then Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, and you go into Lent. Again, I'm not a Christian, but it is, is it not 40 days approximately? Don't know. Okay. Well, it's up until Easter, right? So you have to so it's up until Easter that you give something up, uh, until you know, post-Easter.
SPEAKER_02I do know the consistent theme is the rebellion, the party, the basking in, you know, the more, let's say, sinful stuff. Yes. And then when Easter comes, things change dramatically.
SPEAKER_04Right. So it's yeah, it's based on, you know, Catholicism, really, following that type of calendar. So Trinidad is no different. Now, we were talking about it was settled by the Spanish, then you had the British. You also had a French influence. And from the research that I have read, again, I'm saying all of this with great respect. And, you know, if I'm wrong, please somebody correct me in a nice way. Um but it is from French origins. And they believe that it came from Nice in France, that the wealthy French uh landowners would have these beautiful masquerade balls and their workers or their slaves were not obviously allowed to participate in it. And they would watch their owners. I hate using these words, but you know, they would watch from the sidelines and they started to adopt in secret their own celebrations. And it became uh it it's not, it wasn't what it was. I mean, obviously what it is today, but it became a way to sort of mock them. Yeah. That look of these people. Look how ridiculous they are. So it would be whether it was dancing or music or very rude rudimentary um instruments that they would have. They would take the old pieces of clothes from you know their the slave masters basically and make little costumes out of it. And it became something as a parody or you know, satire. And it was their way of celebrating as well and having their own sense of expression.
SPEAKER_02That was they tried to uh suppress that.
SPEAKER_04Yes.
SPEAKER_02Uh however, some of the words that I have noted here was Camboulet.
SPEAKER_04Yes. Yeah. So they it it comes from a French, the French canis brutal. Yeah, which involved drumming, singing, stick fighting. Um, and they it was originally a practice of having the the slaves to put out fires in the cane fields. Um now when slavery was abolished in the 1800s, early 1800s, they wanted to hold on to these traditions. And it wasn't until the late 1800s that they actually referred to it as the Canbule riots, where I think now the British were in control and they wanted to suppress this kind of expression of freedom and creativity, but people prevailed and it continued.
SPEAKER_02So they tried to stop them from drumming, and that's when steel pan started to happen. And there are so many terms and there are so many layers to this. As Nalini said, you know, we are trying our best to understand all of it as well as be part of the experience while, you know, respecting the fact that this means a lot to a lot of people, particularly in Trinidad. So if we say something that's not quite there, just reach out to us, let us know, because we are on a learning journey, for sure, when it comes to this. So, really, that's that whole transition at that point when Carnival became about resistance and pride and ownership. So it's very, it's something very special to be a part of. Uh, as an outsider looking in before going, I was thinking more of obviously the pretty costumes and everything else. But once you're there, there is a certain energy that you feel that is probably generational, that's you know, years and years of tradition that you cannot describe until you are there.
SPEAKER_04And also from what we experienced, we barely really scratch the surface in terms of the amount of events.
SPEAKER_02And even okay, now you need a clone to be like you literally need multiple clones of yourself to be at some of these events.
SPEAKER_04And then some of the events are very cultural as well. Um, and unless you're there early enough, you cannot, you, you, you're not able to experience it. So uh I mean, we only had so much time that we could be there. And it is worth noting that maybe if we were to do it again, it would be, I think, of interest to be there earlier to take part or at least to observe some of the more historical aspects of it. Because maybe in today's world that is a little bit lost. And the one thing that I did um, you know, just talking to people there and take getting their take on it, et cetera.
SPEAKER_02Well, you got to visit some family as well.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and you know, it's but their their thing is that carnival was never um it was about costumes, but not the types of costumes that people wear today. No, it was a lot more clothes involved. And I think maybe it was a little bit more theatrical in a way.
SPEAKER_02There's still some bands that have an element of that.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, there's some bands that do have that element where it's you know actually, and they're those are the bands that excuse me, that I would say stick out of all the other bands, even though those are the more traditional bands that where they have on sort costumes that very colorful, very colorful, they're more covered. Um, it's telling a different story, it's holding on to some of the roots and the traditions of Carnival. And talking to some people there, you know, they've said, listen, it's become a little controversial that, you know, people laugh and say Carnival uh by you know, 10 years from now, it'll just be two strings that you have as your costume.
SPEAKER_02Or who knows, it may go back, you know, to being more covered up. So next episode, we're gonna be talking more about the actual carnival where we played uh in a band, etc.
Soca Music As Pure Carnival Fuel
SPEAKER_02But now we also want to share with you a huge part of Carnival, which is about the music.
SPEAKER_04Yes.
SPEAKER_02So before uh getting involved with this experience, I had heard soca music. Right, but I didn't really know so music. I didn't know the meaning. I didn't know honestly, half of the time I didn't actually understand what they were saying. Yeah, you know, I multiple times made myself look really ignorant and sentiently. Like, are they thinking in English? You know, because it's like, what? Because it's like a very heavy accent, almost like dialect words, et cetera.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, some of the words you're not, it they're not real, I mean they're English words, but it's slang. It's trini slang.
SPEAKER_02It's trini slang, which I'm very proud to say that now I can actually understand maybe 10% of it. It's hard. It's hard. But and but it's so interesting because basically, if you go to Carnival, if you're going to be involved in anything from, you know, from a carnival standpoint, you know, all the kind of uh people who help you to prepare will, and this is something that I'm so grateful that I saw a while back, and you told me this as well. It's like you have to start listening to soccer, because that is the only kind of music that will be played at Carnival.
SPEAKER_04It's the only you don't you do not hear anything else.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. So the so if you go in thinking, if you're you know, at least for me, if I go to a concert, in order to enjoy that concert, I kind of need to recognize the music. I'm not someone that can go to a concert, I've never heard any of these songs, I can't get into it. No, so you have to get yourself into soca if you're gonna go to carnival, yeah, unless you want to go nuts, like you know, because it is like full-on. Even I remember which was really funny from the immigration line in the airport. They they're playing it in the airport, you're listening to soca. And for me, I love dancing, I love music. It is a kind of music that you cannot be still when you're listening to Soka. We had a funny what you want to mention about when we went to the mall.
SPEAKER_04Oh, yeah, where the music is just play, it's playing, it's loud, and you have you know, you're standing in the line and everybody's like this. Like everybody in the line is like moving to the and I said, I'm like, you can't in nowhere else would this be normal where everybody's bopping in the store, like just you know, getting their stuff and and everybody's moving. And I said, This is not normal. Like, can you imagine going to our local mall in the Zara and dancing? No, that wouldn't be.
SPEAKER_02And Soka as well, right? Which again has a lot of very kind of like sexual references, different references. Yeah, actually, some of the stuff when you actually stop and listen to it, you're like, what? But it's the music, it once you get into it, it is contagious. It's contagious. I have to say that I cannot get some of the songs out of my head. Me too.
SPEAKER_04Like it's it's running in my head right now.
SPEAKER_02Like what they say, like the kids say no, like it's living rent-free in my bed.
SPEAKER_04It is. I go to bed with it's it's like a the soundtrack in my mind. And I cannot get it out.
SPEAKER_02I got a question for you. And I'm like, come on, like, please leave my brain right now. Like, I can't get it out of my head.
SPEAKER_04It's it's there. Yeah, it's there, it's crazy. And what's interesting about the carnival season is that leading up to Carnival, I mean, the whole music side of it, you could you need a PhD to really explain it. So we're doing the best we can. But they start releasing, all the soak artists start releasing songs leading up to Carnival because there's one song that will, and we'll talk about this in the next episode, but there's one song that wins what they refer to as Road March. But what to me is so fascinating is that you have these artists that they're now starting to really break into a more of an international scene and to be to be recognized as international artists.
SPEAKER_02So I have a post-podcast recording discussion uh kind of in the works with Nalini about three different Soka concerts that I've identified in Europe.
SPEAKER_04Right. And they're so they're starting to like break through into, let's say, you know, you want to call it the mainstream, kind of the way that reggaeton artists were sort of unknown, but now are, you know, they're the biggest thing. Reggaeton is a huge um music category. And I mean, look at Bad Bunny. Exactly.
SPEAKER_02Who would have thought that he would have been doing the Super Bowl, you know, 10 years ago?
SPEAKER_04Puerto Rican slang, exactly, not even proper Spanish. I mean, so uh I don't know how far Soko will go, but what I can appreciate is that how hard they have to work to put out these songs. So because this year's songs won't be the same. No, and this is the thing, it's not as if you have they release an album. You know, let's say whatever, you know, an artist releases an album, and then this song is kind of popular, and then another song will come out. It's not like that. They finish carnival season and are probably already working towards next season where leading up to maybe like around Christmas time, maybe even a little before they might start really releasing this music for carnival season, and then you have to have something original every year.
SPEAKER_02So if you want to listen to some of the Soka music that we were listening to at the carnival, here's some of the artists that you may look out for. But I will say on Spotify, there's a playlist called Soka 2026 Carnival. Yeah, that includes a lot of this. But you have okay, can you please say his name? Mashal Montano. Okay, because in my head I would say Machel or something. Marcel Montano, Kes, Kes, uh, one of my favorites, Bungie, Bungie Garland, uh, Nyla Blackman, yes, Patrice Roberts, and Mikhail Teja.
SPEAKER_04Who we got to meet. We got to meet him. That was actually super exciting. He's like, he's my favorite. I really like him, and we have uh we'll show some photos.
SPEAKER_02And he's got that song Hello from the Capitol.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, which I love that song. Yeah, I love that song. But did you were you surprised by how hard these artists work during Carnival? I was very surprised. Not just the two days, like the whole Carnival season.
SPEAKER_02I was very surprised. I was surprised that they were still going after Carnival, where I seen some of them go to some of the after parties and stuff. But the other thing I was very surprised about is just how many of the songs are about Carnival. Yes. I I didn't realize before going there I would be listening to the songs and not really making the connection, and all of a sudden it's like, oh my goodness, like most of the songs are about carnival. So you have a country that's you know everything changes for let's say a month. You have music genre that's like mostly dedicated to one topic, which is the carnival. Yeah, and the energy behind it is just like so intense. And just to say a couple of specific things about soccer, it is an evolution from the calypso roots, uh, more in the 70s, faster tempo, and very, very fast forward. Yeah. So you hear a lot of the bass like boom, boom, boom, boom. You know, so it is really designed for movement, not for reflection or contemplation.
SPEAKER_04No, no, no, no. It's I mean, I would dare somebody to put Ahsoka song on and just stand still.
SPEAKER_02It actually would feel awkward.
SPEAKER_04It's near impossible.
SPEAKER_02Even even for the fact that the security people, like I have so many videos of security people like moving. Yeah, like they're not doing like a full dance, but they're moving.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, you can't help it. So, I mean, Ahsoka's been an evolution. The music itself.
SPEAKER_02100%. And I can't wait to hear what so, even if we're not going to carnival next year, I'm gonna listen to the songs, I'm gonna watch what's going on. And you know, one thing I would say is that soccer is not background music, it's like a fuel, you know, it's like an energy fuel. Yes, and yeah, we'll talk that a little bit more about when we talk about being on the road. Okay, so we've talked a bit about Carnival.
Fets And The Hyatt Lime Economy
SPEAKER_04You've told us a little bit about Port of Spain and the origins, and again, we're using so many different languages and words here, but the fet, can you talk to us a little bit about it's just yeah, a party, it's uh you know the word translates into a party. Um, and there are I don't know how many parties there are, but I think every year I would say hundreds, yeah. I mean, I think that's a good estimate. But from what I understand is that every year they seem to add um more and more parties. But it must be a good business. It seems like a good business because also, I mean, their parties are all inclusive. So, okay, I'll I'll talk about that in a second. But the biggest party or the most prestigious party is the Hyatt Lyme. And I I use the word lime, that's a trini slang. It means to hang out. You know, lime lime means it comes from like lime, like in the fruit lime, or well, it's spelled L-I-M-E, but I I actually don't know the origin of it, but it that's what it means is just to hang out. So, you know, the you just have a lime, you know, like it's I just had this.
SPEAKER_02It's just very funny. I just had this memory. Like, you know, when my mom and like that generation was growing up here, yeah, a lime would have been called a guate here. Oh really? Yeah, like we do not use that word now, but it's like a yeah, you just hang out together and you drink. It's like again, but it's got a very different connotation to a party. It's more like a hangout.
SPEAKER_04It's like a hangout, you know, it's an it can be spontaneous. It can just be, you know, it's casual. Yeah, you say yeah, yeah, like that's what people do. You know, you just go and you, you know, like when we're sitting on my sister's porch or something, you know, you're just having some drinks and you know, you have the pool and the view, and it's a line. You're just hanging. Hanging out, yeah. Yeah. So Hyatt Lime is, I think, the premier event. The tickets are extremely expensive. Um what are we looking at more or less? Per ticket 700 US. US. Okay. So that's probably one of the more expensive. That is, I think, if not the most expensive. I don't think there are other parties that are quite as I there are parties that are expensive, but maybe not as expensive.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, for sure. But based on some of the ones that we saw, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and that is um, you know, again, all inclusive. So you have um you have access to the depending on the level of ticket, the 700 is the most expensive ticket. Um, but you have a private area, which somehow we didn't get to. I don't know what happened, but we didn't make it there. We didn't, we didn't make it there. But the food is over the top. I mean, you have beautiful food, you have um Is it like exclusive alcohol as well? Exclusive alcohol. It's I mean, all you can eat, all you can drink, but the Hyatt does an amazing job. And when they do food, it is over the top. It is not just, you know, one little sushi platter, it's sushi as far as the eye can see. Yeah, you know, desserts, dessert towers.
SPEAKER_02Did they have shark and bake?
SPEAKER_04Or um, you know what? I got in the sushi line and then I kind of got lost in the sushi line. Yeah, I was like, uh, this is a lot of work, and then I ended up leaving the sushi line. Oh, god line. But it is the place where if you want to be seen, uh, that's where you go. So the who's who of the whole island is there to, you know, show that look, it we're here at the premiere event. Um, would I go to it again if I went back? I would say probably not, because I don't think I would need to do it again. But the fact that you do it, you know, you're there and you're gonna have the whole experience. I am happy that I experienced it.
SPEAKER_02Awesome. You know, so that was the that was the high it then. Uh and I know we're gonna be talking in a little bit more detail in our slice of life uh about some of the fets. Okay, whoops, almost fell down. Okay, so outside of that one, I think, is there anything else, Nalini, that you want to mention about the actual fets themselves?
SPEAKER_04Um, we can talk about it in slice of life.
SPEAKER_02Okay, we'll talk about it in slice of life then. Uh, but I think just kind of one watch point that is worth understanding is you can go and do carnival without going to carnival. A lot of people just go for the fets. Yeah. And following this episode, we'll do a little uh post on social media about which one we would repeat and make which one maybe we wouldn't repeat. Right. And you will hear us talk a little bit about some of the prices, etc. I do want to mention that you can do carnival at very expensive. Actually, Trinidad Carnival is can be one of the most expensive in the world to do if you go with all the things, but you can also do it very low cost. And actually, for some of the people on the island, they've started uh a new band for people who who can't afford to be part of some of the more exclusive experiences so that you don't lose the traditions of carnival, yeah, which I think is absolutely awesome. So we're now going into our slice of life.
Boutique Hotel Giveaway In Mexico
SPEAKER_04Laura, super exciting. We have a giveaway. We've got a really interesting partnership with a boutique hotel.
SPEAKER_02Our first ever giveaway. So we are super committed, as our listeners know, to preserving cultural heritage and also to women-empowered stories, you could say.
SPEAKER_04Absolutely. Now, this partnership is with a boutique hotel, and the name of it is Mansion y Turbe.
SPEAKER_02Man, exactly like Nalini said, and it is in a place in Mexico called Pazcuaro. Right.
SPEAKER_04In the Michoacan area of Mexico, which if you had to do a geographical sort of reference, it would be west of Mexico City. And um, I mean, it seems odd that we have a podcast called Made in Spain, but we have a giveaway for a boutique hotel in Mexico. So the name, we sort of, you know, we do outreach all the time. We do research to, you know, uh of interest. And this hotel stuck out to us because we both thought that they were from the north the hotel was located in the north of Spain because of the name of the hotel.
SPEAKER_02Yes, iturbe is uh is a name that you would definitely associate with the vast country. But then when we started digging in and reading more about them, it's like a museum hotel. Yes, and the town is super interesting. So we haven't been yet, but it is definitely on the plans. Yeah. So for the giveaway, yes, you as our listeners get the chance to win three days that you can use anytime during the next three years with a person of your choice. So Pate Cuaro, Mexico may not be in your travel plans yet, but dream big and something that you know to look forward to, and you got some time to plan. So we wanted to make sure that you know there was time to actually enjoy it if you win the giveaway.
SPEAKER_04Okay, and to do that, you have to, it's very simple, you have to follow two Instagram accounts. One is Mencion Itube, and that is at M-A-N-S-I-O-N-I-T-U-R-B-E.
SPEAKER_02And the other account is at the Maiden Spain podcast, both of them on Instagram. This one is not going to be available on TikTok, just on Instagram, and you have to comment on the comments who you'd bring for a chance to win. For extra chances to win, you have to repost the post that talks about the giveaway in your stories. Yes, and that will give you an extra chance to win. We will announce the winner on April 22nd. Yeah, and we'll be using one of the very fair tools that they have to be able to uh pick the winner on Instagram. So good luck to everyone. Yeah. And we hope that you love it. And whoever wins, we will be in touch to document your experience in this very unique place.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, unique and you know, uh female-led story, boutique hotel, very um, you know, sustainable food that they have. It's just yeah, really a special place. And we had the pleasure of speaking with the owners. So we're super excited and a little jealous that we won't be able to, you know, visit immediately, but good luck to all.
SPEAKER_02Yes, and thank you to Margarita and her brother for making this happen.
SPEAKER_04Slice it life.
Crix Culture And Salt Prunes Tequila
SPEAKER_04Okay, so um, okay, we have a lot of things on the table right now.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I feel like we have a little market going on.
SPEAKER_04A little bit. Uh we have, okay, let's start first of all. Now we okay, this is Crix, but I mean, this is not necessarily rep. I mean, I think it's terrible. This is all we were showing.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Like, we don't have time to cook baked curries and a lot of things. No, there was we are not saying this is representative of the depth of Trinidadian cuisine. No, not at all. It's just what we could bring in the suitcase. Bring in the suitcase and also funny things that we thought, like, okay, this has been mentioned many times. A lot of times.
SPEAKER_04So this is their uh famous Crix, okay? It is a cracker. Um, and they it is referred to as the vital supply. So Trinidadians swear by it that if you have, I don't know, an upset stomach, if you're on, you know, you don't feel well or you need something, it's it's comfort food. I mean, every house has Cricks. And if you don't feel well, they'll tell you, have some Cricks. It is a thing.
SPEAKER_02Do you think it's like kind of how, you know, in in some cultures, they'll say crackers and and what is it, salts or water?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, or sometimes like you know, for like chicken soup with some salt crackers. Salt crackers, salt crackers. Thank you very much. That's what I was thinking. It is just something that is supposed to, you know, settle your stomach or provide some kind of I don't know. Can you hold it up?
SPEAKER_02Because so we are not sponsored by Crix, but by the way, Crix, if you are watching this, because we still they have a huge representation on Instagram and a lot of different places. I am super curious because here in Spain, I think the closest thing that we have to Crix, and I don't think it's a Spanish brand, but it is very consumed here, it's Ritz crackers, which are saltier uh Ritz? RI. There's a huge thing. Like every supermarket has a galletitas, you know, like the little salty ones. I used to be hooked on those as a kid. Oh, but they are saltier. But is that somehow related to Crix or it's Crix just like a Trinidadian thing?
SPEAKER_04Crix is really because when my sister gave it to me, because after we came back on um for carnival, we did our makeup and stuff like that, and we're starving. Uh, she said, okay, we'll uh have some Crix. So I was like, what? What is this Crick? Why do you keep telling me about the Crix? And then she showed it to me. And of course, we started eating, we had some scrambled eggs and Cricks, and she was laughing at us because you know, you're kind of hooked on it. But it's actually from uh two Venezuelan brothers who immigrated to Trinidad in the early 1900s. One of the brothers went to the World Trade Fair in Paris and saw this oven that uh was dry baking these biscuits. And that's how it came about. So brought it back and it has been manufactured since then.
SPEAKER_02In Trinidad.
SPEAKER_04In Trinidad. That's so amazing. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So you think the name is because like Crix Crix because it crunches so much?
SPEAKER_04I I don't know. And they said that it was, you know, it's they started marketing it in the 20s. I mean, it's holy smokes, I don't think it's changed much. I think they have like three varieties of them the normal and yeah, it's not like Pringles 10 million flavors. No, it's pretty uh standard, and they had um originally it used to come in a tin. Yeah, the Crick's tin, but they discontinued that, I think, in you know, maybe five to ten years ago. So it comes oh well it's probably a lot cheaper too, instead of the tin. But I think the Crick's tin is probably a collector's item now. Oh, I'm sure. So should we try that? Yeah, so it's it's really just crackers and cheese, and um yeah. Market it as the vital supply.
SPEAKER_00So you have the key left. I do. We are eating these with just everything. Everything cheese? Yeah. So this is an interesting one.
SPEAKER_02I only saw one specific person drink this, which was your brother-in-law. Yeah, but I loved it. So I think I was having a bit of an existential crisis in Trinidad about what I wanted to drink because it was very hot. I didn't feel like drinking like champagne or prosecco or this or that, and I was like, I need something, yeah. That taste of something, and for me that was not a week to be sober, you know, because it was like I wanted to kind of dance and enjoy myself and so on. And I tried this drink that he was drinking, and I was like, what is that? Maybe my kind of unique palette or something, but then we found out it's actually a very common drink there.
SPEAKER_04It's very common. So do you wanna Okay first of all? There are these uh salted prunes. They don't refer to it as salted prunes though, they just say salt prunes. Salt prunes, yeah. So they are um, I guess a cured uh preserved prune of some type.
SPEAKER_00Actually, the it's it's interesting because this is a product of Trinidad on Tobago.
SPEAKER_02Uh and the ingredients are prune, salt, sugar, licorice, sodium benzenate, red and yellow coloring. Uh, I don't even want to look at the amount of calories on this. I don't want to upset myself. I actually I was drinking the drink, but I never actually ate the prune. But I'll maybe potentially do that once it's marinated. So the way that you do this, from what we were told, and it's really simple, is you just kind of have a little kind of preserve thing here. You stick the prunes in. I think that's a lot of prunes, but regardless.
SPEAKER_04Well, you just basically use the alcohol to um let me smell it. Smell it to cure the prunes further.
SPEAKER_01They're pretty cured.
SPEAKER_04I I did I used to eat these as a kid. Like when somebody would go to Trinidad and come back, they would always bring some back and I would eat.
SPEAKER_02You can you just eat them like that.
SPEAKER_04Interesting.
SPEAKER_02So, and then you put the tequila in for today. We have this old mecha tequila. Okay. And you just pour it over the salted prunes.
SPEAKER_04And it just uh yeah, it just basically marinates in it.
SPEAKER_02And you can marinate it from an hour to a year, days, yeah. And obviously, the more that you leave it in there, the more the taste of the prunes that it's gonna take on. Wow, I just poured that whole bottle of tequila. Whoa. It's early for that smell. So we're not gonna be trying this today because it is supposed to marinate, but we will be trying it at some point. I'm gonna leave it in the refrigerator here. Smell it.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, when you make it um like this, like when you do it, how do you what do you put in the tequila? Is it just a tequila or is it a tequila in water or is it just tequila?
SPEAKER_01It's just a tequila and a lot of ice. Oh. Oh yeah. Strong. So what yes.
SPEAKER_02So what was happening? Wait, I'm gonna give this a good shake. There you go. Um leave it there. So, what was happening, you know, during our time there is I would just get like this glass here, which is the heart's glass. We'll talk more about that in the next episode, with some ice and a little bit of this, and obviously because it is quite strong and it's very flavorful, right? You just drink like a little bit at a time. Right. It's not a shot situation, it's more like um like when you drink a whiskey, something you just drink. Drinking your sipping. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04I don't, I'm not a tequila person, and I did try it several times.
SPEAKER_02I wasn't a tequila person until this came along. I like it. You like it because it's savory, it's very savory. It's uh yeah. You know, I do not like sweet cocktails, so I think that's maybe what this was, and it's not a cocktail, obviously, but it's interesting. So I'm looking forward to trying it here outside of the environment there to see if I still like it.
SPEAKER_04Because you know, sometimes when you like drink something and you're in the place, I did have uh I don't know who mixed it. I did have a sip of it, and um, it was one of the better versions because I think it was weaker.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, it was a little bit lighter, probably just a bunch of eyes. Because based on my understanding, as I asked several people, it is literally just like tequila. Oh, okay. That there was nothing else in it. Oh, maybe something sweet. Because I remember trying one that was like maybe it was very good quality tequila, because I know at one point it was like Don Julio or whatever. So yeah. Okay, so we've had a little bit on the salt and prunes the with tequila, the Cricks and Cheese.
Bayview And Cooler Party Rules
SPEAKER_02Let's move on back to some of the fets. We've talked about the Hyatt Lime that Nelane attended. Uh, so we want to go back to some of the other fets that we went to, and that included the Bayview party and it included Soka Street. Why don't you talk to us about Bayview and just running into people there, etc.?
SPEAKER_04Um, okay, so a lot of these parties, um, there's a lot of funny videos prior to Carnival where people they just show people trying to give their money away to the party promoters to buy the tickets, and they're just laughed out of the office because it's like a thing. It's a competitive thing to get the tickets. So I think what organizers do, there's a committee, but okay, I'm I'm sort of uh guessing at this, but but all the tickets are not just released. I think committee members have X number of tickets that they can sell, but it's a way of kind of vetting who comes into the party. So it's not just um anyone.
SPEAKER_02And for Bayview, they actually advertise it as a party where you know everyone.
SPEAKER_04You kind of do though. So I think it's just you know, it's who you know, which I mean again, as an outsider, I can't really comment on it, but I know people who live there, they're finding it difficult that if you don't know somebody or you can't afford the ticket, you can't participate in some of these parties. And in some cases, both. Like even if you can afford it, but you need to get known. And they also sell male and female tickets, which is interesting. Yeah, for some of these parties. It's male and female tickets, so you they try to keep it balanced. So it's not just, you know, all men, basically, you know, all men, and that there's very few women or vice versa. So because I've heard people, some of the guys say they've gone to parties there and there are no women.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_04So I think that's been you know a thing.
SPEAKER_02Which again, even if you're not going to specifically flirt or meet people or whatever, it's still kind of weird vibe if you show up somewhere and there isn't a little bit of a quality of representation.
SPEAKER_04No, and it's for dancing, for the everything, you know, a little bit more balance. So the baby, and then a lot of these parties too are what they refer to as cooler parties. Yes. That was very unique. I've never seen that. So a cooler party is where you fill your own cooler, or you can if you want. You don't have to because they actually do have bars.
SPEAKER_02They do have bars, they have bars, and they have bars where you can pay, but it's very little. Yeah. Because again, it's somehow like not all inclusive, but there's some of it included. But they also had a lot of free drinks they were giving out. Like Carib, the the Trini, well, it's not Trinity, I guess Caribbean beer. Yeah. Uh was uh represented and they were giving out beer for free. There was like multiple stands that were giving out free drinks.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. So a lot of but how for some people, they don't want to be walking from their spot. So you'll have a stage, you're gonna have some either a DJ or live performances. Some of these soaker artists will come through. They never really say who.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Um, and then you set up in a spot with your cooler. So you got to drag the cooler in, set up in your spot, and then that's your kind of area, you know, where the cooler is your base.
SPEAKER_02What time did the Hyatt Lime start at? Uh, it actually started early. It started at four. So that's what I was gonna mention. So for when, let's say, for example, you're coming from a kind of when we always talk about Spain and everything starts late. We got at midnight. Yeah, here it's like if you're going out in the summer, you're going out late on that kind of thing. This whole setup in Trinidad for carnival, most of the parties are day parties. Some of them, we'll talk more about a couple of the others now, are not day parties, but they're almost like uh at the crack of dawn parties. And some of them obviously go well into the night, but you do not have to be a night party person to enjoy these feds because they are happening during the day. Happening during the day.
SPEAKER_04So Bayview was early as well. I think maybe what time were you get there? Like five? Yeah, some sometime around then. The sun was setting, it was near the water. Um, you know, you have music, you're dancing, you have drinks, and then the all-inclusive side of it uh is food. Yeah, so your ticket price, those tickets were not incredibly expensive. They were a hundred and something. Yeah, they were a lot more affordable, and um, it does include food. So you're able to go and basically have there's so many different types of food stalls that you can participate in with every kind of food.
SPEAKER_02My husband had like tamosas and he loved them.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, there's every kind of food, which to us it was surprising because you know, you go and you stand in line and then you go to put your money and they're like, no, it's in, you know, it's included. Which I thought was interesting.
SPEAKER_02That happened to us multiple times at several of the events.
SPEAKER_04But the food is substantial, it's not like a little bit, it's a meal. Like you can have roti, you can have um, I don't know, pasta, ribs, french fries, taco kinds of stuff, burger, like you name it, you can pretty much partake in it. So I think that was the interesting side of it as well that your ticket does include the food. Um, but you're also allowed, if you want to, to bring your cooler in, which everybody does. Yes. So you bring your cooler, you fill it with your alcohol, excuse me, and then that's your dancing area.
SPEAKER_02You may not make it out with your cooler, but no, I think our cooler was left there. So last one that we'll mention uh on this episode before we wrap up, and it is a concept that I would love for promoters in Spain to
Soca Street Jouvé Paint At Dawn
SPEAKER_02pick up on. Yeah. Is Soca Street. So Soca Street, I have never in my life done this before. We woke up at three o'clock in the morning to go to a party. Yes. That and I mean let that sit for a moment. Three o'clock in the morning. We woke up to go to a party that started at 4 a.m.
SPEAKER_04It started at 4 a.m. Um, chaos in the in the entrance. Yes.
SPEAKER_02And it is for those of you who have been to Songkran in Thailand, I guess that's the closest thing I can picture to it. Incredible energy. For me, I think it was probably one of my favorite kind of um energy wise. It was my favorite party out of the whole time. Uh, that's I don't know if you can still see it in some of the videos or the pictures that we may be showing, but I did end up with pink hair because of it.
SPEAKER_04Right. So Soka Street or these paint and water parties, it is supposed to be a mimic juve, which takes place on the Monday of a carnival. So Monday morning in the, you know, the prior to dawn breaking, people go out and they throw mud and water and paint and all kinds of stuff. And it's supposed to be this kind of free street, cathartic release. Um, and you do it in the pre-dawn hours, and then you go home. Typically, you go home, you wash all of it off, and then you get dressed up in your pretty Monday wear costume. So that's, you know, that's the traditional side of it, which people still partake in. But now, you know, promoters have, you know, they've capitalized on it. They realize, look, look, it we can do it in a controlled environment, sell tickets, and make money from it. So we basically did our version of your yeah, of Juve, which it's paint, it's water, it's powder, and everybody's yeah, pigment. People are throwing it on you. Your hair, your hair's still slightly pink from it. Slightly.
SPEAKER_02It was way more pink, but it was cathartic. It was so much fun. It's such an interesting experience when you're dancing and the soaker music's playing in the background and the sun's coming up.
SPEAKER_04The sun's coming up, and after that party, we went to another party. Yes. Um, I think it's called Palm. Uh, so that was Palm. A it's kind of like a little neighborhood. So it was a neighborhood block. Loco, local party. Yeah, that's what they call it. A block a block party. So it's a uh private neighborhood that has a gated entrance, but I think the residents all come together and do a street party.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. That was my husband's favorite party. Oh, that one really? Yeah, he loved that. He because he thought that was like something out of like a American movie where you know, you like every all the neighbors were dressed up so nice.
SPEAKER_04And you know, here we are, we show up like full of paint and oh, and um, and then yeah, we were told that oh don't yeah, don't worry. Um, everybody, a lot of people are from here are going straight to that party.
SPEAKER_02Not happening. We were the only ones there that were full of paint, and everybody was dressed like up to the nine too.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, everyone was just like really nice and really pretty, and we looked, I mean, you'll see some photos. We looked not like that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but it was amazing. So Silka Street, I mean, that's something definitely that I would do again. So that brings us to the end of our slice of life, yeah, and the end of our first episode covering Port of Spain and Carnival. In the next episode, we're gonna talk about uh playing mass and we're gonna talk about crossing the stage and road march and a lot of different things. So join us on that journey for this two-part series on the wonderful experience in Port of Spain and Trinidad.
Sentence Of The Day And Goodbye
SPEAKER_02So for our last part today, we're doing the sentence of the day. Okay. So I think this is gonna be easy, okay? Okay, but it just so applicable. So La Vida is uncarnaval. Uh Carnival is life? So Life is carnival? Life is a carnival.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_02And it comes from that song from Celia Cruz that goes like Ay no hay que llorar que la vida es un carnaval. So don't cry, because life is a carnival.
SPEAKER_04Oh, nice.
SPEAKER_02So you can make your interpretation out of that. Yeah. Uh, but yeah, so La Vida es un carnaval.
SPEAKER_04All right. So I hope you guys enjoyed this episode. And uh, you know, our next episode will be giving you our point of view. Awesome.
SPEAKER_02Thank you. Bye for now. Bye for now.
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