Carnival in Jamaica 2023 with GenXs
Carnival day had come.
First off, I LOVED my costume. It’s been years since I’ve felt the urge to actually wear one on the road. The construction was sturdy as well with gems holding strong all day.
I was a little late to the road this year so I missed the breakfast at the GENXS start spot in Barbican.
When I reached the band the vibes were in full effect. The band was composed of a nice mix of locals and overseas carnival chasers. The costumes looked amazing with no production issues visible from casual observation, and the costumes looked just like they did on the band launch stage.
Drinks were thankfully easy to get and in the morning the trucks stopped often to give revellers time to jam in the streets.
Right before lunch we also made a detour to a small but authentic stage experience…the first time I’ve had that in Jamaica since the late 1990s!!!
Lunch was well organised with great portion sizes of tasty food. Makeup and massage stations were present for those that needed them.
Chairs and tables to eat at were available for about half the masqueraders at lunch but shaded areas with rugs were available for the rest of us along with non alcoholic bars.
After lunch we headed back on the road to the dinner spot.
It wasn’t all gravy tho….everyone complained about the trucks forcing us to run a 5k to the dinner spot after lunch with very few stops to jam. I also think security was too thin and more staff was needed to man the truck wheels.
These complaints were relatively minor and easily fixable for next year and for a bands first year, easily forgiven.
Overall I think GENXS knocked it out the park with their costume production, organization and road experience.
I’m looking forward to next year already. I guarantee you this band will be twice the size in 2024.
As usual my photos are edited to look best with your phone screen brightness at maximum. So do that now and take a look below!
