New York and I were a good match, because, lately, I never seem to sleep either. The last few weeks have been a whirr of activity, mostly involving late nights partying with friends, eating way too much food, and indulging in hearty belly laughs that weaken my bladder and deepen the smile lines around my mouth.
Getting dressed up like this and gyrating in the street for hours can be fatiguing. Partying hard at Carnival-sponsored activities mean that I am out late and wanting for my bed. An estimated 1 million people attend the parade, many of them American tourists who bring many more tourist dollars to the city of Toronto. Caribana, if nothing else, is big business. Knowing that the day of the parade Saturday would be tiring, my friends and I hung out Friday night in the hotel room we had reserved in downtown Toronto, then walked down the street for Milestones restaurant at Dundas Square.
The area was buzzing with activity, the air seemingly electrically charged in the anticipation of the parade the next day. The next morning, the day of the parade, was chaos in our hotel room: a bevy of beauties trying to look our best for the parade, there were feathers, makeup, and glitter everywhere. After agonizing what to do with my makeup, I left my face in the hands of my very talented friend, who decided to use yellows and blues on my eyes in order to compliment the colours of my costume.
Another friend gifted me with some false eyelashes my first time wearing them! I put on my massive headpiece and waited for my friends to finish getting ready. I took these photos as we left the hotel. I felt like a celebrity as we made our way to the beginning of the parade route. People approached us from all sides and asked to take our pictures. We took public transportation most of the way to the parade and I had trouble getting my massive headpiece through the doors of buses and subway cars.
What an experience! We got to the grounds of the CNE and immediately found the rest of our parade crew. Each band will have a whole bunch of costumed people who will represent that particular band. Each band will have a theme that they are promoting that year, and the costumes will represent that theme. Within my band there were different sections of people who wore different costumes; however all these costumes followed the same theme.
