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The Caribbean islands have numerous festivals going on at any given time, usually of the traditional, musical or sport variety. Some occur once a year; others every weekend. Music, masks and bright costumes are usually part of these upbeat festivals; dancing in the street is a regular occurrence.

For some people, a holiday in the Caribbean can be a once in a lifetime trip, as
flights aren’t exactly cheap, so most people try and take advantage of the all inclusive holiday deals on offer. Below is our guide to some of the best festivals and events in the Caribbean that you might be lucky enough to see if you’re on holiday at the same time.

The two-day Carnival (or Carnaval) at the end of February in Port of Spain, Trinidad, was originally a time of celebration before Lent, but has become much bigger than that. Preparations start months ahead of the Monday and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. There are street parties, parades and calypso and soca dancing.

Steel drum bands rehearse constantly at mas camps, open to the public. This is also where they build their fantastic, bright floats, on which ride the festival king and queen for the street processions. Apart from this festival on Trinidad, many other islands have their own Carnival at different times of the year, celebrating different things.

Junkanoo, or Jonkonnu, is celebrated in Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas and other originally British islands. Said to be named after the 17th century African prince John Canoe or Konny, this celebration commemorates a man who cleverly outwitted the British and Dutch slave traders. He became the hero of all slaves.

Shirley and Bay Streets in Nassau are packed by party-goers from two in the morning, who watch and partake in the parades, dancing and bands playing until dawn. Local groups called shacks prepare for months by making masks and fabulous costumes and floats, hoping to win the prize for best group.

Barbados has its turn for five weeks in July and the beginning of August with the Crop Over Festival. This festival originated in the late 1700s, when the sugar cane harvest came to an end. Sugar cane production here was among the most prolific in the world and therefore of the utmost importance to the entire Caribbean.

Today, the focus of the festival has shifted and it is similar to a Mardi Gras type of celebration. The best calypso bands entertain the revellers in tents around the city, competing for the Pic-Of-De-Crop award. Numerous street fairs and parades occur at all times, culminating in large parades on Kadooment Day, a national holiday.

In the beginning of May the St Lucia Jazz Festival, also called “Paint it Jazz”, draws many famous names. During its ten days, international stars such as Lauryn Hill, Smokie Robinson and Herbie Hancock entertain audiences in an open-air auditorium surrounded by a stunning natural landscape.

Jazz, R&B and calypso compete with fusion, mainly on Pigeon Island to the north of St Lucia. Many fringe activities feature local musicians playing in venues around the city and these are often free of charge. This festival started in 1991 and has grown to a world-class event on the musical calendar.

The Reggae Sumfest in mid July is celebrated in Montego Bay, Jamaica, birthplace of the legendary reggae king Bob Marley. For four days, top musicians and thousands of fans commemorate the legacy of Marley’s genius in the largest of the many annual reggae fests on the island.

With an all-festival pass, one can attend events such as the beach party on the Sunday night, the Dancehall Night and shows featuring international artists on Thursday, Friday and Saturday night. Non-reggae artists performing have included Mary J. Blige and LL Cool J.

St Patrick’s Day is celebrated in Montserrat on 17 March. Originally celebrated by the many Irish Catholics who came to the island around 1630 in pursuit of freedom of religion, it has become a festival lasting an entire week. The locals also remember the day in 1798 that African slaves revolted against their masters.

The festival is a blend of African and Irish, calypso and emerald green, with cheerful bands and partying. Many guest lecturers also visit the island and people take part in historical walking tours, visiting places of importance to the history of the little island.

The Jump Up in St Lucia is a weekly occurrence and famous in the whole of the Caribbean. On a Friday, night people in the town of Gros Islet are to be found in the cordoned-off streets, having barbeque and tropical fruit drinks bought from street vendors. Local musicians entertain party goers dancing on the pavements.

The Dominican Republic’s Festival de Merengue draws thousands to its street party of pulsing musical rhythms in July, with open air stages along its ocean front drive. In late July, Loiza Aldea on the coast of Puerto Rico celebrates its patron saint, Santiago de Apostol, with street parties, concerts and parades. Fabulous masks are for sale as souvenirs.

In January, the Tumba Festival in Curacao sees drumming bands competing for the opportunity to play the official Carnival Road March song. Dancers in costumes gyrate on an elaborately decorated stage and entice the audience to dance along. The Aruba Hi Winds windsurfing and kite surfing event in July features freestyling by day and partying by night.

Planning a trip to the Caribbean in the late summer or fall is always something of a dicey proposition, given the possibilities for hurricanes and other tropical depressions. That was made painfully obvious little more than a month ago when Hurricane Irene slammed into the Bahamas before heading on to ravage Vermont. This time is no different, but I seem to have gotten lucky, and by the time I get to Nassau, the current storm has moved northward and is currently drenching the East Coast of the US.

This trip got its origins in some free Thank You™ points I got for opening an account in Citibank, 40,000 to be exact, not bad given an off-the-cuff conversion ratio @ 1%= $400. Of course I don’t much trust frequent-flyer programs these days, with their new ‘use ‘em or lose ‘em’ policies, so when my 40th high school reunion came up down south, I immediately started scheming, specifically about the Bahamas, the only country in the entire Western hemisphere that I have yet to visit. Naturally I thought first about the ferry shuttle from Ft. Lauderdale, but a further search revealed that a flight to Nassau was no more than Miami, so obviously the better choice, especially since I’ve already visited Miami, especially on Air Tran, which is something of a budget option. So I got the whole travel itinerary LAX-ATL-NASSAU-LAX for $100 and change plus the cost of a bus from Atlanta to Jackson, MS, helluva deal.

Well, the airlines changed my schedule 3-4 times, but the flights were on time, surprise surprise, rather important with a thirty-minute connection at 6am. But we parked only two gates away from my connection at Milwaukee, so that helped a tight connection go smoothly. There are all the usual characters that you find on red-eye flights, including Government Issue Joe and his fatigued flat-top G.I. come-on lines. And the Milwaukee flight attendants all have 80’s-era ‘Big Hairdo’s, something of a cross between classic Valerie Bertinelli and John Bon Jovi, big guys, too, making me feel very small, even at my heaviest. Red-eye flyers have nothing on Greyhound riders, though. Now that’s a ragged bunch, especially the loud-mouthed girls going across the country to California… by bus? Bacteria dream of this…

It’s my first high school reunion, so quite the time travel experience. You need a computer program to shave away the years to match expectations, but any awkwardness is easily overshadowed by the general well-being of most of my previous classmates, many of whom came from quite humble backgrounds in rural Mississippi. In short- a good time was had by all. The temperature was sublime, too, the South at its best, deciduous trees loosening the grip they’ve taken on temporary leaves and getting ready to hunker down for the fall. It’s been a long hot summer they say, so any cooling-off period is welcome. Still the air is so thick and sweet, even in October, that all I can think about is… evolution, yeah, biological evolution, swimming in the gene pool…

So I take a side trip to the ‘golden triangle’ region of northeast Mississippi to visit some of my peeps, and the sublimity continues. Deer come up into the yard looking for fresh garden vegetables. Squirrels practically eat out of your hand. Too bad its cultural uniqueness has been so totally given over to franchises and fast-food chains. It’s worth a detour off the interstate highway into the old traditional town centers- where they still exist- just to see how it used to be. Faulkner never wrote about suburb people, you know. Neither did Dostoyevsky. Still I envy somewhat my friends’ big houses, big cars, and comfy lives. But this is not my fate… though not for lack of resources. It’s a choice I made long ago. I’m a pilgrim.

So I spend my days playing ketchup with old friends and fretting over my current publishing project. On the way back to Atlanta I stop over to visit more friends in Tuscaloosa, and continue my tour of the South. Notwithstanding the bus’s inability to maintain a schedule, the landscape rolls underneath like the fecund form of a female, rack optional, lying there in wait, for what only God knows. After a forgetful night near the Atlanta airport and probably the worst coffee I’ve ever had in my life, the only thing standing between me and a Bahamian sojourn is the sprawling complex known as Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport, an entity capable of redefining the word ‘shambolic’ for you. That means security queues snaking through the food court in the early morning hours, and probably enough time to drink a decent cup of coffee before going through checkpoint Charlie. You can only carry it through inside you.

Once off the ground, the weather is a bit cloudy and gray, but gets nicer as we go. This should be a cream-puff country, number 140 on my list. It is, more or less. It should be, for the prices they charge. I had a hard time finding a room for under $100, and while I’m satisfied with my humble digs, I’d be more satisfied at half the price. There is no breakfast, and the wi-fi is strictly power-sharing; two at a time won’t work. In general things seem to be about twice the price they should be, which may be fine for a weekend tourist out of Ft. Lauderdale, but not especially good value for a serious traveler. You could do better in Antigua, something similar for almost a week at the same price. But still it’s pretty nice. I’m only a half-hour walk from town out here by the Heritage Village aka ‘Da Fish Fry,’ the local equivalent of an outdoor food court or night bazaar, maybe. You get the idea. The Caribbean starts here.

The main specialty food dish seems to be conch, everything conch- conch fritter, conch salad, conch this conch that. Prices seem high, but then, what do you compare to? Where can you even get conch stateside? You can get chicken souse and Johnny cakes here for $7, so that might be helpful if I knew what it was. It sounds intestinal. You CAN get grits here, too. I’m sure that’s what you wanted to know. The Starbucks and other fast-food chains all seem higher than ‘normal’ stateside prices. ‘Native’ food seems to revolve around the dockside, seafood and fish in a variety of forms, mostly fried. There’s not much there for a vegetarian, though, so I’m relegated to the middle aisles of the local ‘supermarket’, perusing the dried noodles and peanut butter. On the long walk home I stop to admire the local produce, and, after being informed that custard apples are here referred to as ‘sugar apples’ and are not yet ripe anyway, I inquire about the price of okra.

“You want gumbo?”
I smile. That’s exactly what I want. “That’s what we call it back in Africa,” I respond.

Every linguist, except maybe Chomsky, knows that ‘gumbo’ is the West African word for ‘okra’. Cajuns making their brown gravy roux may make some fine foods to go with blackened this and blackened that, but it’s not ‘gumbo’, not really, just like what’s called ‘chop suey’ in America is no such thing, not really. Thus the DNA of cuisine continues its evolution in the palates and palettes of our tastes and our tables, mutating and adapting and adopting new positions in order to survive and thrive. Meanwhile my needs are more basic. I cut up okra slices and put them in with my instant noodles and nuke the mother for about five minutes, the mother of invention now validated many times over, five-minute gumbo, ready-to-eat.

Nassau lives off the fruits of the cruise ships that roll in every day like the Nile flooding its banks. There were two parked there yesterday and three today, and I don’t think they spend the night. That’s fresh meat for the barbie every day. There is no other industry that I know of, the same as in much of the rest of the Caribbean Basin. You can only drink so much rum and play so much reggae. The sugar’s no longer competitive. Different countries come up with different programs at different times, but with not much effect. Grenada had a plan to promote mango production, so now you can pick them up off the ground all over. Most of the foods sold in the Caribbean, both packaged and produce, come from the US. Tourism is the big deal in the Caribbean, no doubt. Without it, it’d crumble like a house of cards. They live off the crumbs we drop, and are doing quite well, thank you. The Bahamas are among the wealthiest of Caribbean islands.

I first heard about Nassau in the song “Funky Nassau,” but the history of the Bahamas is much more than that, constantly influenced by its proximity to the US. British loyalists fled here after the US War of Independence, and freed slaves were sent here after cessation of the British slave trade in 1807 and outright abolition in 1834. They say that offshore banking is a large industry here, too, but I found nothing attractive there. 5-year CD’s paying 2.34% for residents and even less for ‘non’, “subject to negotiation”? I’ll pass. Why would there be two rates in the first place?

Bahamian currency is interchangeable with USD here, if not there, so that’s convenient. Real estate looks pricey, as much or more than LA. I wonder how much ‘underground economy’ there is here. It takes no great stretch of the imagination to picture a fleet of speedboats taking advantage of 700 islands in order to flood the US with a steady stream of cocaine and other recreational pharmaceuticals. Just wondering… ‘Straw’ crafts still live on here and Junkanoo around Christmas and New Year seems like the year’s biggest and most colorful celebrations. It seems like there’s a bit of clubbing and music going on weekends here, though I haven’t had the opportunity to observe directly.

Many businesses require visitors to be ‘buzzed in’ so customary Third World precautions would seem to be in order, better safe than sorry. The other side of town beyond the tourist wharf from here seems totally- I mean TOTALLY- shut down, a bit scary even in daylight hours to be honest. Cable Beach down the shoreline in the other direction is a sizeable collection of resorts and businesses, but seems mostly residential. The Bahamas seem like nothing so much as a suburb of Miami, though having its own dialect of English helps maintain the difference.

The water’s nice enough, even if it’s not the Caribbean proper. And the capital city is nice enough, even if it is overrun with tourists every day. The ambiance is nice enough, too, even if it IS a bit overpriced. It’s just about right for a three-day getaway. I’m sure I’d come here often if I lived in southern Florida. Right now, I’m just gonna’ chill till my plane goes back, country 140 under my belt, a little bit older and maybe even a little bit wiser. “Nassau’s gone funky / Nassau’s gone soul / We’ve got a doggone beat now / We gonna call our very own / Nassau rock and Nassau roll”…

The Caribbean islands are fast becoming some of the most popular destinations in the world for all inclusive getaways, and although your food and drink is included, you’ve got to try some of the local food while you’re away, and what better way to do so than to buy from the local street vendors?

If you’re keen to sample Caribbean cuisine at its best, stopping by a market stall is a must.

Of course, you’ll find tasty fare in top-end restaurants across the islands, but to get an idea of how locals eat and to indulge in food created using traditional cooking methods passed down the generations, you should seek out a roadside vendor. By doing so, you may well get the chance to try curried goat!

This signature Jamaican dish draws its influences from Indian curries, but is now popular across the islands. Here, pieces of on-the-bone goat meat, scotch bonnet peppers, garlic and onions are cooked on a low heat for several hours to create a flavoursome, stew-style curry. Make sure you keep an eye out for bones while you eat, as these are often left in the cooking pot to give extra taste.

Curried goat is usually served with white rice and peas. However, don’t make the mistake of thinking that ‘peas’ here refer to green garden peas, as depending on where you go, they could be any kind of peas or beans. You may end up having cowpeas, red kidney beans or black-eyed peas, and you’ll find this is a particularly popular Sunday dinner dish among the locals.

Another common element of Caribbean cuisine is jerk seasoning, a mixture of scotch bonnet peppers, cinnamon, allspice and other herbs and spices that are dry-rubbed into meat before cooking.

Helping to give it a spicy and peppery taste, chicken is the most common meat that jerk seasoning is used as a marinade for, but you will also find that it complements pork, fish and beef incredibly well.

These days, jerk chicken is normally baked in the oven or is grilled in a special steel pan, although some vendors still use the traditional cooking method of smoking it over charcoal.
If during your holidays you stop by Trinidad and Tobago and are keen to try some great street food, aloo pie should be on your list of must-eats.

Given the fact that the first half of its name is the same as aloo gobi (aloo is the Hindi word for potato), you may be interested to know that this popular snack is influenced by Indian cuisine and in many ways is a Caribbean version of a samosa.

The dish consists of fried pastry, that is filled with spicy mash potato and other vegetables (these can vary from vendor to vendor, but green peas and chickpeas are typically popular options) before being wrapped up into a roughly cylindrical shape. Designed to be eaten with your hands, it can be a little messy sometimes, so you may want to grab a napkin before you take your first bite! Aloo pie is often served with a sweet and sour dipping sauce that you could find gives it an additional kick.

Another particularly popular dish in Trinidad and Tobago, as well as in other eastern islands like Barbados, is roti. The dish dates back to the mid-19th century when contract labourers from India arrived in the area, and as it consists of a wheat flour pancake stuffed with a range of tasty fillings, it can be eaten at virtually any time of day.

Indeed, if you want a hearty breakfast, why not get a sadi roti? Filled with aubergines and other vegetables before being cooked on a tava, a large disc-shaped griddle, this could be a great way to kickstart your day!

However, if you’re seeking a spot of lunch, a dhalpuri roti could do the trick. Here, the roti is stuffed with yellow split peas, garlic, cumin and pepper, while versions that contain curried chicken and goat are also available.

Grab a can of ginger beer to wash down your food, although for something a little stronger, rum punch or the Jamaican lager Red Stripe could also quench your thirst. No matter what you eat or drink, you can be confident that Caribbean street cuisine will be a tasty experience!