The Batabano carnival takes place once a year in Cayman Islands during the month of May. Cayman Carnival Batabano was originally launched in 1983 by the Rotary Club of Grand Cayman. It is without doubt one of the main highlights of Cayman Island’s entertainment calendar.
“Batabano” was the original name of Cayman Carnival, chosen as a salute to Cayman’s turtling heritage – Batabano refers to the tracks left in the sand by turtles as they drag themselves onto beaches to nest. Finding turtle tracks on the beach was and still is reason to celebrate in Cayman, thus, Cayman Carnival Batabano.
A group of us from my work place took part in the carnival, we were part of the Cable and Wireless entourage which consisted of some 150 people (I think ). Being part of the carnival is serious business and you actually need to practice before the event, so C&W organised a professional carnival dancer to show us some moves and things like how to conserve energy during the carnival. These practice sessions usually took place after work on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
The carnival route itself was probably about 3 kilometres long and took place on Seven Mile beach road all the way to Central George Town. Suffice to say, there was plenty of drinks and the costumes that people wore were awesome. There was a decent crowd that lined the street all the way to George Town and as usually all the large sponsors were giving away trinkets and small gifts to people in the crowd.
When all is said and done, we definitely had a good time and I for one would do it again.
Filed under: Fun Activities | Tagged: batabano, carnival, Cayman Islands, turtle
