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SITE REVIEW# 1 HYATT REGENCY TRINIDAD Caribbean’s Premier Cultural Festival By BILL HERBERT A Great Hotel Celebrates The There is no cultural event in the world that matches Trinidad Carnival for beauty, excitement, tradition, cultural authenticity and fun. This extraordinary, annual, pre-Lenten event, which enjoys wide participation of both Trinidadians and foreign visi- tors, was enhanced for me this year by a stay at the beautiful Hyatt Regency Trinidad http://trinidad.hyatt.com. This well- appointed and modern facility, located on the Port-of-Spain waterfront, is perfectly situated for maximum enjoyment of Carnival festivities. Although within walking distance or a short taxi ride from most of Carnival’s high-energy attractions, the hotel’s serene and luxurious environment created a mood of total relaxation. The Hyatt provides all of the guestroom amenities that one expects from a first class hotel: Wi-Fi and high speed internet access, flat-screen television with multiple cable channels, comfortable beds and climate control, prompt room service together with excellent restaurants, exercise and spa facil- ities. However, what distinguishes the Hyatt Trinidad from many other good hotels is the outstanding service provided by all hotel staff. The efficiency, courtesy and appearance of the Hyatt’s staff is indicative of excellent training and man- agement. For a small group of travel writers attending Carnival and staying at the Hyatt, hotel manager Russell George and his fine staff arranged an itinerary of events that showcased both Carnival and the Hyatt Regency Trinidad property. Our schedule began with a visit to Tobago, the smaller of the two islands that comprise the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (TT). A half-hour airplane ride from Trinidad, Tobago comprises about 6% of TT’s total area of 1,980 sq mi, and 4% of the entire population, estimated at 1.3 million. Although both islands enjoy great year-round weather and boast a verdant and lush country- side, Tobago has a more laid-back, casual atmosphere than the more urban and industrial Trinidad, and is often a get-away for vis- itors from Trinidad and other islands. During our brief Tobago visit, we stayed at the beautiful Coco Reef Tobago www.cocoreef.com, a modern version of the luxury resorts that one might have seen in Cuba or Florida in the 1930s. 18 Our Tobago visit included a visit to the Kimme Museum www.louisekimme.com, operated by local artist Luise Kimme whose life-size paintings and sculpture portray dance, religion, mythological figures and Caribbean folklore characters. Upon our return to Trinidad, we toured the Island, visiting Maracas beach and lunching on Shark and Bake, a wonderful local delicacy consisting of deep-fried shark served on homemade bun. We then got down to some serious carnival business by visiting two ‘mas camps’: sites where local carnival artists fabricate the hundreds of costumes worn during Carnival by the various com- peting bands. Carnival bands can range in size from a few hun- dred to several thousand and include marchers, steel band floats, queens and kings. Each band chooses a theme with some kind of social, political or historical significance. Costumes are then created around those themes. Themes from two of the 2010 bands were, Pirates and Plunderers – a historical reference to pirates that once preyed on Caribbean islanders and Savannah Party – which focused on the need for res- cue efforts to save endangered species of the African Savannah. Other Carnival activities included Panorama, an evening outdoor competition to choose the best steel band in Carnival and J’Ouvert, a crack-of-dawn march through the streets of Port of Spain by various bands together with anyone interested in marching with them. The main event on the final day of Carnival was the Carnival Parade in which all competing bands marched a parade route through Port-of-Spain ending at the official reviewing stand in Queen’s Park Savannah where judges picked the best band of the Carnival. Black Meetings & Tourism May/June 2010: www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com