It's Carnival In St. Thomas!

On Sunday morning, the Team went on an Eco-Tour, in the area of St. Thomas known as the Lagoon. The tour included kayaking, snorkeling and hiking. The talk of the day was the baraccuda's they saw lurking the mangroves!

This is Carnival Week in St. Thomas, and we went to Lionel Roberts Stadium for the Steelband Jamboree. The Stadium is the venue for many Carnival events and is located in a natural bowl area in downton Charlotte Amalie. This annual event features steel pan bands from several local schools, with some groups comprised of 6-9 year olds! It was a beautiful day for it, sunny but not too hot. One of our host families, Deepak and Geeta, had their two sons playing in the group from Antilles School. All in all, a very energizing concert!

One of the Steel Pan Bands

Leaving the Stadium

After the Jamboree, we walked over to Carnival Village. This is the "happening" place during Carnival. A municipal parking lot becomes a perimeter of food and beverage booths, with a huge stage in the middle. Many local bands are featured during the week, often lasting well into the early hours of the morning. While the official opening isn't until Monday night, several food vendors were open. One of the most popular local foods is flying fish, and the entire team sampled these delicious delicacies.

Posing in front of one of the food booths

The group at the Village

After sampling the Village food, Susan and Carole went back to Susan's house. The rest of the team went to Deepak's house, where Greg picked up Daphne and David, to return to their host homes. Kelly joined Alex at Deepak's for a slumber party.

Daphne relaxing at Deepak's

Kelly, David and Alex at Deepak's

Deepak, David, Alex and Don

Check out all the GSE Team pictures, in the Album link at left.