Caesar's Army A.M. Bush Review

When I first decided to go AM BUSH it was partly because I was supporting my significant other and partly because I was intrigued by the idea of J'ouvert on a Saturday morning: no having to rush to leave J'ouvert early and shower outside and get ready for Monday Mas, no having to be tired on Monday and not getting the full Monday mas experience (which I find is often better than Tuesday) cause you've been feting since 3am. I for one have also been quite against doing J'ouvert on any other day but Carnival Monday so I was really going into this thing with some preset ideas in my mind. In spite of that I was really looking forward to see if Caesar's Army could have delivered on this event, especially since their Pan side was a bess lime. My friend and I hit Blue Range Cooler fete before heading off on Carni Saturday morning to Chaguaramas for AM BUSH. It was a breeze to drive down there and we found the car park quite easily, which was in Samaan Park. We probably got there around 4:45am and waited a while for the shuttle to take us to the venue. I quite liked that they were starting us off at a point further away and making their way back to the car park, so you just had to jump into your car at the end of it all. I made sure to bring lots of OFF with me since I know how vicious the bugs are in Chaguaramas, fortunately we escaped without a bite and lots of vibes to take us home.

There were two shuttles to take us to the starting point, as the larger maxis couldn't drive down the narrow roadway to our secluded starting spot. My friend and I ended up walking the short distance from the main roadway into where the music truck was parked once the first maxi dropped us off, and I'm kinda glad that we did because the sight that greeted us was so amazing I had goosebumps! Picture all these bamboo fronds making a dark canopy over your head, a narrow roadway paving the way, the dim dawn light filtering down mixed in with flood lights, a music truck pumping out all the J'ouvert soca you love and a riddem section plus about 200 people or so getting into the vibes. It was like a scene outta a music video :) Drinks were flowing freely from the drinks truck, we had Rum, Vodka, shots of Jager and Punchy Punch, beers, Red Bull, Powerade and Water. The paint truck was already stationed behind the music truck and a Blue Devil on the paint truck was handing out bottles of paint to all of us to start messing each other down. I actually went back to our car and returned 20mins later and the transformation from utterly clean to totally painted down was unbelievable! Guys on C.A's committee also had water guns filled with paint which they were attacking everyone with and that just increased the vibe. As the sun started to come up the music truck moved off and we began our trek back down to Samaan Park.

Although the group was relatively small everyone was having a time, wining, chipping down de road and dirtying up each other with paint. We were an eager mess of blue, green and black and it was like we were all in our own little world, with the occasional car or cyclist passing us once we got out onto the main road. The people passing us probably wondered what the hell was going on with this random assortment in J'ouvert paint on a Saturday! But it was all great :) The distance we partied between our starting point and Samaan Park was just right and as it got later in the morning the water truck started up their hoses to wet down those that wanted to get even more soaked. Although I didn't want to get wet and successfully managed to avoid the hoses, I thought it was a good idea as something about water and feting just brings out the best vibes in people. The paint never ran out either and people kept messing you up as you passed them even though we were all already covered from head to toe! I felt sorry for whoever didn't want to get dirty that morning cause is dem self who were getting de most paint! The breakfast truck that drove along with us served ham and hops or bake and buljol, and once we got back to Samaan Park there was also a doubles man serving piping hot yummy doubles! There was even a surprise waiting for us back at the cars, as C.A. had a full riddem section, complete with brass, big drums and a singer to play for us while we finished off the partying and people washed themselves off a bit in the water truck's hose. C.A. eventually had to stop everything at around 9:30am as they only had the area until a certain time, but from the way everyone was feting I'm pretty sure we'd have gone on for much longer if we could. The only major hiccup they had was that there were no mobile bathrooms moving along with the band, so if you had to go, you had to do it as nature intended!

All in all my friends and I had a fantastic time. One of them who hasn't played mas in 10 years even got a mas bug and was asking us to look for a costume for him! It was strange but great at the same time knowing I still had all of Saturday to relax after J'ouvert, plus I had the knowledge that my Carnival weekend was really only just kicking off and I still had two days of mas to look forward to! I'll definitely be supporting this event again once they do it next year. Sorry I don't have any pics to share cause I didn't want to take my camera but you can check some of them out at Caesar's Army's facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150116867356721&set=a.10150111102226721.275956.521276720&ref=nf#!/caesarsarmy1

Next review will be on SSU, as it's the first time I did a breakfast party other than Vale....