2009 Carinval - Fatima All-Inclusive

So my peeps, we are back to the action. It is now Valentine’s Day and we are heading to Fatima’s All-Inclusive fete and being a Fatima Old Boy myself, it was a homecoming that was long overdue.

As I entered the school grounds and passed the Arima Boys Rhythm Band, I was welcomed with a glass of champagne and was immediately drawn to the smells emanating from the main hall wherein contained the grand ballroom. MMMMMMM, what I smelled was the Arabic dinner being served within but I didn’t want to commit myself to a heavy meal just yet. It is true that I had arrived 15 minutes after the gates had opened and had at least 6 more hours of feteing to do but I wanted to see what was available before settling down to some solid eating. I continued with the stream of people heading towards the main courtyard and there I discovered the “Event Map” or directory of the fete.

This was a giant chart listing all the food and drink areas within the party and it was exactly what I needed to plan my attack. There was a lot to list and everything was listed here. The foods available ranged from the staples such as Crab and Dumplings, Jerk Chicken, Shark and Bake, Doubles, Fajitas and Ribs to more exotic fare such as Bombay Duck, Peking Duck, Kebabs, Arabic Dinners and even Spit Roasted Suckling Pig and Spit Roasted Buffalypso. Where to begin? I started on the left (after taking a shot of Tequila to wake up the stomach) and ate my way in a clockwise manner around the fete. By the time I reached the Brew house an hour or so later I was nicely filled and ready to get my drink on. Since I am not really a whiskey drinker I ignored the Johnny Green area and headed to one of the main bars to begin my assault on the stocks of Gray Goose.

This was my first time attending the Fatima fete and so far I was very impressed with its organization. Most food lines were very short (less than 10 minutes) and the bar lines were nonexistent. While the different food stations were well spaced out, you never got the sense that the party was too large and scattered. There was a feeling of intimacy about the evening and this was compounded in my case by the several former schoolmates I saw, many of whom I had been out of touch with since I left Form VI in 1988. After catching up with old friends for a while, I noticed that the live entertainment was about to begin so the lime maneuvered closer to the stage to get a better view of the action and by action I mean the original Bajan Heavy-T herself, Allison Hinds!

The seemingly ageless wonder Allison Hinds gave us a rousing performance and despite her many years in the music business, her waist clearly had not slowed in either its intensity or power. As usual, she called for a volunteer from the crowd to come up on stage to test her skills. Some of my crew loudly suggested that I should go since I was big enough and athletic enough to challenge her and they looked like they were going to make noise and point me out to her. So naturally I cuffed them down (verbally of course) as I had witnessed this scene before and it ALWAYS ends up bad for the victim that accepts her challenge. Some poor guy didn’t realize what fate awaited him (or was too drunk to care) and he went up on stage to test her. Ha lawd! He did ok for a while but then she turned around and backed up on him and……well, you have to see his expression in the pics. He didn’t embarrass himself though (must’ve been a Fatima man) so it was all good.

While we waited for the next band to set up, the B-Mobile Girls made their way on stage and there was some sort of phone giveaway or something. The vibe was nice and the food was still plentiful despite being 3 hours or so into the party and we were having a great time. I guess the bar thought that we weren’t drinking enough because there were always lovely ladies bringing drinks for us to try and so as not to be rude, we tried them all. After a while the next band started jamming, the tempo picked up and people started to get a bit wilder in the fete. One of the wonderful things about the Fatima fete is that the attendees varied widely in age and despite that age gap, the senior partiers still kept pace with and sometimes outdid the younger patrons. I could definitely see myself in their shoes in a couple decades. Feteing is the real fountain of youth my peeps and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

After hours of happy partying, the final band came on later in the evening and still the crowd was hyped and energized and they enjoyed the performance to the max. Me, I was hungry; so I made my way to the Jerk Chicken area and stood there for around 30 minutes and ate the rest of the chicken. Yes, you read correctly. I ate the REST of the chicken. It was delicious and hot and I was hungry. Don’t judge me. It took 30 minutes because they served the chicken in small portions on small plates so I would eat my plate, join the line and repeat. There were a few of us doing the same thing so we kind of bonded there in that room with the smell of chicken in the air and the sound of vigorous chewing ringing in our ears. Ahhh the memories…..

Anyway, writing that has made me hungry so I will bring this installment to a close now and forage for some food. Needless to say the Fatima All-Inclusive got full marks from me. This is how a fete is supposed to be run and I hope that my first experience will be duplicated every time I attend.

Enjoy the pics, A.W.O.L is next.

Kermit out.