Christmas Candle Light Concert
09 December 2007 | Port of Spain
Hideko
Randy and I attended the Trinidad annual Christmas Candle Light Concert tonight which was held in the President of Trinidad's front yard (it is a big yard!). Randy and I took the Jessie James Members Only taxi service with 6 other cruisers to go to the charity concert.
It took about 40 minutes to get to St. James (a suburb of Port of Spain) where the President lives. It is across from the Botanical Gardens and a huge National Park where many people were playing soccer. We bought charity hot dogs and popcorn and sodas and candles and still only managed to spend about $20 US dollars.
When the concert started everyone lit up their candles. It was kind of wild. The chairs were very close together and there were lots of kids with candles sitting right behind ladies with long hair. Some kids were melting their candle holders for fun. By the end of the evening no one had caught on fire which I thought was remarkable.
As it got darker the audience with all of their candles made a spectacular sight. It was really beautiful. The first half of the show had kids performing carols and fun island Christmas tunes. The second half of the show was more of the local professional talent many of whom were tremendous singers. There was a Venezuelan influence in some of the songs with wonderful Latin rhythms. Every few songs the audience was asked to sing along. It was a marvelous evening and a nice chance to absorb some of the local Christmas flavor.