Fantasy Fest: A Recap

I know this post is late after the fact, but between getting relatively no sleep over the weekend and being slammed at work, it's had to wait. Last Saturday, El Hombre and I took a trip down to Key West for Fantasy Fest. This was a first time for both of us, but of course, living in South Florida you always hear about the debauchery, the people wearing next to nothing, or actually nothing. Well, I had assumed, as I always do, that these were highly exaggerated stories. I mean, how many people really will walk around wearing nothing but body paint? Well, the stories were in fact true. Alcohol flows freely all day, and in the 'Fantasy Fest Zone' it's no holds barred. There's open containers, nudity and people taking pictures of it all.

Now for those of you who are unfamiliar with Fantasy Fest, the culmination of this week-long party is Halloween. El Hombre and I went as zombies, with our ripped up clothes from Flamingo Plaza, and I like to think that we did a great job because people wanted to take pictures of us and we were fully clothed.

At this point, if you are at work, I would suggest bookmarking this link and coming back. because my pictures and video are not work friendly.

Anyway, I was one of those taking pictures of people that really should have been wearing more clothes.





But then I realized I could catch more via video:

There were also street performers!


This was at the end of Duval where not many people congregated.

I would have taken more video and pictures at night, during the Fantasy Fest Float Parade, but I ended up IN the parade on a friend-of-a-friend's float. It was awesome. I got to throw beads at everyone and growl and yell, zombie style, in the faces of people who tried grabbing them from me. I primarily gave my beads to kids (because it was hard for them to grab) and people who took pictures of me (because yes, I am that vain.) As we were walking around the floats before everyone took off down the street, El Hombre and I realized that each float had four things in common: They all had a DJ, they were all painstakingly well made, they all had some form of a bathroom and they all had a mobile bar. So of course, you see alot of drunk people in the parade as well. HILarious. I saw a couple friends up dancing on the float, most of which would never do so unless copious amounts of alcohol were consumed in the process.

These are the few float pics I could grab while I had the chance:




The last two were our float. Which was the best because we were part of it (along with a famous former football coach who shall remain nameless)

Goombay Festival

As we all know by now, this was a rainy weekend, one that made me glad I no longer live on Miami Beach. Even though we weren't flooded out where I live, we were still cooped up indoors, leading to a massive case of cabin fever. So Saturday, after the rain subsided, El Hombre and I decided to scope out the Goombay Festival in Coconut Grove. For those who may not know, the Goombay Festival is one of the largest black heritage festivals in the US, and is basically a celebration of the Bahamian culture. Bahama Village in Coconut Grove is one of the earliest settlements in Miami for those of you who may not know.

In many ways, most street festivals have the same basic setup: Live Music, vendors, food stands and entertainment, and this one was no different. Instead of arepas, there was conch, fried fish and crab (which I would have chowed down on, had I not just eaten at Big Cheese.) There were also these Miami Fair standards:



We also walked in at the perfect time to catch the parade:


I loved the costumes! So colorful! And the lead guy (photo above) was cheesing it up for all the cameras and having a blast.

One thing I noticed was the ambiance was very chilled out. Maybe it was because of the rain that has kept everyone inside all week, but everywhere you looked, people were laughing, meeting up with friends, enjoying food and dancing to the music.

One thing did not go unnoticed though:

Big Brother was definitely watching everything going on.

What did upset me was the amount of garbage on the ground. It was senseless, as the city provided plenty of trash cans along the street. I hate seeing so much litter, I think it's trashy and it reflects a lack of pride in your community. This is something I see throughout Miami-Dade County, but it just seemed so much worse during this event.

After we walked the length of Goombay, we took advantage of the clear evening to walk around the Grove, where I was able to snap these photos:

(Love that the Grove has a bike culture)