The climax of Utila's first ever Carnaval was Saturday afternoon's parade. Featured were the Queen of the Carnival Miss Chelsea Hill, who had been crowned on the first day of Carnival the Saturday before, and several runners-up. (The crown went to the highest collector of money which is used for hurricane relief and Carnival expenses.) The parade was a lot of fun and I'd say that most of Utila's 3,000 residents were either in it or watched it. Most of the parade route was covered twice since once you get to the airport there's nowhere to go but back through town!
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Some pretty elaborately decorated floats. |
| Mr. Eric Rose's hardware store was one of the float sponsors. Every
hardware store on the island is called by its Spanish
name: Ferretería. Mr. Eric himself is driving the float.
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People on the floats threw beads and candy. This truck was wearing more beads than any person I saw! |
| Lots of people turned out. Every neighborhood took one night of the eight day Carnaval and sponsored a Carnavalito (little Carnival), one of which is advertised on this sign. The municipality left the electricity on late every night so the music could play well beyond midnight. (Two nights they were set up right across the street from the Mission House. I didn't get much rest this week.) |  |
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Introducing the Queen of the Carnival, Chelsea Hill! |
| There she is! Maybe those are her attendants seated with her on the float. |  |
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This fellow definitely didn't make the cut when running for queen! He had thrown his wig into the crowd prior to this photo. He did throw the most beads, along with a lot of fruit. (I was hoping for a nice looking grapefruit myself but got a lemon instead.) |
| The beads were very popular with everyone along the parade route. What
a stylin' pup!
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Another beautiful runner-up in the contest. (I think they were called princesses.) |
| The marching band had marched down to the airport. They were mostly riding in this truck on the way back. That's the Honduran flag being waved. |  |
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Another princess astride her float. |
