Soca Brainwash was a pleasant dichotomous experience to Ambush.  When the music shut off and the fete was done, I walked over to one of the organizers of the fete and told him that he did an amazing job. 

And then one of my carnival virgins ran into Kes and finally got her picture with him.

It was a phenomenal day…. uh evening. 

Quite honestly, if they would have done another 2 hours, nobody would have complained.  Not at all!!!!

I walked out the fete.

My driver picked me up.

Took me back to my room and then I took a fresh and slept until…….. D’Original Vale Breakfast Fete!!!

=============
On The Way To Vale
=============


Going to Vale was an exciting experience. It's always a great experience and its one that I enjoy experiencing the same way since being coached by my Carnival Vet, Winston "Ironman" Williams. 

Most fetes start late. They do. Most fetes, bus rides, etc.,. start late. Boat rides even start late but you won't chance it because you don't want to get left.  Most start late and the vibes are so rampage that many forget about it.

Vale..... in Miami, in Trinidad and I understand, even in New York.... STARTS ON TIME.... ALL THE TIME.  Now.... Here is one of the main reasons why I like Vale.

At Vale you can actually enjoy and see the evolution of a fete.  Because Ambush is NOT a fete but a Jouvert-style, paint party you cannot see this evolution.  Ambush goes from limp to real-damn-hard in the blink of an eye and before you know it....... (as Caesar would say....."Boom"  LOL!!!!) 

I'm sorry, I keep trying to stay focused but that damn Ambush was, as my latino folks say, "A fuera la cadena!"

Okay... I'm back!

When you go to Vale you can actually see the evolution of a fete. You can see the romantic foreplay of the fete.  The major selling point with Vale is what Vale calls, "The Vale Vibe."  I'm not sure if I could do this justice by explaining it but its like the feeling that you get when you step under the jets of a pulsating shower and it hits your back and massages you. Or that feeling that you get when you finally ease your whole body into a jacuzzi. That is was Vale feels like the whole time. 

It's just.....

That's it....

It's a SOUL MASSAGE.

Vale massages your soul. 

You just feel good and even with the length of time that you are on your feet dancing and wining, you never leave Vale feeling completely tired. You definitely feel like a quick nap is necessary but you don't feel exhausted. You feel just like your soul has been massaged.



===========
How It Started
===========


Luckily, because I've been coached properly, I do everything super early to account for unforeseen circumstances.  I had my carnival virgins with me and in order to coach them properly I allowed them to set up the travel for us to get to Vale.  We all rounded up together early and the the driver dropped us off to our location. Unfortunately when we got out the car and started walking, I knew something was not right.  But the driver had already left and was headed to the airport to get somebody else.

The driver dropped us off in front of the Sunnyside Up fete location.  Now, don't get me wrong, I've done Sunnyside Up before and it is a damn good fete, but I had tickets for Vale and was in the wrong place. Luckily, I was on pace because I decided to go super early.  My mind was racing and I had to spring into action because I didn't have the address or location to Vale. 

I also had to stay cool because I had my virgins with me and in the coaching business, when you panic, the athlete panics. So the key is, NEVER panic. Panicking gets nothing done.

I told my people don't worry, lets just hail another cab.

Which I was ALSO worried about because we were at the fete so early that there wasn't a lot of drivers or cabs available. 

After a few moments we found a driver and went to the Hyatt. At the Hyatt I ran into Winston and the rest of the main crew. They rented a maxi bus which we all pitched in on and we were on our way to Vale.

I figured this....If I didn't know how to get to Vale, somebody outside of the Hyatt would know or would be going. Or if worst came to worst, I could go to the front desk and call Sauce Concierge Services and ask for them to get me a ride to Vale.

So, we were on our way.  The bus ride was about 40 minutes.

When we got there I had a ticket that I had to hand off to a friend so I waited outside.

Now there were many GREAT parts to Vale. I will give you one of them.

===============
Khalilah Jefferson
===============


The person who I was awaiting my arrival at Vale, and I hers, in order to provide her with her ticket was Khalilah Jefferson. I've known Khalilah for about, well, it will be 20 years this October. I met her when she came to Howard University and we lost contact for some years and then were able to re-establish contact after her grandmother passed away.  She is not only one of my best friends but was also one of my health and wellness clients this year as she dropped 25lbs in preparation for Carnival. 

Quite honestly, I love my friends. And carnival more than anything is about your friends, family and your extended family. It is about spending time, moments and memories with loved ones. One of the best parts of my carnival experience was being able to hang with Khalilah.  We had not partied together or even hung out since college.  Life just gets in the way.

Confession: I'm probably one of the toughest cry babies you know. I will breakdown in a moment and its because, I've lived. I've been all over the world and have met thousands of people in my life and I realize how precious life it and how precious moments are and I value the TIME that I spend with people and the time that people spend with me.

With that being said, it was cool to spend time with Khalilah and what's even more cool is to be able to look back on the pictures and the moments and relive the experience. I still have the picture where my wife and I visited her years ago when she had her daughter Amani.  I remember holding Amani as a baby and its wild to see that she will graduate from High School in just a few short months. But.... those are the things that you hold dear during carnival time.  The time with friends. That is what you appreciate the most. And as we get older our "circles" diminish in number. They shrink. It's just what happens.  All I can encourage all of you all to do is strengthen the bond and hold on a little bit tighter and link more often.



Khalilah with the Queen of Soca, Alison Hinds


The Fellas In The Crew and Extended Crew - The Circle


===============
The Beginning -
The Excitement Phase
===============

When you walk into Vale in the morning it is still dark. The music is turned up, the people are in lines eating breakfast and the shots are being served.... at 4am.  I remember last year when my wife attended Vale that she started drinking at 4am.  I asked her, "Have you ever started drinking alcohol this early?"  She laughed and replied, "No" as she tilted her head back and slammed down the coffee flavored Patron.  I just said to her, "Pace." 

Well this year in 2015 it was no different. The vibes were nice. The food was spectacular and the drinks were flowing all day long.

It's difficult to not start immediately chipping as soon as you hit the inside of Vale. Its such an inviting atmosphere that you just can't help but start dancing. And most people are coming off of a good night's sleep and Vale is a great way to start off your morning.

You can't help but be excited when you reach Vale but you have to keep your emotions in check because it's a long fete and quite honestly you can't go super hard just yet.  Vale has its own evolution and the dark of the morning actually keeps you at bay and makes you pace yourself.  As the sun starts to come out the excitement gradually increases.

After about an hour, things turn up.....

Seriously turn up!!

===============
The Plateau Phase
===============


When the sun comes up, things jump into high gear. It is at this moment that you look up in the DJ Booth and see Alicia "The Duchess." I love watching Alicia DJ and ever since I was introduced to her mixtapes through Marisol Figueroa I have been an instant fan.

When sun comes up, this is when you can see who is going to perform at the Vale Breakfast fete because it is always a surprise.  This year Farmer Nappy blessed the stage with his presence and turned the place out.

The best part of the morning was when he paused after to the sun came up to have morning prayer. 

All the music turned off. He led everyone in the Lord's Prayer and then the party resumed. 

He sang some nice tunes and had a great performance and then the Queen of Soca, Alison Hinds graced the stage.

===============
The Orgasmic Phase
And The Wine of The
Century
===============


When I saw Alison Hinds on the stage I was DETERMINED to get a wine with she.  When she was performing I had a laser like focus on her and just knew that I had to meet her.  I am a Alison Hinds FAN!!!!  Please believe it.  When I saw her, I went up the steps to the staging/DJ area, spoke to Andre "The Giant" Choo Quan and asked him if Ms. Hinds and I could get a picture. He said, "Just ask her."  

Man, I felt like a 10 year old kid trying to pass a note to a girl in elementary school.  I put both my hands behind my back, bowed my head a little bit and kind of dragged my feet and said........ "Ms. Hinds... Ah can get ah wine?"

Before I knew it, the best wine of the century was thrown on me.  That woman there bwoy!!!!!

This wine wasn't no jokey, joke wine. This wine was the real deal.  It was an uninterrupted wine. Not one of those 10 seconds and go wines. She da give de WHOLE song dred!!!!

I had to talk to myself during the wine. I said, "Please self. Please do not allow your faluma to ding, ding, ding."

After the "wine of the century" I went back down to the party area and continued to experience the vibes.  I also went to the food area and threw back some corn soup and a bake & shark which were both delicious.  For the most part, my day was complete. I spent it with my friends and my family and I had an awesome time in doing so.

Well, I thought it was complete until they broke out the World Famous water hose that D'Original Vale Breakfast Party is known for.  They started playing Iwer George's "Water" and the party reached another level of madness. Even if you weren't by the water hose. 



================
The Resolution Phase
================


Vale is a great party. It reaches its orgasmic height but it isn't a "swinging from the chandeliers" type of experience like Ambush.  It's more of an upscale feel than Soca Brainwash, but it isn't as uptown-uptown as the Lara Fete (which is THE GREATEST fete for carnival. Maybe not the best but for damn sure THE GREATEST).  Vale is all about the vibes and more so than any fete that I've been to, the vibes at Vale are KING!

From the time you enter Vale until the time you leave, you are injected with the Vale Vibe experience.

Vale massages your soul, heightens your emotionally and spiritually and then allows the soca and the vibes to help you erupt. 

If there is one fete that I just cannot see myself ever missing, it is Vale.  Vale was awesome.

=============
Closing
=============


Personal thank you to Khalilah for carving some time out of her fete schedule to hang with an old friend.  Big thanks to Winston Williams for showing me the ropes. I still use the advice to this day. Big thanks to the jackass cab driver who dropped us off at the wrong fete, it allowed us to ride the Maxi to and from Vale with the crew which was another great set of memories.  Big, huge thanks to Alison Hinds for the wine and for Andre "The Giant" Choo Quan for orchestrating the pictures and the video of the Alison Hinds Experience.  Thanks so much. I'm greatly appreciative.

Next up The Carnival Doctor's TNT Recap Part 4 of 6...... The Brian Lara Fete


If you missed Part 1 of 6  CLICK HERE

If you missed Part 2 of 6 CLICK HERE

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Closing
=============


It is the desire of TriniJungleJuice.com and The Carnival Doctor to get a ground level and grassroots approach to Carnival. For us to have you, not only get a feel for Carnival, but also a feel for the people that attend carnival. Behind every picture and video is a story but the story that you make up in your mind is not necessarily the truth.  After all the jumping up, and winin' and bacchanal is done -- we all have real lives to return to. It is our desire for you to know the other people that you share the carnival community with.

Love, Peace and Soca.


(If you've enjoyed this, you will most certainly enjoy The Ultimate Road Ready Guide)

Blessings From Here To There,

Rhadi Ferguson, PhD
"The Carnival Doctor"

P.S. For the best information in the world concerning carnivals please visit www.TriniJungleJuice.com  For the most comprehensive site available for fete tickets and masquerader costumes, please visit www.MyCarnivalBands.com

P.P.S. For more information on how to properly prepare for carnival like a true veteran, please visit www.CarnivalPrep.com