Karnaval explained- Episode 6- The Tourists

While these are not exactly an official part of the Karnaval parade, I thought I'd share a few photos of some of the Karnaval spectators.  It seems that they, too, come in costume. :)

Things like these pants.

(Hammer, Go Hammer, MC Hammer, yo Hammer, and the rest can go and play, can't touch this...)

Straw hats are a must.

Cameras are also a must: (Yes, I was a white person with a camera taking pictures of Karnaval, too... put me in the same group.)

This guy gets bonus points for the straw hat and the camera.

And then there are ways that Karnaval acknowledges/pokes fun at the tourists in the actual Karnaval.

For example, just yesterday I was downtown with my kids letting them watch the paper mache masks for a little bit before church and we saw this magnificent new tap-tap mask.  Yes folks, this entire truck was made from paper mache.  It was made for the bureau of tourism and on the side was written all of the tourist destinations in and around Jacmel.

The best feature was this little guy that sat in the back with his camera taking pictures.

And then, finally, there is this mask that makes a presence each year at Karnaval.  It's actually more of a political statement than a statement about tourists.  The mask is poking fun at MINUSTAH, the UN peace keeping troops that are here in Haiti.  They all wear blue hats that say MINUSTAH, this mask has a blue hat that says TOURISTA.  It's basically a statement that MINUSTAH doesn't do anything and are here instead as tourists. (I will attest that the costume represented here is pretty spot on for off-duty MINUSTAH.)