Join a Carnival parade in Curacao

I know I danced for hours, but I also know how far I danced: four miles or 6.4 km, to be exact, and receiving high-fives and drinks along the way.

Carnival, in many parts of the world, is a party extraordinaire with colorful parades and festivities leading up to Ash Wednesday, the start of the Christian pre-Easter period of fasting known as Lent. Revelers gather at carnival events to drink and dance and watch parades full of elaborate floats. Why just be a spectator, I figure? I went to Curacao to actually be in the parade.

Curacao, a colourful travel destination
Located in the southern Caribbean Sea, 59.5 km north of Venezuela, Curacao (pronounced cure-a-SOW) is the largest island of the Netherlands Antilles. Its capital, Willemstad, looks like a misplaced Amsterdam splashed with Caribbean colour. 17th and 18th century colonial buildings overlook the harbour that divides the city in two sections -- Punda and Otrobanda -- connected by the Queen Emma pontoon bridge. Both sections provide visitors with excellent duty-free shopping and local culture while water sports and gorgeous beaches lie just a bit farther afield.But every year, starting in January, all this takes a back seat to Carnival. Its local history dates back to private masquerade parties in the 19th century but by the 1970s, the event had transformed to a popular island-wide celebration. In 2007, Carnival groups welcomed travellers to leave the sidelines and be a bigger part of the fun.

Costume fitting
To join the parade, I signed up with Taki Tin, the largest of the Carnival groups (and perhaps the least organized, which kept this fun). When I arrived on the island two days before the Gran Marcha parade, the group's seamstress greeted me and several other visiting participants in her home where we took turns trying on our costumes. I had e-mailed my measurements several weeks in advance. Most of the costumes were spot on; others needed some quick alterations but then we were off. We had to leave our shoes for final decoration and pick them up later. A word of advice: bring shoes you never want to see again. In many cases, the costume designers use a glue that is difficult to remove.

Two days later, we gathered for a hearty buffet breakfast at a pavilion at 10 a.m. where make-up artists laid on the finishing touches. The 200 or so members of Taki Tin piled into school buses that took us to the starting point of the parade which passes through Otrabanda on a different route every year.

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See photos from this trip at Slideshow -- Carnival in Curacao.

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The Gran Marcha parade
There were 31 floats complete with bands, costumed marching dancers, and dedicated beverage servers who thread their way through the groups handing out plenty of water, vodka, whisky and rum drinks as well as an assortment of finger food. The music started and for the next four miles -- and over five hours -- never stopped as we shuffled along the route in our costumes to the cheers of onlookers. Earplugs are definitely advisable, especially if you want to walk close to the bandwagon.

Being in a local group was an engaging Carnival experience, but there is another advantage to celebrating in Curacao: this is not the kind of Carnival where I felt I needed to have my pockets sewn shut with barbed wire or where screaming drunk revelers falling all over me and spilling their drinks was the norm. There is plenty of carousing, to be sure, but it is a good-natured crowd and overall the event is even family-friendly.