You can join one of the Mas camps by looking in the newspaper for the times and locations of the camps. If you are early enough you can get a costume which will allow you to participate in one of the tramps through town. Fair-skinned visitors should avoid the skimpy costumes. You will be 2 full days in the hot sun and sun block lasts about 5 mins. There is a lot of alcohol consumed during the road marches but there are no drunken brawls.
Police are much in evidence on the streets.
Note that it is illegal to sell tapes of carnival artists but bootleg tapes are inevitably sold on the streets. If you have the strength, don t forget Last Lap, which means jumping up with a steel band around Port of Spain to squeeze the last ounce out of the festival, prior to its official end at midnight on Tuesday. The Hosay, or Hosein Festival, commemorating the murder of two Moslem princes, starts 10 days after the first appearance of the new moon in the Moharrun month of the Moslem calendar. The main celebrations are in St James, west of Port of Spain. There is also a Hosay celebration in Cedros in South Trinidad.