This was the 25th Antilliaanse Feesten (Caribbean Festival) which has its home in Hoogstraten, Belgium, and was my third trip to this Festival which has now become an annual pilgrimage.
Our coach trip was organised by Mike of FunkySalsa, Chester, who has been arranging these trips for the last few years.Group numbers have steadily increased, and our group this year was the biggest yet, with 27 of us going along.
The Festival is held over 2 nights, Friday and Saturday, and always takes places on the 2nd weekend of August each year.
However, the action begins on Thursday afternoon on the temporary campsite next door to the Festival site.
Our coach left Chester around 11pm on the Wednesday night, and we travelled through the night down to Folkstone, where our journey continued on the Channel Tunnel.Once in France, the coach then made its way to Belgium, and we finally arrived in Hoogstraten around 12pm on the Thursday afternoon.
First port of call at the end of our mammoth journey was, as always, Café Gemel where we have a welcomed beer or two and collect our campsite armbands and Festival tickets.We could either take a walk around Hoogstraten for an hour or stay put with the beers, before making our way to a restaurant a few hundred yards down the road for a group lunch.
Not long after we arrived in Belgium it started raining, and it continued to rain quite heavily all the time we were in Hoogstraten town, which is always our worst fear, as pitching up our tents in the rain is definitely not our idea of fun.So far in the past we had been lucky, but it was looking increasingly like our luck had run out!!!
After lunch we all got back on the coach and we joined the queue to enter the campsite, which opens at 4pm.It rained all the time we queued, but luckily the heavy rain reduced to spitting when it was our turn to get onto the site.We all quickly pitched up our tents, and made our temporary homes for the next few days as comfortable as possible.
The campsite has shower facilities where you can get a hot shower for 2 euros, a couple of toilet blocks and a huge circus type tent where all the action on the campsite happens.Here there is a bar, a food counter, lots of beer keller style tables and benches, a dance area and a stage with DJ area too.This is also where you have to change your Euros into Campsite Bonnen, which is the currency in the Campsite tent.On the first evening and both Friday and Saturday afternoons, there are live bands in the campsite tent – these bands are usually very good, and this year was no exception.
Having showered and changed, we all made our way to the campsite tent for the live band and a few more beers.Here we also met up with all the friends we’ve met here in previous years, who we’ve kept in touch with.It’s always nice to see them again and catch up, and of course each year we make new friends too, who also return to this festival year after year.
After the live band, Cache de Luxe, the DJ took over and dancing continued until around 12.30am.Now I have to point out that this is far from what you would call a real dancefloor, more like rough boards, so dance shoes are completely useless here – but this doesn’t hinder the dancing or the spirit of the night.Wellies, boots and trainers are the order of the day here, and I have to say that my wellies were bliss to dance in!
After the last track we moved our party back to our tents where the chairs, MP3 player and bottles of rum came out :o).Eventually though the long journey and lack of sleep got the better of us, and we decided to turn in for some well earned sleep.
The next day (Friday) was grey and cloudy but thankfully it stayed dry all day.We all showered and made our way across to the campsite tent for breakfast.Food in the campsite tent consists of huge omelettes, with or without bacon, croissants, cheese or ham baps, bread and jam, fruit, tea and coffee, and various pastries.The omelettes are not only huge but gorgeous too and keep you going all day.They stop making the omelettes around 2pm but sandwiches etc are still available all day.
The music also starts at breakfast time, and if you want to, you can start dancing right after you’ve eaten, and carry on all day if you wish.Most of our group returned to our tents though to chill out for a while and also play volley ball and piggy back salsa dancing!!
Our very own FunkySalsa Mike was the DJ for the afternoon on Friday, so when his DJing started, we all made our way back across to the campsite tent to get the party started.The second campsite band of the weekend, Orquesta Priva, then came on around 3pm, followed by another DJ set by Mike, then DJ Ivan.Despite the grey day outside, it was still very hot inside the tent, even though all the sides were open.
The first band on stage over at the Festival site on the Friday night was Machel Montano at 8.30pm – this guy is a Soca star from Trinidad.So we danced in the campsite tent until around 6.30pm before going to shower again and get ready to go across to the Festival site for the first time.
At the Festival site there is everything you could wish for.There are 3 large stages, a food court selling all kinds of world foods and hot drinks, bar tents, a cocktail tent, music stall, mini gift market, a free cloakroom, and most importantly a Nightclub tent complete with a proper dancefloor and DJs.Here you also need to change Euros into Festival Site Bonnen which irritatingly are different to the Campsite ones and also have a different exchange rate – all very confusing!
There are roughly 10 live bands on each night at the Festival site, of all kinds of Caribbean music including Reggae, Merengue, Soca, Salsa, Bachata, Reggaeton, Ska, Timba and Soukous.On the first night I watched Machel Montano who was fantastic, Joe Arroyo from Colombia, and Haila from Cuba who had the most amazing voice.After that I decided to go and kick up my heels in the Nightclub tent, which is where I stayed until 5am – fantastic!!!
After what felt like only 5 minutes sleep it was time to get up again, but this time we awoke to a glorious summer’s day.Getting a shower on Saturday morning was a big problem though as there were large queues with waiting times of half an hour or so.But it had to be done, so in the queue I got.
With a slightly later start than the previous day, I was then ready to hit the campsite tent again for some food, more dancing and yet another live band, this time La Exclusiva from Colombia.These guys were great too, though their tracks were a little lengthy, and it was very hot.
Saturday night at the Festival site was another early start with Charanga Habanera being one of the first bands up at 8.15pm, so it was a case of a quick shower and change before heading across to the Festival for the last time.On the Saturday night I watched Charanga Habanera from Cuba who were awesome – not only did these guys have great voices, they also put on one hell of an energetic show with synchronised dance routines and acrobatics – 10 out of 10 boys :o)
My next port of call was the food court followed by the Nightclub tent for a spot of dancing.Then it was back out to watch N’Klabe from Puerto Rico.These guys too were fabulous and I enjoyed every second.Next up was La India from New York – she too had a very powerful voice, just like Haila the previous night.
It was probably around 2.45am by the time La India had finished, by which time my back and feet were killing me from standing.So a quick coffee was called for before hitting the Nightclub tent again.It was packed out in there though, so I opted for a sly sit down for a while until it emptied out a little.It was still very busy but at least there was a bit more room to dance now, but after only a couple of dances there was a flippin power cut in the Nightclub tent!!!We waited a little while then at 4.30am we decided to call it a night.
Outside, the Festival grounds were still busy with people and there was still one live band playing.They were really giving it their all, and that stage still had a huge audience.Sadly I had now run out of steam, so although in spirit I was dying to go and watch, in body it was a completely different story, and my bed was calling.Next morning was going to be a very early start, up at 8.30am to shower, eat and pack up ready to leave at 11am, so I knew I had to get at least a couple of hours sleep.
Sunday morning came round all too quickly, as I knew it would.Thankfully it was a lovely morning, which made packing up much easier.We all said our goodbyes to all our old and new friends on the site, then waved goodbye to the Festival for another year :o(
The journey home was a long one, and we finally reached Chester around 10.30pm.Tired but very, very happy, we then said our goodbyes to each other.
Downsides to this weekend are the long journey, the toilets, the shower queues and the Bonnen.Of course if you are also unlucky enough to have bad weather, this is also a major downside.
The plus points though are many………… soooo many fantastic live bands, making new and meeting up with old friends, the whole Festival atmosphere, the dancing, especially till the early hours in the Nightclub tent, and more fun than you can shake a stick at.All the downsides pale into insignificance compared to all the great bits.
I for one would be absolutely gutted if I could not attend this Festival in the future, and I know most of our group also feel the same.As do the other 20 odd thousand attendees I’m sure!
It’s very hard to explain just how good this Festival weekend is, and you really do have to see it, and experience it for yourself to understand.
Roll on next year is all I can say!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!The countdown is on.
Check out the videos from the Festival that have already been uploaded to Salsa Central.There is also an interview with the Festival organiser.
And finally, a big thank you to Mike and Ruth of FunkySalsa for organising this trip and taking us all with them - thanks a million - you're the best!! www.funkysalsa.co.uk
