Carnaval, THE Biggest Party in Panama
This year Carnaval fell on February 13 to 16 - four days of complete mayhem and destruction. Destruction of what? The city and town streets and all of the major internal organs (liver, stomach, etc...) of thousands of Panamanians. Most of this destruction was caused by the over consumption of alcohol, and also, but not common, marijuana, and general craziness. That said, I still had the time of my life!!!
 |
Left: One
highlight of the trip, flying over the Chiquita Banana
plantations. On Friday the 12th, me and two other guys, flew to Changuinola and stayed there until Sunday morning. The place is best described in one word, a "DIVE!". We were there for business reasons and because all was fully paid for. Anyways, enough of that shithole, let's move on... |
On Sunday morning, we boated and bussed our asses to Las Tablas, or what Panamanians call, "THE place to go for Carnaval". There's nothing else like it, at least in North America (except New Orleans' Mardi Gras, so I've heard). Its the streets were jam packed with people. People book rooms and make plans months in advance to secure a place to stay. Lucky for us, my host family had a house there and we got to camp out in a tent in their backyard. The house, like many others, was already full of other relatives.
TIME TO GET WET!
 |
The first we did was changed into our
beach clothes (I'll explain later), and bought a few 50
cent beers - yes, they make it real easy for you to get
drunk. We roamed the streets, checking out all the
potential party places and also all the chicks!! OH YES,
THE CHICKS!! All the girls there were wearing tight beach shorts, and bikini
tops, though, most wore a white
t-shirt on top. But that didn't matter, I was a very
happy guy nonetheless. Left: Culeco wreaking havoc on soon to be wet Panamanians. Why beach wear?? Well, because of the "Culecos" (coo-leh-koes). They are big tanker trucks filled with water. There are people on top of these trucks with fire hoses that spray water to the crowds of people below them. All this while music is booming, people jumping up and down and going crazy after free giveaways. EVERYBODY wants to get wet. If that wasn't enough, people bring their own tools for getting people wet: waterguns, buckets of water, garden hoses, and even big syringes! Guys (and girls) with waterguns would spray you with water if they thought you were goodlooking or at least worth wasting some water on you. water + chicks in bikinis = one giant wet t-shirt contest!! |
TIME TO PARTY AND DANCE!
| At night time, after EVERYBODY takes a nap, a different party scene comes on. People change into their nice clothes (to get dates, I suppose) and head towards the dances, or the streets, where the Queen of Carnaval parades were. There were two teams of people, Calle Abajo and Calle Arriba (calle=street, abajo=lower, arriba=upper). Each year they have a competition to see who has the most elaborate floats and costumes. The crowds would take sides and a kind of "play rivalry" ensued (nothing serious). There would also be floats with a horn and drum band playing music; the best music I've heard since I've been here!! |  Above: One of the many colorful floats. |
 |
Left: The grooviest bands
ever!! Right: The Queen of Carnaval, Las Tablas |
 |
TIME TO RECOUPERATE!
| My buddies and I headed out to Uverito
Beach on afternoon of the 15th to get away from the
craziness. We bought some food and water and camped out
on a very pristine and secluded part of the beach, where
we had our intense, all-male, three-way orgies (I'm
kidding!, of course). Right: Our beach time "love
shack" |
 |
TIME TO HEAD BACK TO THE CITY!
 Above: Carnaval in the city (Via Espana). |
We took a bus the next day to make it back for the last day of Carnaval in the city. It wasn't as good as Las Tablas. There was a different, more unfriendly atmosphere. And instead of water, at night, people were throwing handfuls of confetti RIGHT IN YOUR FACE, and from close range too!!! You could see people helping their friends pick out pieces of confetti from their eyes. We hung around, had a pizza and ended up in a nearby nudie bar. |
CARNAVAL HIGHS AND LOWS:
HIGHS |
LOWS |
|
|
|
