Carnival preparations

After a centennial year that smashed all records for tourism, the first big test of Panama’s long-term progress in this field will be February 20 through 24, at Carnival.

For the most part a series of local organizations will be putting on the shows. In the towns of the Interior, the norm is for rival local groups, the Calle Arriba and the Calle Abajo, each with their own queen, to organize half of the festivities, with the mayors issuing decrees dividing up the time and spaces, the National Police providing security and the Health Ministry overseeing sanitary conditions, particularly for the food and beverage vendors. The most famous Calle Arriba versus Calle Abajo rivalry, and the biggest Carnival celebration, will be in Las Tablas.

(If you are from out of town and want to partake of that party, you are probably too late to find lodging in Las Tablas and you need to understand that among the crush of friendly revelers there will be some who are not so friendly, so don’t go there wearing a Rolex watch or lots of gold jewelry, or carrying an expensive camera. Really, it’s best to get one of those underwater disposable cameras so that you can get right into the spray of the culecos and catch the party on film with few worries about pickpockets and none at all about water damage to your camera.)

We had a very wet rainy season and this year’s Carnival is relatively early, so that means that the Zarati River will almost surely be high enough so that Penonome can hold its famous water parade on the evening of Carnival Saturday.

Colon is making a special effort this year, which they dub the “W’apping Colon” Carnival. The party will take place along Calle 13, starting at the Colon 2000 cruiser port. There will be a stronger than usual police presence because cruise ships will be in town for their passengers to enjoy the party, and the local Red Cross will also be deployed to take care of any problems in their bailiwick.

In the capital the Carnival celebrations has for the last several years been taken out of local hands by the national government because the Moscoso administration doesn’t want Panama City’s PRD mayor to claim any credit. (But then, no blame attaches to him either.) This year the Carnival has been given to Liriola Pitti and IPAT, who have in turn handed the first part of selecting the queen to others, by way of a process that only allows beauty contest winners or organizations’ queen during 2003 to apply to be Panama City’s queen this year. A bidding process of sorts is being conducted to select the national and international bands that will perform on the IPAT stage next to the Hotel El Panama.

Meanwhile SAMAAP, the Society of Friends of the Afro-Antillean Museum of Panama, is meanwhile busy preparing the Antillean Fair, which as usual will take place on the museum’s grounds on Carnival Saturday and Sunday.

Also in this section:
Remon Park
Carnival preparations
Roads

travel

Carnival preparations underway