We attended Carnaval in Las Tablas, the Carnaval center of the universe in Panamanian terms. Basically, it goes like this: during the day, you sleep until about 11am and go out onto the street to commence drinking. A parade takes place, and since it is so incredibly hot big trucks of water are strategically placed throughout the area to spray water all over the crowds. Plus, everyone comes armed with water guns, gull-be-gone guns, and pesticide sprayers (hopefully) filled with water to spray each other with. We skipped all of this and spent our days at the lovely beach in Pedasi. We would return to Las Tablas in the evenings, eat, rest and come out about 11pm to wait for the evening parade to start at midnight, or 1, or whenever.
The night parades were actually very nice, the floats are well done and very intricate, and the queens and princesses wore fabulous outfits. We were told that families have to pay a thousand dollars (per night) for their girls to ride on the floats as princesses. We don't know if it is true, but we believe it! Usually the parade would start and end with fireworks. The Carnavales usually have two queens – the Queen of Calle Arriba (upper street) and the Queen of Calle Abajo (lower street). The partisans of the queen would follow her float and sing songs about how awesome their street is, and how beautiful their queen, etc. They might also sing about how lame the other street and queen are. To be a Carnaval Queen in Las Tablas is a big deal for the entire family – they have to spend years raising money, getting sponsorships and (probably) paying off the committee members who pick the queens. The parades would also include a brass band for each Calle – the bands were great, they reminded us of New Orleans-style bands that you hear when you go to Mardi Gras.
Here are some photos of the Carnaval floats.
