Carnival in Penanome

This time of year is always crazy. It is busy with tourists who wish to escape the colder weather up north, but even more so, locally, with celebrations. This past week has been Carnival.

For those unfamiliar with Carnival, it is the same idea as Mardi Gras in New Orleans and typically starts about five days before Ash Wednesday. People generally take the day off and engage in Carnival festivities, including dancing and going to the parades. We did last year, and this year was no different for us.

This year, instead of dancing along side water trucks (although due to water shortages, this aspect of Carnival was cancelled in many towns), we decided to venture an hour west of us to a town, Penanome, which is known for its parades since it occurs on a river. We went with one of our friends and her son.

Despite numerous inquiries, none of us could get a straight answer as to when this parade was scheduled. Eventually, we just decided to believe the parade started at 11am and hoped it was accurate; it wasn't! 

We got to the parade location. There were few people there, mostly lifeguards setting up barricades along the river.  As 11:00 came by there were no signs that the parade was going to start. Somebody told us that the parade started after all of the Carnival goers were done dancing and that it should start at 3pm. That was four hours away!!

The decision was made to stay, we drove there already. Why not? We spent much of our time listening to music, swimming, and sitting. The time finally came for the parade to start; in Panamanian fashion it started 30 minutes later. 

Robert also tried out Sao; a traditional
Panamanian dish. Pig feet anyone?

Floats powered by men swimming in the river carried the princesses and queen. Each queen or princess on a float had large amounts of costume jewelry and decorate feather pieces. The  reflective lighting provided a perfect showcase for how extravagant these pieces and floats are. 

Getting home was a lot easier than we were expecting since traffic was so light. All of us were thankful not to be on the other side of the highway as a steady flow of cars were heading our way to some of the bigger festivals in Panama. Despite it being a long day in the dry season's heat (technically it is winter here), both Robert and I were happy to have gone. If we ever go again, we'll be sure to arrive a little later in the day.