We were invited to go to Viento Frio, a rural village on a bad dirt road about 60 mi. east on the Caribbean coast of Colón province. Juancho, another cousin of Sudarshani’s, owns a vacation house on the beach near that pueblo. (pictured in this blog’s header) This is supposed to be the place to go for “carnival” on the Caribbean side. The biggest carnival venue is in the capitol, if you like huge crowds and parades and concerts. The city of Colón is not appetizing, unless you relish the vision of carnival in a prison. It’s just an excuse to riot and loot and make noise all night.
Unfortunately, we weren’t the only ones trying to get out of Colón on the eve of carnival. At the bus terminal, we were informed that busses ran every hour to Viento Frio. We arranged to catch the 3 PM bus. Unfortunately, it left at 2:45 because it was full: driver’s choice. We waited, the first ones in the queue at the designated bus platform. Four o’clock comes and goes-no bus. Perhaps the driver quit for the day; after all it’s a hard trip for a bus. Maybe it broke down. After all, we were advised to use a four wheel drive if we drove. In any case, no one informed the terminal.
At ten to five the herd began to stir. Quite a crowd had collected by then, and they were all behind us, so we thought. Soon, people started peeling off of the mass at the gate. They were running out into the street and into the parking lot where the busses enter. By the time our bus got to its platform it was full. This is travel, Colón style. Now, if it was just me and Sudarshani, we might have fought our way onto the bus and claimed a seat. But we had grandma with us and it would have been too intense for her. Also, the ride would have been hell with all the rowdiness and noise; I mean loud music and screaming. So we backed away and took a taxi home.
Anyway, it was fun to watch carnival on TV because the coverage was non-stop at the most important sites: Panamá, Rio de Janeiro and especially Las Tablas. Of course, Rio was over the top: great entertainment, singing, dancing and outrageous costumes on over 100,000 parade participants -unthinkable for the USA. You gotta rent the video. Panama’s answer to Rio is tiny by comparison: from a small town named Las Tablas in Los Santos province, on the Pacific side. Here, the camera crews zoomed in on the action and interviewed people; one couldn’t get a better view. We’re talking four days and nights of partying.
This town takes carnival very seriously. They save up all year long to build floats and make costumes. A unique twist is that there are two carnivals going on simultaneously: One is called calle arriba (upper street) and the other is calle bajo (lower street). The two ends of town compete for best of music, queens, costumes, floats, parades and general party atmosphere. The TV stations cover this town 24/7 because it is the best carnival in the country. It’s much smaller than the capitol’s celebration but much more fun.
The wealthy socialites travel from all over to party in Las Tablas. And the prices charged to the visitors for lodging and probably everything else, are hilariously abusive. Most homes convert to B & B’s for the whole week. That perk alone may pay for the entire carnival! The town also started the tradition of shooting water from hoses at the crowds who are drinking and hanging out during the daytime. It’s refreshing as well as impudent. Meanwhile the parades are at rest (the real festivities take place all night, when it’s cool).
