Las Tablas, located in the Azuero Penninsula, is just three hours southwest of Panama City and is known for its Carnaval celebration when Catholics and party lovers unite for a celebration of excess, four days of excess to be precise. Recently I had the pleasure of being in Las Tablas for New Years which offered a mere taste, an aperitif, of the debauchery and merriment that will take place in February.

Queens of Carnival- Las Tablas, Panama

There are two main streets of Las Tablas, calle arriba and calle abajo, which compete annually during Carnaval for, pride? To win said battle, each section of town puts on a huge display of fireworks and has a parade route filled with flashy floats and bands trumpeting out the brass and Caribbean beats. While Bruce Springsteen music mostly likely isn’t playing, people are “dancing in the street,” whilst water hoses hose away; these dances parties are known as culecos. Bars open up in the area and don’t close until the sun has risen. Remember, this celebration is biblical.

Though, bars in Las Tablas and else where in Panama generally stay open until the wee hours of night or the early hours of morning, depending on how your glass appears. During Carnaval one can expect to see each town’s queen dressed up in the traditional “pollera” riding a top a float. Votes will be cast, tears will be shed, some life-long dreams will come true, and others crushed in defeat. In the crowd little girls will have their own tinier tiaras on in anticipation of one day becoming her town representative and possibly Queen of Carnaval. Roadside signs are up currently up displaying the images of the current contestants vying for this highly sought after title. Panama is a flutter with talk of next month’s events. Carnaval is a celebration not to be missed!

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Filed under: Culture on January 17th, 2008