Carnival

So this weekend was Carnaval. Actually, Tuesday is Carnaval, but celebrations are already underway. (Celebrations were already getting underway in Venice when I was there last week!) Yesterday, after a day of fieldwork and a statistics lecture, we went into Panama City for the evening. A section of the city was blocked off and guarded by the police, with the celebrations inside. There were multiple stages including both DJs and live music, and a lot of people standing around and listening, with a few people dancing. Barbecued meat skewers, beer, cotton candy, shaved ice, and many forms of flashing objects were for sale by vendors throughout. Glowing devil horn headbands were also pretty popular...

After a late night out, we got up early this morning to drive to Panonome (about two and a half hours away) for today's Carnaval celebrations. A portion of the city had again been blocked off, but instead of stages, the main attraction was a row of large trucks playing loud music and spraying water. Essentially, it was a huge sprinkler party. People on top of the trucks sprayed the crowds with large hoses, and children ran around squirting each other and others with water guns. It was a lot of fun, and the water felt good as it was a hot sunny day. Because we got there early, we also left pretty early, as people were still streaming into the celebrations. We had a great time and it was crowded but tolerable, but as we left it was turning more chaotic.

A glimpse of the Carnaval crowd and trucks in Panonome
(thanks to Chhaya for this picture).

Chhaya and me drenched and enjoying Carnaval
(photo taken by Leangelo with Chhaya's wonderful waterproof camera).

On the way back to Gamboa we stopped at a restaurant which specializes in interesting pizzas. I had Roquefort (blue cheese) with garlic. It was delicious.