Carnival in Las Tablas...(Panama has the second largest carnival after Brazil!)

The Carnival of the City of Las Tablas in the Province of Los Santos, 282 kilometers and 3 and a half hours away from Panama City is recognized as the best carnival in this country. It takes place during February, about 40 days before Good Friday.

On friday before Ash Wednesday everything begins with the selection of the carnival queen and her attendants. The queen then reigns over the daily parade and official activities. It's a true spectacle of beauty and extravaganza of national and international fame. The queens work very hard all year round to raise funds for the expenditures of their glamorous costumes and fireworks.

For all Panamanians, Carnival is the most awaited annual event, their popularity is comparable in Latin America with the famous Brazilian carnival, both in popular participation, fun, as well as in their splendorous costumes and popular folkloric allegories. The whole country, a multitude of people from all races and social backgrounds, take to the streets for four days and five nights, for the sole purpose of having fun.

Events follow a similar pattern on each of the four days of Carnival (Saturday to Tuesday). In the morning, there are "mojaderas" or water throwing, blue dye and shaving cream fights in the central plaza, and the two "tunas" parade in sexy clothing, dressed for the heat, dancing and singing songs praising their group or ridiculizing the other. The morning events are called the culecos.

Thousands of people are congregated in a small plaza to enjoy the exciting "culecos" wich are mainly popular outdoor dances where participants are sprinkled on constantly with clean water pumped from cistern trucks. There are moments when the event comes to a climax when the queens parade with their beautiful costumes saluting participants while the songs and the traditional typical music of the tunas play along. The luxury and the splendor of the Las Tablas Carnival envelope the nights while the traditional rivalries among the "calle arriba" and "calle abajo" tunas, (each routing for their Queen), sing folkloric tunes and dance on top of the impressive and majestic allegorical carts designed for each of the four holidays. They are accompanied by "comparsas" and "tunas" (cheerful groups of musicians and dancers) which delight young and old alike. At nights there are dances in popular public sites and streets that complete a full day of festivities.

People dress in party clothes and the dancing parades include decorated floats. After the parades at night, each tuna goes back to their toldo (their base) and join a large dancing party until early hours of the morning.

The time for rest is rather short since as soon as the sun appears the celebration begins once more. Come and see for yourself, live your own Panamanian carnival experience. The celebration in Las Tablas doesn’t have any limits, you must come prepared to enjoy an endless number of festive activities and dance all night!

Las Tablas has few hotels. Plans to stay in Las Tablas for Carnival are best with Panamanian friends.

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