Los Santos

Los Santos, Monday-Tuesday, 2/11-2/12

More Carnaval celebrations were going on here, meaning bigger crowds of people, lots of water, and very loud music. Our hostel reservation had a mix-up but the hostel owner, Guadalupe, said we could stay with her very good friend, Dalia. This meant that we could stay in a family’s home and be out of the center of town in order to get sleep at night. 

When we headed back toward the town square that evening, we drove around in circles for awhile looking for where the traditional pollera (typical dress) parade would start. As soon as we maneuvered ourselves into a parallel parking place, we heard beating drums and people singing. The parade was coming down the same street!

We rolled down our car windows to watch the parade pass by and wave to the lovely Reinas (festival queens) dancing and swishing their long skirts. It seemed the entire town of Los Santos had come out to be part of the parade. Women, from ages 3 to 73, dance-walked along behind the Reinas, decked out in their polleras with tinbleques (beaded ornaments) in their hair. Men escorted them and beat the drums to the beat of their song and chant. It was truly a family affair!

Behind the parade, a horse with a cart full of little boys dressed in miniature sombreros followed. 

We jumped out of the car and walked behind the parade, as part of it. We definitely stuck out, but were welcomed nonetheless and someone handed us a poster with the Reina's picture on it.

The tradition in the Azuero peninsula during Carnaval week is for a town to elect 2 queens (reinas), 1 queen to represent the north side of town (la calle arriba) and 1 queen to represent the south side of town (la calle abajo). They compete throughout the week in dancing, parade floats, who has the loudest band, the most beautiful costumes, etc. It is all friendly competition however, as part of their tradition and no one really wins.

It is a huge celebration in these otherwise very quiet, peaceful towns, where all the families gather together to cheer on their queen. Every night of Carnaval, after the queens parade around the town plaza three times, they arrive and there is the largest firework show I've ever seen. The pyrotechnics set off numerous bottle rockets, poppers, and whole boxes full of large exploding sparklers that light up the night. Standing in the town plaza, our jaws dropped to see the extent of their firework show; the fireworks took up a good portion of the sky and seemed to be right over our heads. 

Carnaval is a chance for vendors all over the country to sell their goods in the parade street tents, and many companies take advantage of this opportunity to advertise by giving away free stuff with their company name or logo on it.

In fact, one of the crazy traditions, that seemed to happen in every town we went through, was something called: Los Culecos. During the daytime, towns rent out huge trucks filled with water and people stand on top with fire hoses and spray the crowd below. This feels very refreshing on a hot day in dry season, and now I can understand where the tradition comes from. However, the crazy part is that if you stand there long enough under the blasts of water, you just may end up with a free t-shirt.

Company representatives stand atop the water trucks and toss out to the crowd everything from mouthwash to visors to the best of all, t-shirts! It becomes a status symbol to see how many t-shirts you can get and how uniquely you can cut them to become fashionable bathing suit cover-ups. Because we were a Japanese, a red-head, and a very tall Latina, we ended up getting a great deal of free stuff! After the trip ended, we counted the t-shirts people had given us, and the total was 16!!

Daily Lessons:

• God's timing is best
• Glorify God wherever you are and be a bold witness for Him. People notice the difference, like fireworks illuminating the night sky.  
•  But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 1 Peter 2:9