Carnival Part.2

In the grander scheme of things, I have to be happy with the way things turned out. I wasn´t innocently gunned down in the crossfire between rival street gangs.....I kept my wits (and my posessions) about me and had a very enjoyable afternoon watching the entire "desfile" (parade) on the final day of Carnaval. It started later and lasted longer than the other days and I got my fill of Carnaval revelers and lovely Carnaval Queens trying desperately to look serene while hanging on for dear life atop their respective, colourful (if a little rickety) floats. All the poorer (afro-Carribean) areas of the city were represented by bands of drummers and numerous dancers. A fantastic cacophany of infectious rythms. The chap in the picture on the left was very insisitant that I take his picture. Looks like he is practicing for his role in a future remake of "Live and Let Die".

Was I "accosted" by a young female Carnaval reveler? .....Yes!

Did she practically assault me with her gyrating bootie in front of a baying crowd? ......You bet she did !

No evidence sadly, and I was far too sober and embarassed to really participate in the moment.

The quiet German tourist behind me however was singled out for quite a bit of attention. Link to my Flikr site for the rest of my Carnaval pictures.

Foiled !

Got to my Spanish lesson just in time to discover that the group of people I was supposed to go to the Carnaval with has been decimated by illness and (methinks) apathy. I am therefore back in the internet cafe, with my party shirt on and nobody to party with !
I have however discovered that the floats/procession that I missed so much yesterday take place once daily around 2 or 3 pm. I am determined to go and see this tomorrow (the last day of Carnaval).
Fate appears to be leading me to the Carnaval site earlier in the day rather than later. I see this as a sign to hang up the party shirt for this year and be happy in the knowledge that I can plan next year´s Carnaval (which I shall spend in the provinces) with military precision. Some photographic highlights of this year´s event (mostly the crowning of this year´s Carnaval Queen) are linked here, the names on the sashes refer to the area of Panama City each particular honey represents.

Carnaval Part.1

So.....its Carnaval and Panama City shuts down for four days of revelry. I am going down there this afternoon with some people from Spanish class but I couldn´t resist a little peek yesterday afternoon.
The location of the Carnaval this year is on ¨Calle Transistmica", a 4 lane arterial road leading North out of Panama City (think elevated section of the A40 leaving London Westbound). The entire road is closed for 4 days and a main stage is erected across the road, from here and for about 4 miles down this road, both roadsides are jampacked with stalls selling cold drinks and BBQ food. It appears that the entire contents of every hole punch in this town has been saved all year and are being sold as confetti by the bag. Consequently .... children are running around with large water pistols, dousing people and chucking bagloads of confetti indiscriminitely. I arrived at around 5pm yesterday and literally "soaked up" the scene.
It was a very happy family crowd enjoying the day but there was no sign of the floats or "spangly" people I was expecting. I made my way to the main stage which was beginning to become crowded with people. Preparations for a band were clearly in progress on the stage and the crowd was becoming rather impatient. As it turned out, all they really want was for the big screen on the stage to be switched over to the TV so that we could all watch Panama play Costa Rica in the final of the Copa de Naciones (Football). So as the sun was setting and I was now "sardined" in the crowd, we all watched a bland first half. But then 15 minutes in to the second half "GOAL PANAMA!" the crowd goes WILD!..... confetti, beer, water everywhere and deafening cheers from the crowd. The band were now ready but of course nobody was going to miss the game and so the musicians simply turned their chairs around and watched the game with us. In typical fashion, Panama allowed Costa Rica to equalise with 5 minutes to go and was then outgunned in the ensuing, nailbiting penalty shootout.
Our collective grief (couldn´t help getting a little involved), was quickly abated by the band, who turned out to be lead by Ruben Blades, the Panamaninan Salsa star, whose songs (rich in social content) have gained him a Grammy award. He also happens to be the Panamanian Minister of Tourism and quickly calmed the crowd with a hopeful few words about a young Panamanian football team, still finding its way in the world. Blades is clearly a favourite with his people and most of his lyrics were being sung out load by the knowledgable crowd.
Darkness fell and I pushed and pulled my way to the back of the crowd where the extra room was employed by lots of Salseros, spinning their way in to a state of ecstacy, quite a scene! But it still didn´t feel as vibrant as I was expecting. As I left at around 10pm, the queue to get in was around a mile long and barely moving (the event is heavily policed). These appeared to be the serious revelers.
I have just seen the timetable on the web and it seems that the other empty stages that I saw have various music, (Salsa/Merengue, Tipico, Reggaeton) but the timings are all 9pm to 4am. I really want to go to this but I fear my family would just have a fit. There have already been a couple of shooting incidents and it is common knowledge that "Authentic" carnaval (safe, all night reveling) is only to be found in the provinces of the Panamaian interior. Shall I take the risk, or keep my powder dry for Carnaval 2008 in the provinces?........only time will tell, stay tuned for tomorrow´s update! Gonna wear a party shirt ..............just in case

Please comment freely...........

I´ve tweeked facilities on´t blog so that the millions of you who are tuning in can leave comments. Please do so freely and frequently so I can stop worrying that nobody is bothering to read my ramblings.!!

A new "Free Zone" for Panama

Panama boasts one of the largest "Export Free Zones" in the world (second only to Hong Kong in throughput terms). The zone is based in the City of Colon, at the Carribean entrance to the Panama Canal. Now, a new Special Economic Zone has been ratified by the Government, its to be called "Panama Pacfico". Following a transparent auction process (managed by the World Bank), the London and Regional Property Group has won the right to develop the new zone, to be sited at the old Howard Air Base, very near to where my cousin lives. My cycling trips take me past the airstrip and other buidings which will form the basis of the "new city district" planned for the mixed use site. London and Regional's press release is reproduced here. Its a very long term project which will shatter the peaceful tranquility currently enjoyed by us residents of "Howard" but with 20,000 jobs predicted ..... it will be unstopppable......and a welcome development for businesses that want to locate in Panama but prefer the climate, and the city location of Howard rather than the dour, year round rain of the Colon side.

Feliz Compleaño Heta !

On the occasion of her 10th bithday, (yesterday) here is Heta Patel dancing on stage at the annual St Mary's College school fair.

Hundreds of parents attended, sweltering in the noon day sun, waiting patiently for their child´s 5 minutes of fame. Every class got a chance to do a number - efforts ranging from a re-enactment of David & Goliath, to songs from Grease, Heta's class did a comparitively sedate rendition of "the birdie song" - yes ....that one!

One dead laptop

Just my luck, broadband has been installed less than a week and my laptop just died. I Wasn´t expecting to shell out for a new one from my limited funds here but I can´t do without one so its off to the mall tomorrow to see how little I can spend while getting a reasonable notebook. At least now I can get one with built in wireless and webcam, in time for me to use Skype.

ICC v Deportes, Sun 28th Jan 2007

Last Sunday saw the first match of Panama´s 4 month Cricket Season. There are about 15 teams in the country, split strictly Muslim and Hindu sides (as you would expect). Alkesh is one of the ICC teams better players, although at this warm-up friendly last Sunday, he only managed 4 runs from the 6 deliveries he faced before being clean bowled. The Panama Cricket Association is registered with the International Cricket Council, and a team (that included Alkesh) played in a tournament in Argentina last year. ICC (Indian Cricket Club) were all out for 60 odd chasing 96. The pitch was an abomination, to be expected as it is also used as a baseball pitch! Without any hint of irony, I am being invited to play for ICC as their "overseas player" next time. I have brought my whites along just in case but as it has been at least 5 years since I took the field, I might just sit and watch another game before taking up the invitation.

Alkesh & Shloak Patel

Alkesh is my 1st cousin on my dad´s side (one of the 14 or so!) and Shloak is his first born son, Panamanian by birth! Thankfully, Shloak looks a lot like his mummy. These shots show roughly the area of the living room floor where a mattress gets pulled out and I sleep whenever I am in town. At the moment that is about 4 days a week. The other 3 days, I am in the slightly more spacious and luxurious surroundings of Alkesh´s older sister (Minaxshi´s) place in the suburbs at Howard. Shloak is a rare and unusual name...I have not heard it before. The word Shloak refers to the ancient Sanskrit verses that are recited by Hindu priests at most religious events......as Shloak´s mum is from a more devout family than us lot (to put it mildly) I assume she was in the driving seat when it came to naming the boy. He is a sweet baby, albeit prone to dribbling constantly. His "front crawl" is more or less perfected now so he slides across the tiled floor like a mini-marine on stealth manoeuvres. He is in loose, cotton re-usable nappies most of the time; great for the planet but not so great for whoever is holding him when he takes a leak. Alkesh was roughly Shloak´s age when I first visited India with my mum in 1976.