Carnaval - Las Tablas, Panama

I made the trek (crammed into the back of a mini-SUV that was hauling a total of 8 people) to Las Tablas, the town with the most famous party during Carnaval. I was going to stay for four nights. I was told in advance what it would be like: lots of drinking and dancing and people getting wet in the streets. Sounds fun, and it was at times, but it wasn't really my thing. Maybe I'm growing out of this kind of mindless party? Las Tablas's carnaval party revolves around a sort of beauty contest between two 'queens' -- one of Calle Arriba, and one of Calle Abajo. They ride around on floats (that were quite obviously conceived by gay designers -- this was pointed out to me) all decked out in ultra-flamboyant feathery gowns and doing that wave. You know the one. 30 piece marching bands (cool!) follow the queens on gaudy floats covered in advertisement banners, and people dance around and yell, either in support of their queen or obscenities towards the other. Water cannons rain down on the crowds, and little kids with giant squirt guns (why didn't those exist when I was a kid?) help out. I dug the action by day much more than the action at night. In the late afternoon yesterday I found a 4-piece band playing in a bar. Old guys with older instruments. They were fun -- the frontman was great on his accordian.

After a lull in the action while people ate dinner and rested up, the night started at around 10pm. Parades with more floats and tons of people in the street dancing to really bad music. Yeah, I take it back -- I don't think I've outgrown crazy street parties. But I just can't get down to the mix of techno, commercial salsa, and (barf) reggaeton they were throwing at us. Sorry, call me closed-minded, but... hmm, there's so much more than this. I was particularly disappointed because I've actually -- finally -- started to find some 'latin' music that I like, and this comp, which is all I've been listening to lately, is 100% Panamanian. On the trip there, squeezed into the back of the car, I asked Jose, one of the (really cool) Panamanians who was nice enough to have me along, "what kind of music do they play at Carnaval?" And he replied,
"oh, everything."
"Everything? Even death metal? Country!?"
"No, no! You know, electronic music, house, techno, salsa, reggaton, etc"
Right. So I handed a copy of the Panama comp CD that I had burned up to the front, swearing that they would love it. They pretty much skipped through the tracks and put the commercial radio station back on (boom boom boom). Since the woofers were right under my ass, the bass blared right into my bowels, reverberating through my entire body. Is this the kind of thanks I get for offering a little bit of music??

I'm at the airport, waiting for my plane to Cartagena, Colombia. Carnaval wasn't really for me, but Panama's been good -- otherwise I wouldn't still be here. I definitely wasn't planning to stay for two full weeks.