Peace Corps Panama Friends: Carnaval 1999 Pictures 1

Carnaval in Las Tablas 1999 - page 1

By Kimberly Blevins

(Go to Carnaval 1999 - Page 2)

Las Tablas is divided during Carnaval (and during most of the year-socially) by the Santa Librada Church. On one side is Calle Arriba and on the other is Calle Abajo.
    This division is semi-historic.
    When the town was looking for a permanent name the people who lived in Calle Arriba wanted the town to be named Las Tablas, after all the houses made out of wood "Tablas".
    The people in Calle Abajo wanted the town to be named something else, I don't remember if it was Los Santos or Saint Librada.
    Anyway Calle Arriba won and their has been this feud ever since.
    Most Panamanians consider the Carnaval in Las Tablas as the "Best Place to Be". They usually have the best music and Discoteca's out of all the other places in Panama. Even the President rents a house in Las Tablas to join in on the festivities.
    So Carnival is four days with the corination of the Queens "Reinas" on Friday night. The Queens come out once in the morning during water cannons and once at night. They are accompanied by a band during the day and at night, also at night they are accompanied by their Princesses.
    Just as a side note, The Queen from Calle Arriba in 1996 was Ms. Panama in 1997. She was the 4th runner up in the 1997 Ms. Universe Pageant.

This is the Queen from Calle Abajo during the second day of Carnaval. You can see the Rat figure on the float and that is a charactiture of someone in Calle Arriba. Also you can see the float has some sponsors that help pay for the Queen's costume, liquor, etc.	Click to view full size
	Click to view full size

Las Tablas Church-Sainta Librada and the water trucks. The street with the water truck is Calle Abajo. Every thing on the other side of the church is Calle Arriba. So Calle Arriba---Church--Calle Abajo. It's a little backwards from what you would think of as Arriba and Abajo.	Click to view full size
Water cannons during the day.	Click to view full size
The water cannons in Las Tablas. This picture was taken from a top one of the smaller cannons on the south side of the park, just as you enter the park.	Click to view full size
This is my friend Devis Quintero. She is 19 and is studying Computer engineering at the University of Panama. Her family is from San Jose', my site.	Click to view full size