Panamanian Independence Day(s)

Hey hey hey Rudy. (10 points if you get the reference) The 3rd of November was the first of many Panamanian independence days. Depending on who I ask in my community, the country (or parts of the country) have anywhere between 2 and 5 days of independence. The 3rd is independence from Colombia, later on the 28th of this month (I think) is independence from Spain, the 5th was a day of celebration for Colon's independence, whew. The list goes on. Below are some pics I took of the presentation that the school put on for the community. It was about 4 and a half hours long, so you know they put some time into preparing it.

The students lined up in front of the school in the morning to sing the national anthem.

My buddy Brian in traditional Panamanian dress. He's a pretty funny kid.


The parade that's preparing to file through town. The flag being carried in front is the national flag of Panama and the second is the banner of the town, Union.

The percussion section of the parade. I hope this marks the end of hours long practices at the school on these things. It gets old real fast and the kids don't know the meaning of "bang the drum lightly". Maybe its because they don't understand English.

The gente of Union anxiously awaiting the program to start in the school.

Singing a song about Panama, which went something like "Viva Panama, llora Panama" if memory serves correctly. One of the other kids in town, Miguel, is tocaring that tanque with all his might.

A short melodrama about the different provinces of Panama. While slightly unorganized and though a lack of attention was blatantly apparent from the actors, it was interesting to hear about the different parts of the country.

A traditional Panamanian dance done by 8 of the students. Good stuff if you ask me.

So there you have it, the 3rd in a nutshell. The next day was Flag Day, and Union was supposed to have a discoteca on the basketball court, but the people from out of town who came in all left early and by the time I showed up around 9pm after returning from catching a World Series game, the music had ended and no one was dancing. On Colon Day, the 5th, I experienced one of the stranger things I have seen while here.

The men had strung a live duck by its feet upside down on a rope over the main road. They then rode under it as fast as they could on their horses and tried to yank its head off with their bare hands as they passed under. It took about 15 tries between 4 of them before it finally popped off. Needless to say, much beer was consumed in the process. The vent drew quite a crowd too with much ooh-ing and ahh-ing to be heard.

I have my communtiy presentation to give on Friday and I'm getting my refrigerator today so things just keep moving along! Hope everyone is doing well!