Most everyone’s heard or been to Mardi Gras in New Orleans or Carnivals in Rio de Janeiro. Carnival in the town of Las Tablas is rapidly becoming the competition for these two cities, when it comes to celebrating Carnival – that time of year where you’re allowed to go crazy for four days, starting on Saturday and ending on midnight right before Ash Wednesday.
Located 3.5 hours driving from Panama City, in the Province of Los Santos on the coastal lowlands of the Azuero Peninsula, Las Tablas is close enough to the city to make it a day trip. This year, the town celebrated its (unofficial) 56th anniversary and the town threw the house out the window when it came to spending money on the celebrations.
When you first arrive to Las Tablas it’s recommended that you “pick a street” – either “Calle Arriba” or “Calle Abajo”, to follow their respective queen. Crews numbering in the hundreds of people follow their queen chanting songs they’ve composed themselves as they good naturedly trash-talk the rival queen.
During the day there is dancing and drinking in the streets till the sun comes down. The “culecos”, where the partiers get hosed down with water from huge water tanks to cool off during the day, is one of the favorite things to do. It goes like this: You drink and dance till you feel you’re going to drop, the water tanks come in to refresh you and, you start drinking and dancing again till the next hose-down. It’s that simple.
The carnival queens are chosen ahead of time according their families standing in the town – and, they spend a lot of money! This year it was estimated that Calle Abajo spent over $250 THOUSAND dollars in gowns for the queen, music, costumes, fireworks and miscellaneous expenses. Each gown costs anywhere between $8K to $12K, and each queen has at least four. The monies are collected through fundraising events that take place all year long. Calle Arriba let it be known that this year they spent more than double of what Calle Abajo did!
Due to the fact that hotel reservations go fast, home-owners open their doors to strangers and rent them a place to sleep – at times, in the yard on a cot for $10/night. I know…..because I’ve done it – and, it was REALLY FUN!
2011: March 5 to March 8
2012: February 18 to February 21
2013: February 9 to February 12
2014: March 1 to March 4
2015: 14 February to 17 February
2016: February 6 to February 9
2017: February 23 to 26 February
2018: February 10 to February 13
2019: March 2 to March 5
2020: February 22 to February 25
For more information on carnival or any other aspect of life or fun in Panama, just click here.
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