Carnival

So we had 4 days off for Carnival, Feb 19th-22.  Carnival in Panama last's 4 days and 5 nights.  It is celebrated with culecos.  Basically people throw buckets of water on eachother, squirt eachother with water guns, or in some form get eachother wet. 

In our training community, the town celebrated Carnival on Sunday.  In the afternoon there was a dance with culecos.  There was a dj and a big truck with a tank on it filled with water.  People sat on the tank and used a fire hose to spray water on everyone while they danced.  It was quite the event.  People of every age were participating, dancing and getting soaked. 

After the culecos wrapped up everyone went home to eat dinner, then returned for the crowning of the rena (queen).  Basically girls of pretty much any age, compete to be the queen.  They were elaborate dresses/costumes and dance there way out one by one.  Each princess has another girl that dances out with her, acting as her court or something of the sort.  As each girl dances out the girl's family members set off fireworks, shoot confetti, throws candy, blows horns etc to show their spirit.  In some towns the rena competitions involve elaborate floats that go around town the night and day before the competition.  Our competitors ranged in age from about 6 to 17 (kind of awkward to have to judge between a 6 year old and a 17 year old).  3 fellow Peace Corps trainees were actually asked to judge the event, I am quite glad I was not one of them haha. 

After the crowning of the queen there was a dance/party that lasted most of the night.  Being lame I left pretty early with my host family, but seeing as my normal bedtime these days is 8:30pm, staying up until even 10 is pushing it for me haha. 

Here are some pictures of Carnival, unfortunately I have none of the culecos (water and cameras did not seem to be a good idea)