Panama City in Carnaval

Panama City! We were looking forward to being in a big city, we hadn't been in one like this for about 4 months. There's actually a metro in this city, which you can take for 35 cents! We were here for about a week to experience Carnaval and the city in all it's glory. 

To be honest we were a little disappointed in Carnaval. We had read that Panama was a pretty good place to celebrate Carnaval if you can't make it to Brazil. Turns out the best place in Panama to celebrate Carnaval is in the smaller towns, not Panama City. Small towns sell out pretty quick though so we just had to accept we were in Panama City and try to make the best of it, even though people were constantly saying how much better Carnaval is in Brazil and Italy. 

We still had some fun, but as usual the lesson is manage your expectations!

Panama City had the most Pimped out Chicken Buses we'd seen. Look at that lift. 

They had also gotten creative with the skyscrapers. 

So Carnaval in Panama City is held on one of the main streets, causing some traffic issues. It helps most of the locals leave town. Carnaval went from Friday evening to Tuesday night so we wondered up and down this street a lot. Tuesday is the big day but generally every day was about the same. A typical walk through Carnaval would include eating some street meat, drinking a beer, being hit by water guns and maybe catching a parade. If you are ever in Panama City for Carnaval I would suggest just going for Tuesday. It maybe also didn't help that this year they started charging for things they hadn't before angering many locals.

You have to go past security to get into Carnaval. You're separated into boys and girls to be frisked. The first night we entered I had my bobby pin taken off me. A BOBBY PIN! I could do more damage with the meat on a stick they sell inside! As Carnaval went on though we realised we got special privilege for being obviously a tourist. For some reason we got to skip the queues and the frisking, this was awesome when we got to skip maybe an hour wait on Tuesday. The only time being super white paid off.

The high light of Carnaval was probably playing with some of the local kids, sliding down hills on cardboard and dishing out payback for being attached with canned foam.

Foam Party in the middle of the day

We weren't even in the official Carnaval area here but these kids were filling plastic bags up with water. One of them attacked me twice by punching me in the butt with a bag of water. 

On Sunday there was a parade featuring more traditional dress

The Parade on Tuesday was more what I'd been picturing. It went around and around alllllll night. 

There were some pretty interesting costumes.

 

The Queen of Carnaval

It wasn't all Carnaval though. 

Casco  Viejo - an interesting mix of old and new

 Being Touristy

Tasty Ceviche and other Awesome Panamanian Snacks. Shared between 4 people this is still the most expensive meal we've had on this trip so far. 

 Of course we also visited the canal! We watched two big ships make their way through the locks and watched a video that smelled slightly of propaganda. When you stop and think how long ago they built the canal (with steam shovels) it's pretty impressive. It's also interesting seeing the force behind Panama City.

You maybe can't see but Gladstone made it one this map!

Thanks Central America, it's been a blast. See you soon South America!