One thing that did surprise me about this nationwide celebration, with streets packed with people like they were in sardine cans, was the amount of sobriety in the streets. There was not one alcohol vendor, not one visible drunk, and I did not see one person with a can of beer in their hand. I do think that things would be different if the government didn't deny the proposal of allowing vendors to sell alcohol, and this also being the first year they denied it. I was surprise of the amount of people that showed up. Considering the extremely low turnout less than a month ago with the proposition of the Canal expansion, there were a lot of people alive, awake, and enthusiastic during the early morning.

It is common for family members and friends of a person in the parade to walk alongside of them while they are marching through the streets to show their support. It was tricky, but I managed it. You have to successfully avoid chorizo, soda, and Panamanian memorabilia vendors as well as people nudging their way through the opposite directions.

3pm rolled around and so did the finale. Much like a 4th of July fireworks show in the states where they end with a bang, pun intended, the parade ends with about four of the best bands. All of them are solely bands, versus a band in a school or a public protection group. The smallest of the finale groups was about 50 people up to the biggest, which were about 100, and this band was split in half.

Two of the last bands had baton twirlers. These guys were amazing!!! The second to last band had two twirlers that put on a show together that consisted of switching off batons, jumping over each others backs, and other neat little tricks. The very last band, which had the most spirit by far, had a baton twirler from the province of Chiriqui (all the other people marching were from the province of Panama). Being a typical Chiricano male, (macho, sexual, and handsome) he blindfolded himself and would twirl the baton behind his back, through his legs, over his head, etc all with the feel of his hands and the roaring of the crowd in the background. After he got the crowd going he would do all these other cool little tricks at Superman like speeds to show off his skills, and of course he would be giving cute girls watching a little wink here and there.

These festivities ended around 5pm Saturday and then did a repeat on Saturday. The order of the bands, the type of bands, and the street differed from the day before, but the concept was still the same.

One thing that did change from the Friday before was that it started to rain in the afternoon. But, the show must go on! The bands kept marching, but the viewers just scattered and tried to find as much shelter as possible. ,p>One thing I like is when people have spirit. It's great to see Panamanian children running around in red, blue, and white headbands or little old ladies waving Panamanian flags. It needs to also be noted that almost every building throughout Panama City had a Panamanian flag hanging from it and most showed their spirit in some additional way.

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Comments (2)

just do it: T AMO PANAMA S LO MEJOR A LEY Y HASTA MAS 1 October 22, 2007 Ratatouille: Ratas too mundo pa stas fiestas patrias pa coronado borrachera a otro nivel bukas chorichitss pa moja el PALITO 2 October 23, 2007

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