“Who was that white dude and that tall black girl that kept dancing all up in the street?”

The title of this post is a loose translation of the question that my friend Rosie fielded from the gente (people) in her community after my travel buddy (another East Side PCV) and I left the Azuero after Carnavales.

We are some dancing people, so needless to say, we cut quite a few rugs at carnaval.

Carnaval in Panama is a once a year event that, over the course of a few days, commemorates the beginning of Lent season and ends just before Ash Wednesday. During those few days, Panamanians party like it’s 1999. A lot of people travel to the Azuero Peninsula for the festivities, since the Azuero is commonly accepted as the hub of Latin culture within Panama.

A WORD ABOUT CARNAVALES

CULECOS

Travel buddy and I decided that if there is one word that could some up Panamanian carnaval it is culeco. There’s even a verb form. Culecear. (Carnavalear, to go to carnaval, is also a word when you’re in the Azuero.)

What are culecos? I honestly pity the person who does not know. Now that I have learned, I can never go back.

Picture the biggest block party you’ve ever seen, but 5 times that size and with like 17 different DJs ALL playing reggaeton AT THE SAME TIME. Now throw in a LOT of people, as in packed body to body, and then for good measure, top it off with a hot, dry Azuero sun.

Your picture is not yet complete. Your fellow party-goers are dressed in flamboyantly bright clothing, there are rainbow flags and queens dressed up everywhere, and to top it all off, right when the heat of the sun begins to get to you, you just yell “AGUA! (WATER!)” and someone will gladly spray you with a hose.

There are giant trucks of water strapped with hoses JUST so people can climb up and spray everyone walking or dancing in the street. There are children with water guns. There are people with coolers of ice who just dump cold water on passersby when that ice melts.

There is an unwritten rule at any culeco that when you walk into the area, it is completely fair for any complete stranger to, at any time, soak you from head to toe.

It’s the perfect atmosphere for maximum debauchery. You don’t even have to dress up or look cute, because you’re just going to get wet anyway. Wrap your phone in a plastic bag and don’t bring a lot of cash with you, just throw on a tank top and some shorts and knock back a few beers—you are ready to culecear!