Viva Calle Arriba! Viva Calle Abajo!! The emotion aroused at Carnival in Las Tablas is reminiscent of minor revolutions, small colonial wars or a feud between the Montagues and the Capulets. Calle Abajo (lower street) pulls the popular vote. Calle Arriba (upper street) plays the class card. The two compete neck and neck to have the prettiest queen wearing the most sparkling crown and luxurious dress on the most tastefully decorated float with the most people following behind singing her praise.
Morning parades are during "culecos" where revelers are doused with water to revive them from the heat of the sun. Queens entertain crowds and show off their figures on simple floats, a new design each day. Evening parades are gala events with two themed floats per calle per day. Princesses to the court adorn the floats and the queens take their place high on the second float under spotlights. They are followed by "murgas" (bands) who play loud music with brass instruments.
"Tunas" (crowds) march behind the "murgas" and sing the praise of their queen, their calle and their dominance of the Carnival. They sing about how awful the other queen is, blowing any flaw she may have into a song. They also insult important members of the other calle with nasty lyrics.
Marvelous displays of distaste between calles surprise newcomers when they see the animated hand talk, shouting and other forms of vibrant expression. Watch closely, because that colorfully-dressed young man shouting to a lady up on a balcony just said that her queen is fat, has cockroaches in her hair, and her mother is a drunk. Then he called the woman next to her a lesbian.
It's that bad. But pay close attention because the young man also gave her the international 'call me' sign and they agreed to meet up for a drink after the Carnival, when they will not have to worry about what calle they represent. Calle Arriba and Calle Abajo affiliation divides the town right down the middle and even separates husbands and wives who prefer to just see each other after it is all over.
And it's not without reason. Over $500,000 is spent on the floats, gowns, and fireworks between the two camps each year. They receive no government funding. Activities are held year-round to raise money and generate support. Affluent people make donations to their calle. Parents of the queens joke about taking out a mortgage just to get through Carnival. It is truly their party.
Throughout the year, Las Tablas is a quiet town of 10,000 in the agricultural Azuero Peninsula where people smile and young men help old ladies cross the street. Many Panamanians who live in the city have family ties in this well-to-do farmer's town. During Carnival nearly 100,000 people jam in. Crossing the small park at the center of town can take 20 minutes with all the people waiting for the floats to emerge and take three slow rounds of the park.
On Tuesday the queens, princesses and town-ladies wear the traditional Panamanian "pollera" dress for the evening parade. The mood becomes solemn and not just because it is the last day of the Carnival. Polleras are hand-made by the women of Las Tablas and the surrounding areas. The most elaborate dresses cost tens of thousands of dollars and require thousands of hours of work. As part of the traditional custom, women also wear "tembleques" (arrangements of pearls) in their hair and a collection of gold necklaces, each piece with a special meaning that can be traced back to the town's Spanish colonial beginnings.
But the party does not end quietly. At sunrise on Wednesday, Calle Arriba and Calle Abajo start "quemando" (burning) fireworks. The roaring starts when they begin to throw ropes of firecrackers and the pile becomes a fire. Hearing loss sets in when the Queens arrive, walking on the street for the first time in five days. The men begin to unload boxes of firecrackers into the blaze.
The queens dance slowly toward one another while smoke billows up from the fires in the town center. They sing their songs inaudibly along with the most loyal members of their "tuna" and the "murga" still plays along. Sunlight hits the crowd and the queens finally face off in the "topón" (climax), dancing dangerously close to one another, showing off their gold, pearls and perfect dresses. When they are finished, they lead their bands back to camp. Each calle shares warm goodbyes, marvels in their victory and makes commitments to stomp the enemy out once again in the year to come.
