• Home
  • About Us
  • FAQs
  • Contact Us
  • The Zoe Report
  • Haley’s Corner

Notice: Undefined index: bpxl_header_cart_icon in /home/letsjust/public_html/wp-content/themes/travelista/template-parts/header-1.php on line 16
facebook twitter instagram
Let's Just Travel
  • Home
  • About Us
  • FAQs
  • Contact Us
  • The Zoe Report
  • Haley’s Corner
Home  >  Panama • Pedasi  >  Toddlers and Tiaras and Staples
PanamaPedasi

Toddlers and Tiaras and Staples

Allison Sherman Posted onOctober 17, 2015December 23, 2016 Comments are off 1174 Views

Last night Zoe and I went to an event down the street. The best way to describe it is like a Panamanian Homecoming Court for 4-5 year olds. It was the coronation of some nina for something involving the town. There’s so many queens and Senoritas of this and that it’s hard to keep it all straight.

We were told it started at 7 in the basketball court (a caged multipurpose outdoor area where they hold a lot of events). So we walk down there at 7 and not much is going on, but we run into Zoe’s Spanish teacher. She says to come back later to see the little girls all dressed up in their finest dresses. We went back at 8:30 and there were a lot more people. There was a big crowd outside the court and then some people who had paid to get in and sit on the bleachers. We found out the price of admission was 25 cents so we indulged ourselves and bought tickets.

A sidenote here… I like going to these things to see what’s up but sometimes it is exhausting. We were the only gringas, we stick out like sore thumbs because of our hair and skin coloring and of course we have to walk in front of the entire set of bleachers to get to the spot where we could find a seat. Lots of stares. But we know that a lot of those people know us. They know me, or my kids, or where we live, or all of the above. But we don’t know them. So here they are staring at us, having some knowledge of us, but we don’t know them, but no one is talking to us. I would hope that since maybe they know of us maybe they know I speak Spanish? Or they see Zoe greeting her Panamanian friends so they think we kinda-sorta belong here? I dunno. No one spoke to us. So it feels kinda lonely in a crowd at times. And very awkward. You gotta push through awkward a lot at these events so sometimes you just don’t go if you don’t have the energy.

Anyway, after you pay, the proof of entry is a small piece of paper that they STAPLE to your shirt. Yes, STAPLE! I’ve seen this done before with Zoe and/or Haley coming home from school with something stapled. I didn’t exactly love that my shirt was getting stapled but sometimes you gotta go with the flow. So I chose an unobtrusive spot that hopefully would not tear.

It was clear that there was still some time before the event started so Zoe felt this was a great time to play tag with her friends. In front of the entire crowd. Clearly she does not feel that same awkwardness that I do. There was a lovely stage set up, all decked out with floats including these cool horse legs sticking out. Tag + a delicate float + horse legs sticking out could be a dangerous combination so I shut down the game after a little while. They weren’t the only ones playing, there was a group of boys playing soccer too. But I didn’t want the gringa girl to be the one responsible for ruining the coronation so tag was stopped.

After a while the event started and the little girls started parading into the court. At the same time the older boys were letting off fireworks about 40 feet away just outside the court so it was a little chaotic and the poor little girls looked panicked. Their dresses were so fancy and they were totally made up with hair and makeup. Funny thing was that they could not climb up the steps to the stage, they had to be placed up there. The dresses were a little cumbersome but the girls were adorable.

We watched that for a little while but by now it’s like 9:45. I guess Panamanian ninas can stay up late! We knew there were some dances coming up because we could see the older kids in their traditional clothing, but we saw the dance recently at Pricesmart and decided we could skip it in favor of getting back to Haley’s warm oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

We made sure to get the staple remover out as soon as we got home.

That blur is Zoe. And an event would not be complete without a stray dog.
I think this is the queen.
The girls up on the stage.
Stapled shirt.
Previous Article Before and After Perspective
Next Article The Day After

Related Posts

  • Reporting From Home Base

    February 19, 2020
  • Worldschooling Happy and Crappy

    December 11, 2019
  • A Weekend At Coco’s

    December 3, 2019
  • Worldschooling Game Changers

    November 27, 2019
  • Halloween and Day of the Dead in Mexico

    November 10, 2019
  • Stories from PdC, Part 2

    October 13, 2019
  • Stories from PdC, Part 1

    September 29, 2019
  • Life in PdC

    August 25, 2019
  • Mexico 2.0

    August 7, 2019
  • Random Tours in Europe

    August 2, 2019

Social Media

Categories

  • Amsterdam4
  • Barcelona2
  • Belgium1
  • Bocas6
  • Boquete16
  • Cambodia3
  • Cape Town6
  • Cenote13
  • Chiang Mai12
  • Christmas7
  • Colombia42
  • Day Trips8
  • Dominican Republic10
  • Dubai3
  • Education70
  • FAQs13
  • Field Trips15
  • Florence1
  • Food5
  • France3
  • Germany2
  • Granada2
  • Guatemala4
  • Haley's Corner29
  • Health6
  • Iceland3
  • Italy6
  • Johannesburg8
  • Language8
  • London2
  • Malaysia5
  • Medellin41
  • Merida3
  • Mexico78
  • Mexico City3
  • Milan1
  • Money3
  • Naples3
  • Netherlands9
  • Packing5
  • Panama153
  • Panama City5
  • Pedasi98
  • Playa del Carmen6
  • Portugal5
  • Puebla3
  • Read First1
  • Recap3
  • Rome3
  • South Africa21
  • Spain19
  • Switzerland1
  • Thailand17
  • The Zoe Report10
  • USA2
  • Venice1
  • What's Next9
  • Zimbabwe2
facebook twitter

Categories

  • Amsterdam4
  • Barcelona2
  • Belgium1
  • Bocas6
  • Boquete16
  • Cambodia3
  • Cape Town6
  • Cenote13
  • Chiang Mai12
  • Christmas7
  • Colombia42
  • Day Trips8
  • Dominican Republic10
  • Dubai3
  • Education70
  • FAQs13
  • Field Trips15
  • Florence1
  • Food5
  • France3
  • Germany2
  • Granada2
  • Guatemala4
  • Haley's Corner29
  • Health6
  • Iceland3
  • Italy6
  • Johannesburg8
  • Language8
  • London2
  • Malaysia5
  • Medellin41
  • Merida3
  • Mexico78
  • Mexico City3
  • Milan1
  • Money3
  • Naples3
  • Netherlands9
  • Packing5
  • Panama153
  • Panama City5
  • Pedasi98
  • Playa del Carmen6
  • Portugal5
  • Puebla3
  • Read First1
  • Recap3
  • Rome3
  • South Africa21
  • Spain19
  • Switzerland1
  • Thailand17
  • The Zoe Report10
  • USA2
  • Venice1
  • What's Next9
  • Zimbabwe2

Archives

  • February 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • July 2014
Order Dept, LLC © Copyright 2015