• Home
  • About Us
  • FAQs
  • Contact Us
  • The Zoe Report
  • Haley’s Corner
facebook twitter instagram
Let's Just Travel
  • Home
  • About Us
  • FAQs
  • Contact Us
  • The Zoe Report
  • Haley’s Corner
Home  >  Panama • Pedasi  >  Spiderman in Panama
PanamaPedasi

Spiderman in Panama

Allison Sherman Posted onNovember 1, 2015December 23, 2016 Comments are off 1223 Views

For kids, I think Halloween is one of the hardest holidays to miss when you no longer live in the USA. If you think about it, what makes Halloween fun is the costumes, your friends and then all the strangers who give you candy. Costumes are not easy to find here. We only found them in one store (the dollar store) so the few kids that were dressed up (gringos) were almost all the same thing. Decorations are also hard to find (again, the dollar store). And you can’t really trick or treat here, you’d just confuse your neighbors or piss off the secret service (more on that later).

The other thing about Halloween is that it’s somewhat frowned upon here. Zoe asked if she could take in some small toys and candy to her classmates at school on Friday. The directora said no. She said Zoe could bring in anything about Jesus but nothing about Halloween. In addition, our cook Marta told us that a local hotel had Halloween decorations up and received a call from the mayor saying that no Halloween music (whatever that is) would be permitted. Must be all that black magic, y’know.

Since I knew Halloween might be difficult emotionally, I asked the girls if they wanted to completely ignore the day (and stay off social media!) or have a party. Their answers were 50-50. If you know my kids you’ll know who said what.

So we had a party. We invited another gringo family over and we made traditional American foods (chili, hamburgers, mac and cheese) and we tried to recreate Halloween as best we could within these 4 walls. The decorations were a challenge in this box of a house with nothing but white. We managed to piece something together enough for it to look festive. It’s not up to my usual standards but the bar has been lowered. We are in Panama, after all. What can you expect when your only Hobby Lobby is the dollar store.

We bobbed for apples, we ate cookies from a string (no donuts here), we played musical chairs and we trick or treated upstairs in the bedrooms and bathroom. A few of Haley’s Panamanian friends dropped by in the middle of it so they joined the party. They seemed especially enthusiastic about the trick or treating. I can imagine the conversation back at their homes: “And then we went upstairs and the adults hid in the bedrooms and we knocked on the doors and they all gave us candy.” Say what??? Gringos Locos!

Dan surprised us all with his Spiderman costume and he surprised the neighbors when we went on a walk to the park. He tried to enter the building where the ex President of Panama usually sits around in during festivities (she’s from Pedasi and the only woman President in the history of Panama). Her secret service people were NOT happy about Spidey and his costume. They stopped him at the door and pointed outside. No language needed. Spidey got the point. In a block and a half he had three people who took a picture with him. I guess a 6 foot tall Spiderman in Panama is quite rare.

What made Halloween even more strange is that Pedasi was having a big party on the same day for a completely different reason. The Senorita of Pedasi had her coronation Friday night and Saturday was the parade of carts. You can envision small grass hut things being pulled by bulls followed by people dancing to drums, most of whom were drinking (the people, probably not the bulls, but you never know). It was all very sweet and very Panamanian. The parade was followed by a running of the bulls down the street, which sounds like fun until you find out last year a guy died when he got in the way. No es bueno.

And of course you don’t have a parade without a disco. So while Panamanians are all partying outside a block away, we are partying inside to limbo music and musical chairs. I guess a party is a party. One of the boys who came to our party said it was the best Halloween party he’d been to. I’ll take it.

Even in the tiny town of Pedasi, Panama we found someone to do festive nails for Zoe. Life is good.
Not bad for the dollar store.
Not a very interesting picture until you check out the size of his vodka bottle. Wow.
A Panamanian in her Pollera. So pretty.
Bulls pulling carts.
My neighbor and her husband in typical attire. She’s making a traditional skirt for Zoe. She’s sooo sweet. He cuts our front “lawn” (weeds).
Cup holder, Panamanian style.
They start them young. This girl was probably 3 or 4. So cute.
I think this was a queen, judging from her crown. I think her heels were probably 4 inches high.
Senorita Pedasi. This float was wobbling like crazy. Haley and I were sure it was all going to come down but alas it stayed put.
Meanwhile back at the house… bobbing for apples.
No donuts. Hard cookies instead. Worked well until Oliver almost choked on a piece. Oops.
Musical chairs with some of Haley’s Panamanian friends and an Aussie boy thrown in for good measure.
The Halloween gang minus Allison who was taking the picture.
Previous Article The Long Errand
Next Article The School “Cafeteria”

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