Sometimes 12 hours feels like it lasts a week. Especially when you add in a power outage, a disco, a very long parade and, of course, heat and humidity.
Yesterday was Dia de Difuntos. It’s like Memorial Day in the USA only minus the BBQ. Panamanians get together as families and it’s a very quiet day when they take flowers to the cemetery and remember lost loved ones. There are not supposed to be any parties or loud noises and definitely no alcohol sold.
A day of no parties and no drinking can only mean one thing: parties and drinking at 12:01 a.m. the next day. We knew it was coming but first we had a power outage. Around 10:30 pm the power went out. You just never know how long these things are going to last. We knew it would not affect the disco because the music is played out of these big trucks that just roll up, open up the back doors and let it rip. Zoe and I were trying to get some sleep to prepare for her big Parade Debut today. We managed to get to sleep but at midnight the disco (1 block away) kicked in, followed by fireworks and lots of partying. When you have no AC as white noise, you hear it all.
The power came back on around 2ish so at least it didn’t get too warm in our house, but the disco continued. This time around the music seems to be especially loud with a very very strong techno / electric beat. I heard it All. Night. Long. I think it stopped around 4 a.m.
Zoe and I got up this morning and went to the school to get ready. It appeared we had all we needed after chasing down uniform pieces for weeks, but we saw a few changes: hair was up, not down; lots of makeup was needed; most girls had some kind of sash that we didn’t know about; gold earrings seem to be part of the uniform and after all that hunting for our baton, we ended up being given a brand new one that was fully decorated. #facepalm
The parade went well but it was HOT. There was no cloud cover, it was very humid and it just got hot hot hot. The girls sweated their way through the 2 hour parade. It was long, weaving it’s way through town before finally ending back at the school. But the kids did great. Candace and I were true Parade Moms, following along with gatorade, feeding them food in bite sized pieces, taking pictures at every turn. We saw a lot of people we knew, including other expats and locals. We loved that!
We got home around noon and are spending the afternoon relaxing. Zoe has two more parades in the next 2 days. But for those people who are parade-free, the disco is hopping and we hear there is a party in the square this afternoon. You can never have too many parties – or parades – in Panama.
