Los Santos and Las Tablas

After three nights in Panama City Meredith and I parted ways with Bora and Vincezo and headed for Peninsula Azuero,  known for its copious amount of festivals.  We assumed rooms would be hard to come by in Las Tablas and booked two nights at the Hostal Voyager in Los Santos.  This small town is made up of a plaza surrounded by numerous small streets. As we walked into town Guadalupe, the owner of Hostal Voyager, called our name from the doorway.  Or at least as close to "Meredith" as you can get in Spanish.  We walked through the door and were surprised to find a living room full of computers and teenage boys playing video games.  Turns out Guadalupe's home serves as the local internet cafe, mini-movie theater, and hostel for travelers like ourselves.  Quite the operation she has going.  Nonetheless Lupe was incredibly accommodating, making us breakfast each morning, and letting us pick movies each evening.  Not too bad for $8 a night.

The following afternoon we left for Las Tablas to check out the festival.  When we arrived the town was still fairly quiet.  We explored the church, admired a colorful float, and watched as a few of the girls had their pictures taken in the traditional Panamanian dress or polleras.  To kill some time we made our way to a pool hall to grab a drink.  After the first round the bartender brought us two more beers. We didn’t think too much of it, however before we could finish she brought us another round.  And another.  And another.  Finally I noticed someone across the bar waving at us and realized he had been buying our drinks.  We politely told the bartender no more, paid our $1 tab, and left for the festival.  At this point pizza was highly necessary.  Slightly buzzed we walked along the street fair of blue tents selling random trinkets, making our way to the bull riding arena.   

After paying the $3 to enter the bull riding area we joined to mass of people watching the event.  I wanted to join the teenagers who were sitting on the fence, but decided against it since I was wearing a skirt.  Meredith was rooting for the bull to win.  Sadly it did not.  As we walked back to the festival we watched the street parade of young girls and boys dancing and playing music.  In the end we were tired and decided to head back to Los Santos.  

 

The sleepy towns Los Santos and Las Tablas provided a much needed change from Panama City, but we were anxious to move to the next location.  Unfortunately Meredith and I had not yet decided where this location would be. After a consultation of LP and input from Lupe we decided Santa Catalina sounded like a great choice.  The next morning we woke early, well rested after an early evening and screening of Titanic, and made the 6 hour and 4 bus journey to Santa Catalina.