Page 144 - The Rough Guide to Panama (Travel Guide)

142 Central Panama Penonomé and eastern CoClé
FESTIVAL DEL TORO GUAPO
the small agricultural town of Antón, just off the Interamericana almost midway between
Farallón and Penonomé, really only registers on the tourist radar once a year, during the festival
of Toro Guapo (“Fierce Bull”) in mid-october, when the pleasant colonial square and
whitewashed church are transformed by hordes of visitors.
the fun-filled five-day extravaganza takes its name and much of its action from the cattle
farming that has defined the area for centuries and is well worth sampling. alongside the usual
array of folkloric dancing, colourful street parades, beauty pageants and progressively more
drunken revelry are toros – men who cavort around the streets, charging at all and sundry.
they dress in fantastical costumes draped over wooden or bamboo frames, topped with a
bull’s head adorned with ribbons and mirrors.
many of the surrounding villages produce such a beast, with the creativity of the costume
and acrobatic skills of the wearer a source of local pride, to be displayed during the parade on
the final morning. after being blessed in the church, the bulls are led round the town as they
playfully harass the pollera-swishing dancers, accompanied by bands of drummers. listen out
3 among the beats for the distinctive chime of the almirez – a bell-shaped bronze mortar of
afro-Colonial origin that pharmacists once used to grind their medicinal herbs, and is now a
musical instrument unique to antón.
other festival highlights include water fights (mojaderas), competitions testing traditional
rural skills such as carrying firewood, peeling coconuts and milking a cow, and dancing by
extravagantly dressed diablos limpios, or “clean devils” (see box, p.163). strangest of all is the
cutarras, when a poor cow is wrestled to the ground by several farmers, often the worse for
wear, who then struggle to fix sandals (cutarras) over the hooves, recalling an old trick of cattle
rustlers attempting to hide the telltale hoof prints.
ARRIVAL AND ACCOMMODATION
By bus Antón is well served by bus from Panama City Hotel Rivera Interamericana T987 2245,
(5.20am–8pm; every 20min; 2hr), especially as Whotelrivera–panama.com. Well-maintained a/c
additional buses are laid on during the festival. rooms with cable TV, and a pond-sized pool. $39

arrIVal anD InFOrmatIOn PenOnOmÉ
BY BUS BY MINIBUS
From/to Panama City Buses from Panama City Regular minibuses for the beachside resort of Santa Clara
(4.50am–10.45pm; every 20min; 2hr) pull in at the “bus leave from J.D. Arosemena at the junction with C Victoriano
terminal”, which comprises a couple of streets by the market, Lorenzo; all other minibuses can be located around the
just southeast of the main square. Through buses also drop marketplace.
passengers off at the Interamericana turn-off (entrada) into Destinations Aguadulce (5am–7/8pm; hourly; 1hr);
town, where you can catch other long-distance buses. From Chiguirí Arriba (6am, 9am then every 60–90min until
the junction it’s a 10min walk to the area where the local 6.30pm; 1hr 15min); El Copé (6am–7pm; every 20min;
buses leave. Transport leaves for Panama City from the south 1hr); La Pintada (6am–8pm; every 10min; 20min); San
side of the Interamericana opposite the Hotel Dos Continentes Miguel Centro (infrequently; 1hr 30min).
(4.45am–10.45pm; every 20–30min; 2hr).
Westbound buses The large buses to Santiago, Chitré INFORMATION
and Las Tablas pull in for a pit stop at the Restaurante MIA office The regional MIA office (Mon–Fri 8am–4pm;
Universal, just east of the Hotel y Suites Guacamaya; David T997 7538) is on the Interamericana at the junction with
buses rarely stop since they’re usually full. Other westbound C San Agustín. Call in if you want to book accommodation
transport picks up passengers at the petrol station at the for Parque Nacional Omar Torrijos.
Interamericana junction with Av J.D. Arosemena.
aCCOmmODatIOn
All the accommodation options reviewed here are suitably motel-like, with midweek reductions.

Hotel Coclé Interamericana, Iguana Mall, west of Av business hotel offering the highest level of comfort in
J.D. Arosemena T908 5039, Whotelcocle.com. Bland town: modern rooms with large beds, room service, safe,

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