Page 39 - The Rough Guide to Panama (Travel Guide)

SportS and outdoor activitieS BASICS 37
OCTOBER
A festival calendar
Feria de Isla Tigre Mid-Oct. Multiday festivity of Guna culture,
JANUARY celebrated in Isla Tigre (Digir Dubu), Guna Yala.
Feria de las Flores y del Café Mid-Jan. Ten-day celebration in Festival del Cristo Negro Oct 21. The most revered pilgrimage in the
Boquete to mark the coffee harvest with carpets of flowers, food and country, attracting thousands bedecked in purple robes to Portobelo.
craft stalls. Daytime family entertainment is followed by night-time
discos. NOVEMBER
Primer Grito de la Independencia Nov 10. The “First Cry of
FEBRUARY Independence”, celebrated in La Villa de los Santos as part of “El Mes de la
Revolución Dule Feb 25. Celebrates the Guna Revolution of 1925, Patria”. Patriotic flag-waving parades and marching bands, attended by
their Independence Day, with colourful reenactments of battles against the president.
the Panamanian authorities held across the comarca.
Carnaval Five days ending at dawn on Ash Wednesday. Wild
partying and processions – celebrated countrywide, but especially in Las Sports and
Tablas and Panama City, with an aquatic parade on the Saturday in
Penonomé. outdoor activities
MARCH Both inside and outside the parks,
Semana Santa or Holy Week March–April. Celebrated everywhere, Panama offers a host of outdoor activi-
but most colourfully on the Azuero Peninsula. ties, from swinging through the canopy
Festival de los Diablos y Congos Usually the second or third on a zip line to tracking tapir prints in the
weekend of March. Vibrant biennial weekend event (next held in 2019 and mud of the Darién or lolling on a deserted
2021) in Portobelo, showcasing Afro-Colonial culture and resistance to the beach. Some of these pursuits can be
Spanish conquest in a mass of devilish costumes and dances. experienced as efficient packages from
Panama City; others will need to be
APRIL arranged more informally on the spot and
Feria de las Orquídeas Five days in early April. Boquete festival a few require no organization whatso-
featuring copious orchids, craft stalls and cultural events. ever. Already renowned as a world-class
Feria Internacional de Azuero Ten days in April. Major agricultural birdwatching and sport fishing destina-
fair in La Villa de Los Santos with stalls, presentations and competitions tion, Panama is also developing a
reflecting the area’s colonial and cattle-farming traditions. reputation for outstanding diving, white-
water rafting and wilderness hiking.
MAY AND JUNE Several excellent tour operators, providing knowl-
Festival de Corpus Christi Late May/early June. Celebrated across edgeable bilingual or multilingual naturalist guides
the country but most spectacularly in La Villa de Los Santos, with work out of panama city and offer tours around the
processions and dramatic devil dances. country (see p.76), though for the more distant
locations, such as Boquete or coiba, you are better
JULY off looking for operators closer to the destination;
Fiestas Patronales de la Virgen del Carmen July 16. On Isla they are listed in the relevant chapters of the Guide.
Taboga the Holy Virgin gets to circumnavigate the island in a procession of
decorated boats. Birdwatching
Fiestas Patronales de la Santa Librada July 20–22. A mix of
religious and folkloric parades in Las Tablas, incorporating the Festival de panama offers first-class birdwatching. Boasting
la Pollera, which showcases Panama’s gorgeous national dress. more than 990 species of bird, including 55 varieties
of hummingbird and spectacular show birds such
AUGUST as the emerald-and-ruby resplendent quetzal (easy
Festival del Manito Ocueño Thurs–Sun, dates vary. In Ocú, on the to see in the chiriquí Highlands), the country also
Azuero Peninsula, this lively folk festival features a mock duel and peasant contains the world’s largest concentration of harpy
wedding. eagles (most likely to be spotted in the darién or in
amistad). though panama acts as a magnet for
SEPTEMBER serious twitchers laden with tripods, checklists and
Festival de la Mejorana Late Sept. Panama’s premier folk festival, in hefty avian tomes (see p.313), it might persuade
Guararé, on the Azuero Peninsula, involving five days of music, dancing even those who have viewed birdwatching as a dull
and parades. pastime, involving hours of trying to identify one

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