Updated May 5, 2018
Its happening April 27-29, 2018
Sadly, our team Chiriqui Occidental (of Puerto Armuelles) didn't make into the final series, but Chiriqui (of David) did.
Chiriqui is battling it out with Bocas Del Toro. The team who wins 4 out of 7 games is crowned champion.
After 4 games it was 2 and 2! But in the end, Chiriqui lost the championship to Bocas del Toro.
Chiriqui really wants to win this championship. They were the champions in 2016.
Then Colon beat Chiriqui to win last year's championship. But I must say Colon deserved the win. It was the first time in 54 years that Colon won the championship.
Regardless, Chiriqui wanted the title of champion back in 2018.
Chiricanos (people from Chiriqui) are very proud of their province. And they have many reasons to be proud. One being baseball.
Chiricanos are very very good at baseball. You won't make any friends rooting for a rival team.
Carlos Ruiz - Major Leaguer
In fact, one of David's prodigal sons, Carlos Ruiz, played in these 75th Championship games. Ruiz is a catcher in US Major League Baseball. He started with the Phillies, then went to play for the Dodgers, then the Mariners, and is now a free agent.
Ruiz is the only player in the history of the National League to catch four no-hitters, and 1 of only 2 catchers in Major League Baseball, the other being Jason Varitek. (source: Wikipedia).
Baseball in Panama has two leagues, Juvenile League and the Panamanian Major League (AKA Panama Baseball League).
Each of Panama's 10 provinces has its own Juvenile and Major League baseball teams. However, Chiriqui is so good at baseball it can field 2 teams: Chiriqui Occidental (Puerto Armuelles) and Chiriqui Oeste (David).
Not even the Panama province has 2 baseball teams and it is hands down the most populous province in the country. (FYI- The province of Panama's team is called Panama Metro.)
In the Major League, the Panama Metro team wins many championships, Herrera is often a contender, and Chirqui continues to hold its own.
The 11 teams are: Bocas de Toro, Chiriqui, Chiriqui Occidente, Colon, Cocle, Darién, Herrera, Los Santos, Panama Metro, Panama West, and Veraguas.
Well, actually, 22 teams if you count both the Juvenile and Major league teams. And they both should be counted. Panama takes its juvenile league very seriously.
TIP: One quick way to start a friendship with a local Chiricano is to ask about their baseball team.
As it turns out, baseball was not introduced to Panama by the Americans who came to build the canal. It started well before then. Baseball has been played in Panama as far back as 1883 when Panama was still a province of Colombia.
On Jan. 9, 1883, Panama’s Daily Star and Herald described a baseball game played in Chiriqui Plaza 2 days before. It was between a team from Chiriqui Province and members of the Panama Cricket and Baseball Club. (See Chiricanos have had a very long love affair with baseball). The Cricket and Baseball Club won. That team was mostly made up of West Indian workers brought in during the failed French-managed canal construction.
However, Panama's baseball history may go back even further. Back to a time before Amerca had even standardized rules for baseball. In his book, Historia del Béisbol Panameño, the Panamanian historian Ramon G. Pérez Medina writes that the 1st baseball game was played in Panama in the mid-1850s. One team was made up of American traders and the other team was men affiliated with the Panama Railroad Company.
In 1945, the Panamanian Major League was created. As I mentioned, the league has 11 teams: Bocas del Toro, Chiriqui, Chiriqui Occidente, Colon, Cocle, Darién, Herrera, Los Santos, Panama Metro, Panama West, and Veraguas
The first Panamanian to join an American Major League Baseball team was pitcher Humberto Robinson, who debuted with the Milwaukee Braves on April 20, 1955. Including the 4 major leaguers who were born in the Canal Zone, Panama has sent more than 50 players to the U.S. majors. That total includes recent players: Ruben Tejada, Christian Betancourt, Randall Delgado, and Carlos Ruiz.
Find out about the 10 Best Panamanian Players in MLB History, here.
The Kenny Serracin Stadium in David, Panama is brand new.
It had its first game on March 23, 2018. And Chiriqui won!
(David is the capital of the Chiriqui Province)
Chiriqui was playing against one of their top rivals Herrera. Huge celebrations ensued!
The stadium has seats for 8500 fans. The old stadium only accommodated 2000 people.
It is all tricked out with lights and modern boxes. It was built to comply with the requirements of a Major League stadium in the States.
Where is it?
It is easy to find. It is pretty big.
It is by the intersection of the Interamericana and the overpass of the new road to Boquete. Another way to think about it, is that it is close to the Super Baru, the supermarket. Or better yet, punch the address into WAZE.
The Address
Calle P Norte (e / Av. Obaldía and Vía Belisario Porras)
David ,Chiriquí
About Kenny Serracin - the Man
Kenny Serracin is from Puerto Armuelles! (which is where we live in Panama). That is where he learned to play baseball. He also worked picking bananas in the banana plantations near Puerto Armuelles. Mr. Serracin later moved to David, where taught PE at a school in Doleguita. He then worked as the administrator and sports director of the original baseball stadium.
All the while he continued to play baseball. He was playing for Chiriqui when it won its first championship in 1944.
He was a man who worked for the love of the game.
In the 1970s, after he stopped playing ball, Mr. Serracin worked with the Lions Club to form little leagues teams and he helped to reorganize baseball throughout the province.
Wherever you go, there will will be alot of smiles, music, dancing, and drinking.
In the bigger celebrations you will find:
When is Carnival? Carnival is from Feb 10 - Feb 13th. Feb 13th is also called Fat Tuesday and is the biggest day of the celebrations. The next day, Feb 14th, is Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent. (Lent is a period of fasting and devotion leading up to Easter per the Catholic Church.) This year the start of Lent is also Valentines day.
Las Tablas hosts the most extravagant carnival celebration in the country.
The parade they put on is given alot of spice because of the rivalry between two streets, Calle Arriba and Calle Abajo. Each street vies to put on a more grandiose show. Each street also has it’s own carnival queen, each one try to out shine the other.
The Las Tablas carnival is featured in the 2017 movie, Donaire y Esplendor, by Arturo Montenegro.
Santo Domingo is a little town about 5 minutes from Las Tablas. They have a good parade featuring traditional dress and dance. The parade is in the late afternoon, on Tuesday.
Most people leave Panama City for Carnival.
Read this post, which includes critical info about travel to and from Panama City during Carnival.
If you stay in Panama City, the places to go are the Cinta Costera and Avenida Balboa. A procession of floats, dancers and revelers create the city’s biggest street party of the year.
You can find plenty of food and drink at the numerous stalls along the way. There’s live music, face painting for the kids and a whole lot of dancing. (Remember, you will get wet. So don't wear anything you want to keep dry)
Arrive early in the afternoon if you want any hope of being near the parade procession. The parade gets into full swing alittle after sunset.
I'm told that the Diablico Sucios in Bocas carry real whips that they use on anyone they determine are "misbehaving. Most of the festivities occur on the main street of Bocas town on Isla Colon.
Penonome puts on a more family-friendly carnival celebration. They also have a very unique feature. Their Carnival parade is on the water. The floats, literally float.
Chitre's carnival celebrations are second only to the famed celebrations of Las Tablas. They feature the typical parades, folkloric dancing, and water fights.
We have been in Chitre for carnival. We enjoyed it. We stayed at a hotel right on the square. The hotel's balcony was an excellent place to experience the carnival, esp. once we were ready to retire from the street experience.
Pedasi, is a small town near the beach in the Los Santos province of Panama. It is not far from Chitre. It has an even more mellow carnival experienced than Penonome. The festivities are mostly in the central square. Bring a chair and a cooler and relax and enjoy the parade, music, and crowd.
For some reason, this village's carnival celebration is very popular with Panamanians from all over the country. So much so that the village lives mainly off the revenue that is generated during carnival.
It is laid-back celebration with a “moving carnival” that has people dancing with the band as it moves from house to house. It also has the usual parade and the competition for the title of the beauty queen. It is about a 50 minute bus ride from Chitre.
The Chiriqui Province is not a place to go for an exceptional carnival experience. I live in Chiriqui, so I feel I must mention it.
In Puerto Armuelles, where I live, it is mostly a family affair. Many locals tend to make a weekend of it by going out to the beach and bars out on Punta Burica. The bars will have more live music and will generally be livelier and more crowded. The waterfront bar Tisa Mar, in particular, usually has live music and charges admission.
Dolega, David, and Las Lajas, all in Chiriqui, have carnival celebrations. David has the biggest one of the three, which isn't saying much.
Until 2 years ago, David hadn’t celebrated Carnival for 16 years. Now they do celebrate Carnival, but I think it is still only during daylight hours.
Last year, I wrote a more detailed post all about Carnival.
In Boquete, where there is such a disparity of wealth, you can feel a bit privileged by attending.
To help ameliorate that privilege guilt, part of the proceeds go to help a really excellent music program for kids. One of the days, the kids come and put on a show.
With or without, feeling privileged, I really enjoy myself there. I delight in dancing to live Blues music.
If you will be in the Chiriqui Province in late February, you should consider attending.
To find out more about the Boquete Jazz and Blues Festival, click here.
Their website is greatly improved. It has a lot of easily accessible information about the events and the line ups.
The Festival runs from Feb. 22nd - Feb. 25th, 2018
This year I will have to miss the first 2 days of it.
When I said yes to speak at Live & Invest Panama conference, I didn't realize it overlapped with the Boquete event.
But I can make it to both.
By the way, if you are still in the information gathering stage about Panama, you may want to check out the Live & Invest Panama (LIOS) conference.
I would never have thought of going to such an event, but now that I have attended one, I understand its value. I wrote about the 2018 LIOS Panama event (Feb 21 - 23rd) here.
Maybe I will see you at both events.
We have written about 2 of the Boquete music festivals we have attended.
You may enjoy checking them out as well.
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I (Reyn) decided to walk down the beach to investigate. Betsy suggested that I take her camera to get video of this unusual event. Hopefully the video came out okay.
There had been pretty good surf for over a week in Puerto Armuelles. It being a Sunday we sometimes see surfers from Playa La Barqueta (near David) here. These, mostly young, Panamanians drive to Puerto Armuelles to surf when their own break is too big and “gnarly” to ride.
Since Puerto Armuelles is sheltered by Punta Burica from the prevailing southwest swell, we have more days without waves than less protected surf locations.
On the other hand, when the surf gets big and and ugly at other spots, we still have a relatively playful wave suitable for less than expert surfers.
Plus, our beach is always safe for swimmers.
Playa La Barqueta is generally considered to be too dangerous for swimmers. There are annual reports of swimmers and even beach walkers drowning at La Barqueta.
I have body surfed at La Barqueta before, and it was intense. I would never swim there without swim fins; The current is too strong.
So, it was Sunday, and the waves had been pretty good all week. But still 12 surfers in the water was an all time record for Puerto.
“What was up?” I wondered. I walked up to a woman surfer standing on the beach and asked her “why the big crowd?”
She explained that the entire Chiriqui Surf Club just happened to be holding a big get-together this Sunday. They caravaned down from David to surf in Puerto Armuelles. This was not a regular event.
Secretly, I was relieved that our “old guy surfers’ paradise” had not been discovered by the mainstream surf population. Yes, it’s true. Even we old guy surfers have a hard time sharing our local surf spot with a sudden invasion of out-of-towners.
Not surprisingly, when I went surfing at the same spot on Monday morning, I was the only surfer in the water. Victor, an expat who lives nearby and who surfs every morning, is out of town, or there would have been 2 of us.
The waves were still 3-4 foot, as they had been on Sunday, but they were much cleaner. This is the kind of surf session that I treasure in Puerto Armuelles.
In all honesty, conditions are often flat here even during our surf season of June- November.
If you take a look at the video, the waves I filmed are pretty good size for our area. I would say 3-4 feet. We definitely have more flat days in Puerto than we have days like this.
However, even when the waves are small, our swell is generally a lot cleaner than the waves pictured (not so many closeouts).
We generally have glassy morning surf with nice peeling rides….even if the waves are only waist high they are often clean and “rippable”.
Puerto Armuelles is definitely not a destination surf spot. However, if you are a surfer, or you would like to learn, there is uncrowded small surf at many locations here.
Plus, within a half hour drive (Manaca) or boat ride, you can get into some big waves, if that’s what you are looking for.
I generally surf right at our local break at Corazon de Jesus, when there are waves.
If the ocean is flat, I swim.
Surfing is exhilarating. Swimming is relaxing. Both help remind me of how lucky I am to be living here.
Thanks for reading
Reyn
To learn more about Puerto Armuelles, start here.
With Puerto Armuelles, there are now 3 towns in the Chiriqui Province with monthly or weekly markets.
In fact, some of the vendors from both the Volcan and Boquete Markets will be selling their wares at the Puerto Armuelles Saturday Market.
We hope to grow as big as the Boquete Tuesday Market is today. But as someone who went to it years ago, Boquete's Tuesday Market was not always as big as it is today.
Puerto's Saturday Market will be held at Heavenly's Hotel. Heavenly's Hotel is a beachfront hotel in the San Vicente Neighborhood of Puerto Armuelles.
It is easy to find. And there are signs giving directions to the hotel on the way. The image below has a map with the route to Heavenly's Hotel marked in red.
On sunny days, it is an outside event. On rainy days, it will move inside.
I also have directions to Puerto Armuelles via this link.
8am to 1pm on 1st Saturday of every month
If you have something you want to sell, you are welcome to sell it at the Saturday Market.
There is no charge to set up your table. But you do need to bring your own table and chairs.
Will you be at the market?
A baker from Boquete, Morton's Bakery, will be here too. If you want to pre-order from him, let me know and I will send you the menu/price list and pre-order contact info. You must get your pre-order to him by Thursday.
If you have any household goods or other items you want to donate, there will be a donation table. All proceeds will go to benefit the monthly spay and neuter clinic of Puerto Armuelles.
I made a video about the spay and neuter clinic of Puerto Armuelles.
I hope to see you on Saturday!
For more information, please comment below.
or contact Milton @ 6843-3250 or Sheryl @ 6828-2605
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The more formal one, followed by the more casual dog show. I have captured the causal version of the dog show in the video above.
It is only in that less stringent show, that our dog, Ziggy, could win the most obedient dog award. Which he did.
The dog show happened in the parking lot of the Romero Supermarket in Puerto Armuelles.
Romero is a major supermarket chain in Panama. They sponsor dog shows throughout Panama.
We meet a young woman at the show who had had participated at the dog show in Bugaba 2 weeks ago.
She had come down to Puerto Armuelles from David to be in our dog show as well. She has 2 dogs. She belongs to a dog club and takes it very seriously. She didn't even bother to have her dogs out during the 2nd, less formal, dog show. They stayed in the shade and in the car.
In the video, I also discuss start times in Panama. How some events start right on time and some don't.
You have to be here for awhile to figure out which type of events will start promptly and which do not. Although, you can still get it wrong when you are not a native - as you will see in the video.
You can hear me, Betsy, doing a voice over in the video. Here is what I say:
You can check out a bit of the dog show in Puerto Armuelles, Panama.
Well, this dog show was really over when we arrived. They were giving out prizes and taking photos.
But it turns out, that even though we had thought it was over, and we'd come late because we didn't think it was starting right away. There's two parts of the dog show.
And we were pulled into it, happily, for my daughter, there, with our dog Ziggy. Because she had wanted to put her dog in.
And Veronique, who is with the cast, we had told about this dog show, so she is happily there.
But Sheryl, who you see there, she was just coming over to have us help her fix something. We had told her we were going to be there so we could fix it while we were there.
But we're all pulled into the second part.
You can see there's little obedient checks. Whether the dog will come to you, whether it will sit...
They do one run of that.
And then they have the audience give their input. They base the 2nd round of prizes on how much applause each person got.
Pretty much everyone got some dog food.
Here's an interesting cultural item.
You can easily think that everything happens late in Panama. You know, its a relaxed lifestyle.
Things tend to be late, but not everything.
When my husband was at Romero's. They said the dog show was going to be starting in a few minutes.
My husband looked around and said it didn't look like it would start for about an hour. But it started right away.
When we showed up, an hour and 20 minutes later, it was pretty much over. The main part at least.
And so, that is something we should have known - that the dog show would start on time. There's certain things that start on time.
It's just one of those things you kind of have to learn over time. What things start on time and what things are likely to be very very late.
One thing I do like about Panama, is that there is no pre-registration. Maybe for the first part, people pre-registered. But I'm sure if you showed up, you could still participate in that. And here, we were completely not prepared for the second part, and it was fine.
It is not necessary to do a lot of pre-planning in your life. And I love that about Panama.
I made a slideshow type video of the 1st annual dog show. The monthly spay and neuter clinic happened on the same day last year and I included some photos of that as well. You can see that video here.
Learn more about Puerto Armuelles by starting here.
If you already love Puerto, explore our Puerto Armuelles real estate.
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As a bonus we ran into a few other people from Puerto who were at the Circus.
This was the first time we have seen Circus Portugal.
This circus has no live animals.
I know there are many reason people object to animals in the circus. But one thing I like about animals in circuses, at least in Panama, is that you get to see them up and personal.
They are housed right outside the circus tent. So even if you don't go to the Circus, you can see the animals. I have seen camel, giraffes, elephants and more housed outside when the circus has been in town.
If you don't want to watch the video, the transcript is below.
Hi this is Betsy of Living in Panama
We went to the circus in David the other day
I just wanted to give a little snippet of what it was like.
The circus comes through the Chiriqui province probably 2, maybe, 3 times a year. Different circuses.
It stops in David as well as in Pasa Canoas, which is at the border.
We really like going to the circus.
We used to love the Circus Renato.
But for reasons that are understandable I don't think they are around any more. They had a many live animals and for obvious reasons, people have objections to that.
But Renato was an amazing showman. He put on a great show.
This was a fine circus.
It was mostly, which I don't capture much here,great for its comedy.
The best comedy we saw, I actually didn't record.
If you ever want to go, it is here to the end of the month. It's right next the Pricesmart and the Chiriqui Mall.
Hit like, if you like this video
subscribe if you want more snippets of life from Panama.
Thanks for watching
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The weekends will be especially crowded. More than 300K visitors are expected this year. The David Fair has all sorts of things: horses, cows, car and tractor dealerships, plants, traditional dancing, and much more.
Handicrafts, Art, Furniture
If you are looking to buy some handicrafts, paintings, furniture, or hammocks is it worth your time to check out the stalls. There are both outdoor and indoor stands of a wide variety of merchandise.
Gardening
If you are a gardener, make sure you check out the area of the fair where they sell plants. There is an enormous variety of plants for sale. You may want to go during the day, when it is less crowded.
I believe admission still only costs $2 , $1 if you are retired. Admission is free if you are under 8 years old. If you want to see the "zoo", it is an extra 50 cents, which you pay at the zoo entrance.
I have written about the David Fair a few times in the past. If you are interested, here the links to those posts.
2012 visit including 2 hotel mentions
I mention which towns embrace Carnival later in this post.
Carnival festivities include both traditional Spanish & Panamanian features.
The Carnival festivities start in the morning hours in the central plaza or other open area. A popular feature are cistern trucks (culecos) that water-hose (mojadera) people for a few hours, along with loud music, entertainment, and lots of beer and seca.
La mojadera is a popular, fun, and wet Carnaval tradition in Panama. La mojadera is a spray of water meant to soak you. Its creation was obviously inspired by the hot tropical weather. We enjoyed being hosed down from a culecos in Chitre when we were there for Carnival years ago.
February and March, when Carnival happens, are the hottest months of the year in Panama. Typically, the cooler highlands of Panama don't celebrate Carnival as much and when they do, la mojaderas are not part of the celebrations.
You will find these culecos cruising the parade route, or you may get sprayed by an enthusiastic Carnival-goer wielding a water balloon, water gun, or a bucket.
Obviously, you should be prepared to get wet - both mentally and your choice of clothing. However, you can usually avoid a spray from a culecos if you pay attention. Of course, you most likely will welcome a good dousing.
There is a lot of dancing, jumping, popular music, people in bathing suits, contests, and more. This goes on until the early hours of the afternoon.
Then everyone goes home to rest and prepare for the parade and the real partying. Panamanians typically start partying late and go til the wee hours.
In the evening, the parade starts. The parades typically feature floats ("topones"), bands of mostly trumpets and drums ("tunas") and, of course, the Carnival Queen and her court in elaborate costumes.
The parades have a different theme each night.
You will find plenty of food to buy at street stands, and of course beer and other alcoholic beverages.
Just before sunrise on Ash Wednesday, the Carnival queen leads the last parade, a funeral procession. It is known as the Burial of the Sardine ("Entierro de la Sardina")
A symbolic sardine is carried in a tiny coffin by costumed mourners to its burial spot. This burial tradition is an import from Spain.
The act signifies the end of the partying and the beginning of the 40 days of Lent.
The majority of Panamanians are Catholics. Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. In Catholicism, Lent represents the 40 days that Jesus prayed and fasted in the desert before he returned to Jerusalem (Palm Sunday). 5 days later he was crucified (Good Friday). Then 3 days after that, he rose from dead (Easter).
El Entierro de la Sardina attracts large crowds that stay up all night to see Carnival to its customary close, which typically involves alot of fireworks.
Carnavales is mostly celebrated in
I have some information about the celebrations in both Las Tables and Panama City below. But first a word about Carnival in my province of Chiriqui.
I only know of 3 carnival celebrations in Chiriqui: Dolega, David, and Las Lajas.
Until last year, David hadn't celebrated Carnival for 16 years. Supposedly it was for unspecified security reasons. Now they do celebrate Carnival, but not after dark. The festivities are scheduled to end at 7pm, every night but Friday. Friday night will feature a big parade highlighting the Carnival queen.
From what I hear, even though it is late to the game, David's Carnival is by far the best of the 3.
Here in Puerto Armuelles, people typically head out to the beach on Punta Burica or have a BBQ at home. There may be a bull-fight ("barrera").
Note: Panama bull-fights aren't anything like a bull-fight in Spain or Mexico. The only good thing you can say about them is that no bull or cow is killed. The increasingly drunk "fighters" are more likely to get hurt than the reluctant-to-participate cows or bulls.
And of course, the bars will be open for business. The bigger bars like TisaMar will have music and charge admission. But generally it is a family holiday.
Most people leave Panama City for Carnival.
This is true for almost every holiday in Panama. People leave in order to back home to celebrate with their families back "home".
To give you an idea of the magnitude of the exit, a special carnival task force converted the Bridge of the Americas into a one way road out of Panama City starting at 4pm on Friday until at least 7 pm, with the potential to extend it til later. (see photo).
The plan also calls for an extra lane to be established into the interior.
In recent years, there has been a big increase in Carnival celebrations in Panama City. The government has put millions into this effort.
The parade route starts on Via Espana and then goes along the Bay of Panama known as Cinta Costera.
You will enjoy parades with the Carnival Queen and her court, floats, huge crowds and lively bands playing Panamanian folk music, salsa, merengue, reggae, and Caribbean-influenced, exuberant dance music. On Sunday afternoon there is the “pollera” parade, which features women and young girls dressed in the distinctive Panamanian national costume.
For the first few nights, evening partying takes place in clubs, bars and hotels. On Tuesday in particular, there is an extravagant parade with with ornate floats and partying that continues until nearly dawn. (see map image for events)
The small town of Las Tablas on the Azureo Pennisula is the is famed for its Carnival. If you want the most extreme carnival experience in Panama, you must go to Las Tablas.
Plan Ahead
You need to reserve your hotel a year ahead of time. Otherwise, you can do it as day trip from Santiago or Panama City. You can also catch a flight from Panama City to either Chitre or Pedasi and then catch a bus or taxi to the festivities. Las Tablas is about 4 hours from Panama City.
The Feud
Las Tablas carival features an ancient “feud” between Calle Arriba (“Upper Street”), the La Placita neighborhood, and Calle Abajo (“Lower Street”), the Punta Fogón area of town. Each group of residents competes to produce the most beautiful Carnival queen and the most elaborate and awe-inspiring floats. The competition is taken very seriously.
The Video
To better understand the Carnival in Las Tablas, including the feud and the intense year-long preparations, watch the video below. It is an excellent video done by Don Usher.
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We are not much for Carnival ourselves. I do like the la mojadera and I enjoy seeing the more elaborate floats. However, I am happier missing the whole thing.
But if you want to immerse yourself in the celebrations, get ready for a 4 day ride.
Lent starts on Friday with the coronation of the Carnival Queen and her attendants by last year's Queen. Then continues on til the early morning of Wednesday. The biggest celebration is on Tuesday, known as Fat or Shrove Tuesday.
This year, 2017, Carnival starts on Friday, Feb. 24th, and ends in the early morning hours of Wednesday, March 1. In 2018, Carnival will start on Friday, Feb. 9th 'til Wednesday, Feb. 1.
Happy Carnival!
Please share your carnival experiences in Panama. Comment below.
