Ok, we had a long weekend here in Panama...4 days! Independence from Spain in 1821 was celebrated with almost daily parades of marching bands of the local schools..the town is bathed in displays of the Panamanian flag...lots of visitors from all over Panama....never seen this place so crowded! And this is not the end of it..there are more holidays to come. November is actually the month of national holidays here....the next long weekend will be coming up on Nov. 25-28, this time it's the independence from Colombia (1903) that needs to be celebrated every year. (Panama had joined Colombia after it broke loose from Spain in 1821, and then got its independence from Colombia in return for letting the US build the canal, with a little help from this new friend).
Anyway, the first part of the annual celebrations is over, and the weather is getting better also, less rain and a little more sunshine every day....Monday everybody's got to back to work, and so do we. Time to get ready for our next pre-festival events: On Nov. 13 we'll have the 4th free Sunday morning concert in the Boquete Central Park, this time with a band from Panama City playing traditional Panamanina music in honor of the "Fiesta Patrias".
Then, during the next long weekend we'll have another wine tasting fundraiser on Nov. 26, again with 10 fine wines to taste plus live music by a local jazzband. If you're in the area you shouldn't miss it...it's always a great pleasure!