Travel Guide Las Tablas

On your way to the beaches and islands of the peninsula's south, you can stop off at this small town of around 10,000 inhabitants, famous for its carnival, which kicks off on the Friday before Ash Wednesday.The tradition dates back to the 17thcentury. Old-timers speak nostalgically of "their" carnival, which then attracted only neighboring communities to a gathering where people twirled around the queen, to the sound of fiddles and drums, until night fell and candles lit up the ball. Nowadays, this tradition is no longer confined to Las Tablas, and has spread to Penonomé, Pedasí, Los Santos, Chitré, La Chorrera... Companies often give their employees the day off during these four days of celebration. Little by little, the orchestras have been replaced by mobile discotheques, and the traditional buckets of water that people used to drench themselves in have become enormous cisterns(culecos) from the top of which the crowds are sprayed! These mojaderas (from the verb mojar, "to wet") are a must, so dress lightly!And, like all good festivals, the queens are part of the fun! It was around the 1950s that each street began to present its own queen, encouraging increasingly fierce competition between Calle Arriba (high street) and Calle Abajo (low street).Earlier in the year, in January, the Festival of a Thousand Polleras is a traditional fashion show offering yet another opportunity to admire the fine, colorful work of local seamstresses! And on a less secular note, don't miss the Festival of Santa Librada. Around the third week of July, the town pays tribute to its patron saint, the crucified virgin.