Each year there is a Queen of the Sugar Cane Festival and on Thursday, the queen from last year is paraded through the streets to the stage, 4 other princesses are introduced that represent different aspects of culture (dance, food, dress, customs – I think), then 2 little girls come up with a new crown and then the new queen for the current year is presented. The outfits and floats are like what you see in Carnaval celebrations – really elaborate, colorful and beautiful.
Friday brought more parades I think, though I didn’t end up going. Then Saturday evening was the biggest parade with 3 different floats. The first had the queen for next year, the second had the 4 princesses and the last one had this year’s queen.
Sunday was the parade of the carretas – little carts that are extensively decorated (though not like the floats) by each of the corrigimientos of the district of Pesé. They compete for a cash prize. Many of them are sponsored by politicians. Then at the end of the night the queen and the princesses are presented one more time.
Another sugar-cane related thing that I did this week was I got to taste sugar cane juice! My counterpart, César, took me and my family (we were on our way to swim in a river) to his friend’s house who has a mill/grinder/juicer – I don’t quite know what to call it. You normally hook up a horse to it, then feed the sugar cane through as the horse walks in a circle. Someone has to hold a funnel and bucket/bottle to catch the juice as well. They feed the sugar cane through twice to get all of the juice out. César also brought some ginger to add to it, which was delicious. They also make a honey out of it which we also got to try – it was SUPER rich. It had a slightly different taste than honey from bees, but was very good. This was such a cool experience to have – watching them make the juice, then drinking it! Felt very Panamanian!
I've been trying to add photos.... but they're not uploading. I'll add some when I can!
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