Want to blow up your favorite celebrities, enemies or adversaries? Well the People along the Panama Highway near our house have a way. They make up dummies of the character they love, despise, or are upset with in some way and fill the dummy with firecrackers. Often you recognize the dummy as a politician or Bart Simpson or a celebrity with a sign telling who it is. This tradition started with the local Indians making dummies with heads painted on coconuts and stuffing old clothes for shape. Now the practice has refined itself and spread geographically along Highway for twenty miles. There is even a judging and awards with money given out and on New Years Eve the dummies are for sale so you can take them home. I have included a few pictures of the dummies some of which are works of art. The dummies are just appeared right after Christmas until New Years Eve when at midnight they are all BLOWN TO SMITHEREENS! Talk about closure!
And since fireworks are legal in Panama the celebration of the New Year is very loud and sparkley. We have a friend and her twelve year old twins here so the best way to bring in the New Year was to light it off! We went to the beach with rockets, sparklers, and other exploding gizmos and after had set off all of our stuff we witnessed at least three major major displays put on by private parties up and down the coast. It was as good as any 4th of July I have ever seen. The after midnight the discos open with live music and dancing until 6 am. We closed the windows and turned on the AC and went to sleep. After all, Linda had to get up real early to go surfing and I wanted to write this episode.
And since fireworks are legal in Panama the celebration of the New Year is very loud and sparkley. We have a friend and her twelve year old twins here so the best way to bring in the New Year was to light it off! We went to the beach with rockets, sparklers, and other exploding gizmos and after had set off all of our stuff we witnessed at least three major major displays put on by private parties up and down the coast. It was as good as any 4th of July I have ever seen. The after midnight the discos open with live music and dancing until 6 am. We closed the windows and turned on the AC and went to sleep. After all, Linda had to get up real early to go surfing and I wanted to write this episode.
