Independence Day in Panama

November 3, 1903 was the date when Panama got their independence from Colombia, with a little help from US military forces.  It didn't hurt that the treaty to give the US permission to build the Panama Canal was signed two weeks later.  The treaty gave the US control over a strip of land 10 miles on either side of the canal for an unlimited period of time.

Celebrating the big day

This holiday took several days of preparation.  On Wednesday, October 31, there were no classes in school.  The students worked to clean the classrooms and decorate them in a patriotic way.

They flooded the classroom with a hose and swept it out

A typical classroom bulletin board

This is how the English classroom looked:

One group of students even cleaned out the bus stop at the top of the hill.  Afterwards they went to the Bailey house porch for relaxation and refreshments.

Later that day they took one of the bulls from the school grounds off to be slaughtered.  He would taste delicious on Saturday!  They didn't have a loading chute, so the young bull had to be convinced to go in the back of the truck by men with ropes. He really didn't want to go.  We stayed a safe distance away!

Thursday had a normal class day, but on Friday there were no classes, as everyone had to be in school the whole day on Saturday.  Most of the boarding students went home or to town for the day, but we took a group of about 35 of them to the swimming hole, along with three other adults.

We are all trying to stay on a submerged log

Heather and Leopoldo enjoy the water

Then came the big day.  Everyone dressed up in their traditional Azuero clothing (except Steve, who only had the sandals).

Heather with teachers Yolanda and Maria Elena

Steve and the school director Pacifico 

Heather

Heather and Luis in their tipico shirts

After a ceremony in the school, the next event was a parade through town.

The drum corps played energetically

Yeimi and Yohanis pose for the camera

This little spectator shows his tipico outfit

The color guard

Heather poses with Senor Rosa (short for Rosalino), who claims to be the biggest flower in Chepo.  Note Heather's hairpiece, called a tembleque.

After the parade, students and townspeople headed back to the school to feast on the ornery young bull.  He was very tasty.  

Then came the traditional task of climbing a 50 ft. greased pole. At the top was the Panamanian flag and a bag of goodies.  Whoever climbed the pole first also received a cash reward of $30.

First they had to grease the pole and set it in place

The school boys teamed up to make the climb

The weather that day was not rainy for the parade for the first time in several years.  The rain, however, began to fall soon after the boys started their quest, making the task even more difficult.

Whoops!  Let's start over

After the boys had tried for a couple of hours, the next event started.  We had to decide who would be the queen of the graduating class.  The winner was decided by counting up how much money each girl raised through selling raffle tickets.

And the winner is... Delfilia!

We were given the honor of pinning the sash on the newly crowned queen.

Now, back at the pole, the boys had made more progress.  Eventually they would rub off all the grease on their bodies and be able to climb to the top.  The whole process took about five hours, and left the ten boys who shared the job (and the reward!) in a state of total exhaustion.

Keep going!

Sunday, November 4th was Flag Day. After a brief ceremony at the school, the band and color guard headed off to the nearby town of Las Minas for a repeat of their Saturday performance.  It was quite a weekend, and the whole school was given Monday and Tuesday off to recuperate.