An artsy afternoon when the sun was too fierce
by Eric Jackson
Did I pick the wrong time to make my way into Penonome? I set out about noon, waited a little while in the shade to catch a bus at the usual stop, got an Anton bus and got off at the entrada, went into the Van y Ven to grab me a cold bottle of red Powerade, then went out to the bus stop on the highway to continue my way into Peonome. Several full buses — Penonome buses — passed me by. I was standing in the sun in front of the bus stop so as to be prominently see to hail a bus.
Then another Anton bus unloaded a crowd, and another. These folks hugged the shade under the caseta. They included a couple of mothers with young children, a predominantly female crowd of 17, with some young men.
Finally a Penonome bus pulled up in front of me, and there was this rush of young men, one so surly as to try to push me aside. I put out my arm, got on the bus and went to the back. The only ones who got on other than me were the aggressive young men. I think all of the other 17 people, and many in the full busses that passed me by, were headed to another cultural event in Penonome that day, the Sombrero Pintao Festival. In any case, it was a display of a certain aspect of Panamanian culture that’s not beautiful.
Got off at the bank stop, made my way down the town’s main drag, and it had the look of a slow business Saturday.
Come to the park and it was not crowded. The band was not one of the main attractions, but here was a local tipico band, not your renowned professionals but some men keeping the local culture alive, somewhere near the geographical center of Panama. The city had neglected to take down the signs and lanterns from the earlier Chinese New Year party, but that’s also part of the local culture.
Nice art, hungry artists making few sales, not enough customers. I hope that business picked up.
Some sculpture, mostly painting.
Keeping the popular musical traditions popular…
An insolent cubist dismembers the deity to whom rabiblanco families take their children on pilgrimages to the United States to worship.
¡Panamá linda! But artists who do excellent work making few sales at the moment.
Contact us by email at thepanamanews@gmail.com
To fend off hackers, organized trolls and other online vandalism, our website comments feature is switched off. Instead, come to our Facebook page to join in the discussion.
These links are interactive — click on the boxes
