The Wild Ones

Have you ever seen horses dance to Tipico music?  How about a seeing a bull charge for you only separated by a few bars? These were just a few of the adventures I experienced last Saturday. 

            The day started with an invitation from Oni and her husband to accompany them to a concert. My favorite Panamanian band Sammy y Sandra were performing.  I am a huge music lover and back home went to concerts religiously.  It looked like my 2 years of Peace Corps service would be without many concerts so I jumped at the chance to attend. Oni and her husband Fidel pilled their 2 children, an uncle, an aunt, a grandma, and me in a car originally meant for 5 people. Oni and I shared a seat, which was quite a feat. As we drove through the countryside, lush hills and quaint towns became a blur. We pulled into a long drive and pulled up to a stone gate. Oni paid our fare and we entered. Right away it was like a circus. My eye could not figure out which amazing thing to take in first. There were chicken fights, a bullfight with lots of people leaning on a gate waiting for the bull to charge them. The smell of delicious fried food hung in the air. There was a full band. None of this could however, match the stunning beauty of the dancing horses.

“Boom do dam do dam boom” Played the band in the Tipico beat. The Horses lifted their hoofs to time and dipped and bowed. I had never seen anything so beautiful.

The bull fight was crazy. The Bull slamed against the fence not a foot away from me. I had to jump back and almost ran into a dancing horse! Here are some shots of the Bull Fight:

As the sunset, the campground really got live. The Men had a section for gambling while others battled out Salimar songs. The food and drink flowed. The night was cool and I enjoyed the time hanging with my friends and dancing with Oni’s Mother. After 4 hours of waiting, my favorite band Sammy y Sandra took the stage.  Sandra has an amazingly rich voice and loves to dance. She does allot of hip gyrations and wears crazy clothes. Sort of like a non-awful Nicki Minaj. That night she had on a lime green mesh dress that stopped just short of her jewels. The dress was totally see through save for sporadically spaced crystals.  Oni’s husband was drunk and made a great effort to go up on the stage and talk to management about me. They ended up shouting out me at the “North Americana par alla (Over there)” He then tried to get me to dance with her in front of no less then 3 thousand people. I was mortified. I begged him not too and he settled on making me go on stage and take pictures with the band. That wasn’t so bad.  It was not only a concert but also a baile, which is a Dance.  Thousands of couples paired up to dance Tipico. Tipico dancing is very strange to me. It looks as if all the couples our wound up pieces in a music box. The tops of their bodies stay completely straight and their feet move about clumsily and at high speed. Most of the night is spent bumping into other people. It is so counter to how I dance. I dance with my hips and butt while swaying my arms. This makes Panamanians declare me an amazing dancer. Even the star of the night commended me on my moves.  I danced a little Tipico but denied the men who came up to me and said “Hey Morena come here and dance with me”.  I danced with Oni and her husband. Fidel lost it on the dance floor. He began to jump all over the place with his arms outstretched and a broad smile on his face.  At one point of the night there was a Machete fight that broke out. This is fairly common here and was quickly dealt with. I don’t think anyone died.  It was such a beautiful night. I didn’t get home until 2 in the morning!  

here is some video of Sammy y Sandra playing my favorite song.