Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
FESTIVAL DEL TORO GUAPO
The small agricultural town of
Antón
, just off the Interamericana almost midway between
Farallón and the provincial capital, Penonomé, really only registers on the tourist radar
once a year, during the festival of
Toro Guapo
(“Fierce Bull”) in mid-October, when the
pleasant colonial square and whitewashed church are transformed by hordes of visitors.
The fun-filled five-day extravaganza takes its name and much of its action from the cattle
farming that has defined the area for centuries and is well worth sampling. Alongside the
usual array of folkloric dancing, colourful street parades, beauty pageants and progress-
ively more drunken revelry are
toros
- men who cavort around the streets, charging at all
and sundry. They dress in fantastical costumes draped over wooden or bamboo frames,
topped with a bull's head adorned with ribbons and mirrors.
Many of the surrounding villages produce such a beast, with the creativity of the costume
and acrobatic skills of the wearer a source of local pride, to be displayed during the parade
on the final morning. After being blessed in the church, the bulls are led round the town
as they playfully harass the
pollera
-swishing dancers, accompanied by bands of drummers.
Listen out among the beats for the distinctive chime of the
almirez
- a bell-shaped bronze
mortar of Afro-colonial origin that pharmacists once used to grind their medicinal herbs,
and is now a musical instrument unique to Antón.
Other festival highlights include
water fights
(
mojaderas
), competitions testing tradition-
al
rural skills
, such as carrying firewood, peeling coconuts and milking a cow, and dancing
by extravagantly dressed
diablos limpios
(“clean devils”. Strangest of all is the
cutarras
,
when a poor cow is wrestled to the ground by several farmers, often the worse for wear,
who then struggle to fix sandals (
cutarras
) over the hooves, recalling an old trick of cattle
rustlers attempting to hide the telltale hoof prints.
ARRIVAL AND ACCOMMODATION
By bus
Antón is well served by bus from Panama City (every 20min, 5.20am-8pm; 2hr),
especially as additional buses are laid on during the festival.
Hotel Rivera
Interamericana 987 2245,
hotelrivera-panama.com
.
A/c rooms with
cable TV, wi-fi and even a pond-sized pool. $39
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: PENONOMÉ
BY BUS
From/to Panama City
Buses from Panama City (every 20min, 4.50am-10.45pm; 2hr) pull
in at the “bus terminal”, which comprises a couple of streets by the market, just southeast
of the main square. Through buses also drop passengers off at the Interamericana turn-off
(
entrada
) into town, where you can catch other long-distance buses. From the junction it's a
