Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
( 228-3258;
www.cascospanish.com
; Calle 4a Oeste, Casco Viejo; 20hr intensive per week from
US$195)
This new reader-recommended Spanish school sits in the heart of the Casco. In
addition to private and group lessons, they also offer accommodations and activities.
Institute for Spanish Language Studies
LANGUAGE COURSE
(ILERI; 260-4424;
www.isls.com/panama
; Camino de la Amistad, El Dorado)
Located in the
suburban El Dorado neighborhood, this language school offers four hours of one- on-one
instruction per day, five days a week. Costs start at US$275 for the first week, with op-
tional extra homestays (US$175 per week).
Festivals & Events
Panama Jazz Festival
JAZZ
(
www.panamajazzfestival.com
)
A blast, the Panama Jazz Festival is gaining momentum as
one of the biggest musical events in Panama, drawing hundreds of thousands of spectat-
ors for a weeklong festival mid-January. It's held all over the city. Open-air events are
usually free, while big-draw theater spectacles require tickets.
Carnaval
FESTIVAL
Carnaval in Panama City is celebrated with merriment and wild abandon in the days pre-
ceding Ash Wednesday, between February and March. From Saturday until the following
Tuesday, work is put away and masks, costumes and confetti come out, and for 96 hours
almost anything goes.
Festivities begin with a coronation of Carnaval queen on Friday, followed by a small
Saturday parade with the queen and her court. Vía España fills with people, music pours
from all directions and spontaneous dancing breaks out. Masked characters cavort among
the crowd. Colorful street vendors wander through the throngs of people, and improvised
entertainment abounds. The party moves indoors at night - into cantinas, private clubs
and hotels - where combos play Afro-Cuban and typical Panamanian music, and the dan-
cing and drinking continue till dawn.
On Sunday folk-dance groups decked out in Panama's national costumes join the
queen and her attendants in the afternoon parade down Vía España, traveling from near
Vía Brasil to near Av Federico Boyd (the exact beginning and ending points vary from
year to year). To cool the sunbaked masses, fire and garden hoses are turned on the
crowd. The amount of water sprayed on party-goers during Carnaval in Panama City dur-
ing these four festive days equals the amount the city uses during the previous four
months.
