It was not too many days ago I said I would hide on the mountain for this Boquete Coffee and Flower Fair, number thirty four, if my blurred eyes read the sign correctly. Still temptation drew me like a moth toward the lights and sounds of chaos.
Saturday afternoon my house was invaded by people under thirty, Mayra’s daughter, Cesar, formerly of Multibank in Boquete and a troop of their friends from Panama City. It was by listening to the residents of the capital that I was seduced yet again. I what I have determined is a habit of Panamanians they took photos of themselves everyplace, mountain views, with the chickens, with each other, with horses and more. To them, residents of the capital, Boquete and Jaramillo was something different. It made me appreciate how lucky we are to live here. In a short while I forgot they were natives of Panama, we had a dinner, local Boquete trout, yucca cocido (boiled yucca) and a salad. They proceeded to prepare for the discos by assassinating a case of beer.
Following careful suggestions of how to circumvent the police checkpoint at the high school, they wove down to the fair; we followed a short while later. Unfortunately I did not take a camera, I did not even take a wallet, just some cash and my identification and my iphone so the photos and video are a bit crude. The Fair was semi organized chaos. Food, noise, lights, more food, noise and lights. We ran into a few familiar faces and Stone who was enjoying an odd mixture of rum and tea. Near the discos we discovered the real meaning of the Boquete Fair, more noise.
I love latin music, I love merengue, I love salsa, I even like Mariachis, but the mixture of the four discos blaring at each other with volume at maximum is not music. The sum is not equal to the separate parts, they do not enhance. Although Mayra,s daughters and her sister paid and went into the X zone, we beat a leisurely retreat past the stage and what was music, not noise and far enough from the discos to not be drowned out.
By the time we walked the fair twice I felt less like dancing and more like the boy here in his brother’s lap.
If you have never done the Boquete Fair at night I do recommend the experience at least once. You will soon discover if you have a Peter Panm Complex. If you choose to be stodgy, here is a very short video and more significant audio from last night.
