Parades in Pana

One thing you'll learn pretty quick in Panajachel, Guatemala, is that they love parades! And since it's a small town with few streets, the whole town stops to watch ... mostly cuz they can't do anything else!
I just caught the tail end of this parade when I was heading to the grocery store yesterday. This school had different grades dressed up as Super Mario or Mario Kart characters. The trucks were playing the video game music! So cute.

We wondered if these kids know the original Mario? Or just the Kart version?

The fake mustaches were adorable. This class had real cloth hats, but another class had ones made cleverly out of paper.

Toads and Toadettes.

I think these kids are getting tired at this point. They've probably walked all the way across town!
(OMG just noticed the sweet rat-tail on the guy in the left foreground. Ha!)

Yoshis! They were super bright lime coloured. Excellent sewing work!

I think this is the bad guy?

Every parade also has to have at least one marching band. Guatemala is addicted to marching bands! Watch the video below to see the parade in action, with the marching band at the end. I chuckled a bit when I realized they were playing YMCA.

So those pics were from yesterday, Saturday. This morning there is another parade, with bigger kids and even more marching bands. Hooray. A strange thing about parades in Guatemala is no one is happy. The crowd just stands there staring silently. No cheering or clapping, and only smiles when they see someone they know.

Fancy uniforms! The dudes in the back are even wearing their chin straps on their noses... which makes no sense at all.

Not sure why this school was carrying photos of themselves.

There is always an order to the marching bands: a sign, some flags, some beauty queens, sexy dancy ladies in tall boots and short skirts, some people wearing the school uniform, then the band.

It's also kinda entertaining to see the "parade" of trucks, chicken buses, tuk-tuks, and other vehicles following slowly along behind the real parade, although I imagine the drivers are kinda miffed about the slow pace.

Between Guatemalan Independence Day on September 15th and the Pana Town Fair on October 8th (officially), it is pretty much a non-stop party here in town. It's fun, but also a bit draining. It's hard to get around town because streets are blocked off or narrowed by vendors setting up extra stalls. Lots of people come to town to visit and party. But it's all in good fun and you just gotta roll with it! (And be sure to have some churros while they last!)