Palo de Mayo

The past two weekends here in Puerto I have gone to the Palo de Mayo or "May pole" celebrations, which are particular to the Creole population and take place all throughout the month of May.  Both events were very similar, consisting of a tree branch decorated with streamers and fruit, a choreographed dance performed by young girls, and then an all-out neighborhood dance party.  They were held in two different barrios, but the same group of young people dominated the dancing at both.  The palo de mayo is supposedly Afro-Caribbean and has something to do with fertility.  The celebrations are family-friendly and meant to "rescatar" Creole traditions, although the women at work tell me that they are nothing like they used to be.  The song in the video is apparently THE palo de mayo song, as it plays on repeat at each event and has been on the radio a lot since I got here.  I don't know what it says or even what language it is in.

The palo de mayo before the dancing started

The dance party!  People here are good dancers.

Last Sunday I also went to a nearby river at a place called Tuapi with Karen and some of her friends.  It was a pretty nice place, with tables and benches for cooking and hanging out.  The weird thing was that the water in the river was probably about 90 degrees--not quite hot tub temperature but close!  And since it was a hot day, it was not very refreshing.  I had never seen anything like it.  I went to a river in Costa Rica that was hot but it was shallow, and this river was really deep.  The bottom was hot to step on so there is definitely something geothermal going on.  I didn't get pictures of it, but I did take some pictures on the way there.  I was really surprised by the vegetation right outside of Puerto; it looks dry and almost desert-like whereas Puerto seems so tropical.  I am not sure if it is naturally that way or due to deforestation.