celebrating the heritage of Portobelo

Another (rainy) day in Panama's short dry season, another provincial festival.  This time the Diablos and Congos festival which takes place two weeks after carnival every other year in the Caribbean village of Portobelo.

Well, technically it is a city, but with its current population of less than 3,000, it is only its ruins that hint of its past importance.  Founded in 1597, it became an important silver-exporting port for the Spanish after Francis Drake burned its rival port to the ground.  It was sacked by Henry Morgan (yes, him again) in 1668, and then captured by the British in 1739 as part of the War of Jenkins Ear.  Apparently this victory was greatly celebrated in Britain and is the reason that Portobello Road is so named.

The Spanish quickly recovered Portobelo but its importance declined as ships began to travel around Cape Horn.  Today one can still see the remains of three forts and the impressive old Royal Customs House where the Spanish used to store all the silver they had taken from Peru, but otherwise it is just a fishing village.

The festival, however, gives everyone the chance to dress up and to celebrate their heritage.  The inhabitants, the Congos, are descended from escaped black slaves and they are proud to maintain elements of their African heritage.  I say 'elements' because I saw little to remind me of Africa.  Just the drums, in fact.  The costumes appear to me to be either colourful versions of the Spanish flamenco dress (like the less colourful pollera worn throughout the country on festival days), or a collection of everything the wearer could find to somehow stick together!  More photos here than usual, but it really was a colourful spectacle and some of the costumes are hard to describe...