“Impropio” from Costa Rica.

The Scenic and Audiovisual Arts Foundation of Panama will sponsor the annual International Festival of Scenic Arts from March 29 to April 3. Theater and dance groups from Panama, Spain, Colombia, Chile, Costa Rica, Argentine and Brazil will participate each evening with performances in the National Theatre at 8 p.m.

A highlight for many will be the exciting street theater event in Cathedral Plaza on Saturday April 2 at 4 p.m. when jugglers, stilt-walkers, clowns and flame-throwers, among others, will amuse the crowd.

From Mexico the group Teatro del Mar presents "Antigonia" by José Watanabe a very contemporary production directed by Miguel Angel Rivera.

The Teatro Petra Company from Colombia will perform the play "Dos Hermanas" a comedy in six acts written and directed by Fabio Rabana. This group has won three national drama prizes, and various scholarships in their native country.

"Dos Hermanas" from Colombia.

The Chilean company Un Mundo Teatro will present "Sor María Ignacio Lo Explica Todo Para Usted" by Christopher Durant, directed by Alejandro Trejo. This is a black comedy, well received in Chile, winning a best – director award.

From Argentina, the group "El Beso y La Mordedura" presents "La Amante de Baudelaire vestida de terciopelo" written and directed by Fernanda García Lao and Gabriela Lujan. Musical, comical, absurd, dramatic, poetic are words used to describe the piece. Its two major actresses shared best actress award in Mar del Plata.

Two dance companies will also participate in the Festival. The Yoshua Cienfuegos Contemporary Dance Company will present "Purgatorio". This company has performed widely in Spain, Europe and Latinamerica and has won major awards in the Madrid Choreography Competi-tion.

The Contemporary Dance Company "4 pelos/ Los denmedium" will present "Impropio", directed by Jimmy Ortíz. This company is considered to be one of the most outstanding of Latin America.

Tickets to all of these performances can be purchased at Ticket Center (279-1010)

"Purgatorio" from Spain.

"Cabanga" from Panama.

Wednesday 29:
8:00 p.m. Teatro Nacional – "Purgatorio". Compañía de danza Yoshua Cienfuegos (Spain).

Thurday 30:
8:00p.m. Teatro Nacional – "Dos Hermanas".
Teatro Petra (Colombia)

Friday 31:
8:00p.m. Teatro Nacional – "Sor María Ignacio Lo
Explica Todo Para Usted". Compañía Un Mundo Teatro (Chile)

10:00 p.m.
La Casona "Mundo Quiere Ser Diablo". Oveja Negra
Theater Group (Panamá).

Saturday 1:
8:00p.m. Teatro Nacional –
"La amante de Baudelaire
Vestida De Terciopelo". El Beso y La Mordedura
Theater Group (Argentina)

10:00p.m. La Casona – "Madre Tierra¨. Yanza Danza Group (Panamá)

Sunday 2:
8:00p.m. Teatro Nacional – "Impropio". 4 Pelos/
LosdenmediumGroup
(Costa Rica).

4:00 p.m. Plaza Catedral – Afternoon of Street
Theater with clowns, fire
throwers, jugglers, stilt
walkers. (Panama Argentina, Brazil)

Monday 3:
8:00p.m. Teatro Nacional – "Antigona". Del Mar Theater Group (México).

Tickets on Teatro Nacional: $20.00, $15.00, $10.00 y $5.00

Thousands of fans will enjoy

Los Rabanes from Panama.

Movistar Music Fest 2, the last major musical event of the dry season in Panama (December – April), offering the most popular in-fashion rythms including reggaeton, Latin pop and rock, will take place over 2 days (April 1 & 2) at Plaza Figali on the Causeway. For the second consecutive year thousands of fans can enjoy the atmosphere and excitement generated by first rate performers.

From Panama, national talent is well represented by Los Rabanes, Ivan Barrios, Os Almirantes, Comando Tiburon and Jimmy Bad Boy.

The Puerto Ricans, Wisin y Yandel.

International performers include Miranda, La Quinta Estación, Moenia, Jaguares, Coti Aventura, Wisin y Yandel, Vilma Palma, Vicentico and Diego Torres.

In addition to the music Movistar Music Fest 2 will provide the crowd with a series of extreme sports activities featuring well-known U.S. free riders and the Red Bull Airforce acrobats.

You can get your tickets in all branches of Blockbusters from $10.00

Grupo Jaguares from Mexico.

Grupo Miranda.

Formerly the race was allowed to transit the locks — now participants must carry their craft around them.

Panama's annual Ocean-to-Ocean Cayuco race, to take place on the week-end starting Friday April 7, is unique and as such attracts large numbers of spectactors.

Where else in the world can you race between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in only 3 days? It consists of 50 gruelling milles from sea to sea and tests the endurance and courage of its participants to the limit. In days gone by it was an amazing sight to see hundreds of small cayucos tied together transitting the locks. Nowadays the canoes are lifted out of the water and transported around the locks but this does not detract from the race´s fun and exhuberance.

The event began in 1954 and involved both Panamanians and U.S. participants. Frank Townsend of the Panama Canal Company had the idea of taking a group of Boy Scouts to meet a native community on the Chagres River. They learned local traditions and how to use cayucos. Rivalry sprang up between the groups and it was finally decided to oganize a formal race through the canal, a tradition which has lasted more than 50 years. The race is organized by the volunteer race committee of the Balboa Paddle club.

The Ocean-to-Ocean race begins on Friday, April 7, with Leg One, at the Atlantic entrance of the Canal in Cristobal, ending at Gatun Locks, a distance of approximately seven miles. Saturday´s Leg Two takes participants across Gatun Lake and ends in Gamboa, and is approximately 21 miles long On Sunday, April 9, Leg Three starts in Gamboa and ends at Beacon 93. (This leg replaces the lockages through Pedro Miguel and Miraflores Locks.) Although the original format of the race has been changed, the overall distance remains the same. Beginning again at Beacon 93, paddlers go through Gaillard Cut. At the end of this leg, the cayucos are taken out of the water, and transported by land around the locks. Leg Three continues from Miraflores Locks with paddlers coming down the Pacific channel to the finish line at Diablo ramp, and is approximately 15 miles.

The Cayuco Race is only possible because of the generous support of the Panama Canal Authority, and many organizations and volunteers. The Panama Canal Authority provides access to the waterway, facilites, equipment and support personnel.

Other events of the club are:
The Amador Causeway Regatta: This regatta is a race of six miles that can be seen all along the Amador Causeway. It is sponsored for the Club of Yates of Balboa.

The Melia Panama Canal Regatta: On March 15, 2003 this race was run for the first time.

The Gamboa Regatta: This event carries 18 years of tradition. It is a test of acceleration in sprints, and is sponsored for the Gamboa Rainforest Resort.

Home-seekers scape out the prospects.

Interested in buying a home or apartment in Panama? Expo Vivienda Verano 2006 at Atlapa Convention Center is the place to head for from March 31 to April 2. More than 100 exhibitors eagerly await the chance to put a roof over your head. This is an excellent opportunity to find all the information you need in one single location. Among those taking part are real estate companies and the promotors of the many new building projects spinging to life in the city and in the country at large.

Organized by the Panamanian Construction Chamber, the exposition is expected to attract over 20,000 visitors during the three day period.

An added benefit is the participation of many financial institutions where prospective buyers can find the necessary mortgage information.

With Panama experiencing such an influx of foreigners interested in settling in the Republic it should make for an interesting event.

You only have this weekend to head west to the provincial capital of Chiriquí to enjoy its grand, annual fair. The party ends on Sunday, March 26.

Featuring 450 industrial, agricultural, tourist and commercial exhibitors from throughout the Americas, the David International Fair is one the largest of the long series of country festivals taking place throughout the Isthmus during the dry season (December-April). Although it was originally conceived as an agricultural event, the fair has grown to attract people of all ages and tastes, as it offers games, varied pop musical performances, folklore shows and tourist activities.

Located 483 km. west of Panama City along the Pan-American Highway, the city of David is a growing metropolis which combines modern amenities with country flavor. Situated in a fertile coastal plain, David is the capital of the country’s top cattle and agricultural region –a province rich in beautiful landscapes along its ample coasts on the Pacific and majestic peaks and valleys.

Although David’s climate is hot, it is less than an hour away from the cool-weather mountain resort communities of Boquete, Volcán and Cerro Punta, which are attracting growing numbers of foreign retirees and second-home buyers.

Linked to the capital by an excellent bus service and daily, scheduled flights (departing from Albrook’s Gran Terminal de Transporte and Marcos A. Gelabert Airport, respectively), David boasts a number of excellent hotels, such as Hotel Nacional, a long-established but modern facility offering good restaurants and a casino.