Below is a reprint of an article written by Patrizia Pinzón for The Visitor in July 2010, it’s too well written to only have been in circulation for one week so here it is to live on in the internet forever…
Like many developing countries, Panama is working to apply the fashionable terms “sustainable” and “socially conscious” to its growing tourism industry. Whether we are successful or not will only be clear many years from now, but in at least one nook of the country things are looking promising.
Strolling along 300-year-old Avenida A between Fourth and Fifth Streets of Casco Antiguo a sharp eyed traveler may notice the humble hand-cut metal sign that reads “VIP” next to an oversized, fruit-filled open window. While the attention of a mere tourist would be immediately drawn to the jewelry store across the street, the seasoned traveler will instinctively know that a window like this in a neighborhood like Casco Antiguo holds the promise of the traveler’s holy grail: the authentic and unexpected.
The traveler would be rewarded to find that leaning on the counter facing this narrow cobbled street is Mary, a local entrepreneur, who, for a dollar, will make what most residents in this neighborhood–rich and poor alike–claim are the best fruit smoothies in Panama. Next door to Mary, a small chalkboard announces Bohemios, a startlingly tasty restaurant co-owned by Niko, the ex-leader of a now defunct street gang that until two years ago called Fourth Street its home. Next to Niko, Doña Daisy, an aging seamstress, sells her hand-made children’s clothing.
All of these businesses operate out of shops made available at deeply subsidized rents by a local landlord who believes that the long term gain to the neighborhood of allowing local residents to build their own businesses is worth foregoing some short term revenues it might generate from higher paying tenants; like a jewelry shop.
At the corner of Avenue A and Fifth Street, the high-end traveler would find Julia, Yasmina, Augustina and Dayanara attending to guests at the Canal House, an up-scale boutique hotel that prides itself on exclusively hiring staff from the neighborhood trained by a local foundation that helps unemployed women. When the hotel was named “Editors’ Pick” by the New York Times, Manager Thelma Bodden credited the staff’s “warmth and dedication” as what “makes our hotel.”
All along these streets, ubiquitous balconies combine for an operatic setting in which one could imagine the Three Tenors stepping out to render 
an aria. But it is an article of faith among even the most hardened businessmen who live here that without kids in the streets, old-timers lounging in the parks, affordable housing for the working class, and, yes, laundry hanging over some of those balconies, Casco Antiguo would be Disney-fied like so many other historic districts that have kept their shells but lost their souls.
A little more digging around Fourth Street would reveal to an especially curious traveler an old girls school, now converted into a privately run community center where an afterschool program helps kids learn computers and a handful of community organizations provide training and counseling to residents. Further down Avenue A, legendary jazz pianist Danilo Perez runs a music school that has a provided local kids with scholarships to Berkelee School of Music and local establishments with top-flight live acts.
The kaleidoscope of causes and organizations has one common denominator: they are funded almost entirely by a growing community of businesses and new residents of the Casco with a deep social commitment. Collectively, they are the result of an inclusive vision that recognizes the value of the historic district not just for its architectural heritage, but also in its human heritage. A special feature of this collective social responsibility is its emphasis on teaching, on providing opportunities for personal and professional growth rather than doling out charity.
An ecosystem involving all the community’s elements, it strives to break with prejudices about social and economic mix. It is particularly determined to break the image of an architectural museum; to re-invent the Casco as a living city in which all can have a productive role.
Seemingly almost as a side effect but certainly not insignificantly, this movement is coming to define a tourism destination more interesting to the press and foreign visitors who value and seek authentic experience. History seems to be repeating itself: More than three hundred years Casco Antiguo was a seed that germinated two centuries later into the Republic of Panama. Today, the Old Town seems once again a seed for change.
If you like this article please share it with your friends or send us your comments. For more of Patrizia’s writing visit her blog.
Who?
AVACA / Asociación de Vecinos y Amigos del Casco Antiguo / junta.avaca@gmail.com
APROJUSAN / Asociación Pro Juventud de San Felipe / María Jaen / Jaeno309@yahoo.com
Fundación San Felipe / 262-2498
Los Scouts Panamá / 261-4036
This post is also available in: Spanish
