Panama Casco Viejo

December 18, 2008

Christmas in Panama

Filed under: Casco Antiguo, Casco Viejo, Casco Viejo community, Casco Viejo tourism, Know Panama, Panama, Travel — panamacascoviejo @ 12:19 am

One of the fondest memories I have of Christmas is going to visit my grandmother ( a former Casconian, waaaayyyy back when…) and spend hours either making or playing with the Christmas Model Town. We call it “el nacimiento” which in few words describes a small town made out of toys featuring the Christian nativity scene. You could go all the way up with those things, there where those who took the entire garage in their homes and did a real mini Israel out of it.

My grandmother’s was more fun, of course, as it had all our toys as the shepherds and other characters. It was quite puzzling for others to see in the same town Jesus, several Dinosaurs (what would people say today with all this fuzz about Intelligent Design vs Darwin!!!) , our Transformers and Star Wars collection, and those little green plastic figurines of army soldiers which we liked to melt at the backyard with our amplifying lens and throw from the roof in parachutes made out of napkins. Yes, I enjoyed my childhood tremendously.

So here I was, all grown up, salivating at this amazing nativity scene at the Canal Museum. It was made with great care and I´m sure historically correct. But however, all I could see in my mind was the dinosaurs and Darth Vader jumping in the little “lake” made out of broken glasses and glitter…

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!

December 11, 2008

Skating brings kids together into Afterschool program in Casco Viejo, Panama

Like bees to honey, kids are being drawn into the old Santa Familia School. The reason: a very simple skating park has been built for them by the local Flow surf shop and Conservatorio S.A., a company dedicated to the revitalization of Casco Antiguo.

The reason behind the park, other than keeping the kids out of the street is to attract them to Aprojusan´s afterschool program, where they get not only help with homework, but emotional support, health checkups, lunch and even art workshops.

The kids seem to be having a lot of fun! although a tough sport, they don´t mind, their young bodies seem indestructible and after each fall they just bounce back into position.  Getting them excited was very easy, during the months previous to the opening of the space, many would keep asking… “when is it going to be ready?”.   Now that it is, the next challenge would be to have enough equipment for everyone.

With the help of Conservatorio, Aprojusan is expanding their facilities to be able to acommodate this new group of children which ranges from 6 years to teenagers. This last group has been typically the most difficult to attract as they perceive art workshops as childish. The new strategy worked out with Flow seems to be working, and slowly change is entering into their lives.

December 10, 2008

Miami Art Basel and Casco Viejo Panama

Just came back from Miami Art Basel. These fairs are great because it is like an open discussion not only on social issues but on what beauty is for each one. Thinking about all this and meditating about what Casco Antiguo has to offer I got to the conclusion that even when Casco Antiguo has beautiful buildings, parks and scenes, nothing beats the authentic beauty of its people. And not beauty in the conventional magazine-model type but on the beauty of feeling just great even if you are wearing hair rolls that are twice the size of your head. And orange.

The other day we came back home and night and there was this woman just walking down the street. She was, as a Latinamerican writer one wrote: an etruscan jar, alias, really big. Especially at the hips, for which most latin women are famous for. Let´s just say this one was really remarkable. She almost took an entire lane of the street. But the amazing thing wasn´t her size…

December 2, 2008

Panama Hot Spot Featured at CNBC European Business


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“Panama’s image and fortunes are bound to the canal that slices through it, a 80km feat of partly French, largely US engineering linking the Atlantic and Pacific, lucratively facilitating 5% of the world’s trade. For 75 years, the canal and a 15km buffer zone were administered by the US as recompense for their efforts. Since regaining control in 1999, this southernmost Central American republic, with a population of 3.3 million, has undergone an energetic transformation. Panama Canal, once at risk of being bypassed by the new generation of super-sized container ships, is undergoing a €4.6bn expansion, and the confidence inspired by the project has been a catalyst for development across all key sectors.”


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“Panama is emerging as one of the world’s hottest destinations for the jet-set crowd,”…
Check out their review on Casco Antiguo and the country´s financial analysis here...


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