TheExpatJournals.com

I’m coming up on a year of living in Casco Viejo and boy is this a very different neighborhood from the one I moved into. Yesterday was the most perfect day, a rare and beautiful bright blue sky filled with clouds of all configurations. I decided to go out and take a few pictures as it’s a rare opportunity to shoot with a blue sky rather than a white or grey one. The flame trees are in full, orange-red bloom. Later, they’ll turn to a deeper red, but for now, orange is the more dominant hue. I walked up the Paseo, stopped at the tree where I shot a pelican last summer and know them to roost when the trees are in bloom. Apparently they nest there, too! A large baby pelican was sitting in the exact spot I shot the adult pelican last
year.

Off in the distance, mountains were perfectly clear. This visibility is rare even on a summer’s day. I could see mountains to the east making me wonder if I was seeing the Darien or the Perlas. Anyway, after the Paseo, I walked down Ave.A to the Arco Chato and snapped some shots of the makeshift doors across the street. The building is essentially a façade that used to have no doors. In preparation for restoration, I suppose someone made those makeshift doors with extra bits of wood found around. The door is tongue-and-groove wood flooring in different shades of bright tropical paint put together vertically…beautifully striking against the white of the building.

For almost a year now, I’ve tried walking around to get different shots of doors in Casco Viejo and it’s tricky. The biggest challenge is cars parked in front of doors I might want to shoot. Followed by that is how rapidly doors change here. Most of the shots I took last August didn’t exist by the end of September. Doors are replaced or painted. The old windows in facades that once offered views of sky or steeples are now concreted up blocking those surprise visual treats. Though it may be subtle upon occasion, things constantly shift in this neighborhood.

Someone I once met who ended up buying property on Contadora once told me I looked for beauty. I don’t think I realized how true that was until he said it. What he perhaps missed is that I don’t look for it, it’s what I see. These days, I find myself looking for it. Big difference.

Someone else I know referred to the peeling facades as the patina of the ages. I love that phrase and feel it fits. Granted, only age can produce a patina, but here, inevitably, it’s almost archeological the way you end up seeing God knows how many generations of paint…like peeling back the time to reveal the oldest underneath all in one mottled square meter. Shooting that door reminded me that this, to me, was the most beautiful part of Casco Viejo…this was what reeled me in.

Comparatively speaking, when I walked around shooting doors last August, I couldn’t find new ones to shoot that were nearly as interesting as the old ones. New balconies were a different story, but you’d have to have someone allow you into their apartment across the street to get good shots. The streets are too narrow and shots from the street looking up at balconies only validate my theory that some things are meant to be experienced rather than photographed. If I can’t capture at least the essence, why bother? Just stand back, soak it up and accept that sometimes the beauty is elusive to the camera’s eye.

So yesterday, I decided to see if I could still find the ‘viejo’ in Casco Viejo. And while it’s still there, there’s a whole lot less of it than there was a year ago. I hear comments from tourists walking underneath my balcony, “It’s a work in progress.” I hear Americans bragging loudly in small cafes where a whisper is loud enough to be overheard about how they are buying up property, about how this reminds them of the French Quarter in New Orleans, of how much money they’re going to make. And maybe that’s what is the turning point for me. Maybe it’s not about the prolific level of restoration at all. Maybe it’s about who is restoring and why.

I am not sure if I’ve changed or if the change in Casco Viejo is something that doesn’t suit me, but I do feel that the sense of
community that existed a year ago feels diminished. Perhaps it’s bigger than just this neighborhood and reflects what I perceive to be an ugly change in the immigration of gringos to Panama in the broader sense. I can’t not factor in the culture of the other Yahoo Boards and what they’ve become. Gringo culture here seems to be ego and dollar driven with short term tunnel vision that doesn’t expand beyond self-interest. Granted, I am generalizing and there are exceptions, but as a stereotype, I’m feeling smack dab in the middle of all I didn’t like about the US. Are Americans now leaving America simply to chase the American dream?

I just know that the same thing that lead me to this neighborhood is telling me it’s time to leave…while the beauty is intact internally. I’m sure it will become the grand vision it’s destined to repeat. Maybe it’s just that my idea of beauty and chang  doesn’t keep pace with the concept of progress. I mean, it’s been all I can do to tolerate the summer tourist traffic. I hate the number of buses the size of Greyhounds that park beneath my window and spew noise and diesel exhaust into my apartment. I don’t understand why it’s okay for all these buses to pour into this neighborhood on a daily basis damaging the roads and making it hard for residents to live here…and all without leaving any of their Gringo dollars behind. I suppose it’s good for the Kunas selling on the Paseo, but the tourists are dropped off and picked up in a way that only profits the tour companies. And I’m not aware of any way they share the big bucks they get to bring folks here. Not even the cafes benefit. The tourist traffic they get are folks wandering on their own, not from these cattle tours.

I’ve watched three vital neighborhood spots go under in the last year. And the two bars that were the source of unbearable decibels in the wee hours of each Friday and Saturday are now gone. Okay, so that doesn’t hurt, but if this is such a path of tourism, why isn’t any of the money they obviously have helping any of those who are here thinking it’s a high traffic spot and therefore holds great potential? Though the incredible architectural beauty of this neighborhood is obvious, there’s an intangible charm Casco Viejo is losing through catering to the tourist who only use and don’t support. And I don’t see the trend changing, in fact, the 5 year plan seems to only cater more and more towards the tourists. Perhaps they have a plan to capture the dollar that will one day benefit this neighborhood…I don’t know. It just seems to me that right now, Casco Viejo has all the disadvantages tourists bring without any of the economical benefits.

What I do know is that the change is palpable. As I’ve said, I’m sure the investors here are thrilled with the momentum. I looked at an apartment last week, a 2 BR, that was renovated beautifully, however, outside of climbing to the 3rd floor outdoor roof deck, had only views of rusted, weather beaten, squatter residences. It was located just feet above the roof deck of what is about to open as a new hostel. Once open, I can just imagine the noise levels there. Plus, the living room was tiny and it had zero security bars, though climbable from surrounding poverty. Asking price for rental? $950 a month plus utilities. If I wanted to pay (minimally) $1100 per month for a rental, it wouldn’t be on the periphery of here. I wished her luck and left. Do you know what kind of apartment you can get down here for that price? Somehow, it summed it all up for me in a way my words cannot convey. It’s no longer about gringo gouging….now it’s equal opportunity over-pricing. And just like NYC, paying through the nose to be in the pioneering fringes is the way to find the bargains. Is Chorillo next? It is the only direction this boom can spread in, so if you’re looking…

I’m glad I got to experience the end of this neighborhood before it became the kind of elite that homogenized New York City. I’m glad I got to spend a year before what touched my soul transformed into a developer’s hotbed. It seems to me that the whole of Panama is now relative to US pricing. Whatever prices were in Panama two years ago are no longer relevant. The comps these days are US comps. I didn’t come here chasing the American dream. As far as I’m concerned, that changed into a nightmare years ago. I came here to experience a different culture, a different time, a different place, a different people. I spent such a long time researching Panama before I ever came down here. I told people that I felt like it was the end of the beginning. It was. And as far as I’m concerned, it’s over. Now, it’s a rapid plunge into a free for all.

I’m glad for the locals netting 6 figures for property that in the near past wouldn’t bring more than a few thousand. Maybe I’m just trying to live a renaissance life in a capitalist world, but I have to believe that somewhere, it’s still possible. But clearly, it’s going to take a little more effort to find the place where money isn’t the top of the food chain in terms of what’s important.

I won’t use now to jump on a soapbox (like why Panama allows the cattlemen to continue destroying such massive tracts of rainforest that it makes logging seem like a minimal problem) and I’m probably the exception to the rule for anyone who isn’t yet retired, but following my heart is what lead me to Casco Viejo and following my heart is what will lead me out of here. Can’t help it…that’s how I’m wired for better or for worse. Can’t fault those who’s universe revolves around their bank accounts, it just isn’t me nor the world I wish to live in. I want to find a way to make a difference making a buck that is shared, not just pocketed. And I do have ideas to pursue on that front. One thing I’m never without is ideas. I’m practically plagued with them!

If anyone would like to take on this board, do let me know….it’s yours. Otherwise, I’ll leave it up for a bit and then close it altogether. While this place was on the fast track before I ever arrived, I do believe this board has served to demystify the place a bit. I won’t make that mistake again.

I know where there’s a 1000 hectares for sale of the most beautiful land with long range views of Gatun and mountains and not a soul in sight. Maybe hermit is the way to go. It’s a million dollars. 10 years ago, it was expensive at $75,000. And so it goes. I can’t turn back the clock, but I do believe there are still spots that time has forgotten. No gringos live there though.