PANAMA, Casco Veijo

What was once the heart of Panama City and its most affluent neighborhood, Casco Veijo looks appealing from the top of Ancon Hill. Our two visits to the neighborhood revealed that it is, indeed, an area in transition. The guidebook cautions that Casco Veijo can be dangerous, especially at night, the instances of muggings at gunpoint are much more rare than the threat from pickpockets and bag snatchers. Both of our guides, one a professional tour guide and one a common cab driver, assured us that the area is safe especially during the day and mostly safe at night due to the heavy presence of military looking policemen stationed everywhere to guard against something bad happening to the president, whose residence is here.

Our drive through and walking in the area were mainly confined to the part of the district shown at the right side of the first photo. The main streets run about diagonally to the photo from top
left to bottom right. The area we walked is at the extreme top right of the photo. You can see the sea wall which forms a sort of sideways V with the v of the V pointing to the right. Inside of the sea wall you can see a tall, thin column. It is the focal point of the Plaza de Francia (French Square) which commemorates the 22,000 or so workers who died during the French attempt to dig the canal. There is a big bronze rooster on top of the column. I didn't know that the French used a chicken as their national symbol, so sometimes you learn something you didn't expect just by looking up. Also within the Plaza, there is a statue of Carlos J. Finlay, who is credited with producing the research that lead to the eradication of Yellow Fever.

But before you get to the chicken column and the sea wall, you have to pass through some of the less than pretty parts of Casco Veijo. I didn't get a really good look at this building, but it appeared to be still occupied. The right side of the second floor wall bulges out about two feet at its base, and even though the balcony has been shored up by the angle braces, you might not want to be under it when it was being used. There are several additional photographs on the Facebook extras of buildings in the area that are in desperate need of removal or restoration.

Many buildings have been restored, including the Vaults, which are also inside the sea wall, just to the left of the column and the statue. The Vaults were built in the 16th or 17th century. It wasn't clear to me if they were there when Henry Morgan and his fellow pirates ransacked and burned in 1671. They were used as safe storage where Spanish ships could leave material and whatever for later use by other Spanish ships or troops. I think there are six of them side by side. Three of them are now used as a very appealing restaurant.
We didn't eat there but we did get a tour by the man in the photograph, who I think is the owner. When we arrived he was strolling in the courtyard and he engaged me in conversation as I was admiring the welded artwork you can see in the photo. (There are closeups of each of the three pieces in the extras. There are also interior photos of the restaurant in the extras that show what each vault looked like.) You can see the right side of the Vaults in the first photograph just to the left of ther rooster column.

The sea wall is the business address for several, or many (we saw about 15) street vendors. Some of them are stationed on the open part of the wall and were found busily working on their crafts while they were sheltered from the afternoon sun by sitting underneath their tables. Others are spread out along this long and very appealing arbor way. It is rapidly being covered by vegetation and may not be needed in the near future for anything except to give the trimmers a guideline. This is the first place I experienced a local person refusing to be photographed without being paid.

The woman with the camera wasn't very happy and pressed the issue until the vendor had to resort to rudeness. In the end, there was no payment and no photograph. (There is a photograph in the extras of what I called a back yard, that was visible through an opening in this arbor, to the left about half way along. I got it at no charge.)

There are many restored buildings in Casco Veijo similar to this one. Some of them are government offices and some of them are private. Apparently this district is on its way to being
restored or rebuilt to its former glory.

There are many visitor attractions in Casco Veijo that we didn't see. There are dungeons, I presume from Spanish times but maybe not. The French Embassy is here. There are parks and churches and museums and a lot more waterfront. You could easily spend a day or two exploring around this small area without running out of things to see. If it does get fully restored, it will probably also get rid of many of the people who now call it home.

JCE