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For years Casco Viejo deteriorated. More impressive to tourists than to Panamanians it languished
and declined. Panamanians, like people everywhere chose to be upward bound. A shiny new
glass and steel high-rise had more appeal than the ramshackle past. Today that has changed.
Panamanians are scrambling to save their heritage. In this photograph an almost decadent
Spanish-Caribbean structure with French balconies sits on a corner of a street that leads down to
the sea. Investors are buying up these buildings. This area may some day be the most expensive
neighborhood in Panama. Today it sits between two worlds and four centuries. The sound of raggee
blends with salsa and the laughter of children. Car horns, the sound of the flute played by the shaved
ice vendors, the women calling from balcony to balcony...  the noise of construction...