The San Lorenzo Protected Area is a project that has the official blessing
of the Panamanian government and receives financing from a number of
public and private sources in several countries, but more than anything
it’s an effort by the Panamanian Center for Social Studies and
Action (CEASPA) and one of its main brains, Charlotte Elton. This is
an effort to preserve both the natural wonders and historic sites at
and around Fort San Lorenzo, including the greater parts of the former
Fort Sherman and Piña Range, doing so in conjunction with the
education and economic development of nearby communities in order to
make the project sustainable.
To celebrate and promote the San Lorenzo Protected Area, Leslie F. Larson
has written and CEASPA has published a book, which was presented on
March at the new Panama Viejo Visitors Center, along with a collective
photo show.
The book, “Panama’s Caribbean Treasure: The San Lorenzo Protected
Area,” is a 52-page glossy softcover available in English or Spanish
and features gorgeous photography. Most of the pictures are by Jerry
Bauer, who works for the US Agency for International Development and
is now stationed in Nicaragua after several years in Panama. Other photographers
whose work appears in the book include William Harp, William J. Adsett,
Marcos Guerra, Rich Potter, Charlotte Elton, Arthur Morris, Rob and
Ann Simpson, Donald Windsor, Leslie Larson, Alvaro Jaén Collado
and Aleyda Terán.
In order to write “Panama’s Caribbean Treasure,” author
Leslie F. Larson had to master the fields of ecology, history, paleontology,
hydrology, agronomy, culture and economics as they apply to the area
around the mouth of the Chagres River. She imparts that wealth of information
in smoothly flowing but terse prose that’s easily understood by
those who know nothing of the subject matter while still containing
surprises for those who already know a lot.
The book costs eight bucks and can be ordered through the San Lorenzo
Project’s website, at http://www.sanlorenzo.org.pa .
The photo show was an occasion for this journalist to cross paths with
Fernando Francisco, who worked for The Panama News in its early days
in late 1994 and early 1995, once again. Fernando works for the National
Maritime Authority these days and remains a prominent figure among Panama’s
photographers. Some of his dungeon pictures are part of the exhibit.
Other photographers whose work graced the exhibit included Jerry Bauer,
Jean-Christophe Henry, Efraín Alonso, William J. Adsett, Charlotte
Elton and Leslie Larson.
The presentation was attended by a large and interesting mix of people.
Fort San Lorenzo is one of Panama’s important tourist attractions,
and the tourism industry and the government’s IPAT tourism bureau
were well represented. Charlotte Elton is past president of the Panama
Audubon Society, and another past president, Norita Scott-Pezet, sat
in front of me during the ceremony. Panama’s environmentalists
were out in force.
Also on hand were many of the nation’s photographers, writers and
historians. Because Jerry Bauer came back to Panama for the event, a
lot of the friends he made here, including quite a few USAID and American
Embassy people and members of the gringo community without any particular
government connection, showed up to celebrate his latest artistic triumph.
The event took place on a night when the world was plunged into war.
Many of those in attendance wore pro-peace emblems and the evening’s
keynote speaker, sociologist-playwright-columnist-professor-activist
Raúl Leis, began his remarks with a call for world peace on the
basis of dignity and justice. He hailed the San Lorenzo Project as “a
proposal for sustainability,” not just of an old Spanish fortress
but of the social, economic and environmental life of the entire area.
Then archaeologist Carlos Fitzgerald, who heads the National Institute
of Culture’s (INAC’s) historical legacy department, expounded
on Fort San Lorenzo’s role in defending Panama’s main transportation
route over a period of about three centuries. He called upon Panamanians
to “scientifically uncover our own history, and not just in terms
of how others saw it” and described the San Lorenzo Project as
“a key link in the chain of historical interpretation that is our
identity.”
After brief remarks from a representative of the Smithsonian’s
Museum of Biodiversity and Charlotte Elton, the author explained her
work.
Leslie Larson noted that, although she is the author, the book is the
work of about 30 people and various institutions. Singled out for particular
attention on the labor front were the Smithsonian Tropical Research
Institute and Jerry Bauer, and in terms of economic support the US Forest
Service, USAID and the National Fish and Wildlife Service. She said
that she spent about three months at San Lorenzo, learning the subject
matter, becoming acquainted with the people involved, getting the inspiration
to write and “acquiring a taste for rice.”
