How do we deal with dirt?

According to meeting tourists during my daily summer trips, Without saying a word, I smile, and after making eye contact I ask: “Where are you from?” This greeting and invasion of their privacy always disarms visitors for several reasons. First of all, because we always try to look presentable, neither so formal as to wear a tailcoat, nor so carefree as to walk in a mess, something informally similar to them.

Second, because we did not carry out a caustic invasion your personal space. I don’t look like a salesman or a preacher of religion. Finally, because your curiosity in a recreational environment invites you to talk, something like greeting the immediate diner at the canteen bar.

The vast majority of visitors this summer come from United States or Canada. Some from Europe, countless from the Mediterranean and from time to time from our America and the Caribbean, with drops of water in Bajareque they come from Asia, Australia or Africa.

The insatiable heat of my youth took me to 41 of the 50 US states and I boarded a Canadian intercontinental train from Toronto, Vancouver, which gives me an ace up my sleeve for honest and fluent communication with those of North American descent, because it’s one thing to write a paragraph like a tourist guide, and secondly with knowledge of the environment the visitor and original domain of the language of Shakespeare and Moliere.

Enter the topic without pants in an informal and refreshing atmosphere like Rana Dorada, a craft brewery on Avenida Eloy Alfaro Calle 11Este in the Old TownI take advantage of our famous visitors, as we are always honored that they choose our destination among so many available in the region.

Their exchange is honest and open after learning that despite being local, they are not I’m neither a clerk nor a salesman, just curious about their experiences in our environment, helping their inquiries with recommendations on specific topics of interest to them.

Case in point, a few middle-aged people who stayed at the Westin Playa Bonita hotel on an all-inclusive plan. They had no complaints about the facilities or their friendly hosts. They mentioned that, during the transfer from the airport to the inn, after crossing the Las Américas bridge and turning right on the road to Veracruz, a large amount of garbage dumped on the side of the road hit vividly his perception of Panama.

How is it possible that such a beautiful city, whose lineage is modern skyscrapers, stunning greenery, fascinating history and succulent cuisine, don’t display a can of Coca Cola, here and there, but reckless patacones everywhere, spewing bold I don’t care about friends and strangers? And this is not an isolated case, extreme examples like the road from Sabanitas to Portobelo force us to transport visitors in the early hours of the morning to avoid the mountain of dirt that surrounds the road.

If we care so much about tourism, as we should, something priority in our economy, we urgently need to solve the issue of garbageits efficient collection, severely fine the pig and effectively deal with its rejection, recycling the majority and avoiding tribal fires, the product of collective indifference and fighting between vultures that affect the health of the community and involve costs more economical than the recommended solution.