Taboga, island of flowers set for facelift

TABOGA, The Island of  Flowers so entranced French artist Paul Guagin  in 1887 that he tried to buy land there. He didn’t have enough money, and instead went to work on the building of the French canal before setting sale for Martinique and later fame and riches,

His fascination with the island, swathed in bougainvillea  and home to the second oldest church in the western hemisphere was continued by generations of visitors fascinated with its  multi-faceted history involving pirates, sea battles  and buried treasure. But in recent years the flower lady has lost some of her charm  with uncontrolled  and unsightly construction.

Now Panama’s tourism authority (ATP)  is moving  to improve its image and provide a warmer reception for those following in  the foot prints of Gaugin and the earlier Vasco Nunez de  Balboa,  who was the first European to set foot on the isle .

The Authority  is calling for tenders for the $1.5 million project which will include building restrooms,  outdoor showers, dressing rooms, information booths, and  stalls for selling food and crafts.

“In recent years the island of Taboga has experienced a messy and precarious growth focused on providing minimum facilities for tourists who attend their beaches. This deplorable  proliferation has significantly deteriorated the landscape of the island, due to  shoddy buildings   without any aesthetic value.  These structures sometimes even take up valuable space on the beach, which is so needed  in times of high tide, as it significantly reduces the ability of swimmers who want to use the  the beach, ” says the tender.

The project aims to ” Position Taboga as a tourism product for domestic and foreign tourists so that the hotels in the city of Panama to integrate it into their promotional plans as a tourism product.”

Those interested in participating in the tender should submit their proposals on  March 30. Once   the contract is awarded, the work must be completed in a year.

In 1998 when the Taboga Health Center was being built a hoard of Spanish silver coins was unearthed, proving the rumors of buried treasure.

Perhaps theire’s a hidden bonus in sight for the contract winner.