The beautiful and tasty ceviches.

We have news for all visitors who, by chance, have fallen in love with ceviche, the popular seafood cocktail prepared and revered throughout Latin America. The best ceviche we’ve ever had is prepared by Mr. Manuel Araúz of David, Chiriquí, whom we’ve officially declared "Mr. Ceviche".

At "Carnes y Mariscos Don Manuel", an unpretentious, but quaint eatery located about a block from Parque Cervantes, David’s main square, ceviche “addicts" can enjoy veritable works of art –huge portions of ceviche served in pineapple skin, adorned with tomatoes carved in the shape of flowers and prepared with a tasty mix of citrus juices and spices which is easy on your taste buds as well as on your stomach. Complete with a generous ration of crackers, "Mr. Ceviche’s" creations cost only $2.50, a fraction of what a similar ceviche would cost in Panama City.

“Mr. Ceviche”: Mr. Manuel Araúz.

Getting to Know Mr. Ceviche
Soft-spoken and unassuming Mr. Araúz is a career chef with 35 years of experience under his belt. He is a culinary instructor at INAFORP, a government-managed educational program that trains professionals in hospitality-industry trades. His passion, after cooking, is teaching. "I love to teach young people how to cook, but most of all, I love to motivate them to become restaurant owners themselves", he said.

After working in the United States, Canada and Central America, Mr. Araúz returned to his native David 25 years ago and established his restaurant, which has gained a strong reputation in David, not only for his ceviches, but for the excellent menu of meats and poultry dishes he offers.

Dear Friend:

We are writing to you regarding The Theatre Guild of Ancon. "The Guild" was founded in 1950 by a group of Panamanian and American citizens who were interested in developing English-language theatre in Panama. Over the years, our stage has been the first step for performers and allied-arts professionals such as Robert Loggia (Hollywood/ TV/Stage actor), John Aniston (Director/Producer & father of Jennifer Aniston Pitt), Carlos Carranza (stage/screen actor), George Scribner (Walt Disney Studios), Rick Belzer (Broad-way Lighting Professional), Ruben Blades, Bruce Quinn, Pat Quinn and Adolfo Arias Espinoza among many others.

The Theatre Guid of Ancon is the oldest, continuous-operating theatre in the Republic of Panama and was so recognized by INAC in a ceremony in the Convento of Panama Viejo, April 2004. We are a non-profit, volunteer organization dedicated to promoting community theatre.

In order to remain a vital part of this city´s cultural heritage, we urgently need to replace parts of our lighting system, which after 30 years of use has reached the end of its serviceable life. The estimated cost for necessary lights, dimmer panel, and connectors runs $9,000 plus shipping and installation. Some of the equipment can be purchased locally. We are looking to you, as a member of the international community, to help us with our "Save the Lights Fund". As a non profit-organization, all donations are tax deductible (as stated below in Spanish). Should your organization choose to contribute $250.00 or more, the name of your company will be listed in all subsequent programs, as "Benefactor" or we will respect your wish to remain anonymous. To date, we have received $3,000 toward our goal of $15,000

We have a full season of programmed productions, plus workshops and the annual International School of Panama´s play. With your support, we can go forward. Your generous donation will allow us to continue to develop the cultural heritage of the arts in Panama as we have for 55 years. Checks are payable to The Theatre Guild of Ancon. Thanks you for your support.

Sincerely
John Carlson President
THE TEATRE GUILD OF ANCON
TEL. 211-0186/ cel. 674-2622

Slender, exotic, and seductive:

Panama’s little-known geishas are slender, exotic and seductive, and they flourish in the cool mountain air of its western highlands. One expert was so taken with them that he says he levitated slightly after his encounter with the geishas. But these are no kimono-clad hostesses. They are a type of coffee plant being raised here in the thousands as farmers cash in on a specialty coffee market that has flourished since a global coffee crisis hurt the quality of regular beans.

The Ruiz plantation, Panama’s top specialty exporter, is raising 5,000 geisha seedlings and many more farms around the highland town of Boquete are now planting the little-known cultivar with roots in Ethiopia, where coffee is said to have been discovered by a goat herder in the 9th century. The geisha was bought to Panama in 1963 from Costa Rica. Its yields were at first considered too low to be profitable but that changed as consumer tastes became more sophisticated, creating a strong global market for expensive quality coffees. The global specialty coffee movement picked up steam with a coffee crisis that ran from late 1999 to 2004 amid a glut in generic beans and saw coffee quality deteriorate as farmers were driven out of business or spent less on crop care. A select few invested in lower-yield, higher-quality beans, among them the geisha variety. "What the coffee crisis showed us is that we have to keep higher quality.

What happened in the last couple of years is bound to happen again. We can’t compete with commercial coffee prices. We have to separate ourselves," said local producer Daniel Price Peterson.

His own Hacienda Esmeralda Jaramillo geisha coffee set a world record price of $21 a pound at an Internet auction in 2004, when the commodity market price stood at $0.73 a pound. At an international specialty coffee event in Seattle last month, the Hacienda Esmeralda Jaramillo took first place over traditional champions from Ethiopia and other African and Latin American nations.

A Gnobe-Buglé girl helps her family picking coffee in the Chiriquí highlands.

Explosive
Expert "cuppers," who score quality coffees, say geishas have something special separating them from the others. "Today, on one of the cupping tables, I had one of those rare experiences where you float off the ground a little bit and lose yourself.

As a cupper, you live for those moments," said Doug Welsh, vice president of the coffee division at the U.S. coffee roaster and retailer Peet’s Coffee and Tea. "It has a remarkable aromatic complex.

It’s floral, and explosive on the palate and has a jasmine-like fragrance," Walsh said at a recent event in Boquete. After the price crash of 1999, specialty coffee "cuppings" or tastings followed by auctions were introduced in the Americas to differentiate specialty beans from generic ones selling at prices below production costs. As more farmers cultivate geishas, Panama is becoming widely recognized as one of the world’s fi nest coffee origins.

The move to lower-yield, higher-quality beans has also been seen in other Central American countries. In El Salvador, for example, farmers are experimenting with dozens of varieties of quality beans to see if they take to the local soil. Neighboring countries also want their own geishas, but Panama’s growers are reluctant to share them. Francisco Serracin, whose geisha was ranked Panama’s second-best coffee this year, says he gets e-mails and calls from growers begging for the beans in Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Guatemala.

"For the moment, it’s not logical to sell it," he said. "It belongs to Panama, and we want to make sure that Panama remains the only producer of such an exotic coffee as this."

This article was reproduced from Thales Securities's on-line newsletter. Thales Securities is a Panama City-based international brokerage firm.
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