January 31st - Boutique adventures in Panama City
Simon Calder's Independent Travel Podcast
The Independent
3.6 • 628 Ratings
🗓️ 31 January 2024
⏱️ 13 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
I'm in Panama City, talking to Robin Faulkner about the boutique hotel he created in the capital's old town – and, more widely, about the wonders of this Central American nation.
This podcast is free, as is my weekly newsletter. Sign up here to have it delivered to your inbox every Friday.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to today's independent travel podcast with me Simon called her a very, very special edition today, because I am in a boutique hotel in Casco Viejo, which is the old colonial quarter of Panama City, one of my absolute favourite places in Latin America. And the Amala Hotel is a wonderful old |
| 0:28.6 | colonial mansion that has been converted into something very special, just eight rooms. And the man |
| 0:36.1 | responsible is with me now, Robin Faulkner. Robin, you're very, very welcome. |
| 0:41.8 | Tell me what the big idea is here, please. So, Simon, this is a project that I put together with |
| 0:48.4 | my partner, Asher Monski. And the idea was to in some ways redefine what Panamanian hospitality is. |
| 0:57.0 | I think Panama's gone through an interesting period of history and it's a very, very |
| 1:06.0 | eclectic and beautiful place. In fact, many people know Costa Rica for its natural wonders, |
| 1:12.6 | but I think Panama actually may have even more to discover than Costa Rica. |
| 1:17.6 | And the idea was to create a platform from which travellers could experience Panama. |
| 1:24.6 | And this was really the perfect way to do that, or the perfect start to that |
| 1:30.1 | journey in the historical district here of Casco Viejo. And we took this old building, which |
| 1:36.6 | originally was built in the 1690s. And it burned down twice into two fires the second time which I believe was in |
| 1:46.8 | 17 something I'm not quite sure when they didn't rebuild this building and it was left |
| 1:54.2 | as the garden to a pearl trader who lived next door in another very beautiful |
| 1:59.7 | colonial Spanish building. |
| 2:02.6 | So we came in in 2017 and received an absolute ruin of a building. |
| 2:09.6 | It had literally fallen down but at the same time in view with so much history. |
| 2:14.6 | And the challenge here was to be very respectful to that history, but at the same |
| 2:21.3 | time be very forward-looking in the way that we put this together. And so we created a small |
| 2:27.4 | boutique hotel and a restaurant. And the idea is to bring together all of the senses, where the |
| 2:33.7 | flavour, sound, the service, everything which comprises a very, very local and beautiful experience through the Amala Hotel. |
| 2:45.9 | Let's talk broadly for a moment, if we may, about Panama. It's not got the same image by any means |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Independent, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Independent and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.