Eric's Journal Day 6

The Entrance - a work in progress
Monday : I woke up at 4:30 am out of the house in Boquete at 5:15 of course the cobwebs where not clear yet and I ended up leaving my clothes behind (oops for the week I mean) but all worked out okay as I had a dresser still at Mario’s with enough to get me through the week. Pulled up to PL at 7:15 after a nice uneventful drive over the mountains and saw Justo at the corner china market as I pulled in and he told me he was getting rice and supplies for the Indians to cook up there today. Justo then told me the Indians where already up there and working and cutting palms for the decking for the trails. I said great and grabbed my camera and what supplies I had in my van for cooking and headed up. Dropping them off when I got up there I realized needed to head to the local hardware store to get some 3” galvanized nails to nail the Palm down on the bridges and some oil for the gas for the chain saw.
So after dropping off one load I headed back down the hill to go to the store. On the way down I saw Justo with a helper carrying up the supplies and told him to have a man back down at the gate in 30 minutes. The trip each time from the street to PL is 1 km up and 1 km back over hills across bridges over a creek numerous times and past a barking dog so it is never a dull hike. Plus lugging up my back pack with a rain coat and some food for lunch
and camera it’s always at least a 30 minute turn around.
(Last week I had a good idea about working with the local agricultural high school in town. We talked with the teachers and we will supply bags and seeds and the kids will start plants and trees to replant the previous cleared part of Punta Linda. Also they brought their cows to graze in the pasture area as part of this cooperative project.
Win win for all as they have only a small space to grow near the school. )
Once I returned with an Indian helping (I will get better at remembering or at trying to remember their names) I started doing a head count: one was building a shelter for Celistino’s wife who was going to be cooking for the guys, 5 working on the trail with shovels and picks, Justo watching the shelter being build, Celistino watching the guys work on the trails, and 5 I was told were cutting palms.


Cutting the bamboo for the hand rails
I had almost forgotten there was also an 11 year old girl who was Celistino’s wife’s sister. Don’t ask; I haven’t figured it out yet either. Okay the head count was there. After 2 hours the 5 men cutting palms arrived carrying their wares, pieces of split palm trunks 48 inches long and about 1 ½ “ thick - not bad . I had a man start working on the bridge by the shelter and in the progress leveling out the logs preparing for the palm. Then after having them raise the beams to match we started nailing them down. As I grabbed a hammer and started fingering the 3” galvanized nails and began driving them into the palm I realized how hard the palm is. You had to beat it hard enough while holding the nail to break through the hardness then you could let it go and drive it into the wood below. Well 25 feet of bridge done and only about another 125’ to go I think this is going to work out good – it’s rustic but very solid. As we were nailing the boards I watched the shelter go up and Celistino’s wife and her sister begin to get the food cooking for the guys. Well lunch time arrived at 12 and she had enough food cooked to feed 20 guys. Too bad we only had 14 including her but still no one went hungry on a meal of Rice, beans and chicken necks that cost me $.65/lb (I wanted chicken feet they only cost $.50 but they were out, I was told, guess you have to treat the help good once in a while.
Everyone with their own refillable bottle - Koolaid today!
After lunch the palm splitters went back to work the trail diggers grabbed their shovels and I had Celistino grab a few guys to go clean up the entrance of PL where some trees had blown down. Well no sooner than we where starting to clean out the brush then I looked up and saw a guy with 12 kids two of which had red flags that I had bought and made. I hollered over to one of Celistino’s guys to run and get Justo - this didn’t look good. Well when the man got closer I realized that it was one of the professors at the school and his kids. The kids stayed out side the gate and I motioned for the professor to come up and see the progress always mentioning about the plants until we ran into Justo who could interpret. Once I found Justo I told him I think he is here for his cows. Then I found out that we had 3 calves missing and that we only had 1 bull and 5 calves total on the property. Justo then told me he knew that and already and had some of the guys go check the fence and the neighbors cows to see if they had gotten to the next farm but with no luck. The teacher did tell me the trails looked good but as far as the plants he is only in charge of cows and I would have to talk to the other professor about the plants. We walked back towards the front and his kids who had already been wandering around PL looking for their cows were rounding up the cows heading them to the gate - guess that was the end of having cows to eat trails for the horse backing riding. Oh well it’s only a speed bump in the road of life. Back to our trails and bridges, I was having the guys clean up the brush and then working on repairing the bamboo gate over the creek and it was looking good when Celistino yelled Sappo and cangrejo which is frog and crab. I ran over to look, camera ready, and saw a fresh water crab as big as a Chesapeake Bay blue crab and a bullfrog in a tussle. The crab had the frog by the foot and the frog was putting up a commotion. I grabbed a stick and pressed it at the crab seeing how big he was and he let go of the bullfrog to have him scamper into the brush; that was cool witnessing that, but to be totally honest it has been cool just being part of this whole thing and witnessing another culture at work.
Justo pointing out yet another medicinal plant
Well I ran off a little early to get a phone card and some ice and beer and told them all “see you tomorrow”. While I was gone it started to rain so after I got what I needed I headed back to PL to see if Justo needed a ride back to his house since he was getting over a cold and I didn’t want him to get sick again. Have you ever wondered how many Indians you can get a van? Well the answer is 14 with their machetes too.

The cooks sister relaxing
I dropped them off at the swinging bridge again to proceed with their 45 minute walk in the rain. I made it back to Mario’s while his electrician was working hanging up lights and putting in outlets and finishing up the lighting in his new bedroom. Talked to him about PL and the work we had done then downloaded the pics and showed him the 4’ snake one of the palm cutters found on his last trip. Justo came up and said wow that’s a ‘X’ snake you get bit by those and you just die before you get to hospital and it’s a huge one - Fer De Lance. I was thinking afterwards I hope it wasn’t pregnant. At the end of Monday the first day of the second week and you know I just realized again how lucky I am to have Mario and all the people he trusts as contacts. That’s where I got Justo, Celestino and the crew.