Eric's Journal Day 8

Downtown Chiriqui Grande Mercado
(amazingly the men can be seen carrying these cartoon bags to work)




Wednesday of the second week. Seven bridges are done we have one more that I am thinking of making. A wooden bridge instead of a rock bridge across the creek because otherwise it might get slippery. Let’s see how did the day start; I showed up at 15 till 7 they were all already there waiting for me, remind me to synchronize my watch with theirs tomorrow. I decided to run to Chiriquí Grande to go ahead and get the payroll changed to $5’s and $1’s to pay the guys on Friday instead of waiting until the last day. I am kind of glad I did now because Linda is going to come to Punta Pena on Thursday to see the project and I have that done and more time to spend on the property.

Local Transportation
She has to head out to Changuinola on Friday morning to work on the title for our other property and because of the lack of rain the reservoirs are too low and the government offices now close at 1:00 now to save electricity. It will be an early trip. Before I left Justo and I went to the China market to get the crew lunch since he had Celestino leave his wife at the gate until we returned to carry the food up. At the store Justo went to the meat case and got 6 packages of hotdogs. I asked him what he was doing and he told be they could cut them up in small pieces and cook them with beans and such. I told him that was okay but he was getting 66 hotdogs for 13 people; wasn’t that a little much? He said okay and returned two so we only got 44 hotdogs 10lbs of rice and some more tomato something to give it color. I paid the lady $13. When I returned it was about 8:30 am and I walked on up, carrying my usual back pack with daily food and water and my camera bag with lens and all -total about 25 lbs. I saw them working on the last bridge at the entrance a 35’ long walkway and they were starting to nail the split palm down and it looked good. I checked in with Justo he was having fun nailing the boards down so I let him continue for a while then finally had to tell him to stop for a bit and let them have some fun to. I asked him to follow me up toward the top ridge to check on progress. I could already see the smoke so I knew the kitchen was warming up. Right past Laguna de Justo I saw one of the guys working on the trails putting gravel down where some mud was forming. A good idea and this thing is starting to run itself. We continued upwards where 4 guys were working on the trails by the big tree.

Beginning of a Palm Bridge

One was by himself working on the stairs and doing a good job and three guys were cutting palm; getting ready for the other guys to come pick it up in a bit. All looked good, I asked Justo what he was doing for his rock steps he was suppose to be designing but we looked at it again and decided that maybe another bridge would work as well since we liked how they where turning out. I walked back up to where they where working on the steps and realized that they where digging down 12” and taking all of the topsoil out like they where putting in a road bed. I looked at what was going on as they worked their way towards what Justo and I had already marked out as a path. Panicking I walked down to Justo and Celestino and told them we had a problem and they both needed to come up. When we came to the area I showed them how much dirt they were taking out and what it was looking like and there was not enough rock in Punta Pena to fill in this road. They both laughed but listened to what I said and began to understand. They started to then use their machetes more and less on the shovel looking for the smoothest area for the trails. I think they have it now, didn’t I just say that the other day, and it is starting to look really good. Shortly after that I asked Justo if he was hungry because I was already. At 11:00 we walked down toward Laguna de Justo to talk and I shared my Van Camps pork and beans with whole wheat bread with him. He seems to like it a lot and so do I or we are just really hungry from the work.

Three Toed Sloth

(notice the green algae growing on its hair)

On the way down Justo pointed out to me right in front of the long bridge with the rock out cropping a sloth up in the tree and told me it had a baby to. I was amazed and took a bunch of pictures. We then started walking back to the stair area to see the progress and it looked great. I then decided to change the trail to the other side to see if a smoother place could be found. We are going to find that high easy way up there yet. On the way back up we looked at the sloth again and saw her baby and the mama sloth was hanging by her back feet scratching her belly; the baby was climbing on a limb above her. The rest of the day every time Justo and I would walk by we would see the baby bad moved a little bit the mother was still always scratching. I told Justo to put on the list for tomorrow to get a flea collar for a sloth he laughed.

As we walked up we saw the guys headed back down for lunch so Justo and I decided to stretch out and take a nap on the pile of almandro. This wood is so tough you can not even put a nail in it unless you drill it first. This wood never rots. We had a large almandro tree down already and that is what I had gotten cut up by Justo's brother. I found Justo a small piece of wood to brace his back against as he lay back since the edges where so hard and sharp. Every now and then I would ask Justo if he saw that or heard this but to be honest just like him most of the time was spent with our eyes closed listening to the Jungle. If you have never done it before there is nothing that can compare. The sounds tell a story of what is going on who is flying by or moving around. We would hear a noise that almost sounded like it had landed on us and comment on it but other than that the time was spent in total silence just enjoying the noises. That alone is another reason to come to Punta Linda.

I walked by the kitchen area later only to see Celestino's wife with a machete cutting back some of the growth by the kitchen area and it was looking fine. I smiled told her how good it looked but got a blank look back. When I held two thumbs up she smiled. Oh did I tell you Celestino’s wife brought her other sister today – she is 13 years old as I was told by Justo. I swear Celestino’s wife doesn’t look more than 18herself but already has three kids - well I guess the math works. She did laugh some when I took her picture and had her pose. She held the hooves of an animal that is similar to a pig but with the snoot like an elephant( I think it was a Tapir) . Some guy had killed it a while ago but held on to the hoofs as good luck and if needed you could grind part of it off and use it for medicine - to help kidneys I think. Think I decided to start a book on some of the healing herbs of the jungle, would probably be a small mini series since there are so many. You know I am starting to ramble but it is wonderful how every story just seems to be better than the last. To be honest I really wouldn’t mind just working with the Indians and making Punta Linda a dream come true, a total nature park highlighting the Noble Indian’s ways. I find my self closer and closer to these people and Justo and I don’t even speak their language, Although Justo can communicate with them a little and I see him often ask what a word in their dialect means.

A bit off the subject but the other day Justo and I where talking and he started saying he had seen fights between the Indians with sticks and he held one up and started showing me how they fought with them. The fights are to determine who gets a certain woman or to win a wife and he said sometimes he has watched a fight where the one guy hit the other in the knee and he couldn’t get up so the victor won his wife for good.

Punta Linda White Hawk with one foot
(wonder if he lost a wife in the battle)

The day went well and we got about 200 meters of trails done, 20 meters of palms cut, split, and carried down, a couple more bridges with palms nailed on them, one man steadily putting rocks on the trials to keep them from slipping and making them solid, the area around the “kitchen” area cleared, and a nap with the likes of I have never heard before.

Just another days journey across the river

Dropped the guys off at the swinging bridge so they could start their walk home and took Justo home; then headed to the China store for some ice and a drink. You know I thought the story would end right about here until tomorrow but I have to tell you about my bicycle ride tonight. It was great! The weather was perfect and I rode down to the local fried chicken and patacones restaurant which is always busy and got a order of 2 chicken legs and about 15 fresh hot patacones – fried Plantains. It really tasted good today and then I peddled down to Rambala and back up to Punta Pena stopping and talking to a couple of young 16ish kids (who I had talked to before) about Punta Linda. They really made me smile when they said that my Spanish was getting better and I told them it was their turn to get their English to be better now. I hope it works! They seem like good kids and hope to at least to get some people up there to see the project. Local in the street marketing! I can honestly say right now I am looking forward with great expectations for tomorrow’s progress. I want the bamboo cut and laid along the trials where it is going to go, the rocks filled in the front, and the entire front cleaned up. I know it’s asking for a lot but I also want a path up to the bamboo stand from below so they can carry it down that way more easily and work on that new trail. I think it will work.