Eric Journal Day 11

Week 3 - Day 11

Started like most of the other Mondays with the long drive over the mountains. I left Boquete at 4:45 AM and watches as the sky start to lighten up as I approached the mountains but then as I made the pass the dark sky gave way to multicolored spots of sky encased in dark shades of blue clouds. It’s always an inspirational drive.

Mysterious darkened peaks

Inviting you onward

One after another shrouded in mystery

Today it took 65 minutes from home including a stop in Gualaca to fill up my van - only 65 minutes to make it to Punta Pena. Gualaca is a town on the way that has a gas station -actually it is the only real town on the way.

River that runs through Gualaca

Cut through the rock making interesting canyons and swimming holes

The interesting thing about Gualaca is it is as old as the United States and was founded by some missionaries in the 1700’s but only has a population of about 5,000. I don’t know what they have been doing for 200 years and there is nothing there to give that secret away.

Justo and the girls waiting to carry up the food

As I approached Punta Linda all the guys where there and what was cool was that Celestino even brought some plants and flowers from his home as well. He has really caught on to what we are doing and has proven to be a real asset and a leader among the people he is able to bring each day.

Celestino's insight is always welcome

As I unloaded my tools and then went and got the ones from Justo’s home we went to the “China” market to get the days meat. The “pickens” where slim so chicken necks at $.65/lb it was. I was anxious to get back to PL wanting to see how the hand rails were going to turn out. They had started one already but it wasn’t the way I wanted so I had them start over. I tried to stress how important it was to take our time on the first one and get it right because it would make all the other bridges go a lot faster. After they put the split palm in the ground and made sure they drove it at least 2’ deep and put two at each end then we tied the bamboo handrail on and stood back. WOW!

Carrying the split palm down from up top

Now this is going to look like a rail when i am done?

Whats a rail?

It looked good and was as solid as I could have hoped for. I think I got it now but I knew I would have to stay close to get them started and monitor each bridge rail.

Onward and upward the trails continue on

With a smile ear to ear I walked up to check the rest of the progress, well just as I had feared the plants Celestino and I had brought where being planted in a straight line 6” apart and ran 200 meters up the trail. With Justo having to leave for a while to get the electrical taken care of at his house I was on my own to try to explain that in nature nothing grows in a straight line and I wanted the plants not on the edge of the trail but in a random pattern in close proximity of the trail. Guess there is not a good translation for proximity. I just decided at this point to try and get some of them random and finally with putting steaks in the ground in a random pattern was able to get him to plant them that way. What I am hopping for is at least some of them begin to root and I can have them transplanted at a later time. Celestino was working on some more benches. I had him change the first bench because the direction was totally wrong from how I had shown him last week that this one was supposed to go. When I had him change the bench I spotted a cut off from the Almandro tree that was about 8’ long and would work perfectly for the bench. I had him spread the posts apart some to accommodate it we used that piece for a seat instead and it really turned out great. I walked back to the front to see how the rails were going and helped with the layout and cut back a couple split palm bridge slats and then left them on their own to head back up to help Celestino. On the way up near the huge tree the guys were bringing rock from the creek in bags and emptying them on the trail to make it solid it is really shaping up beautifully.

And I walked 5 hrs to come pick up rocks?

I looked on the bench by the stairs and couldn’t believe what I saw. The guys had a tarantula spider with a string tied around it and the other tied to a stick it was just like walking a dog. I laughed out loud and played a little with the spider before finally making it to Celestino. He had 4 guys working on a trail in one direction and 2 going the other way watching for just a moment I realized they really didn’t have a clue in the direction they where going and thought it would be a lot easier if they at least had one rail up showing them how the path was going to go so I told Celestino and his men I would be back in 10 minutes and on the way down grabbed two guys who where toting rock in bags and took them with me to get some 50 bamboo poles and some twine and 8’ stakes.

Just a second I think I see the perfect piece

Bringing the bamboo to the trails I laid it roughly where it was going to go and told him to have one of the guys drive a stake there and tied the other end of the bamboo to a tree. The rail was solid as a rock as soon as we drove in 3 more posts. They finally got the idea and we were on a roll at last I think. One more piece of bamboo 50’ long tied to a post on one end and another tree.

A thing of beauty is a joy forever

Shaking the rails some I smiled this is going to work great. Then back to the front to check on their progress. We have in about 700 meters of trails so far and with work going on at each end every time I check on one end and then the other I have walked 2 km. I am sitting here trying to think how many times I did it today and have run out of fingers and am halfway through my toes. No wonder I am starting to fade some- I am sure its not that I woke up at 4 AM.

I was very pleased with the progress today the rails I think are going to turn out great. The benches look wonderful and the rock on the trails it going faster than I had expected. As I was working with the guys up front laying out the next rails they had dug 3 of the holes and were sticking some of the split palm in when I realized what they were using was to thin I had told them it had to be at least 3” minimum so they stopped and went to work on digging for the next bridge since that took the longest because of the rock strewn creek bed we were running our bridges in. I asked Justo what time it was he answered 3:15 I hollered good job let’s wash the tools and roll it up. Translated it means scrape the mud off the tools and hide them in the bushes till tomorrow. As they washed up and got ready I walked up front and looked at the rail again seeing how finished it looked now I wanted to get a picture with all 15 people lined up along it.

A happy bunch of guys (and girls)

As one of the guys came he was going to keep walking and I told Justo to tell him to stick around for a picture of every one but he told Justo he wasn’t going to get home till 8:30 and he had a 2 hour walk ahead of him. Lets see 3:30 plus 2 hour walk, oh well guess it’s not important if I miss a few guys. Finally I got about 10 to stop on the bridge and I snapped a few pictures I will hope to get some of every one on the bridge soon.

Little beauty abounds

Oh I forgot to mention last week when they where cleaning out the debris from the fallen tree in the front of PL I saw a little fish floating on top of the water I asked one of the guys what happened and he said something about a vine that I didn’t totally understand. Justo told me that what he meant was that the one of the pieces of vine they were cutting from the tree had fallen into the water and the sap from that vine kills or stuns the fish. They use that a lot when they go fishing to catch all the fish in the streams. Sure sounds ingenious but not to good for the next time you want to go fishing. I am constantly amazed at the resources in the jungle when you totally understand it you have everything you could possibly need right at your fingertips at all times. AMAZING!

The last inspection

Eric's Journal Day 10

Rain drops on the leaves


Day 10
The start of day 10 wasn’t the best. We woke up in the morning to a heavy downpour and then I saw Mario and Lyn off as they went their way and had a few minutes to spare before it was 7 so I took my machete and started to drive around town looking for pretty trees and bushes that where over grown that wouldn’t mind a trim so I could take the cuttings to PL and plant them.




Hidden beauty everywhere

I hit pay dirt I found several trees and bushes some with pretty red flowers on them and wacked away almost filling the back of my van. When I pulled up to the gate the whole gang was there plus a new face and I opened the back of my van pulling out limb after limb out and telling Justo to tell them I wanted them planted all over PL.



Towering red flowers


Justo then introduced me to the person with him. He was an electrician Justo had talked to about giving us a quote. He had given us a verbal quote based on what Justo had told him and wanted to come out and visually verify. I shook his had in the rain he had his yellow slicker buttoned up tight and the hood pulled down low his glasses rain soaked poking out. Justo then told me he had come from Panama City last night; leaving at 8pm, ridden the bus to Punta Pena - an 8 hour bus ride and had arrived there at 4 am and had been waiting for us since then. The Quote was almost half of the one we had just gotten. I told him to hop in the van while we went to pick up the food and when we returned we would walk the project with him.
Justo and I went to our daily shopping trip and got some meat in a tub that looked like a large sausage but he told me it was just a chopped up meat in a tube and nodded as he bought 6 of them for what he described as a chili.





Would you buy meat from this guy? I did


I don’t think I am going to be trying her food today. Back to the entrance, Celestino's wife was waiting for us and the rain continued to come down hard. Justo had his rain coat I had bought for him and I donned mine and headed up -anxious to see how much the streams had risen with all this rain.



Water water everywhere


It was beautiful! Every one of the little water falls on the way up were magnified by two and the sound was grabbing more than its usual share of jungle noise. The entrance was looking good and the stream was a little higher but not bad at all. I was pleased seeing that the river had not turned into a raging torrent wiping out all of our work. As we approached the entrance to Punta Linda I saw Celestino looking at the base of this large tree that we had a bridge right next to so I asked Justo what was going on and he said they had a big snake.

4' 'X' snake

I ran up to see it as Celestino was telling Justo that the snake had almost tried to bite him in the rubber boots. One of Celestino’s guys was already headed up the side of the hill to cut a forked stick to pin him down so they could trap it. I looked into the base of the tree and could just barely make it out deep inside the roots. When they came back they modified the stick to a fashion they where happy with and then one of them then jammed it into the tree pinning the snake’s body about 12” back from its head leaving the head free to strike at what it could. I watched as this 5’ snake would strike out and of course had to poke my stick at it too. One of the other guys was trying to hit it with his machete but with it being so far in the roots he could hit it but not with enough force to do any real damage. After thinking for a moment he then took his machete and with a couple quick whacks had sharpened the end of a stick. Pushing it close to the snake the snake struck out at it and as he did the Indian pushed the sharp stick into and through the head end of snake. The snake writhed and squirmed and after some patience they were able to get it out of the roots. I am glad they got this one -It turned out to be over 5’ as we put a tape on it but unfortunately with the rain still coming down I was not able to get a picture of it. Well that got every ones blood pumping - okay time to get to work and make good use of all that adrenaline.
Justo, the electrician and I then started to walk up the hill toward where the bamboo was so we could show him where to end the power poles. As we walked up the electrician was almost sprinting up the hill with me 10 meters behind and Justo even further. I hollered up to him that he was in good shape; he then said he was only 24. I laughed and said I was over twice his age and Justo was almost 3 times his age so no wonder! Guess with his yellow rain coat on and the hood pulled down I never did get an idea how old he was. He really seemed genuinely interested in the project even more so than just getting the job that was very refreshing. He was constantly pulling his camera phone out in the rain and taking pictures even on the way back down, as we took a different way he was stopping and taking video of Punta Linda.. He then said he had the first video commercial of PL I told him to show it to all of his friends he said he would. Justo then told me he had to go back home cause the fire department was going to check an electrical connection he had made to make sure it was okay. I asked him to just walk Carlos down and when he was finished to return. He said okay and I watched as the two walked off in the rain at 8:30 am.
As I walked back checking progress, some of the areas that had been muddy before were not bad after they had put rock on them. I was pleased as I saw them shoveling more rock onto the path in the bad areas to solidify them as well.

Packing rocks notice the homemade tamper

The new path we had just made the day before by the large tree on the river was 24’ of water fall cascading down and washing out the steps we had just done the day before. Nothing we could do now but later we will have to come up with some sort of idea to stop this in the future. I smiled as I saw all up the sides of the trail of the steps were the branches that I had brought yesterday and they had planted them in a row up the trail 6” apart and by breaking them into smaller pieces we now had over 400 flowering plants along the path. I am going to give Buckingham Palace a run for their money. Colors abound

After Celistino had seen how nice the benches turned out he was anxious to install some more so I showed him a few places to start putting them. He took 2 guys into the jungle with him in search of the perfect seats. Down toward the front where the two new bridges are that we installed there was one guy working on adding rock to make the path nicer. He was doing a great job picking rock from the creek laying them in the path then hitting them with a sledgehammer pounding them down and breaking them into small pieces.

lacy grace

purple tower

I started thinking that with a couple more guys I could have a road back here in two day I could drive my van down. Well that is wishful thinking but it is the thought that counts anyway. As I watched his progress I saw three guys coming down from the mountain with 8’ pieces of split palm on their shoulders tied up with vines and place them by the bridges. The guy was starting to nail some of the palm down on the new bridges but was obviously going to be short. I was wondering how come the palm they where bringing down was not the right size. Well, with Justo gone I tried to talk to them and ask what they where doing but all I could get was a smile and a “Perfecto” (I have got to teach them more words or I have to learn more). When I tried to talk to Celestino It wasn’t any better. I was starting to panic a little without Justo. How could I tell what they were doing? I checked my phone and I didn’t have a signal so I started walking toward the front holding my phone in the air turning in different directions like radar searching for enemy planes looking for just one bar of signal. At last I found the spot and called Justo to check on where he was. (Guess he was right about the need for walkie talkies.) He said he was on his way back and almost there - I said good. When I saw him I told him what was going on and that I needed to find out what was happeing. We then went and talked to Celestino and he told us they where going to use the 8’ split palm for the posts I told him it wasn’t what I had thought but I wanted him to make one demo so I could look at it and inspect it. He said okay and told the three men to work on that next. Right after that as I was in front where they were going to do the first rail I heard in the distance “HOLA” - alright Linda is here at last.
She was a site that made my eyes jump she had her shorts on and boots with her earrings and bracelets flashing. Dang she looked good. I was anxious to have any one give me their opinion of the progress even more so of Linda. She was smiling big as I brought her through the entrance of PL and showed her the snake we had killed earlier on a stump she actually took her hand and touched it later commenting on how it felt and she had never touched one of those giant vipers before. (I think she is turning native). As we walked into PL the rain had stopped and it was lunch time so we walked by the cooking tent with all the guys sitting eating their food. I introduced them all to Linda and Justo translated for me. We continued up the paths showing her the bridges, the bench we had just made the day before, and the new steps by the huge tree where there is a small cascade of 7” water falls. Then she smiled seeing all the flowers that I had planted along the path and said how good it looked. After showing her how the trails were looking and taking her to the point where the split tree was, we then showed the guys where to put the next bench and we walked down toward the entrance. Celistino said his guys had the rail done on the first bridge and I was anxious to go see it.
When I got to the bridge with the first rail I was a bit shocked. They had taken the split palm that were approximently 4” wide and had even split some of them down further and drove them in the ground and tied the bamboo onto them with vines telling me that they would be using nails. But since they couldn’t find the other hammer at the moment and the other guy was still nailing the split palm on the bridges they had to do it this way. Panama! Well the 8’ split palm for the posts were only barely in the ground 12” and the dirt was still loose around them and 4’ of the post stuck above the bamboo rail that they had tied on. I went up to it and grabbed on to it and it shook like crazy flexing way too much. They could see as I inspected it I wasn’t happy and were busy talking to Justo about why it was that way and explaining that is how they do it. Well with Linda and 7 people around including Justo I started talking about different possibilities to fix it. Maybe we can hire Ernesto to come up and cut the Almandro into the 2x4s I had tried to get Justo’s brother to do to begin with. Guess the Panama translation fairy didn’t get it right. They all nodded saying how strong Almandro was and since they couldn’t nail it cause the wood was so hard they could tie the bamboo onto the post I agreed think that might look okay.

Hidden in the groove or bamboo

With the threat of rain again and having felt a few drops I told them at 3 that they did a great job today and to wash up the tools and bring them all down for payday. Linda and I walked to the truck as the drops softly started to come down. When we reached the bottom I took Linda back to Mario’s so she could shower and then I returned to wait for the guys so I could pay them for the week. They all came down each toting some kind of tool or implement we had been using and loaded them in the van. Then they came to the side window and Justo dished out the money and had them sign the receipt book which he had already filled out.

our bamboo rails

I can say one thing - Justo is efficient. For only having worked 10 days I think we did a lot and with 5 more days to work I think we can get more gravel on the trails and the rails up without any problem. I sure hope I don’t eat those words.

the bridge Celestino walks every day

Moving river at dusk

Majestic views

Visitor checking it out

wet beauty

From the top of Punta Linda

Day 9

Well day 9 Thursday, it started like any other day. This week after we got the workers the chain saw and met them at the entrance they started up the mountain and we told them to leave the women to carry the food up while Justo and I went to get the food for the day. Let’s see: today it was chicken necks again for $.55/lb, a littlebeans and rice, and some Kool-Aid and 2 lbs of sugar. The Kool-Aid she mixes in a bucket and the guys like the treat.

Koolaid by the bucket

Koolaid is always better from bamboo

We decided to add two more bridges bringing the total up to 9. I sure had no idea we would already have 9 bridges before we had gotten 400 meters into this but they look good and add some nice detail. Now I hope the handrails turn out as well. I mentioned to Justo to have the crew also get the palm posts for the handrail because I would like to get some installed tomorrow and he conveyed the message. We have been cleaning up the front a lot from where a large tree had fallen down and have almost removed all the debris laying the largest logs in the mud at the entry to form a base for the bridge. I told Justo to tell Celestino I wanted to make a bench and to make it right at his little lagoon. So Celestino grabbed the chain saw and a couple of the Indians and wandered off in the jungle to look for the perfect bench. When he came back he had a 4’ piece of wabo a very hard and durable wood and two forks from the wabo tree. This is going to be interesting as I have never thought of making a bench this way. I started watching as they sunk one of the wabo trunks in the rocky ground. Having buried and tamped the first post they showed me how it would go by laying the slab between the forks. I nodded thinking this was going to look good. The second post worked fairly well at first; then they started putting the other hole for the post too far away so I had them move it closer - then they set it after having to dig and chip away at the rocky soil and tamped it down. Well now the problem was it didn’t line up with the other fork. He was about to pull it up and start over when I told him to just hold the slab in the one fork and butt it into the other. I took a nail from my pocket and marked the other post grabbing the chain saw I cut the other post just below the fork but still had a post to rest the other side of the bench on. It really turned out good and we finished up just about at the end of the day. I got my camera and had Celestino and his wife sit on the bench and took their picture. I started laughing pretty quickly as I then watched every one take turns sitting on the bench trying it out to get their pictures taken. They would take their time and sit there and smile while the other would patiently wait their turn. Life is good!!

The start of the bench

Setting the Wabo fork in the ground

The first on the bench

Its a family affair

All and all a good day and I talked to Lyn and she is on her way to Punta Pena to leave from there to go to Changuinola in the morning to get some paper work for the title picked up. I can’t wait to show her what I have been playing in the jungle doing - hope she likes it.

Justo inspecting

Eric in the jungle

Where you want this now?

The keeper of the jungle