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