Life is Good Panama: Eric's Journal Day 13

Entrance shot 1

Trail Photo 2

Trail Photo 3

Trail Photo 4

Trail Photo 5

Hey guys we are down to the last 3 days I am going to show you on the next three posts three sections of the trails sure will add some extra pics too enjoy .

Two days left to work on Punta Linda and today Justo and I got them started and went to pick up the necessary meat for lunch. Today it was 8lbs of ribs and with an orange juice I bought the bill at the china market was $8.45. Justo and I were going to go to the agricultural school and give the professor the 800 - 2lb planting bags I got and the seeds we bought in Boquete - an assortment of vegetables. We have three types of peppers, squash, corn, flowers, onions, and carrots. The students are supposed to fill the bags with soil and get the plants started then when they are ready we are going to get the kids up to PL and have them plant them and of course we are going to feed the students too. I have been realizing the last few days that the kids are going to need a place to plant them. I can’t expect them to clear the brush and grass and till the soil then plant all the vegetables. So now Justo and I are on a look out for a good place to start a garden and the one thing we realized too is we are going to need some type of fencing to keep the animals from eating our crops. That will be something for me to work on while I have a break from working with the Indians. Justo said he needed to mail a letter to David and could I take him to the china market next to the Texaco. This particular China market is more of a restaurant and a bus stop. The way the mail is sent here is you just give it to a bus driver that is going to where you want and then he drops it off at the bus terminal - you then call the people you are sending the letter to and they go to the bus station and pick it up. The whole process costs $2 and the letter is in David in 3 hours. It really isn’t a bad system and the nice thing is you don’t get junk mail when you have no mailbox.

We went up to PL to check on the progress that seems okay so far. I talked to Justo about wanting to check on the progress towards the top along the creek so we took off on a stroll heading to the top. I purposely stopped at each bench to take it all in. We followed the trail to the barbed wire fence Justo had told me about where the guys had stopped progress. When we got to the fence I looked ahead and saw that it had been cleared so we proceeded onwards - the trail wasn’t bad for while then it got close to the creek and started getting steeper. I thought we might have found the easy path. We then heard some noise and chopping ahead. When we hollered they stopped and came to us. It was Celestino and two of his guys so Justo asked him how it was ahead and he said it was getting very steep. We turned around to head back down and they followed. I haven’t given up on finding the easy route. We did explore another route and Celestino had two guys chopping on that one as well.

Justo and I then took the route they had cleared the other to the bamboo. It wasn’t a bad route and tied into other routes that we had been making. The paths are almost like a maze the way they start end and never join. Maybe with a big piece of string I will try and tie this thing up by Friday. We headed on down and in just a few seconds more the silent lunch alarm must gone off cause all of a sudden they all appeared on their way to lunch. I can say one thing to be honest they do seem to enjoy the midday meal.

Shortly after snapping a few candid pictures I even got three guys to do the hear no evil see no evil speak no evil pose (that was fun) the lunch was over and the rain started to come down. They all headed out to work without giving it another thought. I was scrambling to make sure that I had nothing out that could get ruined in the rain and pulling under the tarp what I did have. By this time I was soaked and Justo was as well, I really didn’t want him to get wet since he had told me before that it some times made him sick. After about 15 minutes Justo just took off to check the guys working and I stayed under the tarp for about another 20 until Justo reappeared and the rain started to let up some. We then started walking the trails checking on the water flow, in most places it wasn’t bad but we found a couple that needed some more rock and attention to the ditches. Just about the time we got the farthest from the tarp the rain opened up again. Panama! It really didn’t feel bad since it was the same temperature as the air and it even seemed to refreshing but I was soaked to the bone. I can tell the work is starting to take a toll on me. I am getting a lot sleepier earlier and am feeling exhausted, guess I know how a mountain goat feels now. The day ended much like most although again they didn’t make it down to the van till after 4. That is a lot better than the first day when we where sitting at the truck at 3:15. Tomorrow I am going to try and stress putting rock down and finishing the rails and if possible put some rails on the trail to the bamboo. Justo said he needed to wish me luck in getting it all done.