Adventure Ideas for Punta Linda Adventure Park

Hello All!

Here is Eric's latest idea of how to make Punta Linda the best adventure park in the world. He experienced this one - the Winter Park Alpine Slide about 12 years ago in Colorado. Looks like great fun! Anybody have any other ideas for the park? Please send them along in the comments.

Last Day For Now Week 3 day 15

Trail Photo 21

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Week 3 Day 15

Today is the last day of 3 weeks allotted to trail building for now. It was important to get a baseline and to discover how quickly and smoothly the trail work would go. Friday and lunch today is hot dogs with beans and rice a little garlic and onion and you have a sort of chili and of course Justo had to help her and tell her how to cook it - the guy is amazing with what all he knows. Since it is the last day I stressed to Justo to tell them I want to try and finish all we have started and to clean it up so it is presentable to others. I wanted to polish up the gem so to speak. The trail off the main path up to the bamboo is looking better actually it is pretty good and is going to be a little longer distance to get up there walking wise but a lot smoother and easier to walk. The rails are looking good and the trail is not cut as wide giving it a nice natural feel. All day long there are at least 6 workers going to the creek gathering rocks in a bag and carrying them up to the trail dumping them and returning.

It is really looking good and making the trails so much more solid and less slippery. Some of the bougainvillea aren’t doing well and Justo pointed out to me that some leaf cutter ants that thought they were tasty. I can tell already this is going to be tough to write because I just keep thinking not so much about the job they did or the people I just got to know a little but more of the all the individual moments of stellar incidents. I was looking again for details to make it better wondering what would really make the place unforgettable but still haven’t found that special thing so I guess the beauty alone will have to suffice and there is plenty of that. I am still looking for that perfect tree for beginning the zip line runs. I have been lost in the ever changing light under the canopy of trees and how it makes the walk down the same trail seem different each time. Each time I see so many other things in the changing light. I can sense a little bit of urgency as they try to finish or at least make everything look good before the end of the day. After a week of coaching even Celestino’s wife is carrying large rocks from the creek two at a time barefoot. As I walk the trails I find my self thinking about the last 14 days of effort and the mini series of events each day. I am really sad this is coming to an end for now and I am going to miss all these people.

The day ended and Justo and I left a little before the crew to go get payroll ready after telling the guys to be sure to wash all the tools and bring them down. We barely got to the van and had the money counted out before they arrived; guess they were ready too. Oh I almost forgot the guy who was working on sanding and polishing the bamboo rails didn’t show up today and I had some one else doing that job. Well about 2 this afternoon he showed up. He told Justo he had just fallen back to sleep when the others took off and had just now gotten there. He walked 2 hours to get there to work just over a hour and then turn around and have to walk 2 hours back home - that is dedication. Well it was payday too so I guess that counts for something.

Rare Hummer on Punta Linda

Ruffus spreading his wings

I did see another humming bird flit on the way out. I am already counting the days until can restart this project. Benny the biologist is supposed to show up at PL on next Saturday so Linda and I will be anxious to see what he has to say.

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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.

Eric's Journal Day 5

Required Jungle Footware
Where do I begin - okay the beginning. I showed up at 10 till seven and the Indians where already there as I pulled up I saw Justo walking up the road with a leather jacket and flip flops. I hollered out I know I told them I wanted Linda to be able to walk up the trails with flip flops but this is crazy and he then told me that he wasn’t feeling good and wasn’t going to be able to make it. That hit me like a ton of bricks I started thinking how am I going to be able to communicate with the Indians? He said no problem just tell them what to do and turned and walked away – saying he would be back in time to help pay them at the end of the day. I have learned since I moved to Panama you have to make the most of every situation and I figured this was a flaming situation that I had to look hard for that silver lining. Once we got up there and all the guys started digging and working on the trails and bridges; Chief Celistino was guiding them I figured I had it licked.
8" Punta Linda Frog
Well then Ernesto showed up after I had told Mario we didn’t need him anymore and thought he had called him for me. Since I decided to use bamboo totally for posts and rails, and instead of using wood for the bridges we are going to use crushed palm - I didn’t need the professional wood cutter. I didn’t have a translator any more and had a heck of a time getting the point across that I didn’t need him today but then finally he smiled and shook my hand and headed back down. One problem averted with only a little time wasted.
One of the longest bridges
(it's a long way down)
Every time I would walk off on one of my explorations when I would return and see the progress they had made I would let out a loud perfecto!!! As the day went on I would hear them talking to them selves and every now and then I would hear a “perfecto” from them as well; it was all I could do to contain the huge smile on my face. As the day wore on lunch time arrived, in the morning I had given them a plastic bag with 4 small cans of pork and beans that Lyn had given me and ¾ of a loaf of bread to have bean sandwiches. After lunch while I was sitting by my new ZEN pool along the trail Celistino came up proudly with the plastic bag in tow with all the trash and said it was good; well he may have said it or not but he smiled and nodded and seemed very gracious so I am assuming. I on the other hand was eating some very stale chips that I would sprinkle on the water so the little fish and crayfish (which they call fresh water shrimp) would nibble on them. (Lyn says: I have to interject here since anyone who ever came to our house in Florida knows that Eric is by nature a “fish trainer”) I handed Celistino the remaining bag of chips and watched him finish the rest of the bag while being careful not to walk around the corner so the others would not see him. As he was eating the chips (a few days earlier when I had opened the chips I watched as a dime slide off the top of my dresser and had fallen in the bag instead of digging it out then I just figured I would find it as I ate and left in there and forgot about it.) You would not believe the face on Celistino when he found that dime. He pulled it out and tried to give it to me - I told him he could have it. I started thinking later if he thought all gringo food had money in each bag no wonder they think we are rich. Spending time with Celistino as he supervises his guys there is so mcuh silence only broken by me trying to say something or convey a idea. Often he will be listening and then his eyes light up and he will say what the animal was he heard, today he was listening and a smile came over his face as he said “MONO” (monkey). I listened hard for the sound trying to differentiate it from the hundreds of other sounds filling the jungle. Little things like this keep reminding me why I am here, the beauty and the people.
Baby Howler Monkey
The monkey was a treasure since the only other “sighting” so far was when our friend Curly discovered one when he was standing under a tree and the monkey was relieving himself and I guess that qualifies…. After lunch we went on a search for the perfect trees for the next bridge these had to be 30’ long and straight. As I walked to PL with the line of Indians following me I decided just for kicks to take a different way up and to see what they would do. As I changed courses taking a different way up they, like their women, just followed me the different way not even breaking stride. I was leading and they where following.

Afterwards I spoke and said Bueno? Celistino nodded and we might have a new trail in the works now.
Did you say you wanted a trail here boss?

Well just as Justo said he met us down at the entrance at 3:30 with his receipt book in hand all the information already filled in and it was time for Payday. Paid out the 40 dollars per person which was 7 - $5 bills and 5 - $1 and to Celistino $44 and Justo $75 so one week of labor making 400 meters of trails in the jungle cost $315.00. Not too bad for 7 people working. Can’t wait to see what next Monday will bring when I increase the work force to 13 I know it’s going to keep me hopping and shooting lots of pics.