Logistics of Traveling to Panama

As Promised Here are the travel plans to visit us. We have hired these professional boat captains to sail you here from Florida, wind permitting. There is a one bag limit and be sure
to bring your sun screen.






Let us know if you have any questions.

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Alternatively here are the other possibilities:

Directions for flying to Panama

Since David, Panama is closer to Punta Pena, Bocas del Toro and Boquete the best way we have found to fly to our areas of Panama is to fly to San Jose, Costa Rica and then grab a short flight on Air Panama to David, Panama. If you want to fly to Panama City – American Airlines and Copa Airlines have direct flights from many hubs. The thing to remember is it is almost a 6 hour drive from Panama City to Boquete so for us it makes sense to fly through Costa Rica. Watch Spirit Airlines and even consider joining their $9 club for specials to Costa Rica. Get a flight that arrives into Costa Rica in the afternoon unless you want to do some site seeing in Costa Rica first. The reason for this is they only have one flight and only on M-W- F to David, Panama and it leaves at 11:00 AM Costa Rican time which is one hour behind Panama time. Panama is EST with no daylight savings. The challenge is you usually cannot catch a flight to arrive early enough to San Jose to be able to transfer and catch the flight to David.

Since the flight to David is also an “International” flight the same rules apply - arrive approximately 2 hrs early to the airport.

The airline you will use for this is : Air Panama @ www.flyairpanama.com/

There are many hotels around the San Jose Airport and most offer free shuttle service. One place we stayed at the Best Western Irazu - they are

online: http://www.crica.com/hotels/irazu.html

It’s a bit far from the airport but has a free shuttle, free happy hour, casino, pool, and restaurant with free breakfast - it was $100 when we stayed there. As a bonus we never had to even exchange money as they took dollars. If you want to explore a little in Costa Rica this is a great location to go from and they will exchange your money in the hotel.

The second time we stayed in Costa Rica the young woman at the information booth at the airport gave us the name of a place called Hotel Brilla Sol it is 5 minutes from the airport and also offers free shuttle. Their number is 506-442-5129 or 506-430-5878 rooms are decent with hot water and a nice little garden restaurant at the hotel. It has a casual and friendly atmosphere.

Important to note when planning the hotel is that San Jose is a great hub if you are planning to spend a day or 2 in Costa Rica but the airport is actually in Alajuela so if you are just stopping for the night then it is quicker and less expensive to lodge in Alajuela. The airport in Costa Rica has a great information booth and they are helpful with lots of brochures and info.

After you have arrived in Costa Rica from your carrier you will take the flight #691 on Air Panama leaving at 11:00 AM and arriving at David Panama at 12.55 PM (your lose an hour). On your return flight you will take Air Panama flight #690 to Costa Rica leaving at 10:30 AM arriving in Costa Rica at 10:30 AM. (you get your hour back).

It is easy to get to the airport in David in time to make the return trip in one day as long as you can book a flight out of San Jose any time after 12:00 noon.

You can usually get into Miami airport in time to miss rush hour traffic if all goes really well. As far as other international airports we haven't had the personal experience to advise at that end.

For our Florida friends: We also used a parking service close to the airport in Miami that was much more reasonable than the airport and safe and convenient. They are online or their number is: 954-584-1589 http://www.unitedairportparking.com/ Most large airports have a similar service that makes it affordable to park nearby which we always found comforting. Knowing your vehicle is waiting for you when you arrive is the next best thing to having a chauffeur.

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 7

One of the bridges along the trail!

Tuesday of the second week, after a good start on the first week it is going to be tough to top that but I will try. Today the full crew showed up full of vim and vigor and grabbed the chain saw and a battery Skil saw of mine and headed up the mountain. Justo and I went back to his house to pick up the roll of barbed wire and then to the china market to get some chicken feet, beans and rice. Justo grabbed a couple of small cans of tomato paste that he said would give the chicken feet some color. The total bill for their lunch was 12 dollars working out to roughly $1 per person - guess that’s pretty good. I had 5 guys head up right away to start splitting palms, 4 started back digging and working on the trails, and Celestino started working on the front dressing it up; working on the walkway to the entrance of PL.

I brought up the food for the guys and had left the wire behind at the gate. Justo told one of them to go down and get it and bring it back up to rework the front entry where the large tree had taken out 20’ of fence. After all were started Justo and I went up and checked how the trails where doing then headed up to see the progress on the cutting of the palms. Even though we had cleared a trail to the top it’s still a long hike straight up so we took our time stopping often and talking about the beauty and how lucky we both were.

When we made it to the top you could just look down through the jungle on the other side and see the men cutting the palms and the others bringing them to the top to be split up there, making it easier. We walked just a short way up the hill towards the top and I looked up and saw the branches in a tree shaking and then an animal with a long tail moving to another limb. I hollered to Justo “ Mono”, (monkey) as he looked up and saw it too. We walked up towards the mono and no longer saw him but headed further up also looking for the missing cows.

When we reached the top of PL it was a really clear day with little humidity and we could see way out in the Chiriqui Bay to the Bocas Islands and the channel - it was breath taking! The trip back was nice and slow as we worked our way back down to the bottom. I was kind of disappointed I didn’t see the sloth again as we walked by where we had seen him before, I mean how far they can go in a week?

Justo the magnificent! Could not do this without him!

After the long trek Justo and I sat down next to what I have coined the phrase of “Laguna de Justo”, which is the small pool where we eat lunch often and watch the fish. I opened up a can of Van Camps Pork and Beans and pulled out some bread - it was only 11 but we where both hungry and deserved to eat like kings. Shortly after we finished and checked on the guys once more. They had eaten and headed back to work. I was really impressed. They ate and took exactly 30 minutes to do it. Typically in Panama there are one hour lunches but these guys grabbed hold of the shorter day concept and are acting like it has always bee that way. Gringo ideas! After that the guys started bringing down the palm and we got the front bridge done and I started the second bridge laying the palm out and nailing it down until I ran out of nails! Oops! Guess I will finish it tomorrow. As I was walking by on one of the trips past the kitchen I had mentioned to Justo to tell Celestino to have his wife clean up the creek next to where she was cooking. There were some limbs down in it and it needed some attention but it didn’t work when I tried yesterday. Finally it did today and she was actually cleaning so it looked a lot better and I tried the best I could with a bunch of thumbs up and muy bueno to convey that, but realized she spoke Noble; an Indian dialect and not even Spanish. I sure hope my smile got across anyway. But after an hour of cleaning she sat down she was done. I was happy for a little progress. The days’ progress was ok and I was happy it was over.

Celestino's wife the cook - relaxing

After Justo’s and my walk I was worn out and asking Justo what time it was. I realized they finally put in a really full day - way to go guys!

After we dropped the 13 Indians off at the bridge we headed to the hardware store to pick up some nails and some spray for termites since I wanted to treat the bamboo posts before we set them in the ground for the rails. At the store the nails seemed kind of high in price at $.90/lb so I asked how much for 50 lbs. and they punched it in the calculator and came up with $45. – gosh, I guess no discount for volume. Justo said we could get them cheaper at Chiriquí Grande so no problem we had to pick up some containers for Diesel fuel to mix with the Penitran anyway. When we got to the hardware store in Chiriquí Grande and checked the price it was $1.30/lb, now it was a different quality but I didn’t need it to last 30 years so after we picked up the containers for fuel and Justo bought his usual 2 cigarettes. We headed back to pick up his wife and then to Punta Pena.

Now all we need to do is shop in the morning for food which Justo suggested that this time we might get the guys fish. He said it’s as cheap as the chicken is so why not. I am looking for some good progress tomorrow hope to have all the palms we need split and installed on the bridges, the trail being worked on , and some of the bamboo we are going to use for rails cut as well. May be a dream but heck I am in Panama working with 13 Indians and a Morse code specialist, and watching monkeys in the trees, pinch me because I think I am dreaming now.

The 3 toed sloth hanging
and scratching

Eric's Journal Day 6

The Entrance - a work in progress
Monday : I woke up at 4:30 am out of the house in Boquete at 5:15 of course the cobwebs where not clear yet and I ended up leaving my clothes behind (oops for the week I mean) but all worked out okay as I had a dresser still at Mario’s with enough to get me through the week. Pulled up to PL at 7:15 after a nice uneventful drive over the mountains and saw Justo at the corner china market as I pulled in and he told me he was getting rice and supplies for the Indians to cook up there today. Justo then told me the Indians where already up there and working and cutting palms for the decking for the trails. I said great and grabbed my camera and what supplies I had in my van for cooking and headed up. Dropping them off when I got up there I realized needed to head to the local hardware store to get some 3” galvanized nails to nail the Palm down on the bridges and some oil for the gas for the chain saw.
So after dropping off one load I headed back down the hill to go to the store. On the way down I saw Justo with a helper carrying up the supplies and told him to have a man back down at the gate in 30 minutes. The trip each time from the street to PL is 1 km up and 1 km back over hills across bridges over a creek numerous times and past a barking dog so it is never a dull hike. Plus lugging up my back pack with a rain coat and some food for lunch
and camera it’s always at least a 30 minute turn around.
(Last week I had a good idea about working with the local agricultural high school in town. We talked with the teachers and we will supply bags and seeds and the kids will start plants and trees to replant the previous cleared part of Punta Linda. Also they brought their cows to graze in the pasture area as part of this cooperative project.
Win win for all as they have only a small space to grow near the school. )
Once I returned with an Indian helping (I will get better at remembering or at trying to remember their names) I started doing a head count: one was building a shelter for Celistino’s wife who was going to be cooking for the guys, 5 working on the trail with shovels and picks, Justo watching the shelter being build, Celistino watching the guys work on the trails, and 5 I was told were cutting palms.


Cutting the bamboo for the hand rails
I had almost forgotten there was also an 11 year old girl who was Celistino’s wife’s sister. Don’t ask; I haven’t figured it out yet either. Okay the head count was there. After 2 hours the 5 men cutting palms arrived carrying their wares, pieces of split palm trunks 48 inches long and about 1 ½ “ thick - not bad . I had a man start working on the bridge by the shelter and in the progress leveling out the logs preparing for the palm. Then after having them raise the beams to match we started nailing them down. As I grabbed a hammer and started fingering the 3” galvanized nails and began driving them into the palm I realized how hard the palm is. You had to beat it hard enough while holding the nail to break through the hardness then you could let it go and drive it into the wood below. Well 25 feet of bridge done and only about another 125’ to go I think this is going to work out good – it’s rustic but very solid. As we were nailing the boards I watched the shelter go up and Celistino’s wife and her sister begin to get the food cooking for the guys. Well lunch time arrived at 12 and she had enough food cooked to feed 20 guys. Too bad we only had 14 including her but still no one went hungry on a meal of Rice, beans and chicken necks that cost me $.65/lb (I wanted chicken feet they only cost $.50 but they were out, I was told, guess you have to treat the help good once in a while.
Everyone with their own refillable bottle - Koolaid today!
After lunch the palm splitters went back to work the trail diggers grabbed their shovels and I had Celistino grab a few guys to go clean up the entrance of PL where some trees had blown down. Well no sooner than we where starting to clean out the brush then I looked up and saw a guy with 12 kids two of which had red flags that I had bought and made. I hollered over to one of Celistino’s guys to run and get Justo - this didn’t look good. Well when the man got closer I realized that it was one of the professors at the school and his kids. The kids stayed out side the gate and I motioned for the professor to come up and see the progress always mentioning about the plants until we ran into Justo who could interpret. Once I found Justo I told him I think he is here for his cows. Then I found out that we had 3 calves missing and that we only had 1 bull and 5 calves total on the property. Justo then told me he knew that and already and had some of the guys go check the fence and the neighbors cows to see if they had gotten to the next farm but with no luck. The teacher did tell me the trails looked good but as far as the plants he is only in charge of cows and I would have to talk to the other professor about the plants. We walked back towards the front and his kids who had already been wandering around PL looking for their cows were rounding up the cows heading them to the gate - guess that was the end of having cows to eat trails for the horse backing riding. Oh well it’s only a speed bump in the road of life. Back to our trails and bridges, I was having the guys clean up the brush and then working on repairing the bamboo gate over the creek and it was looking good when Celistino yelled Sappo and cangrejo which is frog and crab. I ran over to look, camera ready, and saw a fresh water crab as big as a Chesapeake Bay blue crab and a bullfrog in a tussle. The crab had the frog by the foot and the frog was putting up a commotion. I grabbed a stick and pressed it at the crab seeing how big he was and he let go of the bullfrog to have him scamper into the brush; that was cool witnessing that, but to be totally honest it has been cool just being part of this whole thing and witnessing another culture at work.
Justo pointing out yet another medicinal plant
Well I ran off a little early to get a phone card and some ice and beer and told them all “see you tomorrow”. While I was gone it started to rain so after I got what I needed I headed back to PL to see if Justo needed a ride back to his house since he was getting over a cold and I didn’t want him to get sick again. Have you ever wondered how many Indians you can get a van? Well the answer is 14 with their machetes too.

The cooks sister relaxing
I dropped them off at the swinging bridge again to proceed with their 45 minute walk in the rain. I made it back to Mario’s while his electrician was working hanging up lights and putting in outlets and finishing up the lighting in his new bedroom. Talked to him about PL and the work we had done then downloaded the pics and showed him the 4’ snake one of the palm cutters found on his last trip. Justo came up and said wow that’s a ‘X’ snake you get bit by those and you just die before you get to hospital and it’s a huge one - Fer De Lance. I was thinking afterwards I hope it wasn’t pregnant. At the end of Monday the first day of the second week and you know I just realized again how lucky I am to have Mario and all the people he trusts as contacts. That’s where I got Justo, Celestino and the crew.

New blog trick

Just a tip I found out by accident. If you click on the photos in the blog they will expand which is sometimes great for viewing details. Have fun and here is one from Boquete today.

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.

Day Four and Starting to Settle Into a Rhythm

Day 4

I had the regular crew show up with out a hitch, Justo had his camouflage on and when I pulled up I didn’t even see him. Even after he spoke he had to move before I saw him. Sure hope the Indians don’t figure that one out or will never find them up there again. Justo and I went exploring for more potential paths and found a beauty. There is this huge tree with a wide root base (the name I still do not know) that I have always wanted to make the path go by it. Its hard to even describe so will take some pictures tomorrow and hope you can see the magnificence of it then. While I was checking on the guys’ progress I got distracted by a orange butterfly, I got it to land on my finger and was holding it up for the guys to see and then even pretended to talk to it. I then put it on one of the guys hats and they all got a laugh.

With all the climbing around in the rubber boots up the steep hills and through the creeks I got a blister - it was bound to happen but I held tough. After 5 hours I told them I had to go check on some prices of supplies since I also just made a deal with the Indian boss to have 5 more Indians come on Monday to start cutting palms. What I decided to do is use crushed palms like the Indians use for the walls and floors of their homes and this type of palm is so strong that they use it for supports of homes out over the water and to support homes on land. In these conditions it lasts 8 to 10 years and we have lots of it on PL so why not!!! At 3:30 I went to the entrance of PL and met Justo and the Indians as they came down I shook all of their hands telling them what a good job they are doing and how happy I am. Then Celistino, the Indian leader, asked if I would drive them 3/10 of a km to the suspension bridge that goes over the Rio Wabo River and from there they walk 45 minutes to their village I answered sure why not. On the way to the bridge Justo told me that he and Celistino had a talk. When we started PL and talked to Celistino he wanted more than the other Indians since he was in charge and was able to get them so we agreed that instead of $1 per hour we would pay him $1.10 and he agreed happily. Well now things have changed and he wants to get more than $1.10. Talking to Justo we both kind of laughed because when I had made the deal with him that he wanted more we both could not believe that he accepted .10 more so I will give him $1.25 because he is doing a really good job. The truth of the matter is he is doing a great job and seems to be taking personal interest in the job which makes me smile a lot.

Photo: (Celestino deep in thought)

He has even talked to Justo about bringing some plants from home to plant on PL. Now life is good!! Justo and I went to the local china market after work to get him some boots. I told him the guy in charge of PL at least has to have a good pair of boots. His have a hole in them and he told me he has to pry his feet in them in the morning since they are too small. He wears a size 12! We may have to go to David to get them for him since they were no where to be found near Punta Pena. So we continued n to Chiriquí Grande to check out a hardware store there and price some axes we needed for the guys to cut and split the palms on Monday. When we got there we found the axes and also the large cast aluminum pots for cooking up to 14 pounds of rice and some other pots and pans as well. $105 dollars letter with Justo getting me a discount we were going to head back when he said excuse him for a sec he needed to go to the store. When he returned he had one cigarette and lit it up and said he was trying to quit and the best way was to buy them one at a time. I agreed. Then we started to head out as soon as he called his wife to see if she wanted a ride home too. Well she (a school administrator for the Indian schools) had just gotten 3 sets of teachers who had come in on boats from various islands around the area and was busy with them but gave Justo a shopping list. On the way home almost in front of Justo’s home we stopped at another china market ( did I tell you all the stores are owned by the Chinese and everyone calls each one the china market - confusing eh?) When he returned he had a bag with some buns and then he opened it up and showed me 2 pounds of chicken feet. He said this is what you need to get the workers for lunch and its only .50 a pound. He said his wife loves them and chicken necks too. I laughed and said I was going to let him do the shopping for the Indians.

Photo: (Celestino's wife, Justo and Celestino's sister in law - she comes for cooking lessons.)

On another note Ernesto a chain saw man that almost has arms as big as my waist is going to show up tomorrow and cut some wood for me. It’s going to cost me .20/ft but I know him and he is a good man so have no hesitation on giving him the work. The wood his is going to cut is like no other I have ever seen. It’s called almandro it’s one of the hardest woods and is totally resistant to insects. The wood he is gong to be cutting on PL has been down for almost 15 years and is just as good as it was when it was standing. This is what I am going to use as the posts for the hand rails with bamboo on top nailed with a 5” to 6” spike. I am hoping it is not so hard I will have to drill each post.

Photo: Morning Mist

Well, change of plan again as I was talking to Mario about cutting the almandro for the posts and how hard it was and asked him why can’t you use bamboo? Does it rot in the ground or the bugs eat it? He told me the termites eat it I started talking to him about what if we took and cut the posts and soaked them in Penitrol a termite agent. He thought for a minute and said that would be a great idea. So I canceled Ernesto for tomorrow and am going to next week cut bamboo posts and start soaking them. The top rail is going to be bamboo and will just have to keep an eye on it and see if it needs to be sprayed too. Don’t like using insecticide but in this environment you just don’t have a choice.

More soon...............