dieweltgehoertuns

Wednesday 31st of October 2007

It’s 9:30 a.m. The water taxi leaves for Finca 63. Now we have some routine. We will use the collective taxi to reach Guabito, the Panamanian town at the boarder to Costa Rica. There we have to get stamped at the migrations office for leaving the country. Then we have to cross the old bridge and get stamped at the Costa Rican migrations office for entering the country taking the bus to Puerto Viejo.

At 12 a.m. we reached our destination. We go to the hotel which friends recommended to us. Indeed, the hotel is very nice installed and also very clean. The decent light, the colours of the tropical plants and the hammocks which are located in almost every corner of the hotel create a very warm atmosphere. You feel good here.

After we left our luggage in the hotel and had something to eat in a nice café we want to explore the area: walk through the forest, walk to the beach and walk around in the village to find a supermarket to buy the necessary stuff for next day’s trip. We have to check the timetable for the bus from Bribri to Bambú (which actually no one could provide us). The dinner is abundant and even if everyone is celebrating Halloween the evening is very short for us. Finally we have to be at the bus station for the bus to Bribri at 5:45 a.m.

Thursday 1st of November 2007

The bus is punctual. No problems during the bus ride. One hour in the city of Bribri which is actually bigger than expected and the “off road bus” to Bambú leaves. No foreigners around and a funny trip for adventure loving people. Ok, I am exaggerating a bit, but the bus really takes stony roads, crosses little brooks, goes up and down before it reaches the village of Bambú. We have to go to the landing stage where we will meet Guillermo, the boss of the Indians. He arrives and uses his short stay to buy goods in the store of the village. We enter the log boat. The boat goes along the river of Sixaola and then along the river of Yorkin. After one hour of struggle against stones and partially heavy stream of the river we reach the foreseen place. Twenty minutes walk left in the forest and hilly area of Talamanca. Guillermo shows us the fruit that cacao is made of. Inside it looks like an intestine, which can easily be separated. You suck the pieces of cacao. It’s a bit slippery but sweet and it tastes fine.

A few minutes later we discover the church of the village and step by step the wooden houses with roofs made of sheets of the palm tree. A dream comes true, to sleep in an Indian’s house in the middle of the jungle! The village is similar to a big garden: additionally to tropical plants and trees you can find yucca plantations, Noni plantations, (a strange looking and ugly smelling plant which is be known as a health guaranty) and plantations of species which is used to make tea. The domestic chickens and cats seem to feel good. Immediately we get to know Marita, Guillermo’s daughter in law, her husband and her six years old son Antonio. Together with Marita and Antoni, who we actually call Moogli (we told him about the history of the jungle book), we walk around the area of the village. She shows us a tree which fruits are used as painting material, she takes us to a plank bridge and a river, where Steve hesitates to go inside. In opposite to Steve, Moogli is in his element. I am fascinated by his style of moving. It’s like he could rule the elements. He moves extremely harmonious and with a fascinating facility. It seems that he tamed the water or he even performed it. He is not afraid of anything, not even of a swimming tree trunk on which he climbs using his extraordinary sense of balance. I am speechless.

Back in the “permanent camp” Maria prepares the dinner: yucca cakes, rice and beans. I help her a bit. It’s funny to grind (there is only one inefficient lamp), to feel the breeze of the evening and to watch the rain. The dinner is delicious.

At 5 p.m. it’s completely dark and there is some kind of perfect silence. The only thing you can hear is the silence of the night. At 7.30 p.m. we are laying in our beds.

Friday 2nd of November 2007

The breakfast is rich: Gallo pinto, scrambled eggs, salad. We have to have good breakfast because a three hours walk to the village of Agua Salud is waiting for us. This is the village of the Nevos, another Indian people on the Panamanian side of the border. At 8 a.m. we are ready to go: gumboots for Guillermo and me and old trainers for Steve, something to drink and of course the camera. Guillermo has got his machete and makes us a very stabile baton, which will be considered as very useful for the following walk. The way is muddy, often swamp like, it goes up and down. You have to cross the river several times which forms the boarder of Panama and Costa Rica. The water sometimes goes up the thigh. I like the jungle and the humid hotness very much. I feel good. At 11 a.m. we arrive at the school of Agua Salud in a very impressive scenery: The village is situated on a high plateau which is surrounded by banana trees and tropical forest. There is a school and a small shop where you can buy the most important goods. The inhabitants are very busy. They organize tomorrows Independence Day celebrations of Panama. It seems that everyone is involved. People steer at us with big eyes. Steve might give them a strange impression. They have not seen that many 190 cm tall people, having blond hairs and bright eyes… The little kids speak only the Indian language because they start to learn Spanish in school. For a long time we listen to the strange stories of the school’s director and then we go to the inhabitants. I see a man with a cadaver of an unidentifiable animal on his shoulders. Someone offers a glass of syrup to us. The glass is extremely dirty and we don’t know where the water comes from. We have no choice and have to drink a big part. To decline the offer is like an obsession. We get a plate with potatoes and meat. The fact that I am vegetarian prevents us of eating. Guillermo knew about and asks for a bag with the excuse we would eat at home. We pass the little shop in the village and buy something to eat and some candies which we distribute to the kids. After a while there are so many and it seems they show up out of nowhere.

We are impressed to recognize that there are people on earth who live in this manner. They don’t own anything and they don’t know about what’s going on in the world. Many of them can’t neither read nor write. They don’t have books and the next town is six hours walk away. There are no ways except the ones through the jungle. The village can’t even be reached with a good off road car. They are cut of from the world. For me this is exactly the opposite extreme to New York.

Having made a new experience we go back. It starts to rain and we are happy when we reach the Bri bri village, which seems now very developed to us. We would give a lot for a shower even a cold one. We are full of mood. Unfortunately there is hardly any water like the day before. We wash ourselves as good as we can, but even this gives a good feeling. After this we learn how cacao is produced. The pieces of the cacao fruit have to dry 4 to 5 days in sun before they have to get heated for 45 minutes. Then the cacao has to get trampled down with a big stone. You separate the pieces and mix the good ones with cinnamon and vanilla before you mill all. After dinner we can taste it and then we go to bed.

Saturday 3rd of November 2007

Our bus leaves Bambú at 10 a.m. To make sure we get the bus we have to start at Yorkin at 8 a.m. Moogli can finally convince his mother to join us for the boat ride. The trip in the log boat is much faster than two days ago because now we travel downstream only. For a last time we admire the dense and green vegetation of Talamanca before we arrive at Bambú. We say goodbye and promise to send some of the photos we made on whatever way. We enter the bus for traveling to Bocas. We look forward to the shower which is now more than necessary. The whole journey will take us 6 hours because we have to wait 2 hours for the water taxi to Bocas. But this doesn’t matter. The things we experienced justify a day in the public transport system for sure.