Tree houses

I stayed in Granada for 5 days to get money, to do some writing and to my big joy and surprise I was able to buy contact lenses (in guidebooks (and tourists said so as well) they claim that it is impossible to get that in Nicaragua, but I orded them in the evening, and I could pick them up the morning after, and they did not cost more than in Norway (I throught they might be a little cheaper, but no)). I had a problem with one eye for one day, I suppose because I had been using lenses a few days longer than I should, afraid that I would never be able to find them here in Central-America. When I left Granada I left with a guy named Freddy, in a jeep, with 4 other tourists. We were heading to their treehouse in the forest of Posto Rojo.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotos-g580113-d1957230-w2-Treehouse_Poste_Rojo-Granada.html
Music that I heard in Posto Rojo.


http://nowthatsnifty.blogspot.com/2009/07/amazing-and-awesome-tree-houses.html
http://www.treehouses.com/
Who would not want to live in a tree house after seeing theese to WebSites?
There is something about a tree house that appeals to a lot of people's childhood fantasies of independence and freedom. I never had a tree house when I grew up, and when I came to Freddys tree house in Posto Rojo, just 20 min., out in the forest, from Granada (we saw a howler monkey right after we got there, feeding in the trees right next to the main house), I became quite facinated by the idea of LIVING in one. Freddy have 2 books on tree houses lying in the main structure for people to have a look if they like, and I was intrigued by how many designes there are. The books contain a detailed recepie of how to construct a tree house either in one or in 2 trees, and also what kind of trees that are most fit for tree houses. Of cource it is essential to pick the right tree, unless you want to live in danger of falling down.There are also surprisingly many tree houses in the world, and many of them serve as luxury hotels. Even though there are plenty of examples of people living most of their lives in tree houses, unfortunatley, todays obsession about safety, and laws and rules, have made it difficult for people to make tree houses their permanent home. A lot of the tree houses I saw and read about in the book where fully equipped with bathrooms and showers and a pumping system to get the wather up, and they all have a facinating architecture that inspire my sense of adventure and imagination. Many people have buildt their own tree house cabin or summerhouse, but there are many tree house architects. In some countries there are people living in tree houses either as a luxury, to save the environment or as a tradition. People that live in trees as a lifestyle are tree dwellers, you can find tree dwellers in Indonesia at the Brazza River Basin, and the Korowai tribe in Papua New Guinea that lives 50 m. (more or less) up with only a ladder and /or a notched pole to access the house. and I visisted in Brasil people with their homes on stilts and near trees with wooden bridges between the different stuctures. When the Europeans first came to this continent they found that many islanders were tree dwellers with a simple platform structures in the tops of the trees.

Freddys tree house hostel. It is simply called Tree House Hostel. Upstairs there is a kitchen, all the wather is still carried up by handforce.

Not surprizingly, to me anyway, studies and research in USA and Japan have showed that living in trees and near trees makes people happier. People preforme better on tests and form happier relationships when they live in an area with a lot of trees. According to Illinois University leafy streets also encourage a lower crime rate and a more "civilised" atmosphere, even in poor areas, researchers found this to be true. They believe that living close to parks and other green spaces is "essential to our physical, psychological and social well-being. Nature calms people and it also helps them psychologically rejuvenate. They are better able to handle challenges. Level of health could be predicted by the amount of green space within a mile of radius. In Chicago they found that trees can cut the level of crime by 7 %, and that children with ADHD were calmer and more focused after walking among trees, compared to children that are exercised indoors. In addition researchers in Japan also found that old people live longer if they have access to green area near their homes.


At the end of this blog there are some videos of amazing homes. Already people live in floating homes and floating cities. Who knows what the future have in store when it comes to ways of living. We only hope that a new way of living will be genteler to the nature and ourselves. That we will in the end live in harmony with our planet Earth, not fighting her. And that new ways of living will bring more happiness and love into a community.There is also even possibility of living inside live material.
House boat community; http://dornob.com/picture-this-seattle-houseboat-floating-home-photos/

links;
http://www.costaricatreehouse.net/
I love this green home, a "hobbit house";  http://dornob.com/straw-sticks-secrets-a-hand-built-earthen-hobbit-home/