Bocas del Toro

All the boats from the mainland have their docks in Bocas del Toro (the town), so if you are going to stay on another island you have to take another boat. Bocas del Toro is known as the 'party town', there are bars everywhere. Most people living there are Afro and Afro-Caribbean, then a Chinese population, Lebanese and indigenous people. Now there is a big immigration of people from USA and Europe to the islands. You see them everywhere, there are many, and many more will come. If you are European, from USA or Chinese owning a super marked,you are likely to be living in one of the big beautiful houses on the pictures below. If you are indigenous or of African or African-Caribbean origin you will be more likely to live in a small box of a house like this house below. It is incredible how many people they fit into a small house like this. The house on the picture looks nice, most of the poor people live in smaller more run down houses. You see them a little bit away from the fancy hostels and hotels that are owned by foreigners (Swiss, Germans). The hospital in the town however is not very fancy or well equipped.

Bocas del Toro is also the name of the province. Its extension is 4,643.9 square kilometers comprising the mainland and nine main islands. The province consists of the Archipelago of Bocas, Bahía Almirante (Almirante Bay), Laguna de Chiriquí, and adjacent mainland. The capital is the city of Bocas del Toro (Bocas Town to most people) on Isla Colón. Other major cities or towns include Almirante (from where you take the boat (and the bus to other places in Panama or to Changinola for transefere to Costa Rica) and Changinola. The province has a total population of 125,461 people (2010). The area was discovered by Christopher Colombus in 1502. Bocas del Toro borders the Caribbean Sea to the north where the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute operates a research station northwest of Bocas Town. The archipelago attracts more travelers every year, but its ecosystem remains largely intact due to the admirable efforts of conservationists. In fact, the biodiversity of the Bocas del Toro region is so exquisite, it’s internationally recognized as both a Biosphere Reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.There are many banana plantations in Bocas del Toro, often called the oro verde or green gold of Central-America. Under, a beautiful mahogany house I would like to live in.

How much time do you have to travel? It can take months to explore all of Bocas del Toro’s 9 major islands, 50 cays (low, coral-based islands), and 200-plus islets.Most people do not do that. like I said, the nightlife is great in Bocas Town and on Aqua Lounge, 30 seconds by boat to Isla Caremero. The second night in Bocas I went to Aqua Lounge with people from Heike. It was "ladies night Wednesday", free drinks for women until 24:00. One of the best parties I have attended in ages, people were dancing, the music was good and some people got so drunk that they jumped from the dance floor into the water. Beach-lovers and sufers (you’re in for a treat!) will be eager to begin their island-hopping. However, Bocas Town itself has lots to offer in dining, nightlife, and accommodations. It’s an archetypal Caribbean village of pastel rooftops, fresh seafood served in waterfront restaurants on stilts, fishing boats in bold, primary colors, and docks stretching over the patchwork waters. Playa Bluff is the town’s most dazzling beach. I went there by bike on my forth day in Bocas. Some advice if you are going on dolphin sightsing; make sure you go with a tour company that does not hurt or disturb the dolphins. If they act reckless towards the animals, let them and everybody know so that they will not operate again.

Exotic beaches, red frogs and the tribes of Bocas del Toro

I, Konrad and Loths took a boat trip the day after we arrived. We were grouped with 2 girls from the US who work at a hospital in Panama, in a village near David. We were promised dolphins, but the season for dolphins was not at that time, so we did not see any dolphins. There were other that were luckier than us, that saw dolphins, but there are not as many around as in dolphin season. The place we went to look for them is even called Dolphin Bay. After looking, hopelessly, for dolphins, we went to a snorkel spot (after ordering food on a restaurant on stilts in the sea, for eating after the snorkeling). We were watching beautiful and colorful corals and some fishes. I have seen most of them before, because I have done so many snorkeling trips. It is surprisingly shallow around the islands. Even far from the islands, in the middle of the ocean, it was so shallow that we could stand up. It was a bit scary, because the bottom is full of corals and seaweed, and I was a bit worried to step on something that would sting me.

After the snorkeling, we went to eat at the restaurant on Isla Solarte. I had ordered fried fish with Creole salsa, it tasted delicious. They had shrimp, octopus and lobster on the meny too. When we had eaten we took the boat to Sloth Island to see some of these wonderful animals. They are hanging around in the trees everywhere on this island dedicated to them. The last stop was the Red Frog Beach where we had 2 hours to swim and play in the water. A lot of the time there are killer waves on this beach, but they occur mostly in the afternoon and from November to August. But they can occur very suddenly, so signs like this (on the picture above) on the beaches around on the islands are very common. When we were there, the waves were gentle and not so big. The beach is very shallow, so you have to go too far out to get a swim, or else you get a bit of swimming when the waves come in. The Red Frog Beach is called that because of the small red frogs that are numerous on the islands, especially on this beach maybe since it is named after the frog. The frog is poisonous, so tribes in South-America use it to poison their darts in hunting  for food in the jungle. The pictures are from the Red Frog Beach, the last one on the boat back to Bocas del Toro.

 

Above, poison red dart frog. They also come in blue and yellow and they like to stay in humid vegetation in and by the trees. 

The captain of the boat is a Ngöbe–Buglé, they were known as Guaymi before and live in Bocas del Toro and on the dry plains of Veraguas. I asked him about his culture and about their oral history, if they have any mythology or stories. And he said no. Later I was told that they do not like to talk so much with outsiders. He had his wife with him on our tour, and she never said a word to any of us. He did tell med that whhen Cristobal Colon came to the archipelago, he named it Bocas del Toro, and there is one island; Isla Colon that is named after him. I was also told that the Spanish chased off and killed many of the tribal people in the area, and so many escaped to the main land. he also told me that there are 4 "races" (he called them races) of tribal people living on the islands, and that their languages are so different that they do not understand each other. Spanish is the second language for many of the tribal people. He also told me that the women have beautiful gowns with bright colors and geometric patterns, but they do not wear them much these days. They may wear them during their festivals, and the men dress in exotic bird feathers and paint their faces with geometrical patterns in black, white and red. The Ngöbe–Buglé live in huts near rivers or at valleys on the main land, they fish, hunt, raise dogs, cows, chicken and pigs in modern days. The boat captain told me that before the Spanish came, they fished and hunted small deer, wild pigs, monkeys and sloth, now there is not much wild life left other than monkeys and sloth. And of course birds and amphibians. They are the largest indigenous group in Bocas del Toro Archipelago, forming 63.6 % of the national indian population, spread out in several communities in the islands of Colon, Bastimentos, Solarte, Cristobal, Popa and Water Cay. They still retain many of their aboriginal customs and practices, they have lovely necklaces constructed with colorful beads that originally were duller made from pebbles, pieces of bones, seeds and sea shells that they colored with homemade dye. The necklaces are called chaquira, and now they can buy beads of several shapes and colors and weave them into colorful ornaments. Another ethnic group in Bocas del Toro is the Bokotas who still use bows and arrows, spears and fish nets. You can see their round houses built on stilts, sometimes into the water (sea). Their women also wear a gown similar to the Ngöbe–Buglé, also called 'nahua' and necklaces, facial paint of black and red, and shiny hair combs. The men wear manta-sucia shirts. There are supposedly still many pure families of both tribes.

Buglere is the Chibchan language of Central America, spoken by a 1000 people in Panama and Costa Rica. Like most Chibchan languages (30 different languages spoken in Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Honduras and Costa Rica), Buglere is a tone language with SOV word order (S= subject, O= object, V=verb. It means that a sentence is usually built up with the words in this order; subject-object-verb. English and Norwegian are not SOV languages, but Latin, Japanese, Basque, Dogon and Hopi are among 73 (known) languages that are). Many linguists consider Buglere and Bogota to be dialects of a single language, but according the captain, speakers of the two languages can not understand each other. In Panama, the Buglé an td their relatives the Ngöbe (or Guaymi) have joined into a single Ngöbe–Buglé tribe. Most Ngöbe–Buglé live traditionally in simple small jungle settings and identify with their communities much more than with ethnicity, which in turn affects their level of national political organization. They were organized in the latter twentieth century to protect their land and culture. Their society was disrupted by the spread of banana plantations, the construction of the Inter-American Highway through their territory, and the appropriation of their communal lands by mestizo peasants and cattle ranchers. The 1972 constitution required the government to establish ‘comarcas' or reserves for indigenous groups, but this policy was not universally implemented.

The erosion of their lands caused many to leave and join Panama's migrant workforce where they were generally given the lowest paid and most physically damaging jobs. However development projects like the  Cerro Colorado mining project put Ngöbe–Buglé ancestral land in peril. This forced them to organize themselves politically.

Another border crossing and a boat trip

 From Almirante in Panama. After you cross the border from Costa Rica, you may want to go to Bocas del Toro. You can either do a tourist service; bus /boat, or you can go independently. I went independently, so I took the local bus from Puerto Viejo in Costa Rica to Sixaola in Costa Rica. The bus stops right by the border, so you just walk up to the immigration office and get your passport stamped. I came in the middle of a Tican tourist group, so I had to wait a long time to get my stamp. After you have had your stamp in your passport, you walk across an old train bridge. It is not so long. It is one of the shortest distances I have had to walk between border crossings, and on the other side you get to a narrow hill with some huge stores below. The buses to Panama City and Changinola. If you travel on your own it is a good idea to start early with your border crossing. I came to the border around 11:00 but I was not in Bocas del Toro until around 18:00. The local bus takes about an hour from Puerto Viejo, and on the other side the buses leave Guabito frequently. The border crossing is pretty straight forward but you might get hassled into taking an expensive tourist transport for $30-40. If you are alone it will cost you a lot, but if you are a group its cheaper. Still you will probably end up paying at least $6-10, and with a taxi you will pay $ 1,50 to get to Changuinola (or bus $1,20) where you have to change the bus to get to Almirante, David or Panama City. From Changinola you will pay $ 1,80 to go to Almirante where you can get a water taxi to Bocas Town on Isla Colon. Where you will be met on the dock by eager agents with 100s of suggestions for you. Stay firm if you know what you want. That rule goes for everywhere in Central-America as people are overwhelming, but truly lovely anyway! After crossing the border I was so lucky that I met two good looking Germans; Konrad and Loths, so we took the same taxi and the same bus to Almirante. We wanted something to eat in Almirante, so we decided to take a water taxi that left 5 o`clock in the evening. The ride was first very calm, but midway it was more choppy. I imagined that I was on a bus on a bumpy road, in stead of in a tiny boat in the middle of the sea. And it worked. It was actually quite fun, I have gotten used to sea and lake travels on this trip.There is absolutely nothing to do in Almirante, I do not think they have many options for sleeping there either, so your best option is to get to Bocas the same day as you cross the border. There are not many boats between  Almirante and Bocas after dark, but they start running from Bocas /Almirante 6 am. For female travelers the fun starts already when you are at the border. Of course, Panamenan men also LOVES women, so they will love you if you are a woman. It seems to me that men on this continent adores women, and I have experienced being stared at as if I am an angel, or as if they have never seen a woman before. Luckily staring is all they do, so you will not have any problems with the men here. They might say "hello", ask where you are from and your name and tell you that they love you. They do that to local women as well, so do not get too exited. If you are a woman they like you, but for tourists that are not used to all the attention it might feel as if this is something they do especially for the tourist women. They will address you with a "hola linda" and /or "que buscas /quieres, (mi) amor?" (hello beautiful. What are you looking for? /what do you want /need, (my) love?), which is quite nice in my opinion. They will always find a way to put in a compliment and praise your beauty when you have a conversation with them.

 All the pictures are taken from the boat as we were leaving Almirante. The water taxis take less than an hour. Running small "pangas" with a strong motor that can fit some 20 people. Fortunately they do not put more people in the boat than there are life saving vests. because of the many horse powers in the motor, the boat goes so fast that it feels like flying. The sight of all the small and big islands is just dazzling. It is like the forest version of Venice. Some places you see houses on stilts out in the water. The distances between the islands is also quite amazing, because it is far between some of them. Some islands are just mangroves, and not possible to inhabit. One of those islands is the "sloth island". Dedicated to the relaxed and beautiful animal. A boat tour will take you there, and it is almost guaranteed that you will be able to see them from the boat. Bring binoculars.

When I was on dry land in Bocas Town, or Bocas del Toro as the name is, on the main island Isla Colon I went to Hostal Heike together with the two Germans. We got the same dormrom, but we were only the 3 of us in a dorm with 8 beds, so it was good. A bed is $ 10, and you can not get it any cheaper on Isla Colon, it has a kitchen worth using since going to a restaurant around there is pricey. Bocas has the highest cost of living in all Panama, it is like in Costa Rica. One reason is of course that it is VERY touristy (but I was there during low season so it was great!), and there are a lot of US -, and European born people living there. I met Germans, Italians and Dutch. And of course a lot of people from Florida and Carlifornia. I think all the hostels and hotels you can find is owned by a foreigner, and all the fancy houses are for foreigners. More about the place and the people in other blogs.

The Jaguar Rescue Center

 One day I took a bike and visited the Jaguar Rescue Center. The story of the center is interesting; An Italian woman and a Spanish man worked in the same Zoo in Spain, but did not know each other. Then the Zoo arranged a tour to Costa Rica where they got to know each other, fell in love with each other and with Costa Rica. They bought a house and soon people learned that they had worked in a zoo, so someone brought a baby jaguar to them. The jaguar died, but people continued to bring them animals, and so they had the idea of opening up a center, and have volunteers working there. They also opened up for the public so that they could have an income since the goverment is not funding the center. They have a variety of animals, but no jaguars, but the center was named after the first animal they had. You get a tour from a volunteer when you go there, so you will learn a lot about the animals. One monkey was f.ex. found clinging on the road to his dead mother. He was clinging to her for 2 days before someone brought him to the center. Most of the monkeys have similar stories, they are orphans because the mother has been killed on the road or by a fire. The sloths come in because they are electrocuted by the many power lines that are hanging near trees. They try to get from one tree to another, and touch the power lines. it is very traumatizing for sloths, they have a slow metabolism and are very sensible to outer disturbance. Because they live a slow and solitary life, they are easily stressed by human activity and can easily develop skin infections. Some animals are confiscated from people that attempt to smuggle the animals out of Costa Rica. The margay cat (also called the climber cat because they are the best climbers among cats) in the park came there because of this reason. It was a good thing that he was saved because he was held in the trunk of a car and fed coffe and bread!!! Can you imagine that!? When Develino came to the park, he was so weak and undernourished that they were afraid he would die. Little is known about this little jungle cat, it is nocturnal and solitary and like to roam the remote areas of the rainforest. It is on the list of near threatened animals. Margays spend their entire life in trees, they even hunt in the trees, whereas its larger relative, the ocelot, mostly hunts on the ground.  The margays hunst monkeys and birds in the treetops, skillfully because of an ankle flexibility that enables them to climb down a tree head-first. Its ankles can turn 180 degrees, and it can grab on to the tree equally well with the fore and hind paws. It can jump almost 4 meters. Develinos decire to hunt and kill is kept alive by giving him live prey, and he has to climb, leap and sneak to get it. The woman (Anca) that runs the park has taken him to the jungle many times to release him, he follows her on the trail, she leaves him, but 3-4 days after he comes knocking on Ancas door. They hope that he will be ready to leave when its time for him to get a girlfriend. The orphan monkeys in the park they take to a 'monkey park' in the jungle where they meet wild troops, when they are ready to leave the safety of the shelter, they will be adopted into one of the wild troops. It has been a very successful method, one female that was adopted into a troop brought her whole troop to visit Anca a year after she found a troop, and she was pregnant.

 This is a baby two fingered sloth, it lost its mum. It was very hyper, climbing around all the time, not what we would think a sloth would do.

These are baby opossums. Opossums are usually solitary and nomadic, staying in one area as long as food and water are easily available. Some families will group together in ready-made burrows or even under houses. Though they will temporarily occupy abandoned burrows, they do not dig or put much effort into building their own. As nocturnal animals, they favor dark, secure areas. These areas may be below ground or above. When they are threatened or harmed, they will "play possum", meaning that they mimic the smell and appearance of a sick or dead animal. In the movie Ice Age there are a couple of opossums, they play dead and hang from the trees by their feet.

 A grown up three fingered sloth who came to the park because it touched an electric wire. Even though they are quite docile they are able to defend themselves when they are in their environment; the trees. Their claws are powerful (remember they hang all day by their claws), and they can bite as well. They are most vulnerable on the ground, so they spend as little time as possible on the ground. They go to the toilet only once or twice a week, then they have to climb down to the ground.

This deer was brought in by a hunter that shot the mother right after giving birth to her. She was still wet from her birth. She can never go back to the wild because she has no fear of humans as she has grown up with humans. She thinks she is a dog according to the volunteers. The park also get predatory birds. Their main injuries come from humans littering along the streets. When people throw garbage by the road it attracts a lot of rats and mice. Predatory birds like falcons, eagles and spectacle owls are attracted to the abundance of rats and mice, and they hunt by night. When they hunt in the night they get hit by cars, and get their wings crippled, or they die. Snakes and amphibians are bred in the park, and you may wonder why someone would breed dangerous snakes that can kill people and frogs... Amphibians, because they have the special skin that allows them to take oxygen through it and live both in water and on land are very vulnerable to all the chemicals we dispose of in the nature.
Think about this; when all the predatory animals we like and those we do not like are gone what will happen? Most places have huge problems with rats and cockroaches. When we do not protect the snakes, predatory birds and small and jungle cats the problem is going to grow even more. Anca has a boa constrictor in her house, to control rats, mice and cockroaches. Because even if you do not see them, they are there, and they are many. If we do not take care of our amphibians, spiders and birds we will drown in insects and cockroaches. ALL the creatures put on this planet have a wonderful purpose of keeping everything in perfect balance. If you love the nature and animals, you can not hate any animals, not even the shark or spiders. Only humans have no purpose at all as long as we treat our planet as if it is worthless. Along with our pets and farm animals we are on the brink of destroying all life on earth and the earth itself. Pets, like cats and dogs, have managed to vipe out species of birds and animals. And to feed farm animals huge areas of virgin forests and jungles are destroyed every day, chasing away and  pressuring the animals that used to have the area as their home. Think twice about your actions on mother Earth, treat yourself better by not filling your body with chemicals. How can we care about pollution on the planet when we so willingly pollute ourselves every day? Do you want to breath toxins every day? Drink water and eat food that is contaminated with chemicals? Use body products with chemicals. The medical world try to tell us that we get sick because of our gens. That we get fat because of gens. That is NOT true ladies and gentlemen. The truth is that it is natural to be healthy and live a life of high quality, and we get sick because of the food and water we consume, and the air we breath. I believe there exist NO bacteria and viruses that are older than the human race that was a ever a natural or catastrophic threat to mankind.

Animal encounters

 As I said before in a blog, the Cahuita National Park is also protecting an endangered reef near the coast. The reef is built up from over 35 species of corals including elkhorn corals and smooth brain corals   http://www.livestockusa.org/BRAINS.html
Elkhorn corals are actually in danger of diseases and death because of human feces (from sewage), according to a study done by the University of Georgia. The very important coral, that give shelter and food for countless species of invertebrates and fish, gained federal legal protection in 2006 along with stag horn corals, and are now even rared in zoos too save them. In 2008 there was also passed a law that prohibited all activity that would harm the reefs, but the reefs are still dying, leaving huge areas deserted. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw3ylqPxeuU
Snorkeling there is excellent, and during the dry season you can snorkle from the beach. Now it it rainy season, so I went out on a tour with a boat to do snorkeling at 3 points near Punta Cahuita. It was amazing. I saw a lot of colorful fishes, some that I had not seen before, and beautiful squids changing colors. After snorkeling we went to Punta Cahuita to have a lunch and a walk. We were 4 in my group, and had a guide for the walk. We met other groups of people there but the guides made sure that the groups kept apart. Below are pictures of snakes. On the first picture it is difficult to see the snake, it looks like the branches.
 

I really wanted to see a sloth, so I was so proud of myself (and count myself as an excellent animal finder ;) ) when I was the one that spotted something in a tree that the guide passed by. Sloths are difficult to see because they do not move much, and when I saw one, I was not sure if I really saw something worth seeing, but the guide confirmed that it was indeed a sloth. Since I love so much writing about animal medicine (and psychology) I will create a blog about sloth medicine, and some other animal medicine.We actually saw 4 sloths that day, and one them was a baby showing us how to give a good scratch. A troop of curious howler monkeys lay digesting their lunches in the trees.

 We saw many birds and I photographed some, but unfortunately the camera I have now is not as good as the one I had. I saw 2 different species of vulture; black vultures and a king vulture (they are more beautiful looking). And the bird sitting by the water might be a heron. We swam over coral reefs and walked through lush vegetation, on a sandy beach, crossed a bridge over a mash and mangrove swamps. Can you find the snake on the picture below? Hint; it is yellow. It is a yellow eyelash viper, it is venomous (the most dangerous in Central America), found in Central - and South America, and they come in a wide variety of colors, I have seen pink ones. The eyelash viper is a mystery to the rain forest because of the 5 color phases. Many animals and humans are afraid of the ferocious looking snake, but fortunately it will never attack a human unless the human is stupid enough to attack it. And unfortunately that is why humans are bitten; when they see a snake, people in Costa Rica go for the head with a jungle knife, and that is when they are bitten. Apart from that they will only have an interest of attacking their food; small mammals, lizards, frogs and birds. The eyelash viper give birth to live babies (I have witnessed an eylash baby being born!), and once it crawls out of the mother it is quite capable. However I have read that there IS actually a little bit of child rearing going on; they learn from the mother for 2 months and during that time she will also protect them. The reason why it is called "eyelash viper" is because it has some small antena-look-alike structures above the eye that makes its head look like a flower from a birds perspective. So it is a camouflage that also helps the snake sneak up on a prey and quickly inject its venom. They can live for a year without food. Snakes are interesting because they dwell in so many places and come in so many colors, shapes and sizes. Snakes represents versatility, transmutation and change. Their natural behavior is to shed the skin and leave the old one behind, adapting to new ideas. Unfortunately the snake has gotten a bad reputation from the Bible, and is seen by many as evil or bad news. But in the older mythologies the snake is an icon for healing and spirituality. The snake is used as a symbol in the pharmacy industry. Snakes awaken spiritual and magical intuition in people.Snakes are associated with unseen creative forces at work. With the snake totem the powers of intuition and observation becomes keener and more precise. The combination of change and intuition will allow great new development in life and a proper instinct for deciding which changes will be effective. The snake is openness to new experiences and opened horizons. The snake totem possesses the following virtues: Wisdom, healing, intuition, awaking of creative forces, ability to change without resistance, new opportunities for change, material vitality, intellect, power over rashness in speech and thought, emotional control, increased sensitivity to the environment, increased power of observation.

A story I love to tell sometimes is about the time I stood half a meter from a rattlesnake in Bolivia. Rattlesnakes are also vipers, belonging to pit vipers. The only reason why I think it was a rattle snake was because it rattled. I was walking with "my" jaguar, Yaguaru in the jungle one day (I worked for the organization Inti Wara Yassi for 8-9 months in the Amason Basin in Bolivia), and on the way to his beach he suddenly stopped dead. I heard the sound of a rattle and saw a snake with its head and upper body lifted up, and it was between me and Yaguaru. Yaguaru stared at it in with huge, round eyes, but stood dead still, the snake did not attempt to strike, but it was clearly warning us. I was in quite a hopeless situation since both sides of the path had trees with spines, so there was no way of going around. Strangely enough I was not afraid, I was calm, thank God, and it kept Yaguaru from doing anything that would put us in danger. I did not think for one minute that the snake would bite me. It was hopeless for me to get to Yaguaru, for one he is a jaguar and you just do not jump, or step towards a jaguar when a snake is between you and the jaguar, so I had to make him come to me. I talked to him encouraging him to jump over to me, so I moved carefully backwards a little to make space for him. I also talked to the snake telling it that we just wanted to pass, and that I respect its space. I also told it that we would come back the same way, and that we were friends and thus would not harm it. I talked to Yaguaru and told him that the snake would not bite us, that we would be safe and that he had to trust me and come to me. In the end he made a big leap to my side and we continued to the beach. Maybe some readers will think that I am a "werido" who think I can talk to animals and that they understand. But they do understand everything. They are all soulful, intelligent beings, I know that because it was my daily life at that time, communicating with big cats, monkeys, birds, peccaries and coatis. I never thought for one minute that it would be fruitless to talk to a snake that was threatening to strike.

The beautiful spider on the picture below is the golden silk orb-weaver. The female is huge and the male looks like a tiny fly. He has a difficult job getting to the female and not being eaten. The male of spiders will send messages to the female by touching the treads of her web with his feet in a certain pattern when he is wooing her. This will send vibrations through her web that tells her that she is visited by a male, as opposed to a victim that has been caught in her net. The males interest is, of course, to mate with her, but sometimes the female decides that she is more hungry than in the mood for love, so she eats him in stead. Talk about girlpower! The females weave quite an impressive web, and they are noted for it because the web of a mature female can reach a meter in width. The treads are yellow, so they look like gold in the sunlight. If the male is successful, the female spins an egg sac on a tree and lay hundreds of eggs. If you are bitten by one you will experience local pain and redness from its venom. many people find spiders scary and repulsive. In animal medicine, and animal psychology, people are encouraged to look closely at animals they find repulsive or are very fearful of, because it also gives you an important message. The spider is linked with time, and in India with the Goddess Maya, the weaver of illusion. You may ask you self, if you fear the spider, am I in charge of my own life /destiny? Is there a balance between my past and my future? Physical and spiritual? Yin and yang? How do I look upon my future? The spider reminds us that we are the center and in the center of our own world, and this is how it should be, because only by knowing yourself first you can know the Universe. The spider is so fascinating that I want to write more about it. But I will stop here. Afraid of spiders or not, believe in spider medicine or not, they are a blessing to this planet in so many ways. For one they control the bug population. 

"Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect."
~Chief Seattle~

Punta Cahuita in the background. On the path we would also meet some interesting ants called "limpiadores", cleaners. The reason is because they clean. They march out in the jungle in big armies and carry away everything that is dead. The guide told us that they will occasionally come into peoples houses in huge numbers, and the only thing the person can do is to leave the house for a few hours and let them do what they have come to do. Clean! Dead animals and pieces of food lying around in your house will be carried out. The reason why you better leave them there to do their job is that if you get in their way, their bite can be quite painful. On the picture below; our boat for the day (the bluish greenish one).   

Puerto Viejo to Punta Uva on bike

Puerto Viejo is pretty laid back with a lot of foreigners living there. I think there are a lot of Germans there, certainly there are quite a few Germans that came to Costa Rica a long time ago to live from big ranches in the mountains. And also religious groups from Europe have been here for a long time, such as branches of the Amish people. But there are also many that have come recently to enjoy the climate of CR. In addition there are descendants from black slaves and an Indigenous group living in the jungle, with the nearest town called Bribri, 30 min. from Puerto Viejo. I heard that they live quite far into the jungle so you can not just go visit them just like that. Off course people from US live there, and many Europeans have summer houses there. In spite of the tropical charms and seemingly security, it is actually not a very safe place to live. A German woman married to a Tica was always worried when her husband was biking home from his job on the way to Punta Uva, a beautiful beach, late at night. There are robbers hiding in the jungle to ambush people on bikes with jungle knives. The locals are not rich, so they are encouraged to smuggle drugs from Colombia through the country. I biked during daytime, when there are a lot of cars and other bikers on the road.The road is narrow, and you might meet a sloth on the way over the road, but traffic is not so heavy. Mostly, people get around on quatro motors, bikes and scooters. It is flat all the way to Punta Uva and the Manzanillo nature refuge, and quite a pleasant bike ride with a lot of interesting things to see. Since I am a biking champion after the Ometepe experience, I borrowed a bike and took the challenge of biking to Punta Uva. It is not very far, but it is a bit, and you will appreciate a lot a swim at the lovley beach. I stopped ever so often to photograph flowers, and study giant spiders and other critters on the way. I stopped at one spa /resort designed for the choosy tourist and asked to have a look around. The man I talked to was very nice, but he said that the place was full, and since the guests were there he could not let me wander around. It has a garden with amphibians, but I would have to pay to see it. The pictures below is of two signs, one is showing what people might encounter in their garden and the other one says to watch your step (so that you do not tread on them).

On the way I saw a sign that said Jaguar Rescue center, and I asked some people how much it cost and how it was, and decided to take the bike another day to visit since I had brought very little money with me (about the park in next blog).The pictures are from Punta Uva, said to be the most beach on the "Paradise Road", but it is very nice the whole way, and many little roads leading down to small beaches worth checking out. The problem is that many beaches has strung currents that makes them unsafe to swim on a large part of the year (but good spots for surfers). Punta Uva is safe all year that is why you will find many families there.

 Biking in green, the road to Punta Uva. Sometimes you can encounter a sloth trying to cross the road. On the ground they are very slow and clumsy and many people unfortunately make the BIG mistake of picking them up (they think they help the animal) and bring them (hopefully, in that case) to the rescue center (there is a sloth rescue center also in the area). In fact they should not interfere, unless the sloth is obviously injured because of human activity.

On the way back I stopped at this coffe place (under) because it is vegetarian and organic. The food is amazing, they will make hummus and lentils, interesting sandwiches with interesting taste. Their veggie burger comes in a pita bread. They have delicious juices (among them blackberry, passion fruit and star fruit) of fruits from the garden.And one reason that a lot of people stop there is the Amish ice cream! And it is REALLY delicious! It is wholesome and creamy, and of course more HOLY than other ice cream. A good vibe comes from eating it, and it is welcoming in the heat and after a swim. They also sell eco-friendly shampoos, body butter, soap, make-up and so on. Things that harms neither your body or the environment (it IS possible you know). Pura Vida in Costa Rica. There are many great places to stop for eating and drinking on the way. On Punta Uva there is also a (more pricy) restaurant. 

                                     
                              Closer to Puerto Viejo, I liked the view to the little island. Under:
                                        the huge golden silk orb-weaver (beautiful name)

                                         

Carl Gustav Jung, NASA and Raccoons

When in the Caribbean, I think Bob Marley`s music is what most people will remember hearing. I can understand his popularity; the music is perfect for the lazy, unconcerned life, in the heat, by long stretches of beaches and jungle. In Puerto Viejo all kind of music was heard, but thank god, since leaving Guatemala I have been speared from hearing Rhianna, Britany Spears and the likes. In stead salsa, marengue, cumbia, raeggeton and better bands and musicians and bands from the western world is played. The bus   
 ride down (it is down hill from you star from San Jose) to the coast, Puerto Viejo takes 3 hours (if I remember correctly, it feels like ages ago). The road goes quite steeply down hill and is quite curvy, so I felt like my breakfast was about to come up again at some points. You can not see very much else than green, because the road is narrow and surrounded by hills and vegetation. Puerto Viejo is a beautiful spot by the coast, and very touristic. I was lucky enough to visit during the low season, so the place was not over crouded by tourists, but there were backpackers and quite a few families from Germany and Holland around. Come weekend, the Ticas themselves like to come there, escaping from the cities to get some sun and nature. 

The day after I came to Puerto Viejo I took the bus to Cahuita National Park. It is a little bit special this park because it protects tropical lowland wet forest (rain forest), beach and coral reefs. There are over 500 species of fish and a wide variety of birds and mammals. On the picture below you can see the little guy I met, walking alone on the trail by the beach. I was in the park very early (took a bus towards Limon 09:00 in the morning, and was in the park after 30 min.), walking alone (not many tourists had arrived yet) minding my own business and takeing pictures when I heard a sound behind me. When I locked back a raccoon came towards me, pretty unconcerned that a human was walking there. I was so happy I had my camera ready, because this little guy was busy and was not about to stop and pose for me. He passed me, and I stopped to try to "shoot" him a few more times, but he was walking fast on the trail. When he heard me following him (it was on the human trail!), he first glanced back at me a little reproving, and after a last "salut" he disappeared into the jungle. The raccoons living in this area of Costa Rica Crab-eating Raccoon and are native to marshy and jungle areas in Central (Costa Rica) -and South America (down south to north of Argentina and Uruguay (east of Andes and they also exist in Trinidad and Tobago)). They feed on crab, lobster and other crustaceans and sometimes they will feed on small amphibians, turtle eggs and fruit. My friend here has a good source of all of these foods. One way to recognize them as raccoons is the bandit mask and the bushy ringed tail. The coastal crab-eating raccoon is not as bushy as the common raccoon and appears smaller and slimmer. They grow from 41-60 cm (head to tail, the tail is more 20-42 cm), the shoulder height is ca. 23 cm. females are usually a little smaller than the males. Raccoons are nocturnal animals (but not strictly, they may go out foraging during daytime, especially females with offspring in the den), traveling in small groups of 1 or 2 families searching for fruits, vegetables, and small animals (if they are common raccoons found in USA and Canada). Often they can be seen sloshing their hands and food in water before eating as if they are washing their food. They are excellent swimmers, though they prefer being up a tree, which is where they are often found. Up in a tree they are aware of everything around them and see danger a long way off. Racoons are highly curious leaving no stone unturned. This has its up and down sides. Following ones curiosity can pave the way for new and exciting things. However curiosity without caution can pave the way to trouble. The Spanish name of the animal is mapache and it comes from Nahuatl (Mayan language). The Maya and Aztec called it mapachin.

Raccoon mythology: This is indeed an interesting animal, and interesting that I met him! In the native American (the Abenaki and the Penobscot tribes) mythology there was a raccoon God called Azeban who exploits are mischievous, funny and trivial. He appears in many stories for children where he causes trouble for others. The Abenaki and Penobscots are related tribes that live in Canada (New England and Quebec), they spoke Abenaki but now only a handful of people speak the Abenaki language.The traditional homeland of the Abenaki is Wobanakik (Place of the Dawn), their name on NE and Quebec. Many Indian tribes see the raccoon as a trickster and a mischief-maker, but at the same time the cleverness and dexterity to escape danger and acquire food is admired, so many tribes use the raccoon as the clan /totem animal, among them the Shawnee and Iroquois (and many others, they have a tribal raccoon dance in their dance tradition).
An amusing true story is about NASA`s raccoon, who did a trick on them in space; In January, 2004, an    inquisitive raccoon somehow got on board the International Space Station, along with the scientists, but was not discovered until orbiting earth. He got his deft paws on the flight controls sending off danger lights and alarms. ISS Science Officer Mike Fincke did not seem to mind and only said, "This is how astronauts learn to deal with new things,” adding, "You have to give it to the little guy, he's persistent!"

Raccoons in psychology, as totem animal and animal medisin; Early American Indian methods of interpreting animal totems were not, in theory, too far flung from the unconcious significance of dreams later attributed to Sigmund Freud, or the interpretion of meaningful coincidences practiced by famed psychoanalyst, Carl Gustav Jung. The totem was regarded as the alter-ago, both a demon and a guide, and so the traits of the animal would either be emulated or eradicated depending on who had its spiritual medicine when a person fell ill. The way the animal would appear in visions and dreams, or came to a person were looked upon as mirrors to our psyche. It can be compared to how Jung described synchronicity. The totem animal was believed to bring a message to make a person a better person, or well. Raccoons are VERY verbal; it can express 50 sounds among them hiss like a cat, whimper like a child, grunt like a bear, howl like a dog and so on and so on. It makes it mysterious and difficult to identify. Plus, it wears a mask. In Indian animal medicine the raccoon is used to persuade a shy person to speak and converse, and the opposite encourage the extroverts to practice more silence. A totem animal's negative traits (in the case of the raccoon, mischief and trickery) would be discouraged in order to fully learn the totem’s lesson. American Indians correctly believed that animals were older than mankind, and often wiser, thus the animal kingdom was viewed as an abundant source of spiritual lessons. The double nature of the raccoon makes him very interesting. He is devious, active at night, while resting lazily through the day. He is an opportunist and will take over a squirrels nest or the home of a beaver. He might be in a tree or inn your garden. He is adapting perfectly to modern city life. As a totem, animal medicine warns against his plunder, but applaud his flexibility. They have more than one homes and are in that sense a kind of vagabond. The raccoon is greedy but so charming that he gets away with it. He loves artful theft and steals with innocent grace, such that it becomes a virtue. But he will share his resources. The symbol of the raccoons hands represent holding, receiving or giving. If  a raccoon comes to you, you may be asked to let go of a situation, person, belief or habit. Reversely, the message may be for you to receive the gifts being offered to you by the Universe. With raccoon medicine you may get so irresistible that you will get away with almost anything (but the natives say it is not advisable and that another totem animal will show up). Under; Cahuita National Park, the home of the raccoon I met.

 The beauty of the mask; I grew up learning that wearing a mask is false, that we hide who we are, and that people do not change. This is quite the opposite of what raccoon medicine teaches us,  because sometimes wearing a mask simply means that you explore the human qualities and feelings that we have been given to experience on this planet. And that is the reason why we are here as bodies that will decay and die; to experience ourselves in all the earthly feelings, dramas and qualities. The magic is the MASK and their magic is their mask. Though often the raccoon's mask is linked with its banditry (they have been known to open peoples house doors and bin lids to take food), the mask has a far deeper meaning. There is also a supernatural symbolism linked to masks, and we all wear many throughout our lives. Masks allow us to be anything we choose to be, and anything else than we thought we could be. They can be powerful, liberating, empowering, playful and mysterious (superheroes always wear a mask, as did Cinderella), and you can still be true to who you really (feel you) are. No one, including you and I, are ever quite what we may seem - even to ourselves, for in our lives we can experience the freedom of many identities. Be it with friends, partners, children, parents, work colleagues, strangers etc. This medicine helps us to take on and let go of the many roles we fill. Having various identities is not negative, for we can learn to become adept at changing identities when appropriate. Identity has nothing to do with the spiritual beings we are. It has more to do with attachment, and that we identify ourselves with our friends, partners, car, house, job, nationality and so on. I believe with the raccoons mask we can identify ourselves with love and take the mask of the lover, with generosity and take the "mask" of Mother Theresa, or another selfless person, and so on. In practicing non-attachment we can truly be anything we want, and we can make anything possible, because we become fearless. Our many faces will be revealed to us and the raccoon will assist us in how to mask, disguise and transform ourselves. Masks are a powerful tool, through the use of masks, altered states can be reached. Raccoon people generally do well in professions to do with theatre. Raccoon's Wisdom Includes understanding the nature of masks, disguise, dexterity, seeking guidance and confidence, questioning without fear, balancing curiosity, shape shifting, secrecy. I welcome the raccoon into my life!

So, I met this sole raccoon Cahuita National Park, and it acknowledged that I was there. I could see that it is an intelligent animal and they have looks. It was talking to me with its eyes. Cahuita National Park was established in 1970 to protect a large coral reef off the Caribbean coast. Unfortunately the reef is struggling for survival. An earthquake in 1992 lifted a large portion of the coral by about three meters, some of it was exposed to the air and sun at low tide and rapidly perished. If it rains while you are there you will find that the submarine visibility is limited to a few feet for a few days due to the silt brought down in the Rio Estrella. This is an increasing threat caused by legal, and illegal logging of the forests inland from the park. The denuded slopes erode quickly, and the silt blocks the sunlight the reefs need for survival. When it is not raining the fate of the reefs is equally grim. The sunlight in combination with the excess fertilizer (and pesticides) from the Dole banana plantations (most of the forest lands are planted with banana after clear-cutting) causes plankton blooms that not only block the sunlight but poison the water. Something to think about when you sit in your comfortable home to have a banana. I have former blogs about the "banana states". Since I have been writing about the raccoon and its wisdom, and since I have been to an animal rescue center with some heartbreaking stories (I will write about that in another blog) I want to say this in the end; American Indians constantly self-analyzed and believed in evolving goodness. They worked hard to improve individual character. Today, humanity can follow their example of compassion toward other species through knowledge and protection of wildlife. Sounds very much like Buddhism to me, so the principles of Buddhism have been known world wide for centuries. I am constantly heartbroken by how we treat nature, and how many species of animals that may no longer be on this planet for future generations to learn about. Disrespect for nature is disrespect of ourselves. We are, after all, also the children of Mother Earth and the nature around us. Why have we become so alienated and gone so far away from ourselves?

Over; an "oso pericoso", sloth, is welcoming in many languages. When you are done swimming on the incredible beach, further inn is a beach without rip current, where it is safe to swim. Look for a beach without the red flag. When you go back, please donate some money to the park. The entrance is free (it was the first park to not charge entrance fee in CR), but depends on donations from the visitors. Please help them help the animals by donate money. When walking out look for a small cafe (I do not know the name) a little away from the park entrance. It has a sign that says organic food, and sells a few products. They will make you an amazing iced cafe latte, and amazing vegetarian sandwich. Under; the sleepy Cahuita town.

Volcanoes in Costa Rica

It is not possible to go to Costa Rica without the proper music! Actually at the Caribbean Coast that should be Bob Marley, but since everything goes, and there is a good blend (like, right now I listen to Indian music at Cafe Rico (where I have eaten the best Indian food outside India!), by the former named coast by the Caribbean Sea), I take a chance on Yeah Yeah Yeahs, because I just think that the girl is cool, and they will always remind me of CR.                                  

Unfortunately Costa Rica is not the most cheap place, it is like living in Europe, and with bad salaries. I do not really understand how people get along here, and how they can buy stuff. The cost of living is expensive, even in the super marked food is priced like Europe. But for all I know it is probably a small group in the population that do all the shopping. It is the most developed country since Mexico, and it is also statistically the most dangerous one. There are more crimes being done here than the rest of Central America, or so I have been told. I will check it out. It is very influenced by USA, it seems to me that fruit companies and fastfood chains has taken over a lot (I see something that is USA everywhere). I hope that in the future tourists will not find a MacDonalds on top of a volcano or in another tourist friendly national park. I HOPE they will be able to live up to their slogan: Pura Vida, because they are doing so far (apart from all the US fastfood). But the pressure from tourists that really need their air conditioning on their 2-3 weeks visiting CR, in their summer homes or in hotels (to gawk at the bountiful nature and the animals), is big, and so pristine rivers are in danger of being dammed to produce the electricity needed. In the meantime, a Tica (Costa Rican) lives his hot, humid life without air con. I have visited a home here, they are hot, but made with high ceilings, and underneath the ceiling it is open space with just a net to provide air throughout. This is the mahogany tree houses, they are similar to what I saw in Belize, I do not know how the adobe houses are, but I imagine they are similar to those I have seen in Mexico.                                

My 3rd day in CR I decided to go to see the volcano Irazu. It is a big volcano with a main crater of 1 050  m. in diameter and 300 m. deep. It is the highest volcano in the country, 3 432 m., and it is possible to see both the Pacific - and the Atlantic Ocean from here on a clear day. I could not see anything for the rain and the fog. Irazu means "thunder" in the native language of the natives that used to live by it. A catastrophic eruption in 1723 destroyed a city, then capital of the country, Cartago, and an eruption in 1963 covered San Jose in a thick layer of ash. People used to think that Irazu blows every 30 years and was called "the deadly keg of powder".

 In CR there are more than 112 volcanic formations. They belong to the Pacific Rim of Fire, and 7 are considered very active. The volcanoes are responsible for the very fertile soil that covers the territory of CR. They have all caused some major damage in the past. The most active volcano is Arenal, and Poas has the widest crater of  diameter 1.5 km, the 2nd widest in the world. In 1950 it was decided that the land around the volcanoes should be protected, so many of them are within a national park. Irazu has its own national park. The CR volcanoes are stratovolcanoes, which means that the magma that fuels them is thick, viscous, and so filled with gasses that when they erupt the magma blast violently into the air. In the eruption of 1963 the clouds of smoke erupted, and ashes kept showering over San Jose and other parts for 2 years. People had to go out with a hankerchief and every day 13 cm. of ashes was swept down. 24th of August 2000 Arenal erupted, killed 1 person and injured 2. 600 people were evacuated from their homes.

To go to Irazu you can take a bus from where the National Theater is. It leaves 08:00 in the morning and you go back with the same bus 12:30 so you will want to buy a round trip for 4000 colones (US$ 8 (much more than you pay to travel in Nicaragua. The bus ride takes 2 hours. On top there is a small cafe that sells pretty good hot latte (you will need hot coffe because it is really cold up there. At the coffe shop they sell different suveneirs, among other things a note book made from banana paper. I think that this paper would be better to use to spare the rainforest. Under; a lonley, familiar dandelion has found its way to the top of a volcano in CR.