Eat a Palm Tree ?

A back hoe intruded one quiet afternoon.
He carved a flat space, a ‘shelf’ out of a steep hillside.

Unfortunately, one of the palm trees was in the way. 

The tree was intact, though horizontal, “Can we transplant it somewhere?” I asked.

“Transplant it? I WANT TO EAT IT.”
Nitai told me about the last tree that had been downed. The inner core is sort of like celery or bamboo shoots.  I’ve had ‘Hearts of Palm ‘ from a can before, but never seen it freshly harvested.  The next morning I heard a chain saw. 

 

 Later in the day a large club shaped item appeared at the door to the kitchen.

 With a tinge of guilt we had a delicious pasta salad with chunks of the palm’s heart, arugula from the garden and fresh cheese from our cow.

Many more palm trees are scheduled for planting in the rainy season.  That eases some of the guilt of enjoying the heart of this ancient tree.

Wants to eat a palm tree.

The new 'shelf', minus a palm tree.

My home for the last couple weeks, covered with palm leaves, shower and outhouse in the background. The view from the shower is unsurpassed by any of the finest homes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fantastic Bargains in Costa Rica !

 A nearby farm grows melons.

$2 buys a dozen.

I invested $6 and felt rich, with plenty to share and enough to eat my fill.

They’re very sweet.

After finishing one, the natural tendency is to have another, then another.

Why not?

They're less than 17 cents each. 

                                                                        During lunch one day, a monk began an inspired speech. “What if just by wanting it, one could get money? “

We had been studying and discussing a 17^th century text describing the step by step progression in bhakti, reaching total absorption in love for God.

“It doesn’t happen that way.", he continued, "You’ve got to work to get money. Yet Bhakti is available simply by wanting it. There is one condition though; you have to want only bhakti and nothing else.”

Time was suspended as the monk brought new light to our studies.

“We have so many other desires in our heart. They are well established, like multi storied corporate buildings with lavish advertising.  Meanwhile we’ve let bhakti move in, she’s got a little kiosk in the mall, hardly noticeable. “

This was getting very interesting; all the monks paused from their meal hoping he would continue.

“Desires for wealth, fame, and sensual pleasures are all well established, but bhakti is patiently sitting there with her product.  Gradually we become frustrated by these other commodities, and bhakti becomes more attractive. What we don’t see is that she is sabotaging these other desires. She destroys their foundation and they begin to topple until she is the only store left.”

“And then she gives her product to you for free.” I added.

Adventure-Walking from Atlantic to Pacific Oceans

Ever since I’ve seen the map in grade school I’ve wanted to do this. It’s such an insignificant strip of land between these two huge oceans, how can anyone resist walking these 50 miles? 

Shyamachandra gave us a ride to Colon on his way to work. Dropping us near the beach he warned, “Colon can be dangerous, don’t spend much time downtown, and keep an eye on your things.”  Narayan and I touched the Atlantic Ocean and headed southeast to the Pacific.

 

The residents of Colon that we had been warned of were starting to awaken. The walkway became crowded with people saying things to us that we didn’t understand, sometimes laughing, and sometimes threatening. “Just keep walking and show no fear.” I coached Narayan. We made it through the downtown unscathed.  

Voodoo ?

 Three days later, in Panama City, we walked through the lobby of the $400 million dollar Trump

Hotel to reach the Pacific Ocean.

We each drank more than a gallon of water the first day.

We hadn’t walked the entire route as planned. The first day we covered 17 miles on the noisy and rough roadside. There was no shade, no peace, not exactly something you want to do on your day off. In the dismal heat of the day we watched a crew working on power poles. One rope for his left thigh, another for his right foot, the lineman worked his way up.

 

His helper below conversed in perfect English and accepted a book from us about Karma.”How can we say, ‘we’re walking from the Atlantic to Pacific Oceans?” I asked.  He wrote,”NOSOTROS CAMINAMOS DEL ATLANTICO AL PACIFICO"

Former Pole Climber?

I practiced saying ‘nosotros caminamos….’as we continued the walk. Narayan was skeptical, “What if he was playing a trick on us and it means something really weird in Spanish.”

“Well there’s only one way to find out.”, I tried the phrase while we took a break in the shade. The recipient didn’t laugh at us or get angry, rather he appeared impressed and surprised. He said something about tres dias and I agreed that it will most likely take three days.

We made it as far as a small place called El Valle. You won’t find it on any map, but that’s where we’ll resume our walk if we ever try again. We heard rumors that someday a nice trail will be made from coast to coast. Walking on a hot, noisy road is not particularly pleasant.  We opted to take a couple rides to reach our destination; one of the rides was in the notorious diablo rojo buses. These had been roaring past us all day, spewing fumes, sounding their air horn anytime they sighted a woman younger than 60.

 

Upon boarding the bus we were disoriented by the flashing disco lights and loud music. The seats were all taken as well as most of the standing room. Much of the windshield had been painted with elaborate designs so we couldn’t see where we were going. My primitive Spanish must appear like Tarzan talk to these people, “Villa Zaita where?  Big distance? How many? Thank you.”

We’re riding the Tumba Muerto bus. A loose translation means, ‘the tomb of death’, which the driver announces at all stops, calling out ,”TUMBA MUERTO, TUMBA MUERTO, TUMBA MUERTO !”, so  passengers will know this bus will take them to the tomb of death.

I wonder how such a happy name has come about. No one seems to know or care. That’s just the name it is. Every road has several names, and you have to know all of them and assess the age of the person you are speaking to in order to guess which name he will know the road by.  No one has been able to change the Tumba Muerto name, which is fine with me, I’m glad our stop is on this well-known and easy to find road.

http://johnsmitchell.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/Diablos-Rojos-buses-Panama-CIty/G0000_TGKD_aHGzs/I0000pLRYA2pZ2U0

Inappropriate Laughter

Every morning after an hour of kirtan and prayer, the group of monks sits to chant gayatri.

It is a focused moment as the sun rises, a dozen of us sitting together in silent meditation. This morning I had a difficult time keeping from breaking out in laughter.

Sounds of the monkeys in the distance reminded me of last night’s episode. One of the workers spied a monkey overhead and imitated their sounds. A tree full of monkeys responded, several other groups of monkeys responded to them making a big ruckus followed by human laughter.

My smile went undetected and I was able to repress the urge to laugh out loud. This tendency of laughing at things going on in my head has gotten me into trouble more than once, especially when I was younger. I’m glad that it still exists, though it continues to cause awkward moments.

Bus from Costa Rica to Panama

The bus is comfortable, except for the movies showing constantly. The first two were shown quietly in English with subtitles in Spanish, now we’re  enduring big momma’s house in Spanish at full volume.

After 3 weeks of peaceful life on the farm, away from any TV or modern distractions we’re on our way to adventures in Panama. We’ve taken for granted the hydroelectricity, home grown grains, vegetables, and milk, kirtans and group study morning and evening, we’ve forgotten how the rest of the world lives and are now thrust into the silliness of Hollywood.

Leaving San José at noon, the bus is scheduled to arrive the next day at 4 AM , 16 hours  making it a bargain at $2 an hour for the ride.

We stopped to buy fruit before boarding;  papaya, a large chickoo, though they called it something else, grenada, avocado, small sweet bananas.  They make a lot of sweets similar to burfi from milk, though we didn’t try any this time.

It’s a pretty friendly place for vegetarians if you don’t mind black beans and rice which is available everywhere, even at the bus stop on the ride down. $2 buys a healthy sized plate.

After waiting 2 hours in 3 lines to cross the border into Panama, then bouncing through the night trying to sleep, I was beginning to wonder if we were having  fun yet.

The bus finally approached the terminal, an hour later than scheduled. I felt sorry for the devotees who had rushed out to meet us at 4 AM giving up their precious morning quiet to wait for a bus that refused to show up. “How are they going to recognize us?” Narayan asked. “They will” My head was not even half way out the bus door when I spotted a hand waving to me. Though we had never met, we instantly felt like old friends, completely at ease together as we picked out our luggage and headed for their car.

Shyamachandra and his wife RadhaGovinda  expressed no complaints about the late running bus and seemed genuinely happy to have us in their home.

It was a slight culture shock to resist the habit of shaking out each pillow and stripping down the bed in search of scorpions or other minor pests. (Narayan found a scorpion in his sweatshirt the second day on the farm.)

Made a Chair today

I never trust plastic chairs. I've seen too many of them crumble under people. The plastic chairs in Costa Rica are even thinner than our US standard. Practically every chair here is either cracked or 

missing limbs. 

 

I was feeling the urge to sit on something that would set me apart from the smelly dogs on the porch and noticed a wealth of good sized saplings laying around from Miguel clearing the underbrush.

The machete works well for peeling the bark. Bugs will infest any wood with the bark left on.

Priya helped by carving down the ends. 

Make a square end to drive into a round hole. As the large piece shrinks, the hole will also shrink, making the construction tight.

Best practice is to use dry wood for the horizontal railings.

Empty rice hulls in a feed sack make a nice cushion.

Total cost, about 3 hours of pleasant labor and a couple nails.

Banana Technology

 This morning in Costa Rica I took a lesson in banana growing from one of the residents.

Bananas are considered a gift from the gods, as they require little maintenance and give much in return.  Place a bit of banana trunk in a hole during the rainy season. Nothing further need be done. In time the trunk produces a large female flower. Small bananas can be seen forming.

Female Flower

 The male, pollinator flower hangs below it. When the bananas are developed the male flower can be harvested. Raw, it tastes like a green banana peel. After soaking in salt water, and cooking, it resembles both artichoke hearts and mushrooms.

Each trunk produces one bunch of bananas. Multiple shoots sprout around it, providing a perpetual harvest. The leaves make elegant plates; the discarded trunk provides mulch and fertilizer.

 There are several types of bananas, some for cooking, some for raw eating, and some for cell phone use.

Lord Krishna makes a speech about the munificent nature of trees, recorded in the pages of Srimad Bhagavatam, "Just look at these most fortunate trees of Vrndavana. They have dedicated their lives to the welfare of others. Individually they are tolerating all kinds of natural disturbances, such as hurricanes, torrents of rain, scorching heat and piercing cold, but they are very careful to relieve our fatigues and give us shelter. My dear friends, I think they are glorified in this birth as trees. They are so careful to give shelter to others that they are like noble, highly elevated charitable men who never deny charity to one who approaches them. No one is denied shelter by these trees. They supply various kinds of facilities to human society, such as leaves, flowers, fruit, shade, roots, bark, flavor extracts and fuel. They are the perfect example of noble life. They are like a noble person who has sacrificed everything possible--his body, mind, activities, intelligence and words--in engaging in the welfare of all living entities." Thus the Supreme Personality of Godhead walked on the bank of the Yamuna, touching the leaves of the trees and their fruits, flowers and twigs, and praising their glorious welfare activities.  http://krsnabook.com/contents/