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This just in from our costa rica correspondent - MW

Howdy Folks

So, here goes a little game of catch up from the past plant/spiritual retreat i participated in. This actually will not be so little, so feel free to skip and/or skim as you will. This has been simply one of the most profound experiences of my whole life. Therefore, i feel compelled to write at length in order to try and encompass at least a good portion of who and what has made it so special. This has been a considerable labor of love for those of you who are interested and for myself as well. i have now read this through a bit and realize you should prepare yourself for lots of run on sentences, sentences started with prepositions and other no no’s of proper grammatical form. i have spent hours upon hours gathering together this reflection and still realize there is probably significant room for improvement and especially further character development. Maybe some day i may reformat it, but it seems to still read ok. i feel compelled now to birth it into the world either way. i would welcome comments from any of you grammatical whizzes out there that might feel called to take me to task. i typically write in the lower case i in order to remember to try and not emphasize myself over anyone or anything else. Of course this is my version of the story so there are a lot of i’s involved. This was the second year that the Guardians of Eden retreat has occurred and there are already plans for a third incarnation about the same time next year www.artofunion.com. Maybe some of you will be inspired to join in the adventure…

The hike in…

i was rather tired and sleep deprived when i arrived in San Isidro for the first time, as i mentioned i my first email. i had been awake for most of the past 24hrs. i didn’t know exactly where i was going or how the bus/hitching situation might work out so i elected to get a taxi. i am very glad i did even though the cost($15) was about 20times the amount of the bus. It saved me a rather long hike if the hitching situation had not been kind. This is especially true as even the Tico family that lives below the cave trail seemed not to know what i or the taxi driver were talking about when i mentioned Diamante Verde, cataratas (waterfalls), communidad de personas de los Estados Unidos (community of people from the U.S.A.) or la Cathedral de la piedra (Cathedral of stone) i arrived at the base of the trail via taxi at about 4:30p.m. i was relatively sure i was in the right place but still wondered a little. i knew full well that it gets dark around 6p.m. The directions said it had taken anywhere from one hour to two days to reach the cave! Considering myself rather physically fit i figured 1.5 hours no problem. Sometime shortly thereafter, i was huffing and puffing going straight up maybe the hardest trail i had ever hiked and going nowhere fast. i was carrying a pack that weighed about fifty pounds. i also had a dehydrator that Tenasi (the trip coordinator) had requested i bring from his Mom’s house in Greenville S.C.. Tenasi had also requested that i arrive at the cave as soon as possible to help prepare for the start of the symposium the following day as part of my work trade assistantship. Soon it was necessary to stop for a breather. Determined to make it before dark i trudged on up the trail which had coincidentally been made extra muddy and slick from a slight afternoon rain. Admittedly, the view at certain places was breathtaking as i continued to ascend hundreds of feet from the valley floor. Eventually, darkness set in and i realized arriving in the light was just not going to happen. i collapsed on the ground, as i gave into the darkness, breathing heavy under the exertion and lack of energy due to lack of sleep. That’s when the Howler monkey just happened to do his thing. Somehow i sensed that there was no real danger but the intense sound of the monkey above in the dark was nevertheless intimidating. This feeling was amplified due to my lack of energy. i sent the monkey peaceful vibes and as soon as i caught my breath continued walking, now with a headlamp on. The directions said that after a meadow turn right or you will head another hour up to the upper falls. i had been hiking for well over two hours and then began to wonder if i had missed that right turn somehow in the darkness. Nonetheless, i decided to keep hiking for awhile longer and at some point made it to the meadow, which comprises the main garden area of the Sanctuary. Very very thankful, i attempted to find the trail that led the last “20 minutes” to the cave in vain. After a few failed attempts i decided to set up my hammock under the cover of the barn and gratefully fell into a fitful sleep full of buzzing insects and repeated applications of bug spray. Luckily, this experience left me undaunted and still thankful for the opportunity to be in such a far off magical land…

i was greeted in the morning by an amazing view of the ridge behind Dominical and the far off Pacific. You can see this view in some of the Snapfish pictures. i was awed at the thought that i would shortly be hiking to that place from an even higher elevation in just a few days. i must admit that, for the first time, i questioned my ability to accomplish such a task.

The trail was ever so more apparent in the light. After a relatively short walk i arrived at the place that was to be my home for the next four days, La Catedral de la Piedra. It was certainly everything that i could have dreamed it would be and more. i was greeted by Melissa and Jesse Chapman, Jesse’s girlfriend Michel and their friend Philip who were leading a group that had spent the last little while at the cave. Jesse and Melissa are the children of Jon Chapman who is the initial person that acquired the land. Shortly thereafter, this group of folks left. They all seemed rather nice. Melissa made a strong first impression of self confidence and assertive actions. She started right on in correcting my admittedly poor Spanish pronunciation and or grammar. Melissa and Jesse’s mom is from Costa Rica and they grew up here, so they of course speak very good Costa Rican Spanish. Also present were Allison, Traceska, and Teresa. Allison is a compact powerhouse of a working woman. She was a blur of motion getting everything that needed to be done, done. Traceska had a more subtle deeply contemplative spiritual persona and was also attending to Teresa who had suffered a spider bite the week before on the beach. i fell into a partly working partly recuperating mode from my epic travel to get there. My main contribution entailed going with Allison to pick flowers for several vases we placed around the cave for beautification. The day went on and i got to develop a rather sweet connection with both Allison and Traceska in the process of working and sharing our life’s stories. It became apparent that this day was going to be mostly cave preparations and people slowly but surely arriving. i got to experience a beautiful sunset with Allison sitting right above the 600ft Diamante Falls looking out over Manuel Antonio National park in the distance. We discussed life and love and i discovered she lived in a town near by called La Florida. Interestingly she and her landmates were getting set to host a group of students from Prescott College in Arizona. We compared notes about the culture of Northern California. She also subtly helped me with my Spanish by which she is rather proficient.

At some point the other work traders arrived with the food provisions purchased at the market in San Isidro. It is somehow possible to negotiate the aforementioned incredibly steep trail to the garden by caballo (horse). The Tico (native Costa Rican) workers of the place gracefully brought the food the rest of the way led by a great guy named Victor. All of a sudden we were awash in five gallon buckets full of everything tropical you might imagine from avocados, to pineapples, coconuts, star fruit, tree tomatoes, papayas etc… i set to helping organize things along with a lady named Katia and an old friend from Warren Wilson, Tucka. Katia was in charge of the whole work trade thing. This is a role she took on naturally as she is a mom of two children and takes shephearding action well in stride. i could go on and on about the amazingness of Katia, as she was one of my deepest contacts in the journey to come. Interestingly, i had seen Katia in passing on the plant walks held at the Colorado National Rainbow Gathering this past summer, but had no idea of what a special person she is. Hopefully i can at least begin to do justice to what an incredible woman she represents. Suffice it to say that she also lives in the valley below and depends on her feet or her horses primarily for transport. She is from Canada but spent many years traveling all around the U.S. and Costa Rica before settling in at her own finca (farm) a few years ago. She speaks fluent French, English, and Spanish as do her children respective to their ages. She had just delivered her first baby to a Tico couple just prior to coming up for the retreat. i would go so far as to say she was also the most well balanced person of any of us throughout the whole epic endeavor. Tucka, as i mentioned, and some of you know, i met years ago at Warren Wilson. We have seen many different faces of each other within that time span. Her persona at this point seemed very up and airy in a classic Gemini sort of way. i could largely relate as i am also a Gemini and was glad for the familiar face. Through the course of that evening i was also introduced to Cristalle Cacores and Deva our two fairies for the adventure. These two ladies were a never ending source of love, light and beautiful singing. They were along for the initial symposium and the first part of our hike around the Cerro de la Muerte before heading off to further adventures in Colombia and beyond. There was a noticeable vacuum of fairy energy when they left which i definitely missed. i also got to officially meet Lydia. Lydia is a fellow Ashevillian who runs in similar circles as i do. We even realized we had been crossing paths since my first rainbow gathering in February of 1995 in Gainesville, FL. Lydia is the holder of soooooo many incredibly achingly beautiful songs. Not only does she know these songs, but she sings them, and gets people around her to sing them in a way that everyone becomes like beaming rays of light. She was only with us through the initial part of the retreat in the cave but i very much look forward to spending more time together when we are both back in Asheville. Interestingly, we might actually see each other before then, at that same Ocala Rainbow gathering around the 14^th of February. This day i also met Autumn Rose who gracefully allowed me to call her Otono(which means Fall or Autumn) in Spanish. i did not realize until later that they only have Invierno (Winter wet) and Verano (Summer dry) in Costa Rica. Autumn was another worker bee that had somehow spent much of her life in either California, India, New York, North Carolina or Costa Rica. Good taste in places eh? She is a quiet reflective type who nonetheless holds great power in her gaze and the words she chooses to share. By the next day i was introduced to our amazing head chef April who also knows many great heart songs and some of my favorite musicians from out West. April is another holder of the Northern Cali vibe and her food was simply out of this world. Also the next day all the teachers arrived and at some point i met Paulo. Paulo is a student from Earth University in Limon Costa Rica. However, he was born in Canada to two Tico parents and has dual citizenship. Paulo represents to me what we need so much in this world. We need people like Paulo to bridge the gaps of culture in our world society. He spent time studying with John Jeavons in California of Bio-intensive gardening fame and also attended the famous Bioneers conference by request from the organizers and his school. agriculture, He was already teaching me stuff i didn’t know about agriculture in just one little talk. This is impressive in that i have a degree in Sustainable Ag and eight years of experience and he hasn’t even gotten his Bachelor’s yet! Paulo was another person that i grew to know and love rather deeply in the short time of our symposium and hike together. i strongly believe he will be one of the people to lead Costa Rica toward a bright future si dios quiere (god willing)

The arrival of the teachers was a very exciting time. i have walked with Frank Cook at locales all around the U.S. He has influenced my connection with the plants more than any one single person to date. On top of that we have a very brotherly connection that i looked forward to strengthening in the days to come. Frank has traveled alone and with groups of people to Africa, to India, Peru, Europe, Central America, the Caribbean and all over the U.S.A. He is currently about to embark on two months of travel in Australia/New Zealand. Tenasi was the ultimate organizer of this shindig as well as the holder of much knowledge regarding diet/nutrition, yoga, technical applications, song sharing, circle leading, and a whole host of other skills to numerous to mention here. Our relationship grew a lot in depth and complexity during our time together.

Tin, Allison, and Manu represented a distinct family unit of incredible beauty. Tin was a student of a famous Costa Rican botanist Luis Poveda. At 29 he is a walking library of Costa Rican plants and their uses. His skill in tree identification was especially useful. The area around Asheville has around 120 tree species which is more than all of Europe. i know almost all of these species and typically feel very at home with my knowledge of the forest. Costa Rica has over 120 tree families! Many families include numerous genera which in turn include numerous species. There are a total of about 1,400 tree species in all in a country half the size of North Carolina. Basically, Costa Rica is a whole other order of complexity that is complicated even more by the many plants that attach themselves to the trees way up in the canopy. Allison and Manu were a Mother/son unit to me. My connection with them mainly entailed watching her nurture in a beautiful way and listening to here share her own sweet songs. Manu at only around 7months old was the youngest member of our group and represented the potential energy of the future in a rather placid and joyous way. i now sit in their home at the Ark Herb Farm(an incredible place!) outside of San Jose typing this reflection on one of their laptop computers. i have been here for the last two days and have further reinforced their place in my heart forever.

Jane Earle is a rather magical woman who has spent most of her life in Costa Rica. She wrote a book about the plants so in her words she could reference it and would not have to worry about forgetting. Jane along with Tenasi also ended up as the primary focalizer for the sweat lodge that we did around the new year. Her translation skills were invaluable especially when working with our Tico teacher Markus. The aforementioned Luis Poveda was also supposed to join us for much of our adventure but unfortunately became ill and was not able to come.

With this band of incredible people we set about the business of learning the plants with a good mix of ritual and heart sharing along the way. At most meals and throughout the day we would hold hands in circle and sing, om, and pray. We systematically hiked from location to location forest, garden, areas around water and catalogued what we saw. We were helped largely by referring to the already ample plant list generated by Tenasi and Tin This list already contained about 250 species. We were joined for a couple days by a powerful lady named Jenny who was a lawyer but decided to dedicate here life to reforestation. Jenny also helped us greatly with tree ID and translation. The nights were spent reviewing the day’s plants and referring to a host of great reference materials graciously lent to us by Katia. It became apparent that there was a hard core group of plant geeks if you will, and a substantial number of folks who liked the plants but also had other priorities. Luckily, the everything is optional mentality, allowed enough flexibility for people to be fed in whatever ways they saw fit. i of course was one of the hard core geeks and dedicated myself to learning as much as possible about the couple hundred plants we observed. In the course of our time at the cave there were discussions about mushrooms, natural dyes, fermentation, further plant resources, the top five jungle plants for health and healing, and the top 20 families we had seen.

Now for a little crash course in the botanical naming of plants. Families are represented by the ending ceae attached to the end of a genus name that typifies that family. The family is usually grouped around flower traits, DNA, phytochemistry, and other characteristics. It is often possible to tell certain traits i.e. Food, Medicine, Poison by what family a plant is in. This is not always the case. The carrot family for instance has many of our most used spices like Parsley, Fennel, Cumin, Dill, Lovage, Anise, Coriander, Cilantro, etc but also some of the most toxic plants in the world Hemlock(not the tree) and Water Hemlock. The genus gets you to the plant at a generic level. Normally the plants will be very similar but have different leaf size or shape, different flower color, or different chemistry, etc. This however, is also not always the case as one genus can contain a species that is a bush or tree and also contain a little low growing herb. The species or specific level refers to a group of plants that is essentially typically the same and can readily breed with each other. Still, there are often many varieties within species that especially through breeding by humans look substantially different i.e. Broccoli, Kale, Cabbage, Brussels Sprouts, and Kohlrabi. There are around 500 families, over 10,000 genera, and 325,000 species of plants. Therefore, it greatly simplifies matters to understand plants on a basic level by their family and even genus. i encourage all of you to learn the top ten families for food and top ten for medicine that occur in your area and you will never go hungry and rarely be sick! You can typically tell when a scientific name of a plant is represented because it will be underlined or italicized genus first and then species. The genus name is capitalized the scientific name is not. Scientific names are in Latin and used by botanists all around the world in order to have a systematic form for discussion. Many species names refer helpfully to a distinct characteristic of the plant. Too often they refer to the name of some botanist from the past. A plant can have many nombres comun (common names) but only one scientific name. However, we discovered that in Spanish i is pronounced like the English e, e is pronounced like a, and a is pronounced like ah. Also sometimes v’s sound like b’s. Therefore Como escribe? (how do you write) and Repite por favor (repeat please) were common phrases used.

Five of the top jungle plants were; Hombre Grande Quassia amara in the Simaroubaceae used for intestinal infection. Gavilana or Jackass Bitters Neorolaena lobata Asteraceae for stomach upset, liver detoxification, and treatment of malaria. The next plant was Behuca de Agua. This vining plant is in the Villinaceae. You can cut it to get water in a pinch. Next, was Vaca de Pobre Brocimum utile in the Moraceae also known as the milk tree. The last was Saragundi or Senna Cassia reticulata in the Fabaceae used for skin issues, anti-fungal, arthritis, digestion, diarrhea, and constipation depending on which part is used.

The top 20 families included

Apiaceae or Carrot family

Arecaceae Palm family, which is essential to life in the tropics

Asteraceae Sunflower, Marigold, Aster, Ageratum, Dahlia etc Biggest family in the world 23,000-

32,000species

Bignoniaceae In the north represented by Catalpa sp. (sp denotes species when the actual species name is not

known or needed) and trumpet creeper in the North. In C.R. represented by many very showy

trees and some vines

Cucurbitaceae Cucumber, Squash, Pumpkin family

Euphorbiaceae Euphorb family one of the biggest and most diverse families in the world including the root

Cassava or Yuca Manhiot sp. This is a main staple crop all over the tropical world.

Fabaceae The Bean, Pea, and Clover Family probably the third biggest family in the world approx 18,000

Species. This is a very important family, in that most of them aid in fixing nitrogen(an essential

plant nutrient) in the soil with the partnership of special bacteria that live in their roots

Lamiaceae The Mint, Basil, Oregano, Rosemary, Lavender family. One everyone should know! All mints

have square stems and opposite leaves. Though, not all square stemmed opposite leaved plants

are mints. They are also a huge family for culinary flavors and many members have

characteristic smells

Lauraceae The Avocado, Cinnamon, family.

Malvaceae The Cotton, Hibiscus, Okra, family

Meliaceae Mahogany family

Melastomataceae Melastoma family that is mostly tropical with very distinct leaves and had ever present forms

throughout our travels

Moraceae The Mulberry, Jackfruit, Breadfruit, Fig family

Musaceae The Banana family

Myrtaceae The Eucalyptus, Tea tree, Water Apple, Surinam Cherry, Crape myrtle, Guava family

Poaceae The grass and grain i.e. Corn, Rice, Wheat, Millet, Spelt, Sugar cane, Bamboo family. Fifth

largest in the world with 10,000 species and arguably the most important for food

Rubiaceae The Coffee, Cleavers, Gardenia, Noni, Cat’s claw family Forth largest in the world with

13,000 species. Mostly in the tropics.,

Simaroubaceae Tree of heaven, Dysentery bark, Hombre Grande family

Solanaceae The Tomato, Potato, Eggplant, Pepper, Angel trumpet, Jimson weed family

Verbenaceae The Lemon verbena, Teak, Vitex family

Zingiberaceae The Tumeric, Ginger, Cardamom family

One discovery we made is that people here eat the leaves of a Solanaceae member called Zorrilo Cestrum racemosum and the leaves of a Euphorbiaceae member Katuk Sauropus androgenus raw. Both these families contain many toxic members. This practice seems questionable and in need of further research. The leaves of these families are rarely ever eaten at all of the many thousands of species that occur. If eaten at all they are normally done so after cooking in water and then pouring the water off.

Life at the cave entailed many neat but powerful little practices. Copious amounts of swimming in waterfall pools. Novel food like limitless homemade kimchee (including fruitchee), sunflower seed pate, green drinks and presoaked porridge. i became adept at learning the art of putting clothes out to dry daily. i can only imagine what one does in the wet season! One life in the modern age moment came when it was expressed that 6 years ago the valley did not have electrical lines and now you can talk from the cave to others by cell phone! One of my tasks as a work trader was to empty out the buckets from the composting toilets. This was a task i found both humbling and fulfilling in that our waste is such a regular part of who we are but rarely do we deal in a direct way with the disposal of it.

After much time spent with the plants we entered deeply into the spirit world with a sweat lodge ceremony. Sweat lodges are big in the Lakota Native American tradition of the Great Plains. They have since been spread to many different tribes of people throughout the Americas and possibly further. They typically consist of a hut with a central pit. Hot rocks are placed in the pit and water is poured on them creating a sauna like effect. The participants sit in a circle around the rocks. There are typically a number of “rounds” that can last anywhere from half and hour to well over an hour each. Each round typically has a specific focus such as honoring ancestors, honoring family, honoring self, and honoring the Earth. Participants are often purified by the smoke of sage (Artemesia sp. Asteraceae Not culinary sage Salvia sp.Lamiaceae) before entering. Folks enter and exit in a clockwise direction. Many of us participated in fashioning a lodge from scratch out of bamboo we had harvested for this purpose. We assembled the 16 poles in a clockwise fashion as it quickly was becoming dark. This process really felt like it unified us as a group because it took much team work and patience to complete the task. A number of people stayed up all night to warm the rocks. At three or four a.m. we woke up to make the hour long hike and start the ceremony before morning light. We entered the lodge in the dark and completed the first round before light. The first round was only mildly warm. After some modifications including adding more dirt around the base by Jesse and myself, the lodge became rather toasty early into the second round. By the end of the third round many of us were positively roasting and opted to cool off in the stream close by. i was surprised that in the forth round i instantly became very hot once more and needed sheer force of will to remain within. Still, somehow i felt compelled to stay well after the end of the forth round to call in the spirits of those of our group who could not join us like mama Allison, Manu, and Teresa. The sweat lodge was a time of deep emotional sharing, connection, and much beautiful singing. For me in particular i called in the spirit of my great great grandmother who was born a slave and apparently knew much of the native American ways of herbology. i also marveled at the fact that though my mother’s ancestors had brought many of my father’s ancestors to the America’s in chains, somehow both these lineages have found a peaceful coexistence and bright future within me. Many others honored various people and feelings that they hold dear and we came out transformed and even more linked as a group entity. Tin in particular was “reborn” in this his first sweat lodge ceremony in a way that still impacts this very day and will certainly impact years to come. We had determined to take a vow of silence after the sweat but this did not last largely due to the fact that Teresa’s leg had still not healed and needed to be attended to. Nonetheless, i spent a good part of the day in silence absolutely blown away by the beauty of nature, life, and the different flora(plants) that occur in this particular area of the property. i hiked around above the falls that tumbles past the cave reviewing what i had learned on the plant list and making corrections to spelling and additions of new species. Eventually, it was time to hike down. i felt a particularly deep reverence for nature at this time. On my way down i noticed a bunch of Reishi type mushrooms on some wood a good bit off the trail. i determined to pick one of the mushrooms in order to make a tea as this is the mushroom of immortality. i asked spirit which one i should pick. Once direction had been given i gently pulled a mushroom off that was about 1.5 feet above the ground. i happened to turn the mushroom over and inscribed on the underside was a heart! You can see the picture on Snapfish. i had just learned from Frank the day before that one could do such a thing. How did a heart get inscribed on only this particular one that called to me(i looked at the others subsequently), a good ways off the trail and so low to the ground? Someone would have had to be on their back and still would have had great difficulty. i don’t profess to know but i will say that i sat down in wonder over the magical nature of life and existence and retold the story to the great joy of my compatriots later!

Soon after the sweat things started winding down for our time at the cave. The last night there we had a sweet circle of a number of people and then ended up singing songs bathed in the light of the full moon. Teresa decided to stay as it was her birthday of all things and subsequently she seemed to get better. i must say she handled her affliction with great grace, charm, and beauty. She hiked out shortly thereafter with the other Allison who needed to get ready for the Prescott people. We wrapped up our plant and personal reflections in circle and a number of people stayed behind including April, Lydia, and Traceska. Mama Allison and Manu went back to the Ark Herb Farm. Melissa had decided to join us on our hike to our great pleasure. Ken Cook, Frank’s brother had also joined us as well. Ken has been all over the world with Frank including South Africa, India, and Peru and therefore is a seasoned traveler. We had a very sweet connection throughout the whole entire trip. By the end i almost felt like a combination of one of the brothers Cook and Frank the V. Frank is Frank the IV and i was a lot like his apprentice. Those that were going on the rest of the adventure hiked down to catch rides to San Isidro where we got some food and i wrote you my abbreviated email summary.

After a bus ride for some and a drive in Tenasi’s car for others we ended up at the Cerro de la Muerte with the family Seelye. The Seelyes are one of the most incredible families i have ever met. The parents Rudy and Maxine are from the U.S. but their 6 children were born in Costa Rica over the past twenty some years. The family has a beautiful characteristic look that even more reinforces their connection as a unit. They live at around 10,000 ft above sea level. Even though this is a tropical region of the world it still gets kind of cold(40degrees or so) at night. i feel like i could easily right a page or so about what makes this family so amazing, but will be more brief as this is already quite a long communication. Basically, the kids were home schooled and for the most part speak fluent Spanish. Many of them lead various different adventure type expeditions all over Costa Rica. Since they were young, scientists have come from all over the world to study the special ecosystem they live in called a Paramo. This type of ecosystem is more reflective of the flora of Chile much like the flora of the upper elevation Appalachians is reflective of Maine. Because of the exposure to so many scientists and a high degree of self motivation the Seelyes know most of the plants where they live literally like the back of their hand. This was made even more special by the fact that some of my favorite plants i have ever met in my life inhabit this space. We were blessed with the company of Satya, Andy, and Janie in our daily walks during our time at their land. We were able to compile a plant list of over 150 species that i am very excited to put into spreadsheet format for further growth and development. Our two days there seemed to fly by and i was a little sad to leave. At the lodge they built themselves, i had my first and last taste of a hot water shower for quite some time. Many of you know how i crave the warm and loathe the cold so this was no small indulgence! Papa Rudy had many little nice quotes to share and Mama Maxine and sister Daisy plied us with super yummy food the whole time we were there. They also had a great number of book resources that helped us significantly in our work of cataloguing the flora. i came to the conclusion from studying a fern book in particular that this will be the year i take on learning the ferns. They are a much smaller and ancient group than the flowering plants and well deserved of attention. While hiking i was able to see tree like ferns for the first time which are the descendants of plants that make up much of our coal and oil deposits.

Before leaving on our hike down, we big adieu to our two fairy sisters Deva and Cristalle. They were headed to another ritual in Colombia of all places. Satya and Janie had decided to come with us on our hike to our great satisfaction and joy. On our hike out we passed by the Seelye old homestead that was mysteriously(perhaps purposely L) burned down a couple of years ago. It was interesting to see how many domesticated plants still flourished there. This included one of the most powerful and best smelling mints i have ever encountered. It was refreshing to see all of these plants from around the world people have selected as choice. This has been my major area of study in the plant world and therefore it felt like seeing a bunch of old familiar friends.

This open blustery spot was where we first all really met Sarah. Sarah had come in late the night before after insisting on arriving immediately and taking a $60 taxi from San Jose. Tenasi had gone out in the middle of the night to pick her up and in the course had driven off the rather steep somewhat tricky road. This seems like in retrospect a precursor for some of the events that were to come. Sarah had evidently been traumatized in some deep way recently and possibly in the past and was in need of deep healing. Our first attempt at such occurred by the Seelye old homestead where we surrounded her physically and energetically with love and light. She made a number of profound statements about her desire to heal and i believe we all did our best to support her in that regard. After this intense occurrence we began our hike down off the mountain. After a number of hours, and many special plants endemic to paramo conditions, it started to rain. Our group had become rather spread out as this was our first day really hiking with all our gear and we had yet to set protocols and rhythms for how we might proceed. Many of us picked up the pace with the rain, while some, especially the hard core botanists and a few others were rather far back. Luckily, we were not in the rain long before we reached Andy, his faithful Land Rover Betsy, and Tucka. Tucka had stayed behind at Casa de Seelye due to a hurt foot. She had in the process prepared a fabulous salad. Betsy was also full of fresh baked bread and other goodies that we ravenously ate due to our longer than expected hike and lack of significant provisions on the trail. 11 of us squeezed inside with two others and our packs on top(thanks Tenasi and Katia) and headed down a couple thousand feet to Albergue (lodge) Ambiental outside Providencia.

At Providencia we were greeted by the fabulous Noire, her husband Orlando, and their very sweet children. We all got cleaned up and changed into dry warm clothes and settled in for some wholesome filling Tico food tipical(typical). The next day we were shown all manner of appropriate technology from a horse/human powered sugar cane mill, to how they compost much of Providencia’s waste, to how they make mats out of banana leaf stalks and their own vinegar out of the bananas. The view from their back yard was absolutely amazing as the pictures will demonstrate. In the afternoon many went on a steep hike down into the jungle. i felt called to rest before our biggest hike of the trip coming the following day. i also began to feel for the first time a sense of needing to be alone, as i often am, when home in Asheville. i have several siblings but i grew up as an only child and always had copious amounts of time to myself. i always rather enjoyed this time alone and i never felt lonely. i’ve grown to realize that i need periodic solitude to maintain my sense of self, internal peace and equanimity. i determined to intersperse my experience from there on out with periodic times for solitude and felt good for that. That night we shared in a wild fermented wine that we had started at the cave several days before as a means of celebration.

The next day we began our epic 12 mile hike to la Chaqueta. We had to hike a good way up before going down and in all experienced a change of about 3,000 feet of elevation before arriving 8.5 hours later. This day marked the first of Sarah’s attempts to leave the group. Andy decided to walk half way with us just for the fun of it and Sarah initially proposed to go back with him. At the half way point many people started to feel the call to pick up the pace. Sarah initially went back part way but then changed her mind which caused a number of folks to stay far behind in trying to ascertain what was going on. This was possibly the most stressful day due to the length and strenuous nature of our hike and the problems inherent in communicating where everyone was at. At this point the phenomenon of the rabbit or young goat hikers came fully to light. Janie, Melissa, and Paulo seem to live for hiking fast especially down hill. Admittedly all of them had blisters and or bruises to prove it by the end of the day. One of the great joys of the day was watching them and Tucka for about 45minutes swinging Tarzan style on a huge vine while we waited for the rest of the group to catch up. Once we were reunited the pace picked up so that we could make it in before dark. i am a little sad that i did not stop more to explore the various floristic regions that occurred in the massive altitude shift we proceeded through in this segment. i subsequently realized that with a pack on my back and many miles to hike my focus shifted more towards walking than stopping and staring. Luckily all the rest of our hikes were relatively short (2-5hours) in comparison and i was able to stop and enjoy much more.

La Chaqueta is three hours from anywhere by horse. No auto roads! Pretty neat. Once more we had some yummy traditional Tico food supplemented by our own rations including our traveling crock of kraut/chee. The major focus of the night was centered on a rather elaborate attempt to help heal Sarah. Many of us layed our hands on her and offered words of kindness and encouragement. She uttered sounds that were rather rough and guttural and i must admit a bit disconcerting. The next day she was still feeling rather uneasy and wanted to leave by horse. We pretty much convinced her to stay with us as they was really not much place to go other than with us. She had somehow lost her shoes along the way and Melissa kindly lent hers to Sarah. We proceeded to walk at a decent pace through a challenging but not to strenuous trail. Our group now felt a little like a band of seasoned veterans. We were able to stop and swim and also take some plants in without feeling too stretched. We had decided on a new protocol for hiking from the day before. There would be two groups. The groups were roughly the rabbits and the slower walking hardcore botanists/liesurists. i tended toward the rabbit group as did Ken who is more into people than plants. This was a really beautiful section that had some great vistas of which one picture you can see on Snapfish. We stopped at one Albergue for lunch and waited a couple hours for the rest to catch up. Man i tell you sugar water with lemon never tasted so good.

We did a relatively short hike to the Albergue of Hernan Granados after lunch. We took our first swim in the wonderful Rio Savegre just before dark. After some more beans, rice, yuca, and hot sauce we all settled in upstairs in Frank and Tenasis’s room. Hernan had apparently just completed construction on the second level of his lodge and everything felt fresh and new. Upstairs we shared stories and mutual massages. i in particular, got one of the best massages of my whole entire life (thank you Katia) that was even the talk of the room periodically here and there. i was also gifted a really sweet patchwork sheet made by one the Albergue’s Tico ladies that i happened to admire. The next day we had a relatively short walk to Alvino’s

On the way to Alvino’s i got a good bit of one on one time with Frank. We did a lot of plant and life review, which felt rather sweet. Before Alvino’s was a particularly choice place to swim in the Savegre and we all spent a good amount of time there. To get to Alvino’s one uses a pulley system to ferry you and your stuff across. Unfortunately, the pulley had jumped its track. Tucka decided to swim across the rather active river and helped us to get on track. Thanks Tucka!!! Alvino’s is surrounded on three sides by water and makes for a rather stunning locale. We had a big agenda of things we might do in our two days there. In the end people kind of picked and chose from the menu offered. The following day there was a morning plant walk in Alvino’s garden and a bit in the woods. The rabbits and Ken went caving. Frank and i worked on consolidating our plant lists. Others chilled out, went swimming, or various other activities. Much of the food at Alvino’s was very sugar laden. Alvino is half indigenous and knows many wild plants for food but seems more accustomed to eating more “normal” fare. We asked for more wild food and got an incredible lunch of such. The highlight was a dish made of heliconia and panama hat palm fruit! Sounds like future retreats will be able to have more of this type of fare in the future J

The first evening we participated in a sauna ceremony with sweat lodge overtones. Alvino laid out very particular ground rules for the process including stipulating three rounds of ten minutes each and silence when outside the structure. The three rounds corresponded to the purification of body, mind, and spirit. The walk to the lodge was dark and a little slippery. i and a few others felt some unease for various reasons heading there. We first entered the water and then the sauna. i learned a very valuable lesson about attachment to expectation. i initially had decided that i might not do the sweat at all. However, it felt almost obligatory especially due to our past experience back at Diamante and the fact that everyone else was going to do it. The energy inside was very intense and i felt almost at times dark and oppressive. After about thirty minutes rather than the easily doable ten i really started to wonder. We were in there for a good bit longer and i was challenged by the heat and my own expectation to already be out, like i rarely have been before. Thankfully the time to exit came and i gratefully plunged into the cold refreshing waters of the Savegre. After cooling off and claming down i grabbed my stuff having decided that enough was enough for me. i walked back and lay down to take a nap while the others completed the other two rounds. Shortly thereafter, i was awakened to find that the stove had fallen down and the sweat had ended prematurely. Luckily no one was hurt.

The next day Sarah decided that her time with us had really come to an end. She left before most people were up after having paced around the building much of the night. Much of the morning circle revolved around putting our experience with her into perspective. Everyone within the group had spent time with Sarah in some special way in an attempt to help her heal, largely to no avail. We all wished her well and at the same time were thankful to have some space and time to explore the beauty and light that the rest of the group represented. Sarah currently lives in Black Mountain, NC so i am interested to possibly meet her in a different context and hopefully happier state of mind.

That day we mostly chilled out until the evening when Frank led a guided plant spirit medicine journey. i mainly was awash in visions of a plant in the Foxglove family named Calceolaria sp., that i had become rather tickled by in the paramo. This plant has a profusion of little lady slipper like yellow flowers and brought me much joy. After this we participated in a breathing exercise led by Tenasi. In the exercise one basically just lays on their back and breathes in I, breathes out am, at a fairly rapid pace for forty five minutes. You would be amazed though at the effect, said practice has on your body. At one point i felt energy coursing through my body in waves to the point that i thought i might explode. Luckily we each had a partner to help us through the process and through taking sort breaks and letting go of attachment i was able to moderate the effect. The effect lasted especially in my hands for quite some time even after i had finished the exercise. Many people needed help to unclench their hands and several folks had rather intense experiences of utterings and even laughter. It felt like we had shared a very intimate experience subsequent to this practice. This process is also sometimes called rebirthing!

The next day we hiked out for El Bruho or The Warlock in English. It was a rather pleasant and relatively short hike and i got to experience some really good plant time with Frank, Satya, and Tin. It turned out through a miscommunication that they did not know we were coming. Nonetheless, a fabulous dinner was prepared and we settled in for our last night as hikers together. Some of us had worked to prepare a list of the top twenty plants of the paramo and the top twenty plants of Diamante. i think that i will maybe save that list for another time. Let me know if you are particularly interested. At finca de Bruho there was a rather awsum book on Ethnobotany that was passed around the circle to much delight. Satya and Janie shared one of their songs that became and instant hit single entitled No One’s Slave, No One’s Master. They and Katia also proceeded to promptly translate it into Spanish like the badasses they are. This is definitely one of my favorite songs of the trip and rather lengthy at 30 unique lines or so. Anybody interested? Many folks stayed up to watch the stars outside. i went to bed after reading some from my travel guide in anticipatory preparation for my solo mission that was rapidly approaching.

The next day we had a relatively short hike to where we were supposed to meet the raft guides with our boats. Unfortunately, a recent landslide had taken out the road and even a small town to boot. At this point Tucka and Paulo said goodbye as they were both pressed for time and were on the fence about rafting anyway. Luckily they got a ride from Andy Seelye unbeknownst to us to help secure their definite passage to adventures elsewhere. The decision was made to bring the boats in by horse. So began a rather peculiar time encompassing between 4-5hours. Initially we all went swimming for an hour or so. Frank and i then consolidated all the new species for the Diamante list. At some point we all kind of devolved to our own devices, many taking naps. i kind of wish that we had taken a little time as a group to honor the amazing connection and experience we all had shared. We were without food and not sure of the possibility that we might see the vision through to raft the Savegre. Luckily, shortly thereafter the guides arrived with rafts in tow.

After a little safety lecture we plunged into the Savegre. It was admittedly a beautiful ride with a number of Class three rapids. The smell of Ylang Ylang permeated the air. We saw a number of beautiful waterfalls and birds along the way. Our guide was rather funny in a peculiar way. At one point he pushed Frank into the water out of the blue to demonstrate how to do a rescue. After any kind of technical spot he would lead us into a rousing go team or Pura Vida (pure life) by which we raised our paddles as one. He also took great pride in the purity of the Savegre even scooping up water right out of the river into his mouth. Admittedly, this river that is so remote from development, is the purist in Central America and probably up there in rankings for the world. i did not envision that the boats would have the self bailing feature of openings all around the sides of the bottom Therefore my shoes got soaked. Everyone else had sandles and i would definitely do the same next time. It was quite a task to get my shoes dry before it was time to leave the next day. We pulled out with perfect timing just before it got dark, but quite a bit short of our initial goal.

Thus began a session in non-violent conflict resolution. Many in the group thought we should pay less due to our wait, shorter trip, and the fact that our evening plans had been largely compromised. The company owner was initially playing hardball and not willing to compromise at all. He compromised somewhat, in the end, and it seemed like everybody felt pretty good. i largely stayed out of this discussion preferring to watch from the outside looking in. Still, it seemed like just another great lesson this trip provided in how to behave in community respectfully and fairly. Due to our early exit we had quite a bit of a ride via Betsy and Andy and Tenasi’s Toyota. Tenasi had set up plans with a chef at Matapalo for homemade Miso soup and yummy Thai food around 2-3p.m. We did not arrive until around 7:30 due to our change in plans and unfortunately the chef was blazingly drunk and unable to provide any food let alone the aforementioned delectable yummyness. We all kind of fell to our own devices of cleaning protocols and searching out other feeding options. We settled in at a bar down the street that seemed to be largely the only game in town for some typical Tico food of which luckily i am a big fan. After feeding and even drinking some typical Tico pilsner we all went to the beach for one last evening circle. The brightness of the stars seemed to dominate conversation as we looked at constellations and discussed the current state of Pluto as a non-planet. Sand fleas were a bit of an issue but our spirits were still high. Speaking of which, Frank resolved to lift each person as they left the circle for the night. A number of creative techniques were employed. A particularly intriguing Seelye technique was discussed whereby someone is lifted by four people with only the used of a few fingers each.

We all eventually drifted off to sleep in our own ways and places. i woke up early to experience possibly my only taste of the Central American Pacific for this trip. Going in the water was surprisingly warm compared to the Pacific i am used to. Tenasi said apparently there is only a relatively small band of warm Pacific between Southern Mexico maybe only as far as Panama or Colombia. i felt grateful. Luckily, i also stayed relatively close in as we found out that beach is famous for riptides. In fact, a friend of the Seelye’s who had driven Tenasi’s car down even got a little caught up in one. By mid morning i was amazed that you had to run to where the tide lapped the sand or risk incinerating your feet on the dark sand beach. Tenasi, badass that he is, climbed a big palm tree to grab some young pipas (coconuts) for our closing circle. We had a very sweet sharing of what everybody felt called to mention about their experience. Shortly thereafter we piled into the two cars and headed toward Dominical. At Dominical we stopped at a local fruit stand and mixed and matched a dizzying array of tropical produce. i said goodbye to Tenasi, Frank, and Tin. We dropped Ken off in Dominical for a few days of beach side living. i continued on to Las Tumbas with the Seelye’s and Melissa. After stopping for some food supplies for my time in the cave we pulled up to the place where Melissa is currently living just down the street from the trailhead up to Diamante Verde. Andy graciously gifted me with a ride up to the trailhead whereby i proceeded to make the challenging hike up. It was a good bit earlier than the first time, maybe 3:00 or so. i also knew where i was going, had been toned by two weeks of hiking, and was carrying less stuff. Thereby i made it to the cave where i met Cannon and Akissi the current cave keepers, in the daylight. i even still had time to run down to the lower falls for a swim and to look off in the distance as the sun set over where i had been just hours before….

i obviously still had many more adventures in store. i have already loaded onto Snapfish the photos from my adventures in botanical garden and church hopping but i will leave that text for another time. This has certainly been a rather epic missive and i applaud any of you that have read the whole way through. As i said at the beginning this has already been one of the most important experiences of my life. i thank you for taking time to share this journey, as all of you are very important to me, in your own special ways.

Love to you from some neotropical days…

marco