wed 4/29 first day on the land

the first day on the land and it was a duesy. we planted 30 more trees in addition to our more than 100. ficos. we have a line of pines between us and the guava grove behind us. we plantred the ficos in between the pines and the fence for a wind break. las brisas. they are strong here and when the real crazy wind came this winter all the pines blew over but the ficos stood strong. our other trees are limons, naranjas and aguacates. we have a cane sugar plant and a palm. we also have 100 guayaba from the semillas ( seeds) that blow into our land fromthe plot behind. when the flood comes, during the rainy season when the area floods there is a small creek, wella huge torrent that flows through and errodes a small corner of our land, but this is the coolest part. there is ahuge pine and a few fern trees the neighbor has so we already have shade. when working all day this is crucial. even with a few midday breaks its intense.

we got up at 8 to meet Chonga kent's aunt, 65, to work the land. she knows everyhting there is to know about the area and plants. she showed us what to machete and what to save and helped us plant the ficos. she's amazing with a hoe and a little seco con leche. hehe. the land is covered with strong grass so we had to clean all around the existing and new trees because it the end of the dry season and there's been little water for a while. the trees were planted by Augustine, kent's uncle and with his sudden and trajic death last year we are very lucky any of them survived. They are a beautiful living memorial.

the pines are dry and half dead but will survive and we only lost 3 fruit trees! there's a fallen tree we need to chop up to use for building and a pit of ash they've been having fires in that we can use as carbon for the compost. we're staying at kent's cousins' house, it's gorgeous, near the land and borrowed their bikes for trips to town. our neighbor is giving us water through the pvc pipes kent set up. we plan on digging a well. but for now we can set up a drip system for the trees. when we get back from costa rica we will start building and plant vegetables to start the garden.

my brain is tired from speaking/learning panamanian spanish but this is a great time!