Panama Travel Journal - Day 3 Continued

-By Bob Chastain

We actually did make it to camp shortly after my last entry. A very nice two room shack, if there is a nice two room shack. Wood floors and walls, board and baton type construction and a metal roof. That is it. It may not sound like much but it is heaven, despite the spiders and other giant insects and the slightly funky smell. Upon arrival, we all pumped water. We looked like a group of thirsty zebra at an African waterhole. All gathered around a small pool in the mountain stream. We were all thirsty and near serious dehydration.

The next task was hammock hanging and it was getting dark. The group spread out looking for trees to hang their hammocks. The “house,” as we began to call it, was small, somewhat smelly and was home to several spiders and three or four of these giant grasshopper like bugs that we began to think were four inch cicadas.

Most people took one look inside and decided outside was better. I did not “spread out,” so to speak. I had already assessed the situation on the way in and down to the creek. That is a skill I have refined from ultra-lite camping. When you normally take less than twenty five pounds of pack weight which includes 10 pounds of food and water for a three day trip, shelter location is key.

I immediately ask the group “is anyone else setting up in here.” Matt said he would and we started making our hammock hanging plan. The rest of the group was faced with an odd situation. Very few trees around the house made it so that they could not be near the clearing and they would actually have to hang their hammock in the thick jungle. At this point in the trip (and night), no one was willing to be so far away from what would very quickly become “home.”

The terrain is also so steep that the house is built on stilts and sits basically on the ground at one end and is about eight feet off the ground 20 feet away. Super steep and few trees make it hard for novice hammock hangers. Not 5 minutes later Kevin calls out, “hey Bob, is there room in there for us?”.

An hour later, finishing by headlamp, we had four hammocks artfully (if you like weird modern art) hung, in a space so small we were told that you would not be able to hang even one. Della and Mark both hung their hammocks under the house on both ends. Jorge would sleep on the ground that night and hang his hammock tomorrow. Roberto hung his in a very steep area just down hill from the house. That night he moved his hammock 3 times, I think. It was so steep he would fall every time he tried to get in, he found a poisonous eyelash viper in his tree climbing down toward his hammock, and the rain would blow in under his rain fly.

The room was now filled with three Cheyenne Mountain people, one National Zoo person, one Panamanian keeper, two giant spiders, three giant cicadas, several one and a half inch flying cockroaches and many other insects under the one inch mark.

I am grateful for small miracles. My daughter Milly gave me a small stuffed bear to bring and being an ultra light camper I almost left it out of my bag. She had given it to me as a birthday gift as she had not had time to make my real gift. She said it always brought her luck.

Now, sitting here in my hammock, in the jungle, an eight hour hike from nowhere and 1000 miles from home, I would not trade it for a new truck. I have a letter from my wife, Antonia, which I will try not to read until my birthday, two days from now.

The animal list today is, to be best of my memory: a three toed sloth, several geckos, multiple insects that I have described, a couple of frogs, many birds that I could never actually see but hear, howler monkeys I could also hear but never see, a false coral snake, a cat-eyed snake and an eyelash viper. It’s most likely midnight, I think I will get some sleep.