This week the valley has been joined by quite a few of the “San MiGals” as
they learn Spanish from The Casco Antiguo Spanish School. It’s been great to see
our friends after they left from orientation in the valley, and after class some of them
even help us out in the Rec Field or join us on hikes.
Now that we’ve started to settle in to our individual programs so far it has
been a blast. Kalu Yala is a beautiful masterpiece of nature. It’s not so often you see
so much neatness in one place! Outdoor Rec has been on two intense hikes so far.
We knocked out our case of the Mondays early this week with a hike up the Honey
Creeper and came back down along the tributary. The jungle got pretty thick so
Zac had to machete our way through. On Thursday we attempted a hike up to “The
Mother Tree” which was up the tributary. The rocks were as slippery as ice after
a morning rainstorm, which made it fairly difficult and took us much longer than
usual. Our hunger got the best of us, and we had to head home early without making
it to our destination. We saw some awesome sites on our way there though so it
was not a waste! We will be finishing the hike later this semester on a nice, rain-free
On a more work-oriented note, the Rec Park is looking pretty good! Us
“reckies” have got a lot planned for the field this semester. Jeremy plans on building
a low ropes course, Ashley is constructing a soil erosion plan for the Honey Creeper
Trail, Jessica is looking into building tree tents that will hang far above the ground,
Emma is going to be making new signs for trails around Kalu Yala, and Cassie will
be cataloging a GIS (geographical information system) for all of Kalu Yala. The team
is working together to spruce up the rec field this coming week. One of our biggest
projects that we’ll work together on this week is improving the outdoor classroom
by adding trellises to the walls.
Hopefully our hard work will shine, like the bright sun in Panama, and the
Rec Park will be looking even better by the end of the week!