Palmar Norte

David says : “Mucho calor, si?” (translated as “It’s so hot my face is going to melt off, yes?”) That was the popular phrase of the past two days as we went on a short Thursday-Friday trip with Liseth, our housekeeper, and Rigo, her husband. Knowing that we do not have a means of transportation to leave the valley to seek out any heat, they invited us to visit Rigo’s parents with them. Rigo’s parents, Vera and Francisco (which is a fun name), are in there ‘60s and ‘70s and live outside of Palmar Norte, a small town on the south pacific lowlands about two hours from Panama. If you know anything about the topography and climate and Costa Rica, you know that the pacific lowlands are the quintessential humid jungles of the tropics. Here you experience the type of heat that makes your skin look and feel like fly tape. But don’t worry, it is gorgeous, and the short period of heat is very welcomed when you are coming from a cold mountain community.
Vera and Francisco live an almost completely sustainable life on their own up on a mountainside. They were very impressive, for their age and sadly with Francisco’s heart failing. They grow their own fruits and vegetables and raise cows, chickens, and pigs that provide their milk, eggs, and meat. I think the only thing they have to really buy is feed for their animals. What a life. We also gathered that they don’t get out much when Sarah and I told Vera that we were going to walk on the road towards the river and she had a horrified look of panic on her face that said we would maybe not return because of all the dangers lurking out there (granted there were crocodiles in the river). Their hospitality was incredible and was accompanied by a steady diet of rice, beans, meat, and coffee. Vera also found much pleasure in calling us by as many endearing child-like terms she could think of. We had a great time as we sweated it out. The scenery was beautiful as we could hear Howler Monkeys proclaiming their presence in the forest up the mountains and could see the incredible Scarlet Macaws flying over in small flocks. Wow!