Punta de Aguila

Today we went to Punta de Aguila, another community that we serve.  This community is interesting in that it's composed almost entirely of the Rama people - an indigenous group that dates back to pre-cristopher-columbus days.  Sebastian had to check up on the maintenance status of the turbine and tower there, but I was going along simply as a guinea pig to test out one of the activity suggestions for the EcoLodge business plan: an excursion to Punta de Aguila.

We took out our trusty little dug-out canoe and braved the ocean waves for about half an hour before coming upon another perfect, empty beach with a random cow chewing on some foliage.  A quick hike and a few pigs and chickens later we came up to a house.  On the porch was this really old dude, who probably looked a lot older than he really was, who was using his machete (everyone here has machetes, by the way) to whittle down a giant piece of wood into the shape of an axe handle.

Now, machetes around here consist of a small black handle that fits in the palm of your hand, and a blade between 2 and 2.5 feet long made out of some kind of metal that is both flexible and strong.  The men carry it around them like I carry around pens or gum.  So here's this really old dude, hacking away at a piece of wood (probably a 4x4 measuring 5 feet in length) with a giant knife-like thing - and using an impossible amount of precision, skill, and patience.

Next to him sits a little baby playing with chickens.

I sat and watched him for a while, but could hardly communicate with him, as he spoke a native language and only a few spanish words.  And to be honest, after observing him for 45 minutes and seeing only a 1% improvement on the shape of the handle, I was getting frustrated and impatient myself.  I have no idea how he managed to stay so calm.