Our Excellent Adventure

Yesterday at 5:00 a.m. we were ready to go with our local friend Kurt who also lives in our home town in Alaska. Curt was on a quest to find this man he read about in the Tico Times over two years ago. He wanted to find out about how to garden a cash crop to help his mother-in-law, organic gardening tips and buy some plants from him. He knew he lived in Rio Carlo so early yesterday we three walked to the docks and took the slow ferry across one of the deepest gulfs in the world to Golfito about one hour, from Golfito we caught a bus to Rio Claro another hour. Then Kurt asked at the local Feed Store where to find this gringo that grows organic plants. After some back and forth they drew a map. We walked back and hired a cab and gave him our directions.

When we arrived this spry old guy comes out greeting us like we were old freinds talking American with a Maine accent and yelling at his 4 little dogs in perfect Spanish it was great. Curt told him why he was here and what kind of plant he wanted to grow. This man Robert showed us his farm, it was a botanical Garden of Eden. He walked and talked fast talking the whole time we passed by a shrine and a grave he explained that was his wife Mimi's who passed 6 years ago he visits her every night sits drinks a beer and talks to her. Robert has been on his plot of paradise since the 60's and his family is here also, he answered all Curts questions was an incredible fountain of knowledge about tropical plants and organic growing.

After our tour of his botanical garden we were resting and talking under the picnic area when the conversation turned to medicinal plants. This is when it really gets interesting, I firmly believe that there are no accidents in life and this is one of those times. Peter showed him some of his skin cancer a result of being a red head and a growing up a surf dog in California.
Robert goes back into his house and brings back something he calls black sauve
made from zinc cloride, chaparral and bloodroot. He is the same skin type and Peter and suffered the same thing, he showed his were they had been and now are gone. It turns out that he has a lifetime of experience and is fountain of knowledge about herbal remedies of tropical plants. He walked briskly into his house to get us a start for a cambuchi mushroom, and again to get us a draft of a book he is writing about a cancer diet. His energy enthusiasm and passion for life was amazing and so inspirational.

Quote Robert Beatham: I'm still a young man and I've got alot to accomplish.
Check him out!
http://paradise-garden.tripod.com/index.htm

Later we went to an beautiful hotel in Golfito because we were told they had the best hamburgers anywhere around. The Hotel was completely over the top luxurious, pool you wouldn't believe, a theatre, 3 bars, masusse, hair salon I finally saw some beautiful Costa Rican artwork, it had 60 rooms and no customers. The public relations guy was this funny very inebrated Polock guy our age with a wild and crazy story to tell. But thats another story.
Now back the way we came.