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Ahki and I were positioned at right angles to the shadow of The Shaman’s ceremonial staff stuck in the ground.  A small fire burned and certain specific plant leaves were used in the ceremony.  Songs and prayers were offered to “Sibu” (God in BriBri).  Ken helped and recorded.  Others stood and sat nearby.  And then, all drank from the special ceremonial cup.  Ahki, Ken myself, Hermenegildo, Daniel - our helper, Sarita - my good friend visiting from Italy, and “Feather”-a possible volunteer, all drank in order.

Then, Ken suggests we “take this show on the road” so-to-speak and move to other selected spots on the property.  First, we are inspired (as much as we are aggravated) by our neighbor’s constant chainsaw and the sad sound of falling trees to go and do a blessing, or “cleansing” in this case, at the border with this neighbor.  Here, it was as if Don Lisandro was trying to “pull” the energy from the neighbor’s activities…and then Ken buried these leaves !  An interesting note:  Ken had begun the taping of today’s events by pointing out how ironic was the “live juxtaposition” of our land purification ceremony and our neighbor’s chainsaw tree death.  But, as a few of us noticed and commented on later…When the Shaman actually started his ceremony, the chain saws stopped !!

From our border with these neighbors, we went to our beautiful bridge and did another little ceremony there..and then at the entrance to the property.

It may sound strange to some, but the property and its current inhabitants all feel a little different now.

In a meeting tonight with Ken Tiemann & Hermenegildo, Ahki & I began the working process of building what we are told will be the largest traditional “rancho” in the area, designed in the BriBri manner and built by indigenous peoples. Personally, I learned a lot about the various sustainable materials we will use, including fallen “manu negro” for posts, “saputillo Colorado” for vigas(also already downed), “abillas” of “cafecillo”, “estera” or latillas of “pehibaye” and finally a roof of “suita” leaf palm to be sustainably harvested in THIS 10-day-post-full moon.

W plan to “document the entire project as much as possible with photos and video. And so, I begin this journal specifically to this end.

I came to the realization that this is not just a construction project, but a cultural and community one !

(Include drawings)

This “Usiri” is approximately 30 feet in diameter and 25 feet high at the conical peak with a small arrangement of wood for a fire in the center. No openings except for the door, as the smoke is an important element for “curing” and maintaining the suita leaf roof.   (Also preventing invasion of unwanted guests, like snakes, scorpions, spiders, etc.)

We talk for approximately two hours, led by Ken, whom Don Lisandro clearly acknowledges as “one we trust”.   This is followed by a brief discussion of some of our group’s health concerns, for which Don Lisandro diagnoses and prescribes his natural remedies.   We end with a purification ceremony for each of us new visitors individually and then a song circle for ALL of us.  Unity is established.

You may have read before, in some previous blog, about our family of 4-5 Caiman who have been living in our pond for some time now, over a year, leaving on vacation and coming back a little while ago… Well now they’ve had babies!!!

Right around the beginning of the month we started to witness an increase in activity around their den, capped-off with the magical squeels of hatchlings that week! It looks like we’ve had a nest of about 20-25 newborns, so the pond is filled now with tiny little ones swimming around - Incredibly cute!

A mother caiman can lay about 15 to 40 eggs in a single nest of plant materials close to water - For us, it’s a little area they’ve got for themselves under a large broad plant overlapping the ponds’ edge. The mother tends to the nest for 73 to 90 days, when the sex of the caiman is determined within the egg by incubation temperature. It had seemed a lot more active in the pond overnight for the last little while, which we now understand why since the parents stay near the nest to ward off egg predators (particularly raccoons) with growling, hissing, and lashing at the water with tail and head. When the babies are ready to hatch, they sometimes call from within their eggs for the mother to open the nest and help the hatchlings to water. She will continue to care for and protect them over the next four months, guarding them from predators primarily like large waterbirds, which we have plenty of hovering around the pond. I actually witnessed quite a ritual feeding process the other day which began early in the morning with the father doing a slow float around the pond for 20-25minutes before returning to the den, from which the mother appeared a few minutes later. She swam a perimeter of sorts, floating along a tract infront of that large plant back and forth before letting out a couple of calls - Which were returned then by a bunch of little calls from the babies in the den! Moments later little bubbles began to appear, followed by the little ones themselves, all kind-of swimming around within that range swam by the mother, who continued to float along that small perimeter “on watch”. A really cool process to watch unfold.

So now we’ve got a who;e big family of Caimans living with us in our pond! It’s a wonderful thing : )
The little Caimans will now grow, eating a variety of aquatic invertebrates like insects, crustaceans and mollusks. As they grow they’ll begin to consume more vertebrates in their diet such as fish, amphibians, reptiles and water birds. Our pond won’t be large enough to support this whole new family, but we are speedgin-up our wetland construction project and soon excavating some land for this next to the existing pond, and perhaps this will create some more habitat space for some. Others will move downstream into the jungle lands, and hopefully all help this species thrive!

We aim to tailor every individual role here to the particular individual’s own unique mix of skills, experiences and interests based around our current needs, with some of the specific skills/traits we are currently looking for being:

• facilities and space management, particularly in a retreat or B&B-style facility
• guest hosting and customer relations, including looking after guests’ daily needs, requests for information, assistance with tours/sightseeing, meal and retreat services, and generally ensuring the enjoyment and well-being of all our guests
• marketing and promotions, leading our advertising drive and promotional activities locally, nationally and internationally through on-the-ground and online communications, etc.
• retreat planning and promotions, helping us to identify potential markets, design retreats (some all-inclusive) and solicit attendees
• community relations, keeping us connected and expanding our linkages with the local, surrounding and indigenous communities of the area

These represent the main areas of our operation which we are in need of assistance in right now, but this is not to say that all of the above requirements must be met by any potential candidates, nor that there aren’t others we’re looking for! Community, teamwork, compassion, and a respect for all around us — people and otherwise — are some of the core values we operate with, and a wholistic full-circle approach is always endeavoured upon. Spanish is definitely a strong asset as well. This is not a formal paid staff position, but is rather a work-exchange with a few extras — get in touch with us to learn more.

Please read below for a little more information about us, browse through our website, and if all of this seems exciting to you, is something you’d like to learn more about or you believe you might be a fit for us and us for you, please let us know! Send us your resume, interests, and how and why you think you might fit to joinus (at) aglobalcreek.com*, and we look forward to chatting with and getting to know you!

Who We Are
—————-
Global Creek at Jo Jo’s Jungle Retreat is a new environmental education and life-learning retreat centre on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, bourne in the area of Puerto Viejo de Talamanca in 2008. We provide a jungle oasis where people can come to experience the peace and tranquility of Costa Rican nature in a luxurious natural setting whilst learning to live a more sustainable and harmonious life with the earth and oneself. Global Creek at Jo Jo’s Jungle Retreat is a union of a number of different concepts seamlessly merged into one living - and life-giving - force: a luxurious jungle retreat and vacation center; an environmental education center; a yoga and meditation spa; a community education center; and a model for environmental sustainability and social responsibility.

Our retreat centre combines elegance, class and luxury with a 100-percent environmentally-friendly and sustainable business practice. We strive to achieve no less than a ‘zero-footprint’ effect on our surroundings/planet, to be a model of environmental and social sustainability for any business or residence, and to further environmental learning and cognizance in both the local and international communities through: active guest education and workshops, tangible on-the-ground projects, providing (and encouraging) a space to be used for learning and research, and simply by providing a working example of the ease and benefits of leading a sustainable life.

What We Do
—————-
Accommodation and hosting
o All-inclusive, open and custom retreats, retreat hosting, stay-only and volunteer-exchange accommodations
o Accommodations in private rooms, private houses, shared rooms, cabinas or camping sites
o Healthy and wherever possible organic meal availability
o Education and integration of sustainable living tips and techniques
o Laundry services, Bicycle rental, and more.

Activities
o Yoga classes
o Guided meditation
o Massage therapy
o Interpretive trails (planned)
o Guided hikes (planned)
o Day trips (planning, arranging and/or delivery of)
o Local tours and activities with partners
o Tours and projects in local community with partner organizations

Workshops and training
o Regular, on-going/on-request training opportunities offered to our guests and the local community on a variety of environmental and sustainability-based topics. Examples include:
- Sustainable living
- Organic food production
- Natural gardening and planting
- Ecological building/construction
- Green energy
- Stream sampling
- Community maintenance/infrastructure projects
- and more…
o Specialized workshops from national and international experts in topics ranging from ecological living to wholistic nutrition to mind and body development and practice
o Ongoing research and training through our volunteer and work-exchange programs

Ecological / Sustainability Projects
o The ongoing development of new, and care and enjoyment of existing, sustainability projects of all sorts, such as: interpretive learning trails throughout the site; organic vegetable, herbal and medicinal plant gardens; sustainable, green-design building projects; constructed wetlands, and so on.
o Community outreach and education projects to give back all that we can to the indigenous of the area and share whatever information and resources that we can with the entire community.

… and this is just in the beginning!

Global Creek
http://www.aglobalcreek.com

There’s still plenty more work to be done, and we are all looking forward to the next upcoming garden-day.
Even longer-term though, our gardens really need a caretaker! If you’ve ever wanted to learn about organic gardening, permaculture, or just like to get dirty and close to the earth why not consider volunteering in our gardens and gaining a beautiful stay at the retreat while learning and helping with this great project. See our work-exchange stay option for details.

To see some pictures of our Caiman - they occasionally choose to really show themselves! - visit the Animal Life section of our photo gallery here.

So as we here at Global Creek strive to most effectively utilize these tools to keep you informed and up-to-date, we encourage you to contribute whatever you may - comments, thoughts, ideas, suggestions - let’s begin!

Click here to begin browsing the new photo gallery now!