One of Planet Drum’s original contacts in Bahía is Ramon Cedeño. Ramon owns and runs the Punta Gorda Nature Reserve, where over the years Planet Drum has donated and assisted in planting hundreds of native trees for habitat restoration.
We visited Punta Gorda with Ramon to go on a hike up the seasonal creek bed and see if we could find Chirimoya fruits to harvest (for food and the seeds).
We hiked through a corridor of trees (many of which are now well over 4 meters (12 feet) tall) that were donated by Planet Drum to the nature reserve approximately 5 to 7 years ago. Along the way we passed a young male deer that had died of unknown causes and a boa constrictor that was slithering across the trail. After about an hour we reached a large Chirimoya tree that was planted by Ramon’s father over 40 years ago. The Chirimoya tree was loaded with fruits that were in various stages of ripening. Many were ready to be harvested and we quickly set out collecting as many as possible. After filing our packs with dozens of Chirimoyas, we hiked back to the beach.
We hiked through a corridor of trees (many of which are now well over 4 meters (12 feet) tall) that were donated by Planet Drum to the nature reserve approximately 5 to 7 years ago. Along the way we passed a young male deer that had died of unknown causes and a boa constrictor that was slithering across the trail. After about an hour we reached a large Chirimoya tree that was planted by Ramon’s father over 40 years ago. The Chirimoya tree was loaded with fruits that were in various stages of ripening. Many were ready to be harvested and we quickly set out collecting as many as possible. After filing our packs with dozens of Chirimoyas, we hiked back to the beach.
Transportation to and from the nature reserve is tide dependent, and we had to make sure that the tide was still low enough to be able to ride out along the beach. Fortunately there was also enough time to jump in the ocean before we returned to Bahía.
Photos and text by Clay Plager-Unger.
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