Tree House Tribe Panama

Harpy Eagle The national bird of Panama whose favorite food is young tender monkeys who are foolish enough to pop their heads out of the canopy and become lunch for a soaring bird of prey. Under the best of circumstances, getting a hundred feet up in a tree is no small accomplishment. One of the things that I love about this country is the Panamanian’s ability to work without the proper equipment. In fact, there is a phrase in Spanish “Trabajando con las uñas” that translates to a man working with no tools only with his finger nails. This was a perfect example for that phrase. Orangutan, started his ascent with a small plastic bag filled with stones and a string around it. His technique was to spin the sack of stones and fling it up over a branch. He reminded me of David vs Goliath. After the sack had cleared the branch and came back to Orangutan, he would attach a small string to a rope. He was now able to pull the rope up over the branch.  After the rope was firmly attached...

We chose M2 as our building material. M2 is a process where 2" x 4´ x 8´ styrofoam panels encapsulated in wire mesh are covered with two thin layers of concrete. This process reduced weight and building time. In its purest form, this building technique was a standalone process. In our rendition, we placed the foam panels between welded metal studs "carreolas". This produced an unbelievable strong yet light structure.     Spaces for windows and doors are precisely cut out. At this point, concrete must be applied to the steel mesh. First, a “scratch coat”  which is driven forcefully past the steel mesh into the foam. Normally a second coat would be applied, to give a smooth finish. This was done in the interior walls however, the exterior was left with the scratch coat as split bamboo was to be added for a rustic effect. 

But alas, there was no magic wand! Instead, three days, three men and lots of hard work.  The three days were just to obtain and transport the leaves, not to install! This type of Palm tree does not grow at our elevation of 3400 ft.                            Green Gold!