Enchanted Forest

I´ve stayed in El Panchan now for three days, a place from the first moment I arrived was clearly an enchanted forest, un bosque encantado. It´s a place of camps and cabañas, where the clientele is not entirely European, American, and the like, but there are certainly a lot of us. I´m guessing that we come here partly because of Don Mucho´s, the restaurant where they disinfect all their greens and make ice with purified water, and partly because it´s so close to the ruins of the ancient Maya city we all want to see. There are a goodly number of young people with backpacks, because the accommodations are very reasonable. I stayed at Margarita and Ed´s, in a thatch-roofed cabaña, screens at the windows and screens for a ceiling, and ate gratefully of Don´s foreigner-friendly food.

The ruins were great, and I´ll write about them, too, but at the moment, I want to tell you about the enchanted forest. Deforestation is a big issue in this part of the world, where poor people cut down trees at the edge of the forest because they need fields to grow crops for food. Here, at the edge of the reserve that contains the ruins, with ranches on two sides, growing not food but cows and horses, there is forest. When I chatted with Juan -- John, actually, who says he speaks neither English nor Spanish, only Texan -- he filled me in on the story. Moises was the one. He planted trees all over this area over a period of years, encouraged by Ed, an estadounidese expert on reforestation. That´s Ed of Margarita and Ed´s Cabañans, who unfortunately died about a year ago. Of all the millions spent on reforestation by the government in recent years, this project, which cost the government nothing, is the only one that worked, said Juan.

The little creek that flows through here is clear. I also the effect of a healthy forest on the streams by taking a (guided) hike through the selva within the park boundaries. wonderful clear, cool water falls over rocks in the shade of great trees. Likewise, in the little island of forest full of foreign tourists, there´s a lovely feeling of cool, foresty peace. In the middle of the night, when all is quiet, there´s the occasional outburst from howler monkeys. The people make noise, too. Earlier in the evening there´s music, then drumming around the fire. Everyone smiles and says "hola" or "buenos dias", even though they really speak German or Danish or English or some such thing and may only speak a few words in Spanish. No doubt there´s something else about the way a special culture emerged in this place, but maybe it´s all due to the enchantment of the forest that Moises planted.