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No wonder why Christopher Columbus who reached the wild coasts of Central America on his last voyage in 1503, before even stepping onto this land named it “Costa Rica”. This entire country is greener then I imagined, covered entirely with thick, rich, humid, vaporous jungle.

A ‘perfect’ climate! at least for me . Costa Rica’a jungle is not too hot, not too sunny. A walk into it feels like being in a natural spa chamber of humid Turk sauna, with rain drops falling from enormous palm leaves above your head, and birds and monkeys observing curiously the two-legged intruders. The Costa Rican jungle is home to many species of poisonous snakes and spiders (uh!), and where the jungle reaches sandy beaches, there are scorpions. If it hadn’t been for the rare forest trails, that some locals tread to reach sites like ‘the magic tree’, the forest would be impassable to a normal human being even equipped with machete.

We had the occasion to explore these sites only thanks to Eric and Ying, travelers we met by chance a few months ago on our way in Argentina. What seemed at first to be an encounter like any other, the exchange of backpacker’s experiences. However our stay at their house turned out to be a school of life, of becoming a better person and helping others having little yourself. For me, Erick and Ying are true ‘Tedsters’ that is people who change the world (see ted.com).

Who are these people?
Back in cold Yukon Erick is a lake fisherman, Ying a dentist and beekeeper. But as they come to the village of Providencia each year, their duties become fairly different.

Some years ago they were just like us now, a pair backpacking their way through Central America ‘on a shoe string’. Inspired by the richness of Costa Rican jungle they decided to stay in one of its calm valleys for a week, in the village of Providencia. At the end of their stay, the owner of the cabana they were renting talked Erick into seeing a piece of land he had for sale. The terrain was indeed beautiful but useless for Erick who had no intension of buying it. As the guy insisted Erick quoted a ridiculously low price offer, just to cut the negotiations. But the vendor promptly accepted it! Soon Erick built a cabana on his newly purchased terrain, then a tree house, then a couple more of wooden installations ! (see photos). The couple started to come to Costa Rica for a few months each year just to run away from the cold northern Yukon’s winter.

As years passed, the two got to know well people of Providencia. They even tried to start a little business of tourism. However, it failed, because on every step they found out the dishonesty and corruption of the locals. There was a much basic work to do. This is how Erick and Ying decided to establish a school that would allow primary scholars to continue their education, learn English, some economics, but, most off all honesty. Eric constructed a wooden two classroom building by his own hands. He also bought a couple of computers, that only two months ago were first time connected to a satellite internet. The Canadians introduced a teaching program based on Canadian curriculum for home-schooled kids. Additionally, Eric, a fanatic climber, built a climbing gym for the kids. Soon teaching volunteers started coming over from various sites in the world.

It took Erick and Ying years to gain the trust and support of the local community, and to get involved into their project. Some of the kids turned out to be very smart and in no time speak perfect English. But most of all, the youngster were taught how to think for themselves, how to have dreams and want something in life, far beyond collecting coffee on the plantations.

The few days spent at Ying’s and Erick’s place was a true school of simple and good life. It was amazing to watch the jungle’s kids solve mathematical problems, learn English, and climb after school. We also tried to contribute a bit. On the first day, Maciek got a stack of broken down PC’s to repair. The results confirm that he is rather a theoretician In contrast, I did some renovation projects on a recently purchased ruin that has to become a part of the growing school. My architectural design was discussed by the local community and kids, who also gave their ideas as how to support the roof or other elements – that was so cool!

In our spare time, we visited the beautiful surroundings of Providencia. We got to climb “the magic tree”! or rather inside of it. The tree is hollow, because it grew around the trunk of another tree and strangled it, first to death and later to ashes. A truly amazing spot – check out the photos, but they don’t do justice to what we felt when climbing there. On another day, we took a ride high above the tree tops in a cable car to reach a magnificent tree house built by Eric! An apartment with fully furnished kitchen and bathroom hangs some 30 meters above the ground on an enormous tree. Some time later we swung meters above the ground on a long swing! We’ve seen rare species of humming bird and waited impatiently for the king of birds in that jungle, the magnificent Quetzal, which never showed up. This time we were unlucky.

Ying and Eric, we would like to thank you a lot for the unforgettable time we spent in Providencia! The stay was very inspiring.

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