Las Bolas Big Balls Costa Rica

Tracks of the StoneBear Copyright MCMLXIII Uncle Hargus ALL Rights reserved

ROF= Ring of fire Odyssey  MEF-H = Marine Expeditionary Force- Hargus 

Costa Rica 1977 UofA independent study

Las Bolas   BALLS  .... BIG BALLS

There is an archaeological phenomenon in Costa Rica. Balls. Big Balls. Las Bolas!

Susan Patterson from Gadsden, ALa

You see the big stone balls, spheres, in many places around the country. there are about 300 of them sized from a few inches to mostly about 2 to 3 feet in diameter. A couple are 6 feet but most are the size seen here... about 3'.

I asked many people and no one had a conclusive answer as to what were these balls/ spheres. ?What were they? Where did they come from? ?What were their purpose? Nada... no answers from the local Ticos.

My theory is based on my many journeys experience. I think my archaeological hypothesis is as possible as any I've heard. Bear with me here....

I do NOT think they were an artistic creation.

I do NOT think they were they symbol of tribal recognition, or tribal boundary markers. I considered this possibility but with the skill level to produce this precise stonework.... I did not see any structures or building of precise stonework... ie... the level of the stonework at machu pichu that required no masonry cement.

 There was much masonry/ plaster work as masonry building was the only building that would survive the harsh wet tropical weather. Wood construction rotted in time in the wet tropics.

I think they were used as ships ballast. 

Counterweight balance in shipping.

My experience in the Marine Corps was in an engineer bridge unit. One of my many jobs was staging logistics for embarkation; in normal talk that means staging your bridge equipment... prepare and load pallets of gear for loading onto ships for battle deployment. You load the ship with your gear you'll need when you hit the beach. And what you need first, comes off first.

When you land on the beach and close with the enemy, go into battle... you'll need ammo first off the boat. preferably some long range artillery to pound those mothers, make them wet their pants and break their will to fight before we even close with them. The Marine Corps has a way of crawling up someones ass and changing the way they think about life. Anyway,... you don't need army cots first off the ship.

Becky from Mobile, Ala

The "Load-master" of the ship / plane/ vehicle will determine the best way to counterbalance the total weight of the ship so it will run/ sail plumb and true... for the most efficient operating, and efficient maneuvering and speed. A ship listing to port side of 4 degrees would not run as efficient as loaded and plumb.

In military ships this could mean gaining 1 to 2 or more knots speed over your enemy; a huge tactical advantage in a sailing ship.

I also worked as a boilermaker/ ironworker in a shipyard as a teenager and have a real appreciation for the engineering of ships and their purpose.

Ballast is a shipping necessity. Especially in modern times... and maybe more important back in colonial era times.

The colonial era of explorers declaring territory for Spain, Portugal, Italy,... extracting the wealth and resources, gold and agriculture ect produced a direct route from the Caribbean back to Spain/ Europe.

Agricultural products and plants could be stored all through the hold - the cargo area in the bottom of the ships hull- the crew could not eat plants and dirt. Gold, silver and wealth prize captured would have been stored in a secure, locked room probably in the stern of the ship; a couple tons of ballast would be needed to sail the ship at top speed. That's where the stone spheres/ balls were needed. The 1 to 2 ton balls could be moved and loaded quickly.

For a short period of time, maybe a decade, during this extracting plunder of gold and resources out of Latin America/ Costa Rica... a wise ship captain/s were looking for an advantage to run the gauntlet of pirates back to Europe. For their time... the balls were a high tech advantage.

                                                   Whit in Costa Rica 1977

I could be wrong as rain. I've yet to read another theory as to the origin/ purpose of the Costa Rican Las Bolas. ... and I'm still searching.

The Cayman Islands were home/ host/ lair to the pirates, both state sponsored and privateers seeking prize, lay in wait for the heavy laden ships from Latin America. A couple knot tactical advantage would mean outrunning pirates. That is why ballast was so important. It was life or death/ captured and slavery for the slow ships and crew. These balls/ spheres were important enough to be made/ quarried/ manufactured. It's been a mystery on this journey. 

******

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_spheres_of_Costa_Rica

The stone spheres (or stone balls) of Costa Rica are an assortment of over three hundred petrospheres in Costa Rica, located on the Diquís Delta and on Isla del Caño. Locally, they are known as Las Bolas. The spheres are commonly attributed to the extinct Diquís culture and are sometimes referred to as the Diquís Spheres. They are the best-known stone sculptures of the Isthmo-Colombian area

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diquis_culture

The Diquis culture (sometimes spelled Diquís) was a pre-Columbian indigenous culture of Costa Rica that flourished from 700 CE to 1530 CE.^[1] The word "diquís" means "great waters" or "great river" in the Boruca language.^[1]

You never drink twice from the same stream.

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Costa Rica Jungle Train to Limon 1977 Uof Ala independent study

Tracks of the StoneBear Copyright MCMLXIII Uncle Hargus ALL Rights reserved

ROF= Ring of fire Odyssey  MEF-H = Marine Expeditionary Force- Hargus 

CR = Costa Rica  journey      UofA independent study Summer 1977
 

Jungle Train to Li~mon, Costa Rica (pronounced Lee-moan)

San Jose, Costa Rica to Limon via Jungle Train

Hopped the train from San Jose down through the Latin American jungles to Limon on the Carribean/ Gulf of Mexico coast. It was a real experience to see pristine 1977 Costa Rica!

This rail line was built around 1890, the only train in Costa Rica ot Puerto Limon, origionally as a freight line inbound to San Jose and a banana train - United Fruit Company- outbound, back to Limon for shipping coffee and bananas to the US. You want to really understand Latin America?; read the history of the United Fruit Company. also Standard Brands, Smedley Butler... Thank you Marines for somebody w/ guts to finaly speak up.

The Costa Rican train stations were a walk back in time.... most masonry block and plaster built some 80+ years ago that hadn't been painted in 40+ years.... probably the original paint. All kinds of vendors doing the Costa Rica hustle of hawking anything from ice cream, to cupos - snowcones -, to fried fish in some newspaper cup with platinos... like greasy fish and chips which were actually good. The fare was about $6.

This - above-  was an early stop at Pariso, a small town about 5 miles past Cartago.

Not sure the name of this train station stop/ village but it was out in the boondocks and a walk back in time.

I think this actual locomotive and steel passenger cars were  from the early 1930s?. The passenger cars were a ruddy reddish brown color. Inside was coach seating, mostly worn out... floors, seat coverings, open windows that could not close... worn out as there was no money for maintenance in Costa Rica for anything. The small ban~os bathroom was like outhouse grade. the toilet seat was like a hole cut in plywood. The toilet hole was open looking right down onto the railroad bed cross-ties and rails. ... you went to the bathroom on the railroad line; no affluent tanks... nothing that modern.

There were a few freight cars, mostly flatcars, no Pullman sleeper cars, no dining car, and several passenger coach cars with first come seating which meant you could easily have a horrible seat to choose from 'cause all the good ones went first.

                                                   Susan Patterson from Gadsden, Ala

The train engine was a manual transmission... you could feel the shifting of gears on the train route, up and down the mountain grades. The engine was a stick shift! When the engine would shift, you'd get a jerk forward , a pause for a few seconds, then a big jerk backwards when the engine would begin pulling again. It would shake your teeth. If you were standing in the aisle you were thrown off balance and would almost fall down. It was a jostling ride just on the RR tracks alone; you couldn't set a soft drink can on a seat without it sliding off or turning over. ... then throw in the jerks forward and backward from the engine shifting gears.

There were Ticos - Costa Ricans going back to their respective villages/ homes with supplies and whatever bought in San Jose. Some of those items were live chickens - with their feet tied together and held like luggage. When the train would shift or hit a bump, the chickens would squwak a couple of times and then settle down. One Tico guy had a small piglett that would grunt on the bumps. It was 3rd world rail transportation.

This is how you bought chicken for dinner... live... out of the back of a farmer/ ranchers truck. ... and carried them on the train or bus still alive. Often the animals would poop and the coaches of the buses or trains would smell like a barn. And clean up was not one of the Railroads priorities.

Going around this curve beside a big river... ?The Reventazon River? not sure of the river name

We left San Jose in the morning and went about 20mph until out of the city. You saw the affluent parts of San Jose, and the slums. Then picked up speed to about 35 going into the country. You haven't seen green like this.  There were farms and ranches carved out of the thick growth, many coffee plantations and processing coffee beans for export.

From the train overlooking a coffee plantation and  processing business/ farm. After picking coffee, the  beans are soaked in water vats to swell up and separate the husk from the coffee bean.  The terraces below the red building were concrete slabs for spreading out and drying coffee beans in the sun. The beans would dry for a day then the campesinos - peasant workers (this is 3rd world Latin America; you either own the plantation,... or work on it. No middle class) - would rake and turn the beans over for drying. ... A few days to dry completely so they wouldn't rot from moisture. Coffee is very labor intensive and the campesinos are paid a pittance of wages. ie... a couple dollars a day.

The GDP per capita income in 1977 was  C= Colon 12,158. at a conversion rate of 8.54 to 1 US Dollar   , or US Dollars =  $1,423.69 a YEAR or $118 a month.  That means a couple thousand wealthy land owning families,... and 4 million peasants making a couple/ 4 dollars a day.

Bear with me a minute on this income stuff. The per capita amount of $1,423 a year is stark as to it's meaning. Think of it this way, When Bill Gates lands in Alabama for a day, the Alabama "Per Capita" income... (the average income)... your own income statistic, increases/ goes up by $10,000. One wealthy person raises the average income level... your income - on paper. The reality of Costa Rica, and all of Latin America is that the campesinos worked for about $1.00 per day. They survived and did whatever work was available for any money while the wealthy elite live very well, like aristocracy.

When I studied to find out how the government and legal structure of these countries operate, you understand how this can happen. In the US we have "inc. , or co, or Corp." behind the names of corporations, either public or privatly held. In Latin America you see "S.A." which means Sociodad Ano~nmima" = Anonymous Society = which means the directors/ owners/ officers of a corporation are concealed by law and NOT know/ listed in government charter applications.

In other words you do not know, or can't find out, just exactly who owns most anything. An 4,000 acre ranch that raises cattle may have a contract to sell beef to the US Army (or other Latin American Armies), may be owned by the Supreme Court members and the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the military. The exclusive 40 acre prime real estate tourist hotel resort on the beach may be owned by the President and Cabinet members.

And when you see how the history of many Latin American governments change in a coup de tau in the middle of the night, it gives real meaning to the term "Banana Republic". ... and Costa rica is the most progressive and stable of Latin America. 

There were a few stops at small remote train stations. Very isolated and run down. They had been built 80+ years ago with the coffee and banana trade growth at the turn of the century. There was trash all over the place. No garbage service. everybody just burned trash, most just discarded trash anywhere. You have to have a certain mentality to travel in Latin America and accept things as they are.

Note here... The Costa Rican Ticos were not trashy people; they were proud, dignified people in a 3rd world rural country that didn't have refuse/ garbage pick up. Many of the local remote villages didn't have electric service... this is the 3rd world Latin America. The Ticos lived and survived as they could,... most as campasinos working for the local coffee or banana plantations.

On down into the deep jungle of Costa Rica there were few stops/ villages. Went through a few banana plantations and a palm oil/ palm tree grove but mostly hot, humid, sweltering heat. Open windows on the train were good to feel the breeze as you viewed the Latin American country, mostly jungle, but often some vistas of beautiful valleys . Some mountains back closer to San Jose. The overlooks of Costa Rican countryside were absolutely beautiful! Some industrial hydroelectric plants in valleys.

At one of the stops there was a Tica lady with a tray selling fried fish. They looked about the size of bream fish. Out of the window of the stopped train, beside the tracks, i warned her of the oncoming side rail switching flatbed car and she hung close to our car , while the switching cars passed by ... about 3 to 4 feet clearance between rails. Selling these fried fish was her sustenance... what money she would make that day for a living. This was my education/ universality to the 3rd world Latin America of how people struggle to make a living with what they have. This Tica Lady, campasina, had a lot of dignity... to do what she could for her family.

While stopped at a village, while waiting.... This lady campasina came alongside the passenger cars talking to people at the open windows. The flatbed train car on the right was moving toward this lady as she was standing on the siding tracks, talking to me about buying some of her fried fish. She didn't know the flatcar was coming toward her and would have been run over had I not motioned for her to step close to our stopped car. I have never forgotten her almost being run over by that train flatcar! Above her in the picture is a person holding a tray also selling/ hawking something for sale.

This child was selling some fresh fruit probably picked an hour before. Fresh fruit in Costa Rica was knock you down fresh, ... the way real fruit is supposed to taste. Most fruit shipped to the US is picked green and ripens over the next month until it's on US supermarket shelves. I'd buy whole fresh pineapples for 1 Colon = 8.54 cents and cut with a knife and eat; absolutely wonderful taste! Most children worked to help their family.

This ride took about 5+ hours. Some 120 miles on the map, maybe 50 miles more going up and down the mountain passes. This train ride took a step back in time to see Latin America as it probably had not advanced/ progressed much in a hundred years. You either owned the plantation, or you worked on it as a campesino/ peasant. And Costa Rica is the most progressive of all the Latin American countries. Maybe Panama is more modern from the money from the canal.

The train station at Limon... I walked around and took a few pix of the port and a few streets,.. of the waterfront promenade ... in an hour, we got a taxi/ bus ride to Cahuita... about 15 miles south on dirt roads in sweltering heat

.

I don't think there was much of an electric building code...observed this very common unsafe wiring for 4 homes in shantytown. At least they had electricity. Also see the Cahuita post of where this journey is going. It gets better... a real experience!

You never drink twice from the same stream.

StoneBearTracks Copyright Uncle Hargus MCMLXIII ALL blog posts/photographs/video ALL Rights reserved 

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Cahuita, Costa Rica UofA 1977

Tracks of the StoneBear Copyright MCMLXIII Uncle Hargus ALL Rights reserved

ROF= Ring of fire Odyssey  MEF-H = Marine Expeditionary Force- Hargus 

 StonebearTracks Odyssey ROF= Ring of Fire 

Cahuita, Costa Rica 1977 University of Alabama students 

University of Alabama students in Costa Rica, Latin America

Summer 1977  independent study

Cahuita, Costa Rica

3rd window from left; after swimming in the ocean my wet cutoffs/ shorts were hung on the foot post of the bed. They dripped through the floor onto the cash register in the lobby/ front desk. The owner lady came up and hung my shorts in the hall window to dry.

 Summer 1977 in Costa Rica... rode the jungle train from San Jose down to Limon -- pronounced "Puerto Lee- Moan" -- on the Caribbean Gulf of Mexico coast. Also see the post about the train (when done)  through the Latin American jungle to Limon; it was not your average train. People came for miles just to see this train station.

  Took a bus/ cab on down to Cahuita... about 10 miles north of the Panama border. This was a tiny outpost town on the gulf of Mexico. Primitive by most standards... dirt roads, no maintenance, potholes the size of a car -- very common in the out areas.  A few concrete block houses at the main intersection of town. Turn right/ south for a mile of so and come to "Hotel Lam"... the only place to stay in Cauhita, and maybe the most going concern of a business. It was a hotel, store in the lobby, post office, only TV in town... ect/ everything.

The rooms upstairs had  a latch lock on the inside, some room had a hinge for a padlock which most of the students had. This was raw wood plywood from the wood floor up to about 2 feet from the ceiling,... then it was 2 feet of mosquito net. No AC... AC... there wasn't even electricity but a hanging 40 watt bulb in the hall. The beds were wooden makeshift 2x4 frames and some old horrible excuse for a mattress that looked like some 400 pound guy had wallowed out the middle and threw it away.

You didn't need sheets 'cause it was a sweltering 110* in the Costa Rican jungle. No windows except for the "plush" rooms. If you opened the windows at night some mosquitoes carry you away. There were mosquitos that could stand flat footed and Honk a chicken. The shower down the end o9f the hall near the stairway was like most Costa Rican places; a cold water pipe for a shower-head. The water was lukewarm for about 15 seconds- from the jungle heat- then cold. Floor was raw concrete w/ mold/ leftover grungy soap discarded on the floor. light in the hall way,... and some centapeds/ millipedes?... and other bugs often crawling on the walls or wet dark corners.

Remember the screen walls for the upper 2 feet then stapled to the ceiling?... well... you could here everything in every room. Every turn over, every yawn, every snore, every whisper,.... and yes... every Honk! It was interesting to hear the gossip of the ladies next morning. We should have awarded the "Best Honk" by vote.

On the right of the Pilsner "Hotel Lam" sign was a run down room that had a juke box. No bar. You bought a beer in the lobby. There was no open container ordinance.  Some of the ladies danced with a few of the Tico guys, and was ok until they served a lemonade to one of the girls with a crab claw in the glass. They giggled/ chuckled so we didn't know if it was a prank,... or some cultural thing we didn't understand.

Had to walk out and see the ocean/ Gulf/ beach. The ocean air was thick w/ the rotted seaweed smell and it was a somewhat dirty beach although it looked beautiful for a mile reaching around a point. Coconut trees all along the jungles line. Cold crisp salty ocean. Felt good after poor Tico showers for a few days; finally clean!

There was a small river flowing out to the sea. it was about knee deep to get over to the rest of the beach and there was a Brahma on the other side.

Some Tico kids were swimming/ playing in the lagoon pool of the estuary river that emptied into the sea. Probably their parents told them to stay out of the rough ocean surf.

These Costa Rican kids were having fun swimming in the river inlet to the ocean at Cahuita.

One of the Tico kids swimming.

Kids are the eyes to the culture.

The Brahma bull decided to take a beach stroll. Brahmas were all over Costa Rica and the couple of times I had a piece of small steak it was not anything like US steaks.

Cahuita beach Costa Rica 1977.


After swimming in the ocean, hung my wet cutoffs on the bedpost... changed into dry cutoffs and went downstairs and out of the "hotel" Hotel Lam. On return, found my room had been entered and my cutoffs hung on the window sill as -- they had been dripping through the floor,... onto the cash register in the lobby. Life is interesting isn't it?

Hotel Lam, Cahuita, Costa Rica 1977.

In the 3rd window, that's my wet cutoffs hung out to dry by the hotel owner so they would not drip onto the cash register in the lobby. The hotel Lam lady was a Costa Rican Tico... had some mixed Caribbean/ Asian bloodline; a really beautiful lady.

The hotel lobby had the only TV in the town and villagers would come every day to watch the 3pm to 6pm broadcast. It was THE event of the town/ village. Some of the TV was like Sesame Street, then the Costa Rican news.

Went over and talked with a local Tico sitting on the steps of his house across the street from the hotel.  nice guy. With my limited Spanglish began talking w/ him.  When you talk to local people, ask them about their family, their life, their home, the town... take a real interest in them.... give them some respect... they will open up to you and you become friends.    Avantio? / Antonio? was his name? His Son sitting on the steps. He was as proud of his home and family. ... and he took me out snorkeling to catch some lobsters. Avantio was a good man. He is my friend for life even though we'll never meet again.

Later walked out about a 1/2 mile to the beach / gulf.... beautiful rounded cove with 5 to 6 ft waves... a really hard pounding surf. powerful waves. Coconut palm trees lined the beach. Walked with a cute girl... Susan from Gadsden , Alabama... about a mile down the beach. Stunningly beautiful. Hot bright sun, stiff wind breeze of 20 mph, cold surf. Had walked in the surf. I liked this lady. Held hands. A good walk. I kidded Sue... wanted her to hold up a coconut up like she was drinking coconut milk like a native TICA.

                                                   Susan Patterson, Cahuita, Costa Rica 1977

At the tip / point of the cove... about a mile, turned and headed back. about half way back saw a huddle / group hunched over something and walked over. Thought they caught a shark.  It was a drowned Tico... A Costa Rican guy had drowned in the hard surf. It was a mean surf... not for tourist swimming.  Really rough and tough with a lot of wind. At first glance... they had him on his stomach working his arms like they were making him swim. This wasn't right. I knew from the scouts... from the Marines... the basic first aid they were not helping him. He was going to die right there. In the huddle I asked... ?how long has he been out? I didn't want to try to revive someone who'd been out 20 minutes with oxygen depletion of the brain... a split second decision here.

someone interpreted in Spanish... a minute or 2 from the surf. I turned him over immediately, pointed his chin upward , and started giving him mouth to mouth resuscitation. about the 3rd breath,... he threw up into my mouth... gross... I spit out and went right back to breathing in while pushing his stomach / chest. He coughed and threw up some more... I knew this was good. It was purging water out of his lungs. ... he was expelling the bad stuff from his body. He was coughing up water and vomit, spitting it out, i knew that was good. Showing sings of coming back to life.

 Another American guy... older asked was he drowned??? and started helping me. The Tico continued spitting up. He's breathing somewhat now... and rolled onto his side... we continued to press and push his stomach. more coughing out water and he's coming to life... then the reality hit me. He was drowned and would have died there had I / we not done CPR. Tico was stunned, incoherent... but responsive... and stabilizing. After a few minutes... His friends were there with him... no more I could do... I got up and Susan and I walked back to the Cahuita hotel Lam.

 About 30 minutes later, the province police / beach workers brought him out, past the hotel, in a red jeep, onto the nearest hospital/ clinic. I never knew who he was. Over the years I just wondered... ?did I save a life? ?Did this guy eventually have a family and were happy? I hope I had a tiny hand in that. I was thankful that what I'd learned in the scouts and Marines actually worked and made a difference in someones life. I saw that life was so frail and fleeting... the only moment is right now. 5 minutes of different time would have been a life gone. I'm glad I knew what to do. That day changed my life. Every day is precious!

 Susan and I hooked up a year later. Over the years I wondered a few times about the Tico guy. ?What became of him? ect

 ***
 In the 1st year married - 1978 - I came home one day and said to Sue "we've got some money saved up, we need to buy this new stock going public called "Home Depot". "Oh no, we're going to buy curtains. They will be an investment in the house." 

Those curtains wound up costing over $1,200. and that was only 3 rooms. I don't see how they could have cost that much. maybe I didn't know how to "shop for a bargain".   Home Depot went public at $12/ share.

 Over the years of growth and adjusted for splits HD topped out at some $290,000. ... from $1,200 to $290k,... a 290 to 1 bagger;  a pretty good call. Years later when Sue & I split up; I wondered about something else.

 ?Susan, What do you suppose those curtains are worth now?

You never drink twice from the same stream. 

StoneBearTracks Copyright Uncle Hargus MCMLXIII ALL blog posts/photographs/video ALL Rights reserved 

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