Elegant Bongo from Altos de Curundu

In my childhood, on the property of my maternal grandparents, in the banks of the river Chiriqui ViejoI saw a beautiful tree from my window called Bonga.

I asked my grandfather why there was a big tree in the middle of the pasture. He told me that when he and my grandmother migrated to this river, known as The jungles of the territory of Chiriquí Viejo, after War of a thousand days. the country was covered with tall trees of many species and that he left that tree as a memory of what the mountains were like at the beginning of the 20th century.

Like my grandfather, I have developed a great love for this great tree. When the mechanization of rice began, the pilots who fumigated the agrochemicals told my mother and me that we had to cut it because interfered with flights. I always told him no, that the tree would stand until it died of old age. That’s how it went.

In 1983, I moved to Ancón corregimiento, former canal zoneI was afraid that green spaces, whether small, medium or large, would disappear due to misuse.

According to him ARI purpose plan, iThe area you see here must be green. But the ministry staff posted nearby started parking vehicles turning it into a changuatal in winter and a powder keg in summer.

This prompted me to bring a small tree Bonga as we say in Panama and Colombia, while the Central Americans they say ceiba, is a sacred Mayan tree. After taking care of it for 40 years, today it is a graceful, magnificent and beautiful tree that adorns the entrance to the settlement. At sunrise and sunset I am extremely happy to hear parrots, parakeets and toucans singing. As well as bull’s blood and tiles. It is quite a spectacle that beautifies the entrance to the neighborhood. I saw many people stop and take photos of the tree.

This Ceiba is an excellent natural air conditioner that is much needed in them times of global warming. Let’s hope that native plants will be planted in the cities and towns of the country, which will improve the quality of life of its inhabitants.

like those of The Ministry insisted on parking its vehicles Near the tree I talked with many ministers, until one of them, very kind, decided to cooperate and ordered these white pillars to be placed around the tree.

In order to encourage them to plant trees in urban green areas, we bring a well-known melody La Bonga, Los Corraleros de Majagual’s 1965 hit.