Pineapples don't grow on trees?

Limon is such a wonderful beautiful place. On our way there we stopped at a commercial coffee plantation, which looked like a corn field with coffee plants, and talked about how coffee has affected the environment and economics of Costa Rica. We also stopped at a pineapple field, which was very surprising for me, since I thought that pineapples grew on trees. In fact they actually grow on plants and only one pineapple will be produced per plant per year. And three of four pineapples grown in Costa Rica are eaten in the United States. Isn’t that crazy! We lastly stopped at a banana plantation before arriving in Limon. It was incredible to see how the employees worked so quickly and how much water was used to wash the bananas. All of the bananas that were not big enough for the United States or didn’t meet the United States requirements were thrown into a truck to be sold to the Costa Ricans. That was kind of hard for me to see. We have such strict requirements on how our bananas have to look. In fact at the pineapple plantation we were told that if Americans didn’t demand their pineapples to come with the top that no one eats, the farmers could use tons less chemicals for bugs! What also was interesting is that banana trees are technically plants. One banana plant grows, produces its bananas, and then dies. However, they have many baby plants surrounding them that grow up and produce bananas when the oldest one dies. Seeing all of these plants made me wonder if they could be grown anywhere in the United States and if they were.

At the banana plantation, they had workers in the more so factory part were they were cleaning, cutting and wrapping the bananas to ship out. The place we visited was a Del Mar plantation and they have many different brands and size requirements for all the different countries they ship to. Then there were the workers out in the field who would go out, cut down the bananas with their machetes, and carry them like a sack of potatoes back to the road where there was a cable with clips on it to clip on the banana stalk. Then there was a man who had the job of tying a cord around his waist and running the banana stalks from the field to the factory part! What a job banana runners have! Also, most of the banana workers are immigrants from Nicaragua. Basically in Costa Rica they have feelings toward Nicaraguans and relationships with Nicaraguans just like the Mexican/ United States Immigration racism problem. Lots of Nicaraguans come to Costa Rica and work as construction workers, or in farms, or doing the cheap labor jobs! What was a little confusing to me as to whether it was good or not, was the fact that the banana factories have houses and schools and stores for their workers. Basically like working in a mine back in the day. All of the women who worked had the detail oriented jobs like inspection and the men had the more manual labor jobs. Most people that I have talked to feel bad for the people who work in banana plantations because they say that the workers don’t make much money and work really hard. This kind of makes me think twice about bananas.

When we got to Limon we stayed in a hotel on the main street. When we walked down the street to go and interview people about poverty, we found that the street dead ended right into the ocean. It was a really beautiful place and was much more diverse than San Jose. There were a lot more African decedents and a more relaxed culture. I ate dinner with some friends and ate a hamburger and French fries since I was really starting to miss home! It is funny because they eat ketchup and mayonnaise together with their French fries.

We spend the next day on the BriBri tribe reservation talking with Gloria about how important Iguanas are to their culture and what their culture is like. In their reservation they are basically breading Iguanas, collecting the eggs and helping restore them into the environment because they are endangered and mean so much to their culture. That is where I got such incredible pictures of Iguanas! One thing that she said about their religion that I think everyone should learn from is that, “The land is our survival, and animals are reflections of God.” When they go into the forest that is worship, entering God’s creation with respect is worship. It was really interesting to get to talk to her and hear from her.

I shared a room and a bed, the only room that had to share a bed, with my friend Sarah. We have quickly become best friends through being vulnerable with each other and spending time together! She is a great friend and I have been learning so much through our friendship. I am so thankful that God placed us both here in this program together!

After visiting the BriBri tribe, we went to the beach! We had a ton of fruit for lunch and empanadas. It was so delicious. However, my little white faced monkey friend kept trying to steal the trash, thus the wonderful up close pictures I got! When walking down the beach I got the picture of the crab, and other howler monkey. There were also a few raccoons that tried to get into our trash! Who knew raccoons were in Costa Rica too! Just like squirrels…they are everywhere!

After playing in the waves, walking on the beach, and just chillin we headed back to the hotel. After a shower and leaving the beach in the shower…we went to the Black Star Line building and had traditional Limon food. They cook a lot of things in Coconut milk so it is a little different. We also had a live band play for us and got to dance. Being exhausted from the beach, I didn’t dance a ton but I enjoyed the music! It was a group of African decedents and they sang and spoke mostly English, but at times they sang Spanish. One thing that is different about Limon is that the African decedents used to speak English all of the time, it was their first language, but lately they have been losing that to Spanish. 

The next day we went to a Methodist church in English in which a homeless man came into the service stood in the front and raised his hands up, and then he left. The choir tried to motion to him to sit down but no one said anything to him. I don’t know how to handle that situation but I don’t feel like it was handled correctly. After church we headed back to San Jose.