The End of Farming

We were at Granadilla Silvestre for two weeks, and Alex and I realized that we are most definitely urbanites. The coffee picking life is not for us- it is rough getting up to start work at 6 every morning! Check out the photo- that is us with our fellow WWOOFer Aurora, another Californian. All the coffee pickers wear a canasta (basket) strapped around their waist, which weighs around 35 pounds when full. Every time you fill up your basket you empty it in a large bag that can hold about 4 baskets of coffee beans. Then we get to carry the bags (mine were never full- no way could I carry a bag that weighs more than I do!) back to the road to be taken by truck to the co-op where it is weighed. The other photo is a coffee branch; the red beans are maduro, or ripe, and the green ones have to be left on the plant to ripen for later pickers. Also note the rubber boots we are wearing- indispensable here with all of the mud we constantly trek through. We pretty much wear our botas everywhere since it is still the rainy season here.

Besides us, we almost always picked with Rocio, the jefa (boss) of all the farm work. Rocio works more than any woman I know- all day doing farm work, including picking coffee and carrying the ridiculously heavy bags, and then she goes home in between to cook and clean for her family. She also finds time to help all the WWOOFers with their various needs and teach us how to make tortillas and arroz con leche. I also wrote down her Christmas tamales recipe- in Spanish, for 200 tamales- which I will need to scale down and get some help translating when I try my hand at making them.

We also have been picking coffee with migrant Nicaraguans (“Nicos”), including children as young as five. It is hard watching the kids work alongside of us, especially picking coffee, which is not fun and is hard work. Unfortunately these families need the additional income that comes from the extra coffee their children pick, and there is really no alternative since they cannot afford to pay for childcare during the workweek. One young mother has a one year old whom she carries in her coffee basket. The Nicos stay in Costa Rica for about eight months out of the year, doing various agricultural labor; the return home for only four months.

Luckily, for our last day of work, Alex and I got to be babysitters instead of coffee pickers- a twofold benefit of us not picking coffee and the kids not having to pick either. Not so luckily, we found that watching a group of 14 energetic kids somehow made us more tired than when we picked coffee. It was more fun though; we played a variety of outdoor games (tag, hide and seek, kickball, soccer) and also read, painted, and made jewelry. I think it was a very nice change of pace for kids who spend a lot of time working and not enough time being children.

Besides coffee picking, we also helped with various other tasks including cutting bamboo, gardening, raking, maintaining compost piles and painting. We had a pretty good time at Granadilla Silvestre, and have definitely learned a lot about how other people live. We also got a chance to ride horses while there, and took advantage of a nearby river for some nice cool-down swims in the afternoons.

W are happy to be back in Panama City now, although our bus trip back was a bit of an ordeal. We had to take three buses overall to get back here- the first at 6am from Quizzará (the tiny town where Granadilla Silvestre is located), which is an hour and a half ride to San Isidro, a town on the Interamericana. We had to wait a few hours in San Isidro to take a 10:30am bus to David in Panama, about a 5 hour ride. Then we waited about an hour in David before boarding our 6:30pm bus to Panama City, normally a 6 hour ride. Unfortunately, about 2 hours into the trip to Panama City our bus broke down and we had to sit at the side of the highway for an hour and half to wait for the next bus coming from David. That bus was already partially full so Alex and I didn´t get seats when we boarded. VERY HAPPILY for us, an hour later we stopped in Santiago and enough people got off to allow for all the remaining passengers to sit down for the last three hours to the city. Very unhappily the bus was quite over-air conditioned and we were freezing the entire time- the smart people who had probably taken the bus a number of times had brought flannel blankets with them for the ride. But finally, at 4am we arrived back at our apartment and promptly fell asleep.

We plan to take a Spanish class for most of December to really polish up our skills (although we are both progressing pretty well so far), and then head out to rural Panama to volunteer with an indigenous community, the Ngobe-Bugle. Also during our month in the city we will be working on grad school applications- oh boy! And for all the family worrying about me- now you can call me again to verify my safety.

Costa Rica

THE RAWTREAT

Alex and I initially thought we would spend three weeks, maybe more, at the Rawtreat experimenting with raw vegan living. We quickly found that we are not raw vegans and left after spending less than 24 hours there; however, the food was the least of the problems at the Rawtreat. We arrived to Rio Claro by bus from Panama, and the Rawtreat is located about 4 kilometers outside the town. We opted to take a taxi since we have several large, heavy bags with us and we didn’t want to try to find it in the dark. The taxi took us down a muddy dirt road (since it was raining as we tried to find it) and we pulled up to a house with a “RAWTREAT” sign on the front. As a dog barked at us from the front yard, a barefoot tica (Costa Rican) woman motioned us around the back of the house to the jungle and then spoke fast, unintelligible Spanish and left us. We understood something about the piñas- pineapples- but that was it. We stood in partial darkness contemplating which “path” to follow since neither way in front of us seemed to lead anywhere. So we took the one that seemed to be more of a path. Alex slipped and fell in the mud and we seemed to be going nowhere so we turned back. The tica lady was back at the beginning of the path pointing the opposite direction of the one we chose. That’s when we saw the piña plants and realized we were supposed to follow those up the more tortuous path. Sliding in mud as we struggled along we just hoped that they hadn’t already eaten dinner without us.

Finally we came upon the “rancho” which turned out to be a shack about 15 by 10 feet with three levels. There were bamboo walls for half the rancho and the rest was ineffectively draped with mosquito nets. They may have been more effective but for the holes between each net and the fact that our host kept the door net open most of the time anyway. So we arrive at the rancho and meet Ray, our peculiar and somewhat creepy German host, and Sebastian, a French-Canadian guest who had also arrived that day. Ray clearly does not eat meat since he has none on his bones, and is also missing some teeth since we don’t think he brushes his teeth ever. Things like soap and toothpaste are not allowed at the Rawtreat since they have chemicals in them, so he also had quite a funky body odor going on. We stumbled through some awkward conversation in Spanish while eating our “dinner.” He offered us pipas, which are green coconuts that have sweet coconut water that you first drink out and then hack them in half with a machete to eat the meat out. Along with the pipas we feasted on a few cacao nuts and a some bites of zapote, a sweet fruit that resembles a yam. Then it was off to “bed.” See the accompanying photo- our bed was on the top level and consisted of bags filled with rice husks and covered with a sheet. We brought a mosquito net, which Ray told us we didn’t need, but was most definitely needed since there were bugs swarming around us. Before we went to bed we asked Ray where we should go to the bathroom. He told us that the next day he would show us the composting toilet, but in the dark it was easier to use a nearby hole in the ground. He brought some more of the rice husks for us to throw over the hole when we were finished, and kindly showed us which leaves were best to use as toilet paper. Alex and I each got a nice myriad of bug bites as we tried to go as quickly as possible.

In bed that night we immediately agreed that we were not staying three weeks at the Rawtreat; we knew we could not last another night there. We woke up before 6 the next morning, with the sun, since there weren’t any walls to keep the light out. We had grapefruit and more zapote for breakfast, but it was difficult to eat while Ray squatted in front of us eating topless and wearing very loose-fitting pants that frequently showed his crack. He ate pieces of banana off the large knife he used to slice the banana and often slurped food up or spit pieces out in the compost bucket.

Alex and I figured we would work a few hours to make up for leaving so early. Sebastian, Alex and I followed Ray to his neighbor’s farm where they are building a greenhouse- a greenhouse in the rainforest. Sebastian questioned the necessity of it, but we just went along so we could leave sooner. Ray wanted us to collect foliage from the path to the greenhouse to cover the greenhouse floor. So we spent the morning raking leaves from the rainforest floor. But not with regular rakes for each of us, we only had one head of a rake with out the pole and a wheelbarrow with a hole rusted through the bottom. So Alex bent over raking leaves while I used my foot to rake leaves together for us to lift into the wheelbarrow and hope that they wouldn’t collapse out of the bottom. After two loads we inquired with Sebastian if that was about enough. He said he thought 6 to 10 loads ought to do it.

After our work was over we returned to the rancho and told Ray we wouldn’t be staying. We then settled the bill, since Ray charges people to work for him and live like this. For a stay of less than 2 weeks it is $5 per person per night. After paying we had a 4 kilometer trek into town in the noontime heat to face. The first place we went was a restaurant for some real food- I ordered a hamburger and Alex had a chicken sandwich. We marveled at how delicious they were and how much better we felt having left. After our 16 hours at the Rawtreat we were dirtier and hungrier than either of us can remember being in a long time.

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Alex and I wandered through a few small Costa Rican towns (Rio Claro, Golfito, and San Isidro) before finally making it to our second WWOOF farm, Finca Granadilla Silvestre. It is located about 4 hours south of San Jose (by bus so less without the stops) close to tiny Quizarra. This farm is an amazing improvement over the Rawtreat, so we’re happy albeit tired from all the work we are not accustomed to doing. It is a sustainable coffee farm owned by a Canadian couple, Warren and Elisabeth, who are very nice and dedicated to helping preserve the rainforest here and helping to improve the community of Quizarra.

We arrived here on Friday and met our first roommate and co-WWOOFer Aurora, who is from Santa Barbara, CA. We have our own WWOOFer cabin here, and today we met our other roommates, Abby and Shawn, who were on vacation for the past few days. For our first day of work, Aurora and I raked the leaves in our yard to add to the compost pile- we learned that the leaves are rich in nitrogen and will aid tree growth. Alex cleared brush from recently chopped down trees. Then we all collaborated in painting a new layer on the outside of the WWOOFer cabin.

Today we went coffee picking, which has given me a much greater appreciation for my morning drink and the work it takes to get to my mug. We carried plastic baskets rigged with a strap around our waists and picked each coffee bean one by one. But only the red ones are ripe, so we had to be careful to leave the green beans on the plant to ripen more for picking another day. We worked alongside Rocio, la jefa (the boss) of our farm, and migrant coffee pickers from Nicaragua. For every half basket I could fill with coffee beans, Rocio would fill 2 baskets- and those baskets get heavy when only half full. It was very impressive. Although I’m not used to manual labor like this, it has been a good experience so far and has definitely opened my eyes to a very different way of life than my own.

We plan to stay here for at least a month, which includes 6 hours of work 6 days a week- wish us luck that we survive the Costa Rican country life!

David

We are in David, the second largest city in Panama and located in the west near the border with Costa Rica. We came last Wednesday, and it is about a six hour drive from Panama City to David, in the province of Chiriqui. We crossed the Canal via Puente Centenario, which is the second bridge between North and South America (the other is Puente Interamericana)- those are the only two links between the continents.

In David we are staying with Alex´s Tia Ivette, Tio Servio, and primos Servio Tulio, Ivette Marie, and Deborah. Alex stayed with Servio Tulio when he went to Spain last summer. This family has an amazing life! Their house is beautiful, and has a river running behind it. Ivette has a catering business so there is an abundance of delicious food here, plus Servio Tulio and Ivette Marie have a bakery in town, and Ivette Marie bakes everything from scratch at the house. And of course everyone is very warm and welcoming so we have been having a great time so far. It has also been very nice to get out of the big city where it is so much louder and less relaxing.

On Thursday we went with José and his family on a 30 minute drive up into the mountains to Boquete. It is much cooler there than in David, as you are surrounded by the mountains and it rains often. Boquete is a big producer of many of Panama`s fruits, vegetables, and coffee since the soil is very fertile. We some great espresso while there. Unfortunately it rained pretty hard for most of the time so we could not get out and walk around as much as we wanted. Still, it was a nice break from the heat and humidity that has plagued us since our arrival in Panama.

On Friday José´s family took us for another day trip. We first drove about half an hour to see the frontera- the border between Panama and Costa Rica. We were surprised by the fact that there is no fence or even recognizable border line- there are basically stores along the border where you can walk in one door on the Panamanian side and out the other door on the Costa Rican side. If you drive across there is more security, but we just walked through a gas station and enjoyed some cervezas in Costa Rica and then walked back. One similarity between the border town here and Nogales is that here it is also a much less nice town then most of the rest of Panama.

We left the frontera and drove about 45 minutes to the area around Volcán Barú, Panama´s highest summit. Barú has 7 craters and when you hike to the top you can view both the Pacific and the Caribbean on a clear day. The hike takes about 8 hours, so we didn´t have time to do it that day, but we are hoping to hike it before we leave. The first pueblo we stopped in was Volcán, where we saw some of the Independence Day parades. We continued up the mountain (nice and cool, just like Boquete) and stopped briefly for some photos at a hotel where you can pay a few bucks to fish for trout in the man-made ponds they have. Our final stop was a tiny town near the end of the road around Barú called Cerro Punta. It is well-known for its strawberries and other produce, much of which we were probably buying at the grocery stores we shopped at in Panama City. We had batidos de fresas- fresh strawberry milkshakes- so good. [Photo: me, Bosco (José´s brother), Brandy, Alex, José]

On Friday night we joined in some of the Fiestas Patrias celebrations and went out to a club called Bash to see Panama´s most famous punk band Los Rabanes. They were great, even though we could only understand half of what they were saying. The only drawback was that the club was ridiculously crowded since they are so popular.

On Saturday we woke very early (particularly difficult after the late night before) to go with Tío Servio to the family´s islands- yes they own not one but four in the Pacific. We rode in Servio´s boat for about an hour down the Río Caldera to the Pacific and then spent the day swimming, having more cervezas, and just enjoying ourselves. It was an amazing day- especially on a private island!

On Sunday we went with José´s family for brunch at his uncle´s house in Boqueron, and then we got to spend another day at the beach. This time we went to La Barqueta, which is beautiful but known for its very large and dangerous shorebreaks. There was no one swimming, everyone would stand at the very edge of the water and when the wave would hit it was hard enought to knock you down in knee-deep water. Brandy and Alex braved the waves, but had to come out when they noticed something swimming with them. As Alex was walking towards me out of the water a big wave came up and right before it broke I saw four manta rays swimming in the wave. As we watched, we noticed more and more swimming all around the area where they had been swimming- it was pretty crazy. But it did make for a good story now and no one got hurt.

Now Brandy has returned to the city with José and Alex and I are off to Costa Rica. We are starting out in the south near Golfito at a Rawtreat. It is an organic community working towards complete self-sustainability. They also only eat raw vegan food, so it will be quite a change of pace after all of the "fiestas de carne" (as Alex likes to refer to our meals) here. I´ve read about raw food diets though, and it is supposed to be a very healthy way to eat- basically a complete Juice Plus diet (yes mom we´ve been taking them). So we´ll see how we like that; we may stay for month or only a week, depending on how we adjust and what we work out with other wwoof farms we have emailing. If you want read more about the Rawtreat you can go to www.rawtreat.org.