Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui and CoopeSanJuan
From My Adventures in Costa Rica in Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui, Costa Rica on Mar 02 '07
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The past week has been very busy, but fun. We left for Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui on Saturday March 3rd. We got to our hotel just before lunch. The hotel was really nice! All of us 10 students were in a nice cabin (perfect for Julia's 22nd birthday bash!). There was also a nice pool at the hotel. But before we could enjoy the hotel, we went to visit a banana and pineapple union in the town. It was interesting hearing about how people are blacklisted just for associating with the union. If you're blacklisted and you're running on 3 month contracts (which is what most banana/pineapple workers are on), then you basically won't get hired for the next three months. It's terrible how these big plantations treat their workers and find ways to avoid giving them their benefits and respecting their rights. After our talk with the union, we went to the supermarket and picked up some really cheap (and unfortunately gross) vino de mora (blackberry wine) for Julia's birthday.
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We had the rest of the day off, so after dinner most of us went into the pool to start the party. We hung out playing chicken fights (amongst ourselves and with the ticos in the pool), doing synchronized swimming :), and sipping in vino de mora. After the pool, we all headed back to the cabin for a dance party. It was a blast. We turned off all the lights, I put on the strobe on my headlamp, and we danced the night away to reggaeton and old school 90s music.
We hung out playing chicken fights , doing synchronized swimming, and sipping on vino de mora.
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The following day we visited a squatter community in Puerto Viejo. We talked with Marta, the female leader of the group. She told us the story of how the people came to the land and their struggles to get title to the land. After talking with her, we went out into the precario to interview the Nicaraguans living in the community. We learned alot about why they had come here (for work, because of poverty, family, etc.) and what their jobs and lives were like in CR. All of them worked on either the banana or pineapple plantations. The vast majority were also only on 3 month contracts. Being on a three month contract basically means that you have to reapply every three months in order to keep a job. Sometimes you'll get hired back, sometimes you won't. It's very unstable. Also, by doing 3 month contracts, the plantations are paying much less severance to the workers. All in all, it's a horrible system. But some people actually like to be on 3 month contracts because they get a 2 week break in between being recontracted. Since the work is so grueling and difficult, they welcome the break even if it means they're not getting paid and don't have any sort of health insurance. So, Sunday was a good day. We met a lot of interesting people with some pretty amazing life stories.
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On Monday, we went to a banana plantation in the morning. It was pretty cool seeing the whole process. There are the people who harvest the bushels of bananas, the people who drag 20-25 of these extremely heavy bushels to the packing plant, the women who go through each hand of bananas to make sure they don't have manchas (marks) then throw away the ones that do or aren't the right size (horrible waste!), and then the women who apply fungicides and pack the bananas. It's a real process. We talked with the manager there and he told us some stuff about the place. We were really lucky to be able to go in there because these plantations are so secretive. They don't want anyone to think of them in a bad light, so they usually don't allow you in there. The manager definitely lied to us about things such as the workers' salaries and the amount of pesticides used. But it was really good to see the place and hear what he had to say.
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Afterwards we visited an ornamental plant farm and then voyaged on to CoopeSanJuan. We arrived a few hours later in the late afternoon. CoopeSanJuan is a very, very small rural community where they grow lots of pineapple, yuca, and manage a piece of forest. The community is so small that everyone is related in some way. They formed a coop back in the mid 80s and have been struggling to make it work ever since. We stayed in their albergue (lodge) that they use for ecotourism. It was so nice in CoopeSanJuan. Very tranquil and easy going. The lodge was right next to the forest so we were able to hear many bird calls throughout the day and night. We even saw two tucans! Howler monkeys were also very present in the forest. It was a real treat staying there. Our room was pretty cool too. It was just a big open loft with a few beds. Since it was pretty buggy there, we all set up our mosquito nets. We looked like we were in some Indiana Jones movie. haha
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The next day after arriving, we had a long charla with Hilberto, a member of the Coop since it's beginning. He told us everything you would want to know about the coop and more. However, he's currently not a member. We learned later the juicy story behind this. A German volunteer came to live in his house a few years back and they started to have an affair right under his family's nose. The whole family knew including the wife and six kids, but no one did anything. The two eventually moved to another house in the Coop (and let me remind you, this is a VERY small community). Then Hilberto went to the States to work and the German girl followed. He eventually returned, but by then he had had a kid with the German girl. He stayed in CoopeSanJuan for a little while before moving to Germany for a year. He had another kid with her while he was there. All the while he was still with his wife from CR! The German lady even paid to have the whole family come out to Germany to see them! Soo weird! He's back now living with his family, but I guess he's going back to Germany in a couple months. Crazy story.
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Anyway, later on that evening, I ran for a while. After dinner, we were all serenaded by the guitar and vocals of Hilberto and his brother. It was overall a pleasant evening. Wednesday was completely dedicated to identifying palms in the forest for our ecology project. It was a fun project: tromping through the rainforest and learning about the flora. We were also able to see a howler monkey, but he unfortunately didn't howl at us. :) In the evening, a few French Canadians who were staying at the lodge showed us a spot in the forest where a sloth was sleeping. It was so cute! I love sloths. When it got dark, we went out with David to shine for cayman eyes (little alligators) in the lagoon. We saw quite a few, but weren't able to catch any since they were in the middle of the small lagoon.
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On Thursday, we had a charla by one of the women of the coop. She talked about the tourism project and their tilapia project. In the afternoon, we conducted interviews with the people of the coop to see how they felt about being in a coop. After the interviews, the locals asked us to join them in a few rousing games of volleyball. In the evening, everyone came up to the albergue and we had a fiesta complete with lots of latin dancing, a bon fire, and balloons. It was wonderful how open and friendly the people were with us.
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Friday, we left early from CoopeSanJuan to see a teek tree plantation. The manager was Dutch (which is a nationality I haven't seen here yet). We learned that the tree plantation is failing because no one did any proper analyses to see if teek would work in that part of the country. After talking with him, we drove back to San Jose. The rest of my night was spent mostly at the internet cafe chatting with Jake. Saturday was spent at the University of CR library working on a project. That night we all went out dancing at El Pueblo. Sunday and yesterday weren't very exciting either. Just hung around my house on Sunday and went to classes yesterday.
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Tomorrow we're leaving for the Nicoya Peninsula, Guanacaste, and Nicaragua. I'll be back the following Friday. Not sure if I'll have internet access, so I'll update when I'm back. Safe travels, everyone!
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