So I have been avoiding blogging because there is just too much to say. I could go on and on about how lovely the beach was and how I saw monkeys and ate good food etc. that’s not really the heart of what is happening. I am changing. My perspectives are changing. One of my biggest fears is that when I return I will have so many ideas I want to share but I won’t know how to communicate them and I don’t know if I will find anyone who truly wants to listen. But I guess if I am worried about expressing myself, I might as well start now.
We went to a Del Monte banana plantation when we went to Limon last week. We had to come in unannounced and ask if we could look around because they have stopped giving tours because they have suffered some inconvenience over things tourists have seen in the past. We saw the bananas hanging from the trees in plastic bags covered in pesticides. We saw them spraying chemicals on the bananas so they wouldn’t mature until they reach the US, where they will spray more chemicals on them to make them ripen. They workers we were working really hard, and there was just a strange atmosphere, really kind of heavy. Our professors didn’t know exactly how much the workers were paid, but they knew it wasn’t much and that they were paid by the banana, not by the hour, which is not exactly ideal. The workers live on the plantation in little houses. When the airplanes pass over to spray the trees with chemicals, they spray the houses along with the plants. The chemicals cause some health problems for the workers, but who is going to complain? They could lose their job for complaining, and if they lose their job, they lose their house. They essentially lose everything because they are so dependent on their employer. Additionally, “monocropping” is not good for the land. Because the land is stripped bare except for banana plants, there is a lot of run-off. Dirt in the tropics is not like dirt in Iowa. So the earth washes away, together with a conglomeration of chemicals that have been sprayed on the plants, into a nearby river. It is quite likely that just downstream from this river live some indigenous people or another type of people without running water. This river has always been their food source but now they can’t use it because it is filled with chemicals because bananas are the #1 most consumed fruit in the U.S. Who knew that’s where our bananas came from?
As I believe I have mentioned before, Costa Ricans eat beans and rice every day, 2-3 times a day. In the past, they grew their beans and rice here in the country. Now, however, much of the farmland has been taken over by big fruit companies or coffee growers because these crops can be exported to the U.S. for much more money. The U.S. doesn’t want beans and rice, they want pineapple, bananas and coffee so that’s what Costa Rica grows. In the mean time, people in Costa Rica have to pay more money for their staple foods because they now have to import them from other countries. You may be saying, “but Laura, it’s ok that they have to pay more because they are making more money by exporting” (the economic term is “competitive advantage”) False. The people who own the land (US companies) are getting richer. The poor remain just as poor and can now afford even less food.
This is just one example of a perspective change that I have been undergoing here in Costa Rica. I hope people don’t think I’m a paranoid, over-the-top health nut when I get back and want to eat organic or locally-grown food, but I am aware that it is a possibility. ( I know this because I have thought it about other people) But I will leave you with this: Where does your food and clothing come from? Do you have any idea? How do you know that the workers who picked your food or sewed your clothes were not being exploited? Do you know what all those things we can’t pronounce on food labels actually do to your body? I don’t know the answer to these questions, but I’m starting to think that I should.