Where the bananas come from
To :bluemeanybeany (and everyone who wants to learn a bit about bananas :)
Everything begins at the Caribean coast of Costa Rica:
BTW, Columbus landed here in his fourth and last trip to the Americas.
The banana plantations look like this:
the bunch of bananas are covered in blue bags to protect them from plagues and bad weather (it rains a lot in the Atlantic coast) The aerial rails are to hang up the bunches when they're ready.
The bananas have to be still green when they are transported to the packing section. They push them or get mules to pull them.
The workers cut the bunches and hang them by hand.That's a heavy job.
The bunches are separated in sections for packing.
Then, they put them in big tanks of water to clean up any kind of bugs and dirt.
They separate the best bananas to export.
The ones that don't make the cut, are sent to local markets, us. The pretty ones are sent to your country and the rest of Europe. USA imports some too, but there are other markets like Colombia and Brasil that take the biggest part of the deal.
They carry seal of exportation. Chiquita or Del Monte, and the name of the country in this case, Costa Rica. So next time you buy bananas look for Costa Rican.
BTW, the Atlantic coast train (that doesn't exist anymore thanks to an ex-president's spoiled brat who was also president) was build with British capital. So, thank you :) it was nice and useful while it lasted.
There are tours to the plantations that show you how the workers live, and other nature beauties. It is common see fauna posing for pictures:
and it's true, monkeys love bananas.
The banana plants are very common, even I have several in my backyard. The last harvest, the gardener wasn't available so I had to cut down the bunch. Blyme, those are heavy! They also stain your clothes and hands with something like glue. Next time, I'll wear gloves and an apron. The leaves are use to wrap tamales for Christmas. They are sold at the market place.
I'll post more pictures of my country, and my town so you can have an idea of how we live in the "New" world.
Everything begins at the Caribean coast of Costa Rica:
BTW, Columbus landed here in his fourth and last trip to the Americas.
The banana plantations look like this:
the bunch of bananas are covered in blue bags to protect them from plagues and bad weather (it rains a lot in the Atlantic coast) The aerial rails are to hang up the bunches when they're ready.
The bananas have to be still green when they are transported to the packing section. They push them or get mules to pull them.
The workers cut the bunches and hang them by hand.That's a heavy job.
The bunches are separated in sections for packing.
Then, they put them in big tanks of water to clean up any kind of bugs and dirt.
They separate the best bananas to export.
The ones that don't make the cut, are sent to local markets, us. The pretty ones are sent to your country and the rest of Europe. USA imports some too, but there are other markets like Colombia and Brasil that take the biggest part of the deal.
They carry seal of exportation. Chiquita or Del Monte, and the name of the country in this case, Costa Rica. So next time you buy bananas look for Costa Rican.
BTW, the Atlantic coast train (that doesn't exist anymore thanks to an ex-president's spoiled brat who was also president) was build with British capital. So, thank you :) it was nice and useful while it lasted.
There are tours to the plantations that show you how the workers live, and other nature beauties. It is common see fauna posing for pictures:
and it's true, monkeys love bananas.
The banana plants are very common, even I have several in my backyard. The last harvest, the gardener wasn't available so I had to cut down the bunch. Blyme, those are heavy! They also stain your clothes and hands with something like glue. Next time, I'll wear gloves and an apron. The leaves are use to wrap tamales for Christmas. They are sold at the market place.
I'll post more pictures of my country, and my town so you can have an idea of how we live in the "New" world.