to move up and down
El Cupolog
Pan-american Transmissions : The Road to Tierra Del Fuego
Over the Sixaola, Walking into Panama
We got in with fake tickets.
Ania and I crossed an old railroad bridge over the Sixaola River and entered Panama. The country requires all visitors to show an onward/return ticket (proving they’re not staying in the country), but we didn’t have one so we printed out a fake Expedia flight reservation.
It worked.
Panama instantly felt different than Costa Rica. People’s homes were more dilapidated, the reggae music was louder, and the beer was cheaper.
Ania and I were happy about our successful border crossing, but we had no idea where we were going. There, in front of the immigration office, we ate our last Costa Rican avocado while flipping through the guidebook in search of a cheap campground.
Rio Sixaola, Costa Rica-Panama border - © Diego Cupolo 2011
Caribbean Camping
This place was out of our budget from the start.
It was a long road to Patagonia so we skipped through most of Costa Rica and saved money where ever we could. We stayed with friends, we lived on a white bread, bananas and avocados, and we hitched rides through the entire country.
When we got to the Caribbean, Ania and I camped on the beach. It was free and better than Rocking J’s - the cheapest, most obnoxious hostel in the area. (Some people never graduate from college.)
On the beach, alone, we watched the sun rise out of the ocean and swam naked in the morning light. When we got thirsty, we cut open a coconut.
Not bad for budget traveling.
Cahuita National Park, Costa Rica - © Diego Cupolo 2011
Cahuita Animal Tour II
Cahuita National Park, Costa Rica - © Diego Cupolo 2011
Cahuita Animal Tour III
Cahuita National Park, Costa Rica - © Diego Cupolo 2011
Old Docks
Cahuita National Park, Costa Rica - © Diego Cupolo 2011
Without warning …
… we found ourselves in paradise.
Cahuita National Park, Costa Rica - © Diego Cupolo 2011
Plato Tipico
Cahuita, Costa Rica - © Diego Cupolo 2011
Fumigation Nation
A large number of sterile men inhabit Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast.
Locals say it’s the fumigation. Small yellow planes fly over the massive banana plantations and spray pesticides into the air.
Most field laborers live next to the plantations and inhale the chemicals. A farmer told me the fruit companies pay off anyone that becomes sterile …
… and, after a century of pure profit, Chiquita Banana is still known for terribly low wages.
Side Note: The blue bags are supposed to protect the bananas, but they’re full of holes.
Limón Province, Costa Rica - © Diego Cupolo 2011
Banana Republics
Puerto Limón: birthplace of the United Fruit Company - present-day Chiquita Banana.
The story’s a bit long and complicated, but basically, an American tycoon was hired to build a railroad between San Jose and Limón and he planted banana trees along the tracks to feed his workers. When the railroad opened, it was running at a loss and the owner desperately started shipping the track-side bananas to New Orleans to recoup some of his investment.
People up north loved them.
He saw it as a business opportunity. He vastly expanded his banana fields (bribing government officials in the process), and joined other fruit merchants to form the United Fruit Company. For many years, his only competitor was the Standard Fruit Company - present-day Dole.
The United Fruit Company became the largest employer in Central America. El Pulpo (the octopus), as locals called it, owned most of the land, transportation, and communication infrastructure in the Costa Rican lowlands. The United Fruit Company also became known for heavily influencing regional politics in its favor - hence the term “Banana Republics” - and promoting waves of cheap migrant laborers from Jamaica, changing Costa Rica’s ethnic complexion and provoking racial tensions.
Today, Limón still bares its Afro-Caribbean roots. Big black mamas with crazy hair, reggae beats and jerk chicken can be found at every street corner. Interestingly, the Costa Rican government did not recognize Afro-Caribbean people as citizens and restricted their movement outside the Limón province until 1948.
As a result of this travel ban, the Afro-Caribbean population became firmly established in the region and remained on the east coast even after it was legally permitted to move about the country.
Who would’ve thought a foreign banana company could change so much in a peaceful democratic nation?
Puerto Limón, Costa Rica - © Diego Cupolo 2011
Caribbean Fung
Asians seemed to own most of the establishments in Puerto Limón. Restaurants, bars, grocery stores, hotels and sex hotels. They sat behind counters and counted money while the locals worked.
When we asked them a question, they ignored us - every single time.
Puerto Limón, Costa Rica - © Diego Cupolo 2011
Puerto Limón
Puerto Limón, Costa Rica - © Diego Cupolo 2011
Where pineapples are born
Fruit Factory Land, Eastern Costa Rica - © Diego Cupolo 2011
