Limon, Costa Rica

We meet for our tour to leave the ship around 7:30 am.  Today we will visit a banana plantation and parts of the rain forest.  Unfortunately, it was raining as we headed to breakfast, just before we docked.  By the time we finished breakfast and met with our tour group and left the boat, the rain was done and the skies were sunny and clear.

We head through Puerto Limon on our way to the Banana Plantation.  We pass rainforests with wild banana trees, coconut trees, and other plants.  Also, livestock like these Brahma cattle and later some of the donkeys used to transport the bananas.

There are several rivers here in this part of Costa Rica.  Fed by the heavy rains in the area, which of course is why this is a rainforest.  

Driving around the countryside we have passed a number of the houses lived in by the local people.  Though they do not look modern, the government provides satellite TV and Internet at a low cost.  Almost all of the houses we have seen has a dish on the roof.

As we reach the plantation grounds we can see the banana trees with each banana bunch in plastic bags.  

At the banana processing plant were the sorting, cutting and packing of the bananas happen.  We see a couple of bunches of bananas hanging from a conveyor system.  Today is Sunday and therefore no one is working or else there would be many more banana bunches hanging.  So there are only these two.

Also in the processing area are bags of the protective foam padding that are used to protect the bananas.  A pad is placed between each smaller bunch so they do not get any bruising.  Bruising will cause brown spots which are frowned upon at the grocery store. We like our pretty fruit.

While the plant foreman told us about the background of the banana plantations and how the bananas are grown, I was looking around and took this picture of one of several birds that were constantly flying around.

After the manager finished his educational talk, I got a picture of Carmen next to a banana bunch before they were moved to show use how the banana are processed for our tables.  (Carmen didn't get too close to the bananas since they are still dripping at the ends and would stain her shirt - as per the manager.  The ends of each banana, or finger of the bunch, is still leaking from being picked.)

We moved along with the bunch of bananas where a couple of plant workers were.  They came in on their day off to show us how the processing is done.  Here this man is cutting each bunch and placing it into the water troth, to his left.  (Yes, we are at a Dole plant.)

As the bananas travel through the water, forced by water flow, they are cleaned.  At the end of the line, the next worker cuts the bunch into smaller saleable groups and trims the ends.  

Passing down another "bath" section of water the now smaller banana bunches are placed in a tray and moved down a conveyor to the next step in the process.

The next step, is where the label, in this case Dole and the banana's origin, Costa Rica, is placed on each bunch.

The last step is packing.  Here the large bunch of bananas from the tree is packed into a box for shipping.  From here the boxes are loaded into a container and shipped on a container ship.

Outside of the banana plant there was an orchid tree.  Would be nice to have one of these at home in Florida.

As we were leaving the plant, the bus driver, per the tour guide, stopped here to get the bottom of the banana bunch.  On our side of the bus was this conveyor system.  Bananas are hung on hooks with wheels and when a "train" of bunches is collected, a donkey pulls the group to the processing building.

The bottom of the banana bunch the driver collected looks like this.  As the tour guide pulls away one of the leaves, he shows us the inside.  These are bananas before they get bigger.  When the banana bunch has enough bananas to fill a box, this section is cut off so no more bananas will grow and strangle the other bananas.  Also, the flower at the end of each banana is removed when they get bigger to help stop dark spotting of the banana.

The bus driver stops at a bush to collect one of the pods growing on it.  Here the bush, named Bixa orellana or lipstick tree, has the pods closer to the ground then a bush he stopped at earlier.  

The pod has seeds that when crushed is is used to make red body paint or lipstick, hence the name Lipstick tree.  It is also known for annatto, when ground, a red condiment similar to that of paprika, used in Jamacian, Latin American, and Filipino cuisines.

On our return, we pass this beach on the Caribbean Sea.  Very nice and very secluded.  

On the main road back to the ship, the bus driver saw several howler monkeys in the trees.  He stopped the bus so everyone could get out and see the monkeys better.  Here are two of the Howler Monkeys that were in the trees.

Back at the ship, we found someone to take our picture in front of the Port of Limon sign.  I have on my fishing vest with my and Carmen's camera equipment.  Oh well, back on the boat.

Back on the boat we put our stuff in the room and headed back up to the top deck of the ship.  From here we can see that it is beginning to cloud in again.  Before the sun is completely obscured, I did get one picture of the sun rays coming through the clouds.

Interesting that while I was on this excursion, a friend of mine emailed me this video of the processing of bananas.  It relays what I told you and showed you in pictures above.  Hope you enjoy the video.