Costa Rica

Gardens, microbes, water buffalo, the moon, worms and their gift of manure

2009-05-03T09:47:00.000-07:00

EARTH University

¨Farms produce more than just food. They also produce a kind of landscape and a kind of community." - Michael Pollen

Below is a mandala garden created by students at EARTH. The concept of the Mandala is that it can provide a family with a balanced diet, a financial income, and renew local natural resources.

It is designed in 8 rings with the first center ring functioning as the watering sources and habitat for small animals such as rabbits, chickens and ducks. Outside the center ring, a balanced diet of veges, fruits, legumes and medicinal and edible herbs grow in the following 3 rings. Continuing outward, the next three rings provide the family with a surplus of food that can be sold locally for financial income or produce to barter. The outer eighth ring functions as a protection ring – such as an animal barrier and/or a windbreak.

The garden is laid out in a pattern which enables the whole garden to be watered from one central point, allows access to all parts of the garden while maximizing growing space, is aesthetically pleasing, and, by facing the entrance to the East, optimizes subtle energy flows. Plantings are planned to allow light & air to reach all plants, & to take advantage of nature's methods of 'pest' control,e.g. scattering plants of similar species, attracting & providing habitat for natural predators, & companion planting.

Planting by the moon is an idea as old as agriculture, based both in folklore and superstition, but there are scientific ideas to back it up The Earth is in a large gravitational field, influenced by both the sun and moon. The tides are highest at the time of the new and the full moon, when sun and moon are lined up with earth.

Just as the moon pulls the tides in the oceans, it also pulls upon the subtle bodies of water, causing moisture to rise in the earth, which encourages growth. The highest amount of moisture is in the soil at this time, and tests have proven that seeds will absorb the most water at the time of the full moon.
-Source: www.gardeningbythemoon.com/phases.html

Young lettuce leaves we transplanted in the Mandala garden.

Transplanting cilantro and setting up a shade cover to protect the new plants from getting burned.

I spent one morning in another garden with three students double-digging this plot to prepare for new transplants. Double-digging is a method of soil preparation that loosens the soil to a depth of 60 cm. The result is a bed raised above the original ground level. It allows more efficient root growth and nutrient absorption, making strong healthy crops. Water retention is also improved and microbial activity is stimulated by the availability of water and air.

Weeding in preparation for rainy season

With the rainy season on its way, cluttered leaves and weeds around the pineapple plants had to be cleared so the water can reach their roots. In the dry season, the leaves help to keep in as much moisture as possible.

It takes an organically grown pineapple one full year in to grow in the tropics.

Inside the greenhouse, a student did an experiment to see which medium of added nutrients made the lettuce grow the fastest and strongest. In the farthest bed, she added calcium into the soil with no compost. In the next bed, she added ready compost made of pig manure and other organic material. In the third bed, she mixed in EM (Effective Microorganisms). The final and closest bed, teaming with rich worm castings, was harvest first and had the healthiest leaves.

Vermiculture

Vermicompost is one of the best organic fertilizers. Worms feed on decomposing food scraps, other organic matter and animal manure and produce a more broken down form of nutrients in their manure, called castings. Workers on the organic farm at EARTH (picture below) directly feed their red California worms fresh pig manure. I learned that plants receive nutrients from the worm castings more directly if the worms ate manure from single stomached animals like pigs instead of ruminant animals like cows.

In soil, castings hold water and release nutrients in a form well-suited to plants. Castings are a concentrated fertilizer that is most efficiently used as a portion of a planting mix, but still won’t “burn”plants if applied more heavily. Also, castings contain plant growth hormones that provide an energy “kick”to plants.

To get the castings out without removing the worms, the area must be deprived of water and food (manure, food scraps)so that the worms move over in search of the next moist and nutrient rich area.

Vermicompost is a low-tech solution to organic solid waste disposal.

Managing compost heaps

This is a 8-week cycle compost system. Every week, the piles are moved to the next area and in the process turned and mixed. The decomposing material needs to be aerated so that it doesn't reach an extremely high temperature that will kill beneficial bacterias and nutrients. 120 F degrees is a good max temp. This system is more practical if enough space is available to have many piles; however any heap of compost can be managed in a small space by turning a pile in place.

Rice bags are filled with ready compost that is taken out to the gardens.

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“Effective Microorganisms,” or “EM” for short:

This is an incredible substance in the garden that functions as plant nutrition, pest control agent, soil builder, and all-around ecosystem enhancer.

EM A (active EM) is an inoculate of microorganisms cultured using compost, sugar, and a bit of the local soil. By mixing different beneficial microorganism, they form a balance to fight against pathogens. Microbes are a crucial part of every ecosystem.

Ingredients: EM 1= 5%; Molasses=5%; Water= 90%
It ferments for 8 days and has a life span of 1 month.

Compost teas have often been confused with EM-1. Compost tea is a liquid extract made from aerobically bubbling air through compost in order to grow aerobic microbes. The tea's quality is directly related to the quality of the compost and has a very short shelf life. The aerobic microbes require air to stay alive. Once the air is gone, they start to die off. Compost tea quality varies from batch to batch as the microbial populations vary with each new batch.
Source: www.emamerica.com/compost-teas-with-effective-microorganisms

EM-5 is natural insect repellent. Ingredients: EM-1 = 10%, Molasses = 10%, Vinegar = 10%, Alcohol =10%, Water = 60%; garlic and chile can also be added. It ferments for 1 month and has a life span of 6 months.

At EARTH's organic farm, Ricardo and I diluted EM-5 concentrate in water and sprayed the water buffalo to repel some nasty bugs that bore into their skin, lay eggs and hatch worms. The following day, Ricardo had to inject a chemical into their blood stream as well to kill any existing eggs and worms. EM-5 is only a repellent.

Ricardo spends a couple hours each day with this water buffalo training it to follow the lead of a rope. This is a very long, tedious process especially because this particular buffalo is already 3 years old and pretty set in his ways. He strongly resists the tug of the rope around his head and neck, not yet ready to give in. However, Ricardo is practicing an old method that is alternative to the quick, more brutal method that trains the buffalo by pain and fear.

Permaculture advocates care of all living things in a way that harmonizes with the patterns and cycles of nature. By taking the time and care with this animal, Ricardo was promoting that principle.

After this semester, growing food the organic way and designing my life around the Permaculture principles is the most obvious path to take. Permaculture is not so much about this thing or that thing, but how those things relate. It is about relationships. There is no across the board solution for any problem. Its based on experience and tradition, but there is also the element of rechecking and re-observing. It is about seeing what works and doesn't work then adapting to that knowledge.

Permaculture is the most comprehensive and wholistic design approach being taught on the planet. It holds a reverent appreciation for nature, and strives to empower people to connect to the ecosystem in which they live, understanding that we are necessary and active members in that community of people, plants, animals, fungi, water, and air.

CARE FOR THE EARTH:
Protect and create wildlife niche and habitat
Increase biodiversity
Protect watersheds

CARE FOR PEOPLE:
Teach and use sustainable design
Increase agrobiodiversity
Strengthen and enliven local culture
Create thriving local economies
Value indigenous knowledge

DISTRIBUTE THE SURPLUS:
Share seeds and plants
Share harvest
Share knowledge and skills

"What permaculturists are doing is the most important activity that any group is doing on the planet. We don't know what details of a truly sustainable future are going to be like, but we need options, we need people experimenting in all kinds of ways and permaculturists are one of the critical groups that are doing that."
-- Dr. David Suzuki
biologist, geneticist, broadcaster & international environmental advocate

Rancho Mastatal

2009-03-27T12:13:00.001-07:00

In the small village of Mastatal, a community of environmental innovators reside and promote sustainable living. They advocate organic gardening and farming, Permaculture, the study of medicinal herbs, homeopathy, natural and vernacular building techniques, alternative energy systems, and other educational activities to help facilitate a more sustainable global community in the rainforest.

Seasonal interns work on specific projects for the duration of their stay and temporary volunteers, like myself, help with cleaning, preparing food, filling empty food containers, working with the compost and tending the gardens. The Ranch also employees several people in the community.

Interns also do projects in the schools and with families in the community. They share language, art, music and dance classes with the children and guide others to implement technical knowledge within their homes.

This community works to create and supply all of their social and health needs on site. They offer many workshops and host visitors and volunteers in order to educate others about the rainforest and create a beautiful, harmonious, and exciting community where one can come to share and learn.

The Art of Bamboo

Bamboo is an extremely useful, sustainable material. It's strength, fast growth rate and resistance to severe weather make it a perfect resource for building structures.

The Hooch - Home of the interns and part guest house

Notice that base of the structure only uses a small space of the ground.

An outdoor shower and composting toilet

Ceiling Designs

Floor Designs

The many uses of bamboo...to name just a few:

baskets, bicycle frames, bird cages, blinds, boats, bridges, brushes, buckets, canoes, carts, charcoal, chopsticks, clothing, cooking utensils, diapers, fans, fences, firewood, fishing rods, food steamer, furniture, garden tools, handicrafts, hats, incense, musical instruments, paper, particle board, pens, pipes, ply ,roofing, scaffold, tableware, toilets, toothpicks, toys, umbrellas, walking sticks

Local house built with the help of Ranch builders

I learned at EARTH University that bamboo must be cut when the moon has reached half-moon from the new moon phase. At this point, the sap in the bamboo, as in trees, has traveled up to the top of the plant and returned to the bottom. This is the best time to cut because the bamboo will be free of sap.

Next, the bamboo must be left in the forest for three days in order to get as much of the moisture out as possible. Then the bamboo can be brought out of the forest and treated. If it is not treated, it will rot in moist conditions. This has happened with the bamboo structures at EARTH. The bamboo must be hallowed out, soaked in boric acid and left to dry.

Local students cutting bamboo to construct a roof over a new tree nursery

Useful bamboo construction resources:

"Bamboo - the gift of the Gods" by Oscar Hidalgo-López.

*Building With Bamboo: A Handbook* , Janssen, Jules J.A. Warwickshire: ITDG,
2007

*Bamboo: A material for cost effective and disaster resistant housing*.
India: BMTPC.

*Training Manual : Building with Bamboo*. National Mission on Bamboo
Application. New Delhi: Tulika Print, 2004.

Wattle and Daub

Wattle and daub starts with a lattice of vertical studs and horizontal wattles, weaved together like a basket. A mix of earth and straw is then daubed onto this latticework, forced into the gaps and smoothed over to fill any cracks. The surface can be left as a rustic finish or covered for a smoother finish.

Wattle and daub walls are non load-bearing and are built into a wooden framework. The wall can range from 150 to 200 mm in thickness and this makes the technique attractive for dividing interior spaces with light walls.

This technique is also suited for a more experimental approach to Earthbuilding. The latticework can have nearly any shape. Together with the earth mix very firm "objects" up to 2 meters high can be built.

The day I arrived, two of the interns had completed this beautiful design of an octopus using a cob mixture. One of the workers from the community of Mastatal is applying an organic mixture that sets the color permanently.

Earthen Plaster

A natural earthen plaster is composed of three main elements, typically sand, clay, and fiber.

-Sand provides structural strength and makes up the bulk of any earthen plaster mix. Fine, sifted sand is used to provide a smooth finish without small stones or pebbles to interfere in the application.

-Clay is a binding agent which helps to make the earthen plaster sticky and adhesive. Clay is typically soaked and mixed to break up larger chunks before being mixed with the other ingredients. An earthen plaster’s color may be determined largely by the color of the clay. Local clays come in a wide variety of colors.

-Fibers such as short, chopped straw, cattail fluff, or fresh cow manure are common and important additions to earthen plasters. Fibers help make the plaster strong and resistant to cracking. Manure is the fiber of choice of many traditional peoples and many modern natural builders, too.

Manure serves as a binding agent and gives plaster more body. It also contains small fibers that provide additional tensile strength as well as reduce cracking and water erosion. Different types of manure have different effects. Horse manure has a high microfiber content, but cow manure has more hardening enzymes.

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Here is a series of "before" shots taken from the website showing parts of the process of construction.

Applying a natural lime plaster

When lime is used on strawbale and earthern walls it provides a vapor permeable skin which allows moisture in, and out again, before it can seep to the wall and cause damage. Lime plasters also dry more slowly, gaining strength over time. Lime in building use is very forgiving, and can be reworked for days after placement, unlike cement which is meant to set-up in hours, and cannot be altered at all once mixed.

Watering the manure plaster

Robin is a metal artist, among many other skills, and created metal plates to represent the phases of the moon cycle in her home.

The finished product!

Cob

The History of Cob
MICHAEL SMITH

Ancient Roots

Because of its versatility and widespread availability, earth has been used as a construction material on every continent and in every age. It is one of the oldest building materials on the planet; the first freestanding human dwellings may have been built of sod or wattle-and-daub. About 10,000 years ago, the residents of Jericho were using oval, hand formed, sun dried bricks (adobes), which were probably a refinement of earlier cob. Even today, it is estimated that between a third and a half of the world's population lives in earthen dwellings.

Earth construction takes many forms, including adobe, sod, rammed earth, straw-clay, and wattle-and-daub. "Cob" is the English term for mud building, which uses no forms, no bricks, and no wooden structures. Similar forms of mud building are endemic throughout Western and Central Europe, the Ukraine, the Middle East and the Arabian peninsula, India, China, the Sahel and equatorial Africa, and the American Southwest.

Source: http://www.networkearth.org/naturalbuilding/history.html

Cob construction involves making a mix of moist, gravely clay and straw, forming them into balls and layering them directly onto the emerging wall without the use of mortar or a framework. The rough surface is later trimmed up and usually rendered, like stucco, which them creates a soft, undulating look of the walls.

Cob provides extra thick and sculptured walls easily, but the construction is shrinkage prone, calling for careful selection of materials and construction detailing. Cob walls are usually load-bearing.

A soon to be cob bench in one of the gardens

The classroom, yoga and massage center

The front wall, side shelf and bench all made with cob

Cob Oven

I did not get a chance to see this oven in use, but I've have eaten delicous breads and pizzas from other cob ovens.

One important component that Permaculture design teaches is that by incorporating artistic expression into construction, gardens, and any other area, we can create asthetically pleasing and harmonious living spaces.

Below, an incredible design done by Robin, including some of her metal work.

Surrounding ourselves with creativity and nature motivates and stimulates our spirit and mind. This is such an important characteristic that is missing from many of our living spaces.

If in the Tuscaloosa, Alabama area, check out the beautiful cob structure created by Joseph Wright and friends in the Children's Garden of the UA Arboretum.

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Composting Toilets

"Nearly a third of all household drinking water in the US is used to flush toilets" -- Joseph Jenkins, "The Humanure Handbook"

*Compost toilet closest to main house

The Moule Earth Closet

In 1859 the Rev Henry Moule of Dorset in England decided the family cess-pit was a foul abomination, had it filled in, and told his family to use buckets, the contents to be emptied and buried in trenches in the garden -- where, within weeks, "not a trace of it could be discovered". What could soon be discovered was a "luxuriant growth of vegetables in my garden" -- and that dry surface earth, not water, was the place for "offensive matters".

He wrote a pamphlet on it: "National health and wealth, instead of the disease, nuisance, expense, and waste, caused by cess-pools and water-drainage", and became a tireless campaigner for his by-now patented Moule Earth Closet (No 1316, 1860) -- wondrous Victorian-style machines which "flushed" dry earth via a lever, or automatically when you stood up, with luxury models in mahogany and oak.

The soil could be dried and re-used up to seven times without offence or nuisance. It was a powerful fertilizer: a neighbouring farmer's swedes grew a third bigger when he used it instead of superphosphates. "Manure for the millions," Moule wrote in a letter to the cottage gardeners of England.

Source: http://journeytoforever.org/compost_humanure.html

Now in the 21st Century, we are blinded by what we perceive as convenience - flush toilets - and instead actually flush away re-usable nutrients.

From Chapter 6 of the Humanure Handbook

We have used flush toilets for so long that after we defecate we expect to simply pull a handle and walk away. Some think that composting toilets should behave in the same manner. However, flush toilets are disposal devices that create pollution and waste soil nutrients. Composting toilets are recycling devices that should create no pollution and should recover the soil nutrients in human manure and urine. When you push a handle on a flush toilet, you're paying someone to dispose of your waste for you. Not only are you paying for the water, for the electricity, and for the wastewater treatment costs, but you are also contributing to the environmental problems inherent in waste disposal. When you use a composting toilet, you are getting paid for the small amount of effort you expend in recycling your organic material. Your payment is in the form of compost.

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There are several composting toilets around Rancho Mastatal. Most have a removable bucket underneath a wooden seat and others have a bigger space beneath called a bank, like the picture below. The waste is covered with saw dust after each use and the bucket is removed or bank emptied out when it is full and dumped into a compost pile.

One of the compost stations

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Solar Ovens

Most solar cookers work on basic principles: sunlight is converted to heat energy that is retained for cooking.

The oven I cooked with shown below has a double-paned glass surface, shiny metal sheet perpendicular to glass and inside the box to reflect the sun and a door in the front to open the oven.

Fuel: Sunlight

Sunlight is the "fuel." A solar cooker needs an outdoor spot that is sunny for several hours and protected from strong wind, and where food will be safe. In Costa Rica, the sun is very strong and gets hot often around 9am until 2pm.

Convert sunlight to heat energy

Dark surfaces get very hot in sunlight, whereas light surfaces don't. Food cooks best in dark, shallow, thin metal pots with dark, tight-fitting lids to hold in heat and moisture.

Retain heat

A transparent heat trap around the dark pot lets in sunlight, but keeps in the heat.

Source: solarcookers.org

I made a delicious mufffin mix with cranberries, macadamian nuts and walnuts and put them in the solar oven to cook in the morning sun.

It took several hours for them to finish, mostly because of their thickness, but it worked. I'd evenn say they tasted better than they would have cooked in an electric or gas oven.

Rain Water Harvesting

There are many systems around the world to harvest rainwater.

This particular one catches the rain in gutters around the roof and simply poors it into a PVC pipe. A plastic faucet makes the water accessible.

A metal screen filters out any organic material from the gutter.

The water is not suitable to drink, but can be used in the garden and for many other uses.

Hand-crank Clothes Washing System

Millions of people throughout the world wash their clothes by hand and hang it out to dry in the sun. Tons of energy is wasted in washing and drying clothes in machines. Handwashing clothes does take time and so machines are used for convienence. However, there are simple hand-crank washing systems that can be assembled and used with ease.

This particular system is a plastic tub set in a metal frame and built into a wooden holder. A hand crank is attached to the metal frame. A PVC pipe connected to the house water runs over the top of the drying rack and points directly into the tub.However, water can be added in whatever way is most accessible.

The system works by adding the clothes, soap and enough water so that it is just an inch or so above the clothes. Next, a cloth is placed over the top of the tub and a top with air holes skrews over the cloth. The cloth keeps the water in when initially turning the tub around as clothes wash and is removed to let the water out, but keep the clothes in.

After turning tub several, several times, the top is taken off, the cloth removed and the top skrewed back on. The tub is turned completly over and the dirty water comes out the holes in the top. If the clothes are extra dirty, they can be left in the soapy water for a bit longer before rinsed.

Rinse cycle: Clean water is refilled, again just an inch above the clothes, the cloth and top put back on and around and around it goes.

When satisfied that the clothes are rinsed clean of soap, the tub is turned upside down without the the cover cloth and the water poured out.

Finally, the clothes are layed out on the lines to dry in the sun...

After washing my clothes in this system, the luxury of the traditional electric washing machine and dryer was an obvious waste of energy. My clothes were pefectly clean and completly dry after laying out on the line.

"Free" Trade at What Cost?

2009-03-07T12:55:00.000-08:00

NOW, the National Organization for Women

A segment from:
Bush Wins the CAFTA Battle, Women and Poor Workers Pay the Price

Written by NOW Staff

August 2, 2005

"Free" Trade at What Cost?

CAFTA's provisions lack strong labor and environmental protections, making it harmful to both U.S. and Central American workers and farmers. It does not require compliance with even the most basic internationally recognized labor rights and specifically fails to protect women workers against discrimination.

CAFTA will increase the number of households living in poverty, and almost a quarter of Central American households are headed by women. CAFTA, as in the case of NAFTA, enables trans-national companies to move their businesses to Central America where they can get away with paying low wages, exploiting the use of pesticides and chemicals that are prohibited in the U.S., and subjecting workers to harmful conditions that violate international human rights standards.

Women constitute the majority of workers in Central American maquilas (factories), which are expected to grow in numbers under CAFTA. While women may appear to have more earning potential in the maquiladora (manufacturing) sector, their work is precarious and unstable. In order to make more money, they work grueling hours under poor conditions with low morale. Intense and long workdays, nonpayment of overtime; no personal leave for reasons of health or family obligations, labor violence (which implies, among other things, beating and verbal abuse) are all common practices in many maquilas.

In addition, CAFTA's language on labor rights does not address problems such as sexual harassment and discrimination, which could have serious repercussions for women who work in the maquiladora sector throughout the region. According to reports, intrusive pregnancy tests are required in order to apply for leave and benefits (vacations, Christmas bonuses, etc.). There also has been an increase in the practice of deducting fees for pensions and health-care from workers' salaries, which are then unfairly appropriated and never transferred to the proper institutions, such as the Social Security Agency.

There is a continuing myth that jobs created by international investors and free trade agreements bring women out of poverty. However without the support of unions or the ability to negotiate fair wages, jobs in export processing zones often leave women with a little more that the barest necessities.

CAFTA will also raise the cost of essential necessities for Central American and Dominican Republic families. The flood of foreign goods into the local markets as generated by CAFTA (due to the elimination of tariffs on such goods) will not only force out local (often women-run) competition, but also increase prices of basic commodities. And CAFTA also prevents approval of inexpensive generic medicines, threatening poor women's health and the lives of people with HIV/AIDS.

Sources:

World Resources Institute
EPICA: "Surviving Free Trade: Women's Voices from Nicaragua and Honduras," May/June, 2002
International Gender and Trade Network: "Bankrupt U.S. Economic Policy Forecloses on Women's Human Rights"
STITCH: Women United for Worker Justice

2009-02-02T13:44:00.000-08:00

A study of the DR-CAFTA
- Dominican Republic Central American Free Trade Agreement -

This Spring semester, I am traveling throughout Costa Rica working on four independent studies through the New College program at the University of Alabama. One of these studies is to analyze the impacts that DR-CAFTA, Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement, will have on Costa Rica.

Here in Costa Rica, the trade agreement is referred to as TLC – Tratado Liberacion Commercial. In this bog, the trade agreement may be referred to as TLC, DR-CAFTA, or CAFTA - which would refer to the time before the Dominican Republic signed on. Also, all five of the Central American countries included in the agreement are often referred to as CA-5.

Based on my readings of the policy changes written into the agreement, newspaper articles and scholarly papers written by both those who oppose and support the agreement, and by collecting a range of conversations and encounters here in country, I will attempt to observe a general impression of the peoples' views of DR-CAFTA’s impact on their lives.

Costa Rica is well known as Central America’s most stable democracy and since the end of World War II, this small country has developed a successful mixed economy. In the past 60 years, there as been a good public health plan of which has resulted in life expectancy figures equal to those of the United States, a literacy rate of 98%, a highly regarded national university, and an efficient electric power and telecommunications enterprises that exports electricity throughout Central America and provides the cheapest cell phone service in the western hemisphere. Costa Rica’s per capita gross domestic product of $12,500 is twice that of such neighboring states as Nicaragua and Panama, 400 percent greater than Honduras, and about the same as that of Chile—another energized social-democracy.

Source: Contentious CAFTA - A Turning Point for Costa Rica?
Dr. Stephen Bindman; COHA Senior Research Fellow
– Center of Hemispheric Affairs

With the signing of the DR-CAFTA, many changes are expected to occur in Costa Rica.

The key points of the agreement effective January 1, 2009 are:

• 80 percent of U.S. exports will be duty-free in Central America and the Dominican Republic.
• Tariffs on U.S. autos and auto parts will be phased out within five years.
• More than half of farm exports will be duty free.
• U.S. farm products will be phased out within 15 years, all tariffs eliminated in 20.
• Addresses sugar production imbalance.
• Apparel made in Central American and Dominican factories will be duty free if they use U.S. or regional fabric and yarn.
• New rules will loosen access to service, including telecommunications, technology and tourism.
• Private healthcare companies will have access to the CA-5
• The buying, selling and even manufacturing of arms may be allowed on Costa Rican soil.

There has been a widespread, grassroots dissent against CAFTA from the beginning, especially in Costa Rica. On February 6, 2007, tens of thousands of people took to the streets all over Costa Rica in a demonstration to block ratification of the free trade agreement and reject approval to implement legislation demanded by the United States. Their main point of contention was and still is that membership with CAFTA will alter the country's social development model, by introducing market bias in favor of foreign imports. There is a great fear that Costa Rica will turn away from socialism and towards capitalism.

Costa Rica signed onto CAFTA in 2004, but in October of 2007 the government passed a referendum to ratify its membership. In the country wide election, Costa Ricans voted 50.6% in favor for the agreement. The issue is still mired in controversy due to the narrow victory.

Reasons for opposition:

• No formal public input or oversight in the negotiations.
• CAFTA is likely to give corporations powers to object to barriers to free trade, including laws people enact for their own protection.
• A minority of rich companies and wealthy stockholders will benefit from reduced costs.
• Workers will get lower pay and lose their jobs.
• Reduced labor rights.
• Increased corporate domination of farms.

My curiosity about the TLC came about when I lived with a Costa Rican family for a summer in 2006. Our evenings were often spent sitting outside the house chatting and enjoying the cool, fresh air. During those conversations, I quickly learned that my host father Mario and his son Pablo were on opposing sides of the TLC. Mario, a retired school teacher, opposed the agreement with the vision that open markets and privatization of many social services make the rich richer and the poor poorer. Pablo, then in his mid-twenties, believed that Costa Rica needed a change; that if they continued to resist globalization and did not open their borders to foreign trade and investment, they would miss great opportunities to strenghen their economy.

I have now returned to their hometown Atenas and with my slightly improved Spanish skills, our conversations about the TLC have gotten much deeper and, as to be expected, more complex.

2009-01-26T14:11:00.000-08:00

El Camino a la finca de Alvin ~ The hike to Alvin's farm

It was already 7:30am when Heidi, Alvin and I finished our strong cups of coffee and I had eaten my usual bowl of oatmeal. We grabbed our water bottles from the fridge, put our boots on and headed for the mountain. This morning we were hiking to Alvin’s farm to see what he had done with the land given to him by his father. We were promised to see beautiful vistas, platains, banana, avocado, orange, and lemon trees and an abundance of other plants. Alvin and his six brothers were each given a section of his father’s land to farm, however Alvin was given an extra hectare because he had spent more time working the land than any of his brothers. He is also the only brother that lives on his land.

Instead of walking the 30 minutes down the main road, we took our time hiking first through the back of Heidi’s property, then through two of her neighbor’s farms and eventually to Alvin’s little piece of paradise. A week ago, we three, along with four others, took a half day hike into the mountain. We saw snakes, lizards, turtles, frogs, birds, and hundreds of different types of insects; plants one could use to heal bruises, headaches, and sore throats; and several edible fruits and plants of which we collected and took home with us. I was familiar with the path we’d taken before and was curious and excited to see what path we’d take today.

Alvin has lived here in Londres for most of his life and helped his father tend their land. Heidi grew up on a farm in Germany and has lived in Costa Rica now for almost 18 years, the last 5 spent here in Londres. They are both a wealth of knowledge and as equally in awe of the nature that surrounds them. I hang on their every word most times, attempting to translate the information and save it in my memory.

As we walked today, again they point out the diversity of flora and fauna, looks under rocks and leaves for frogs, snakes, crab, and fish, all the while Alvin chopping our path through the dense rain forest with his recently sharpened machete. Always wanting a new adventure, a new vista, an un-trodden creek bed, Heidi makes sure that we take a different path than we had before. We climb steep hills and come upon incredible vistas that see as far as the Pacific Ocean. We stop and pick the fruit of one tree called Manzana de Agua, water apples. They were so sweet, soft,and extremely juicy. We grabbed about five apples each to take back home.

At one vista we could see the islands off the coast of Manuel Antonio. Below us, Alvin points out where each farm starts and another ends. He tells us a North American has just bought the land to the right of the winding river that runs through the middle of the valley. He wonders what will come of it; continue to be a valley of diverse crops and fruits trees…or a display of hotels for the tourists. “You never know these days,” he sighs.

We continue on, descending down the mountain side. We come to the fence, shove our backpacks and hiking sticks in front us and crawl under the barbed-wire property line. We are now in Alvin’s neighbors’ land. Millions upon millions of cicadas rub their wings together in the trees, creating a symphony of sound so profound that we three humans below find it hard to hear ourselves think. As we are taking a break in the shade, the owner of the land walks up and chats with us a bit. Alvin tells him we are taking a tour to his farm and the man says we can take the path on his land that will lead us down a beautiful creek, called a quebrada in Spanish, and right into Alvin’s property.

The path is behind this man’s home, a small house made of sheet metal and wood harvested from the ground it was built. His mother, an elderly woman of maybe 90 years old, stands barefoot outside to greet us. I was so drawn to this woman. She is probably only 4’7, covered in wrinkles, and wearing home sewn clothes. The white stitch stood out on her pink blouse and her apron was crooked. She said very little, only “Buenos Dias!” and “Adios”, but of all the things to look at around me, my eyes only see her. This small woman seemed to embody a quite, humble life. As we walk away she slowly reaches to the ground to collect kindling for the stove.

The path down to the creek is steep and dense. Trailing behind Alvin and Heidi, I turn to take one more look above us. The man I’d just met was standing at the top, silhouetted by his house and smiling.

I catch up with Heidi and Alvin and we cross the property line into Alvin’s land. We sit down in the cool shade to rest. Here Alvin explains the irony of owning land in Costa Rica. His neighbor, a man of maybe 60 years old, owns several acres of beautiful, plentiful land with a creek running through it and a beautiful view of the ocean, yet he lives a seemingly poor life. His house is not built with expensive materials, nor does he own a car, a horse, or any type of agricultural machinery; nevertheless, he is rich in land. Those who own land here in Costa Rica are not guaranteed that the produce that grows on their soil will have a market and bring them a steady income.

Heidi chimes in saying that it is true that this man may live a outwardly poor life, but it’s very possible that he does not want such riches. For some farmers, to be rich is to be able to walk a piece of beautiful, tranquil land and tend to the fruits of their labor; to be a part of nature and work with nature instead of against it. The farmers that make the most money here are those that work for the big companies. They must grow enough of one crop to make a sufficient profit. For example, if this man could make a great amount by clearing his land and planting only banana trees. He may profit monetarily by this decision, but he would also go against the natural biodiversity of the ecosystem. Without the assortment of fruits, flowers, and wood of all the mango, orange, lemon, avocado, cacao and plantain trees, the diversity of birds, butterflies, moths, bees, and other insects and animals will leave or die, having no habitat in which to live. Without the diversity of flora and fauna that give life and then decompose into the earth, the soil will be depleted of microorganism, nitrogen and other nutrients and the cyclical system that nature so perfectly creates will be broken.

Alvin’s father bought all his land about 40 years ago for less than $1 a hectare. One hectare equals 2.47 acres. Today, each hectare is a couple of thousand dollars each. Having been offered money to sell, his father has declined each time. I heard this same story from another farmer, Victor, last week at La Reserva de Los Campesinos, a cooperative of farmers that now run a eco-tourism business. Victor said he cannot put a monetary value on any inch of his land. He has been offered enough money for the land to live on very well for many years to come, but he has also declined each time. I have heard many unfortunate stories of poor farmers selling their land to foreigners who in turn build resorts or discontinue tending to the land with care. However, farmers like Alvin, his father, and Victor have resisted the temptations for such a profound wonder and respect for the land.

At Alvin's farm, he should us the pineapple plants, plantain, avocado and banana trees, and other various fruit trees.

Pinnaple plant

Sugar cane

He has cleared a small area to build a new home one day. On Alvin's only day off, he tends to his land, pruning, planting, and building his compost piles. The avocados will fruit in May and June, as will the several of the fruit trees, such as orange, lemon, and lime. There were plantains, though, and we filled our backpacks to the brim and continued our hike back to Heidi's farm.

This is a fungus growing on the limbs that a certain type of fly feeds on.
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On the return hike, we crossed terraced hills with fresh remnants of a cow's presence. Around 11:30am, the rain came...first as a mist, then a shower, and then it really began to pour. As I trailed behind Heidi and Alvin, these words ran through my mind over and over again:

See the elements,smell the elements,feel the elements...protect the elements.

During that 6 hours trek that crossed four different farms, I heard hundreds of fascinating facts and stories and am still attempting to remember them; however to simply be on the land, to see how the farmers have tended to it so carefully and intelligently, and to see, hear, and feel the elements is a priceless experience.