One Suitcase, One Planet

I volunteer several days each week on the organic, sustainable El Toledo Coffee farm that is pioneering permaculture in the hills outside of Atenas, Costa Rica, just above 4,000 feet.  Seventeen months ago I volunteered on this same farm during the peak of harvest.  The pictures below were taken during that harvest from December 2010 - January 2011.  (clockwise, beginning at top):  

1) Ripe organic coffee beans prior to picking.  The coffee is grown in a bio-diverse shade forest.  Much of the Costa Rican coffee crop is harvested by seasonal workers from Nicaragua.  

2) Preparing the picked coffee berries before the berries are shoveled into a gravity-fed processing machine that separates the berry fruit and mucilage from the coffee bean.  Eight farms belonged to the El Toledo Organic Coffee Cooperative 17 months ago.  Now just five farms remain: two farmers retired, and a third farmer found it necessary to spray his farm that had been overrun by poisonous snakes.

3) Preparing the coffee processing machine that separates the berry fruit and mucilage from the coffee bean.  One operator can easily run the machine.  During harvest this machine runs several hours nearly every day producing hundreds of pounds of sticky coffee beans ready to be sun dried.

4) Sticky golden yellow coffee beans after the beans have had the berry fruit and mucilage removed.  Six to seven days of sun drying will turn these beans the color of bone white, ready to be sacked and stored.  The coffee bean will still be encased in a thin shell that must be removed before the bean can be roasted.  Much of my volunteer time now (in May/June 2012) is spent operating the peeling machine that strips the shells from the beans.

5) Hundreds of pounds of beans drying in the sun.  The beans are turned every 45 minutes or so using long wooden rakes.  The weather is ideal at this time, with temperatures in the high 70s, mild breezes and the occasional butterfly flitting by.  Six to seven days of solar drying does it.

6) The finished product, packed for sale:  El Toledo Organic Coffee, among the best I have ever tasted.  Much of the 30,000 pounds produced annually is now sold to the USA; 17 months ago much of it was sold to Japan.  The coffee can also be bought in stores around Atenas and at the weekly farmer’s markets in Atenas and Grecia.  A pound of El Toledo organic coffee costs about US$9.00 in Atenas.

You can discover more about permaculture and the El Toledo Organic Coffee farm at:

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/04/07/saving-the-family-coffee-farm-an-Unintentional-organic-journey/

and the April 8, 2012 edition of:

http://wisdom-radio.com/blog/

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I am spending eight weeks volunteering on two different Costa Rican projects: a land and freshwater turtle clinic in La Garita, and an organic, sustainable coffee farm in Atenas.

This week, a look at a few of the approximately 100 turtles at the La Garita Tortufauna Turtle Conservation Clinic.  Tortufauna was founded in 2003 by Vilma Castillo, a former biology teacher.  The picture of the hatchling included here was taken last week minutes after the turtle hatched.  Much of our volunteer work is given over to cleaning the five turtle tanks, feeding turtles, composting, and propagating and tending to many plants.  Tortufauna is a small paradise itself and sells plants to help fund its operation.  I’ll feature the Tortufauna grounds and its medical clinic in upcoming posts.

You can read more about the La Garita Tortufauna Turtle Conservation Clinic at: 

http://www.ticotimes.net/Weekend/Travel/Help-arrives-for-land-turtles-at-Tortufauna_Friday-May-06-2011

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From Soposo Rainforest Adventures, Bocas del Toro Province in northwestern Panama, 2nd post of two (clockwise, beginning at top):  

1)  Several Naso who boarded our upriver-bound boat briefly on Sunday for a quick 1/2 mile lift up the river.  Carlos, our second guide this day, is manning the ‘palanca’ at the bow of our boat.  It’s a common courtesy among Naso boaters to transport other Naso up and down the Teribe River or just give a quick lift to those who need to cross the river since there are no bridges.   

2)  Max’s uncle holding an ‘ajo vine’ which like its Spanish name suggests smells of garlic.  The ajo vine has strong fibers that can be stripped and used for multiple purposes including basket weaving something Max’s uncle is adept at.  

3)  One of the ajo vine baskets made by Max’s uncle.

4)  One of three river packaged lunches prepared for us three Sunday travelers by Max’s mother, Virginia.

5)  One of three river lunches prepared for us three Sunday boat travelers by Max’s mother, Virginia:  a bed of rice and beans, slices of tomato and a portion of the ocean fish, pargo rojo.

6)  Max, my Soposo Rainforest Adventures guide, and his mother, Virginia.  Virginia prepared and served all my Naso meals during my 3-day stay using fresh, local, organic ingredients.  

If you are ever fortunate enough to have the opportunity to visit the warm and hospitable Naso people of northwestern Panama, I encourage you to do so.  For more information on Soposo Rainforest Adventures see its website:  http://www.soposo.com/

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I spent three days last weekend trekking, canoeing, rafting and visiting among the 3,000 Naso people of the mountainous jungle region of Bocas del Toro province in Panama.

The Naso live along the Teribe River amid the lush forest of the La Amistad International Park.  La Amistad Biosphere Reserve has been designated a World Heritage Site by the United Nations and contains Central America’s largest intact tropical rain forest.

Soposo Rainforest Adventures advocates and promotes conservation as well as health and nutrition in the Naso community by using sustainable and environmentally friendly techniques in all aspects of its business including solar energy, composting latrines, and organic gardens that visitors, as well as local villagers, enjoy.

From Soposo Rainforest Adventures, Bocas del Toro Province in northwestern Panama (clockwise, beginning at top):  

1)  My Naso guide, Max, met me Friday morning in Almirante and took me to my home for the next three days (pictured here) while I trekked with Soposo Rainforest Adventures.  This lodge contains four rooms and accommodates eight trekkers.  The end of April is the low tourist season and I was the lone guest.  This lodge has no electricity.  When night arrives, night arrives.

At the corner of the lodge you can see Annie, one of several guard dogs at Soposo.  Max said that the guard dogs deter jaguars and panthers.  Mi casa, su casa, Annie.

2)  Shortly after I arrived at Soposo, got settled in and ate lunch, Max took me on my first trek through this rainforest.  Max brought a large machete and he used it to hack any leaves or branches that were obstructing our well-worn path. Max began stopping every few feet to introduce me to different plants.  Plants that are used for medicines, intestinal ailments, kidney complaints, head colds, headaches, or fever.  Other plants that are used to roof the Naso huts or are used as sandpaper or to shrink clothes or to make Panama hats.  Trees that are ideal for boat building or to be cut for roof beams.  Herbs from cilantro to mint or that smell of garlic or lemon.  One plant used to disinfect the skin, another used to cure a hangover.  We saw a troupe of monkeys — the white-faced capuchins — maybe six of them working through the branches above us.  We saw red frogs and black and green frogs, leaf cutter ants and spiders, one spider that Max held in his hand that he said, “just looks scary but it’s not poisonous.”  To me it looked like a tarantula on a diet and I wanted nothing to do with it.  We saw toucans and saw and heard many other parrots and exotic birds.  As we ascended one hillside the crickets got louder and louder.  Max said tigers and pumas visit this area at night; I noted we still had several hours of daylight.  We crossed small streams, slipped and slid up and down hillsides over muddy, leafy trails.  We passed underneath large fallen trees whose roots hanged down above us.  I grabbed onto a tree at one point to maintain my balance and Max cautioned me always to look first before I grab a tree.  This is his ‘Hood and he knows his ground well.  All this time I am hoping that Max doesn’t suffer from fits or fainting spells or something worse because there is no way I could find my way out of this rainforest.

We returned to our huts at 5:45 p.m., nearly two hours after we began the hike.  Max asked if I would like a coconut and I said sure.  We walked over to a coconut tree and he reached up and selected a green one and hacked at it a few times with his machete until it fell.  He hacked a couple slices off it and opened a hole about the size of a quarter and handed it to me and I drank the cool, sweet coconut juice.  He did the same for himself.  I thanked him for an amazing trek.  I took a dozen or so photos on this hike but they will not capture the magic of walking through this amazing rainforest.  I have seen and been introduced to many plants all of which have multiple, practical uses, plants I did not know even existed.  “All these plants used for medicine,” Max joked, “this rainforest is my hospital.” 

3)  One of the Naso homes that Max and I visited.  There remain only 3,000 Naso people living now in 11 Naso communities.   On the right, through the trees you can see the Teribe River, which links La Amistad with the Caribbean.  We travelled 5-6 miles by boat upriver on Sunday visiting several families and seeing their art and handicrafts firsthand.

4)  On Saturday, Max and I rafted by balsa raft about six miles down the Teribe River.  

Max is assembling our raft here from seven balsa ‘sticks’.   In the foreground you can see four larger sticks from the banana tree.  Max preferred the lighter balsa to the heavier banana.  There are sticks lying at many spots along the Teribe River for the Naso to assemble rafts for downriver transport.   

Seven balsa sticks can adequately support two standing passengers.  Three to four passenger rafts require 7-8 sticks.  Max used a blue nylon line here to secure the individual balsa sticks though some Naso still use a natural vine to secure the balsa.  Max assembled the raft in 20 minutes.  It took the two of us about 1.25 hours to raft the six miles.  Max guided us from the stern and I straddled our forward bow wearing my life vest.  We traversed quite a few stretches of white water and I am delighted to say, through blind luck or Max’s steady guiding hand, that I did not dump once into the river. 

5)  Max standing astride his freshly built balsa raft.  He’s holding a white sugar cane pole, called a palanca.  We each had a palanca to help guide us downriver, push off rocks, and most importantly for me to maintain my balance.  The palanca was smooth though a bit sticky.   When finally I let go of my palanca six miles downriver, I had blisters on both my bare hands, probably from gripping it so tightly in terror a few times.

6)  A view of the Teribe River and its surrounding rainforest a portion of which has been set afire.  In the river towards the left you can make out a boat heading downstream carrying seven passengers.  Boating the Teribe River is the main form of transportation connecting Panama’s Naso communities.  Max and I were able to travel by road to his home on Friday, but the road stops in the dense rainforest shortly beyond his home and river travel is the only way of traveling beyond that boundary.   Fortunately cell-phone coverage exists in the distant Naso communities Max and I visited, and most families have a few solar panels to generate electricity.  

If you are ever fortunate enough to have the opportunity to visit the warm and hospitable Naso people of northwestern Panama, I encourage you to do so.  For more information on Soposo Rainforest Adventures see its website:  http://www.soposo.com/

(Click on any image to enlarge.) 

From an organic, sustainable cacao farm, one of 100 such Oreba Chocolate farms in Rio Oeste, a town near Bocas del Toro, Panama.   (clockwise, beginning at top):  

1)  One of many organic cacao trees grown here.  Sixty varieties of cacao are grown in Rio Oeste resulting in a year-round harvest, though the harvest peaks in October.  Each shade grown cacao tree typically produces 100 pounds/year of cacao which yields 10 pounds of processed chocolate.  Organic cacao now sells for 60 cents/pound. In 1975, before Africa emerged as a major cacao producer, Panamanian cacao sold for $2.50/pound. The 100 Rio Oeste organic farms export their shade grown cacao entirely to Switzerland.

2)  If you look closely at the tree on the right, you can see a tiny cacao fruit emerging from the tree’s trunk.   Rio Oeste cacao farms are family owned and farmed, and farms typically range from 3-8 acres.  The organic cacao grown here supports 100 families and 600 people in Rio Oeste.  In the Bocas del Toro province there are 2,500 cacao farms, 3/4 of which are organic.  But the remaining 25% non-organic farms are migrating to organic culitvation.  Organic Panamanian cacao now sells for 60 cents/pound; non-organic Panamanian cacao now sells for 25 cents/pound.

3)  One of several varieties of frogs found on this cacao farm.  This frog is resting on a discarded cacao pod.  The cacao pods are composted and returned to the farm soil.  Before Rio Oeste migrated to organic farming 15 years ago, each acre supported a monoculture of 1,000 cacao trees. Now each biodiverse acre contains multiple varieties of 700 cacao trees; the other 300 trees are shade trees and fruit trees: many mangos, varieties of bananas, star fruit, mandarin, orange, pineapple and many others.

4)  The scourge of cacao: Moniliophthora roreri, an invasive fungus, sometimes called Frosty Pod Rot.  It first appeared in Panama in 1956 and continued advancing north through Central America, arriving in Mexico in 2005.  According to our guide and cacao farmer, Samuel, this fungus destroys 80% of the cacao fruit. That’s right: 80%.  Just think how much less chocolate would cost without this fungus around.   A potent reminder of why it’s important for none of us to transport prohibited fruits or vegetables across borders. 

5)  Ripe seeds from a ripened yellow variety cacao fruit after our guide hacked the fruit open with a machete.  I tasted one seed: a little chewy, no hint of chocolate, but very sweet.  After the seeds are extracted from the fruit, they are fermented for eight days, then sun-dried for another 8-9 days, then toasted.  Once toasted the cacao seeds are edible, or the seeds can be ground into a chocolate paste and processed into the many chocolate products.

6)  Grinding the toasted seeds into a chocolate paste.  Grinding using a rock is the traditional process, but now it is performed solely for agritourists.   And it’s hard work: three of us were offered the opportunity to grind some cacao seeds like you see here and all three of us answered, “No thanks, I would rather watch.”   The large base stone containing the visible grinding depressions was discovered on this Rio Oeste hillside over 60 years ago when farmers first cleared the Panamanian jungle for cultivation.  Our local guide said this grinding stone was thought to be 250 years old. 

(Click on any image to enlarge.) 

From the Jaguar Rescue Center in Cocles, Costa Rica.  The JRC was established eight years ago after a pair of Spanish biologists bought a home in Cocles and locals soon began bringing injured wildlife to the couple to rehab.  Now their home is the site to numerous buildings, a howler monkey compound and even a red-eyed treefrog pond.  Over the years hundreds of animals have been rehab-ed and released by this non-profit organization.  All tour proceeds and donations go to sustain this impressive rescue operation.  (One adolescent jaguar was a resident, but he was camera shy.)  http://www.jaguarrescue.com/jag_site/Home.html

(Clockwise, beginning at top):  

1)  A red-eyed treefrog (Agalychnis callidryas) held by a JRC volunteer.

2)  Yellow eyelash pit vipers (Bothriechis schlegelii) in a JRC terrarium.

3)  Three toed sloth (Bradypus bradypodidae) on the JRC grounds.

4)  Three toed sloths (Bradypus bradypodidae) being cared for by a JRC volunteer.

5)  A howler monkey (Alouatta alouattinae) supported by a JRC volunteer.

6)  Injured toucan recovering at JRC.

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A final few pics from my 10 weeks volunteering and traveling in Guatemala as I prepare to leave this amazing country for Costa Rica tomorrow.

From Antigua, Tikal, and Quetzaltenango or Xela (clockwise, beginning at top):  

1)  Mayan woman in Antigua, a city in the central highlands of Guatemala, about an hour’s drive from the capital.  Antigua has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site and dates from 1524.

2)  Public  lavanderia in Antigua

3)  Young couple departing a Good Friday procession in Antigua

4)  Mayan ruins at Tikal

5)  Group of coatimundis foraging at Tikal

6)  The exquisite raspberry cheesecake created at La Postreria in Xela.  Perhaps more than anything else in Guatemala I will miss the delicious artistry of Denisse Sanchez, La Postreria’s Chef. 

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Volcán de Agua, 3766 meters high, just south of Antigua, Guatemala.  

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