Costa Rica (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Matthew Firestone [398]
It was in Costa Rica, interestingly, where the idea of bananas as an industry was born. Imported from the Canary Islands by sailors during the colony, the fruit had long been a basic foodstuff in the Caribbean islands. But it was 19th-century railroad baron Minor Keith who turned it into a booming international business (Click here). After building the railroad between San José and Limón, Keith proceeded to carpet vast swaths of Central America in bananas. Over the course of the 20th century, the company he founded – United Fruit – would become an integral part of the region’s economies and a behind-the-scenes puppet master in its political systems. (For a highly readable history on this topic, pick up Bananas: How the United Fruit Company Shaped the World, by journalist Peter Chapman.)
Part of the reason bananas became a continent-wide crop boils down to profit and biology. Bananas – a fruit afflicted with a high rate of spoilage – require a vast economy of scale (and cheap labor) to be profitable. It’s also an inordinately delicate fruit to cultivate, partly because bananas are clones. The fruit doesn’t grow from seeds; it spawns by taking a cutting from an existing plant and putting it into the ground. This makes them incredibly vulnerable to illness – what kills one banana, kills all bananas. A fungus can devastate entire networks of plantations, such as the diseases that swept through Costa Rica’s southern Caribbean coast in the 1910s and ‘20s.
Over the years, this weakness has led growers to turn to a veritable arsenal of chemicals to protect their crops. This, in turn, has taken a toll on the workers who spray them, some of whom have been rendered sterile by powerful fungicides such as DBCP (now banned). Groups of workers in various countries have filed numerous lawsuits against fruit companies and chemical manufacturers – and won – but these victories are generally short-lived. Even when Central American courts rule in workers’ favor, it is practically impossible for plaintiffs to secure payouts. One suit has made it to the US legal system, but has been derailed by questions about evidence gathering.
There have been some attempts at growing bananas organically, but those efforts are not enough – and according to some experts, will never be enough – to replace the intense agribusiness that currently supplies the world with its fourth major foodstuff, after rice, wheat and milk. Costa Rica likes to think of itself as a country of coffee producers, a nation built on the work of humble, independent farmers. But the fact is that bananas remain the country’s number one agricultural export – as they have been for decades. They are an inextricable part of the country’s DNA. And, unless everyone suddenly starts putting sliced apples into their cereal, that likely won’t change any time soon.
AROUND GUÁPILES
West of Guápiles, a 45-minute 4WD trip and three-hour hike will take you 800m above sea level to La Danta Salvaje (2750-0012; www.ladantasalvaje.com; 4-night package per person US$225), a 410-hectare rainforest reserve in a critical buffer zone adjacent to Parque Nacional Braulio Carrillo. The rustic lodge hosts small groups (no more than eight people) for four days of hiking in the jungle, splashing around in swimming holes and spotting spider monkeys, tapirs and silky anteaters. Prices include three meals a day and guided hikes. Reservations must be made in advance.
Hotel Cabinas Lomas del Toro (2710-2934; d US$13-18; ) Located about 3km east of Guápiles, on a hill above the northern side of the highway, an efficient roadside hotel has clean guestrooms, a restaurant serving local food and a recreation room with pool tables.
Casa Río Blanco B&B (2710-4124; www.casarioblanco.com; d/tr/q incl breakfast US$65/80/90; ) A rustic inn, run by the personable Annette