We left on time to board a twenty passenger minibus for our coastal tour and banana plantation visit. Maria, our guide, was excellent. Her English was perfect, and her desire to inform us was outstanding. She made several stops to pick fruit from the trees in order to explain them, see them and touch them. A real treat.
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| Howler Monkey |
The tour description warned that banana processing might not be happening on a Saturday. When we arrived, a full shift was working. The manager explained how the bananas grew, how they were harvested, and how they were processed and shipped. We then entered the work area to watch the process. The first thing I noticed was the bike rack full of bikes. The town is nearby, and folks bike to work. The efficiency of the processing was impressive. As the bananas are cut from the large bunches, they are placed in tubs of water. This starts the lowering of their temperature to 52 degrees. They will be transported at this temperature for as long as 2-3 weeks before arriving in the stores. They start this journey very green. At one stage the cut ends of the bananas are painted with a solution to retard spoilage. Finally, they are carefully placed in boxes and loaded into refrigerated containers. They are then moved to the port by train where the containers are loaded onto ships. This Dole plant ships to the US, Canada and Europe.
Another informative drive through the countryside took us back to the port. Maria is very proud of her homeland, and she does an admirable job of representing it. We are grateful to have visited it with her.
After leaving the bus we toured the port side handicraft market. It has not changed in the 2 years since our last visit. In fact, the whole city looks pretty much the same. It was nice to get away from it on this trip. Next we loitered along the shore before reboarding. Then it was lunch, a Skype class, church and dinner. We arrived for dinner 15 minutes late. Mass had run long. But Andy delivered our appetizers in short order. We were all caught up. That is when the cajoling began. "What do you mean you haven't booked the rest of the voyage yet?" We promised to address that tomorrow. Everyone seemed to enjoy their day as much as we had.
After dinner it was off to see the Finkels perform again. This was a very different and enjoyable show. Dad, Fiveish, did not perform, but gladly signed any purchased CD's. We toddled off to walk a mile on the lower promenade before retiring. We would lose an hour's sleep, and we wanted to get up early for our transit of the Panama Canal. This will be our 4th full transit, but we never tire of it.
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