From Anchorage to Ushuaia by Bike

Poverty and Malnutrition

On our way through Costa Rica we went along the Atlantic Coast and through the department of Limon, the poorest in the country. The houses are huts mounted on stilts: the floor is made up of rough boards supported by four posts, and the walls are made of the same boards, so poorly constructed that they don’t join together and we can see inside. We don’t know how the houses stay standing, especially during the rainy season. At least the climate here is quite temperate. The region Bocas del Toro, in Panama, is the poorest of that country and had the same kind of houses.

We also see children, dirty and barefoot, bathing in the same streams where all the garbage is dumped. They frequently come up to us and ask for money. It makes us a little uncomfortable, especially since the children aren’t always wearing clothes (the youngest often are wearing only shorts or a shirt – because of the heat or because of poverty, we don’t know). And sometimes they have distended bellies, no doubt because of malnutrition and the sanitary conditions of their villages.

But, in spite of it all, they smile at us and watch us, mouths hanging open. They’re surprised by us. They call us “gringo” or “gringa,” and are totally caught off guard when we respond with “holà” or “buenas”! They really aren’t expecting that!

Cocoa

Panama grows cocoa. We went with Francis, a Canadian member of the warmshowers network, to harvest cocoa beans. He moved to Almirante with his wife and three year old son, Oscar (who we unfortunately didn’t get to meet). He volunteers with a cocoa cooperative (fair trade) and she is working on her thesis, on the link between carbon emissions and deforestation. Francis showed us around the property of the house that they’re renting, while carrying a machete, a long stick with a knife on the end, and a basket on his back. He explained as we went along, and we learned all about harvesting cocoa beans.

In two hours, between the three of us, we collected more than three big baskets of cocoa beans. When we got back, we cracked open the pods to get the beans. The beans are covered in a white pulp, thick and a little sweet. We harvested around 3 kg of good beans. The beans ferment in a bag or bucket for 8 days and then are dried in the sun (three days of full sun). Then the beans are ready to be exported and processed.

The cocoa is not processed in Panama – at least not right now, but there are local processing plant plans in the works. The beans have to be exported to Europe where the big companies turn them into chocolate. The producers are paid $1.60 per kg to bring their beans to the cooperative, and once the beans are sold they get a little more money, depending on the price of the beans. For them, cocoa harvesting is their only income – we’ll let you do the calculation, but it doesn’t amount too much!

Banana production

Bananas grow on both sides of the border along the Caribbean coast, and they are the main source of income in the region. As we crossed through enormous plantations, we noticed that the bunches of bananas were wrapped in large blue plastic bags. We learned that bags keep in the pesticides, insecticides and fertilizers used promote growth. The chemicals are really bad for the workers though, and generally the employees of banana plantations are unskilled and under paid. And, of course, the bags mostly end up in the water run-offs around the fields and spread the toxins everywhere…

We stopped in front of a banana processing machine to watch. The workers were proud to show off what they did, but the overseer was not so welcoming and asked us to stop taking pictures. After the bananas had been sorted according to size, the green ones were washed several times in a chemical solution and then stickered and wrapped up still damp in cartons lined with plastic. We recognized the mark of a very common brand in France.

A new record

On Wednesday, we crossed the Panama Cordillera to meet up with the Pan-American along the Pacific coast. It turned out to be the hardest day since Anchorage in terms of time and distance travelled: 6:06 h on the bikes, 71 km and 1865 m in altitude! And consider that after 40 km, we were already 1600 m high. We were all too happy to arrive in Gualaca, the village we planned to stay the night at, and find a place to sleep!

PS: Where the land isn’t cultivated, the jungle flourishes. We saw a sloth (napping) and a couple of toucans. There also were snakes crossing in front our wheels, and even squished on the road.

Sara & Sébastien