Quakers and Honduras 04/07

Well we managed the following night - by parking at the side of the road where the tour buses stop - to see the red glowing cap of the volcano, I guess that was the best we were going to see!!!!
The following day we went to Monteverde; the plan was to take the sky walk, the road from Tilaran was awful, just awful, but very beautiful. The community was founded in 1951 by a group of Quaker families from North America who came here to escape the draft in America for young men. The group came to Costa Rica because in 1948 when the US made the draft compulsory Costa Rica abolished their army. The road quickly gives way from ranches to dense cloud forest, the road is treacherous, full of rocks, pot holes, tight corners narrow bridges and steep inclines and angles but the scenery is so beautiful and our stay here has been awesome.
Our first visit was to the sky walk, most of which is at the top of the canopy, we left at 7am as soon as the walks were open there were very few people and we hoped we would be able to see lots of birds and animals, we had to climb a very high tower to get to the first bridge across the canopy (this is a suspension bridge across the top of the trees) for those of you who know that I do not do suspension bridges then you also know how brave I was to do this, but I can tell you it was worth the effort, there were 6 bridges joined by tracks through the jungle it was a wonderful experience. There were no other people on the walk we were doing although we did see some people doing the zip line’s, this was not for me that would be a zip too far cause I am too chicken!!! Can you imagine flying over the top of the jungle on a zip line?

Unlike a BBC travel program the rain forest was not teaming with wild life at every step. However, the plants, flowers and the birds we did managed to see were absolutely wonderful. We had parked in their car park overnight at the side of the humming bird garden this was beautiful to watch these wonderful little birds darting from one feeder to the other and hovering with their wings going so fast, did you know they are the only bird that can fly backwards!

From here we went along a worse road to Santa Elena Reserve. Les and I went on another jungle walk taking a guide who spoke very good English and had a great passion for her country and her job, her knowledge of the birds, flowers, plants and trees was amazing. It makes the whole trip so enjoyable when a guide is like this because it rubs off and we all get so much out of the trip. She knew where to take us to see the birds and we spotted a Bell Bird - which we have been told today is very hard to see. We were able to watch this bird fly from one perch to another so watched it for some time. We were very happy about this. Then it was back down the awful road to find a camp for the night. Les spotted a piece of flat ground next to a café, turned out not to be so flat so the proprietor of the café sent us round the back to a football pitch, we parked along the touch line, from next door were able to book a coffee tour along with a tour of the Quaker cheese factory for the next day.

What a wonderful and interesting day this has turned out to be. The road if anything was worse but we were not driving so were able to enjoy the drive, I, of course, sat in the front Margaret - will not allow the driver to sit me any where else, I was very pleased and just about hung onto my stomach ! The whole area is preserved, growing coffee, bananas, pineapple, papaya, orange, lemons and mango, also dairy farming. The Quakers have given so much back to this part of Cost Rica, which has given them such a peaceful life.

The Quakers purchased a large farm, some 50 hectares, which was then divided between 25 of the poorest families in the area on 25 year leases - the farmer has the choice to renew, the conditions are - they cannot sell the farms, they must live in the traditional way and teach these ways to their children, who can then take the farm over under the same conditions. It was one of these coffee farms belonging to a cooperative, part of the Fair Trade organization we were to visit, we were very lucky because we booked 'pot luck' on the only truly Eco coffee tour. I have in all of my travels never seen coffee growing so was really looking forward to this but unprepared for what I learnt. This farm is worked solely by the farmer (with his family helping when it is picking time) we met a young American volunteer who was taking the pips from lemons that were to be planted to create shade for the coffee. The farmer is paid annually for the coffee crop when the beans are sold to the mill; he grows enough food to feed his family and sells any surplus. His wife works, the family live a very happy simple life making a reasonable living. His farm is totally organic unlike other coffee plantations we passed on the mountain side’s just rows and rows of coffee plants. Here we have coffee plants growing under the protection of banana trees, orange and lemon trees, flowers and shrubs not only giving protection from the strong wind that is here but also from the animals who like to eat the fruit on the coffee trees (the beans are wrapped in a very sweet syrup) but instead of eating the coffee berries, they will eat fruit from the other trees also apparently banana trees put a huge amount of goodness into the soil, the husbandry of this guys farm was amazing, it was explained to us very carefully and thoroughly, very interesting and shows what can be done, making very little impact on the countryside in fact improving, no forest has been lost since this operation has been in practice and no chemicals are used and very little natural compost is needed. The people also have a lovely life. The small coffee mill which only processes the beans for the farmers of the cooperative was run along the same lines everything given back to the land, everything done by hand, most of the mill was run by water. The pulp from the beans is made into natural compost on the site using worms from North America as Costa Rican worms liked the jungle best! Up until only a few years ago all the pulp from all the beans in C.R was put into the rivers this proved to be the biggest source of pollution, it is now illegal to do this. This compost is free to the farmers of the cooperative, however because the farms run by the cooperative are totally organic they use very little compost so most of it is sold giving the income back to the farmers in the dividend.
We then made a quick visit to a small organic paper making organization, again the Quakers had come up with the money to buy what was really a shed where women can work taking their children if they need to, when we visited there was an elderly man breaking up wet cardboard, a young man doing the heavy wet stuff and maybe a dozen ladies making cartons/bags that the coffee beans in the cooperative shop were sold in. they also made note books and birthday style cards and various other little things, all very nice indeed, of course we all brought something. Our guide this morning had been so enthusiastic and interesting we were all shocked to learn he had only been in the area 3 months, we all thought he had belonged to the original Quakers. As I have already said it makes such a difference.
After a very nice lunch in the cooperative café we walked up to the cheese factory, which turned out to be another informative/interesting visit.
The young lady who was our guide this afternoon was a direct decendant of the original group of families who came to the area. She again had this enthusiasm that makes for a good tour.
Of course one of the first things the families had to decide was how to make a living, I am sure this took a while, they were after all in the jungle which they did not want to harm, no roads and a long way from other large settlements, So, what ever it was had to be hardy, because of tough transportation (eggs would have been no good) sellable ‘cause it was to be their living, they came up with cheese, having made this decision, none of the families were cheese makers so how to make cheese , they wrote to the American government and asked “how do we make cheese” got back a reply! “An easy guide to cheese making” which they used! at first only using their own milk, but as they grew and other farmers wanted to sell their milk for cheese, the Quakers set up what the young lady assured us was not a cooperative, however it became more and more like a cooperative as the afternoon went on, all the farmers own stock in the company no one is allowed to own more than 5% the farmers own the local gas station and are helped in every way possible, the farmers each only have small herds, the young lady said like 35 cows! Of course the farms have again good husbandry are organic with no forest loss.
The cheese was good as well!!!
The local people are trying to stop the awful roads from being tarmac, because tourism is growing, they want the tourist’s but not the traffic which will spoil the balance, we did discuss park and ride with them, the chap that took us on the coffee tour is involved with the protests so was going to look York up on the internet.

I started this some days ago have since jumped 2 countries we are now in Honduras. I have had trouble since I have been back over here charging up my computer, there is a fault I think with my inverter Les has been charging it up for me with his but last week his inverter died! So I could not down load from the computer which had no battery, we have now both got a new inverter. I am very happy sat in my truck charging away. We are in a Merc garage in Tegucigalpa the capital of Honduras. We came for tyres for Les which he has been trying to find for ages (countries ha!) So I had a quick service and got the inverter and their sparky checked it out for me. Sooooo fingers X. we left this morning 03/04 with no new tyres, but had to come back ‘cause Les’s handbrake was not working he is having that and new tyres fixed as we speak I am so pleased for them, on these awful roads it is such a worry when you know the tyres are not 100%

05.04.2007
Still in Honduras, heading for the border, stopped at a beautiful waterfall today, had a nice walk along the side of the falls; lots of birds, plants and flowers; the temperature is good, there is a nice breeze, we are staying here for the night. Central America is very different from South America. Lots more jungle, small, very poor housing, lots of fruit for sale at the side of the road. We are in the mountains - the valleys are very hot. We are here at the very worst time of year, the hottest, to get as much done as we can we will stay as much as possible on the high ground which is cooler.
Also there has been no phone cover in Central America at all.