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| Baby bananas |
We had a great field trip to a banana plantation today with wonderful colleagues from work. Learned so much about one of the mainstays of Ecuador's economy . . . this country is the world's largest exporter of bananas and it is not hard to see why. There are thousands of acres of territory covered in banana plants and plantations, and each is putting out thousands of boxes of "green gold" a day. We went with the team of banana cutters in the field, seeing first hand this tough but precise work to get the 70 pound banana stems off the plant and out of the field. We followed the banana tram to the processing facility and watched the inspection, selection, cutting, washing, labeling, and boxing for export. Then we enjoyed a great lunch our hosts prepared for us - - - what a great day! Thanks to Elly Martinez and her family!
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| Ready to cut the stalks from the plants |
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| Work colleagues on a fun Saturday |
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| Welcome to the plantation! |
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| Ready to cut |
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| I cut, you catch |
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| Banana train heading home |
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| Bringing 'em in from the field |
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| Leaf symmetry |
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| Who knew this would be so fun?! |
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| Measuring and quality control |
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| Prepping for a shower and a bath |
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| Shower time |
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| Boxing clean bananas |
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| Labeling for export to Russia |
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| 2800 boxes a day from this plantation alone |
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| Truck takes the boxes to the ship at noon, and they sail tonight |
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Workers make about $17+ dollars a day,
slightly better than Ecuadorian minimum wage |
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