As charming as the little houses beneath may look, life in the fields of Costa Rica is pretty tough. Behind the lines of the touristic and laidback towns such as Cahuita, Tortuguero and Puerto Viejo and between the majestic mountains of Talamanca lay enormous acres of flat land. On it one can find the ever growing pineapple and mango plants and banana trees shining in the sun. Tourists barely know of the existence of these fields.
The plants and trees are maintained by workers that mostly come from Nicaragua. They work for months in their neighbouring country – often for a low wage. It’s one of the reason the bananas come so incredibly cheap in the supermarkets of the rest of the world.
The workers live in compounds together or are able to build their own place near the edges of the fields. Usually they bring their families too. The casas are made of wood, painted in all kinds of bright colours and – once November comes around – highly decorated with Christmas stuff. Take a look in here of what it’s like living in the more remote areas of the Caribbean.
