Banana Republics, Steve Goodman: 1977)
Down to the banana republics, down to the tropical sun
Go the expatriated americans, hopin’ to find some fun
Some of them go for the sailing, caught by the lure of the sea
Tryin’ to find what is ailing, livin’ in the land of the free
Some of them are running from lovers, leaving no forward address
Some of them are running tons of ganja
Some are running from the i.r.s.
Late at night you will find them
In the cheap hotels and bars
Hustling the senoritas while they dance beneath the stars
Spending those renegade pesos on a bottle of rum and a lime
Singin’ give me some words I can dance to
Or a melody that rhymes
First you learn the native customs
Soon a word of spanish or two
You know that you cannot trust them
’cause they know they can’t trust you
Expatriated americans feelin’ so all alone
Telling themselves the same lies
That they told themselves back home
Down to the banana republics, things aren’t as warm as they seem
None of the natives are buying any second-hand american dreams
Down to the banana republics, down to the tropical sun
Go the expatriated americans hopin’ to find some fun
I took the previous picture
while I was in Panama
investigating how the
government there is
restoring past colonial
landscapes, like this Jesuit
mission where teenagers
learn about architectural
restoration.
While poking around the site I
stumbled on this statue.
Upon reading the plaque, I made an immediate connection. Berlanga was the
Spanish friar who, in 1535, described Panama as a "cueva de ladrones e sepultura
de peligrinos" [den of thieves and sepulchre of pilgrims.
In 2010, I didn’t think it was so bad.
Berlanga also was an early promoter of an interoceanic canal. I didn’t know
that he “discovered” the Galapagos Islands or, more importantly, introduced
banana cultivation to the Caribbean and Central America. It makes sense.
Religious orders in colonial Latin America also functioned as agricultural
researchers. Don’t be misled, however, Berlanga did not introduce plantation
production of bananas.
North Americans did.
This map illustrates Costa Rica’s leading banana plantation regions situated along
the historical Atlantic Railroad path (HIGH-LIGHTED IN YELLOW). Minor Keith is largely responsible
for establishing this agricultural region and transportation corridor.
These railroads were largely
built by fruit companies.
As you can see, the fruit
companies’ railroads
coincide with their
productions areas.
This is a photograph I
took while riding on the
fruit company train from
San Pedro Sula to
Puerto Cortes,
Honduras. The previous
two slides show the
geographic distribution of
Central America’s
railroads. They were
funded by the fruit
companies and limited
almost exclusively to
banana-producing
regions.
While the fruit companies built impressive infrastructure, isolated communities in the
interior of Central America are served by basic infrastructure like this hanging bridge,
locally called a “hamaca”. What season?
In invierno this river crossing often requires a long wait until runoff
flows through and the water level decreases. Your old school bus
might have found a second career as public transportation in a
Banana Republic.
Banana plantation in Honduras’ Aguan Valley.
This is what monoculture looks like.
This another monoculture in the
Aguan Valley that is displacing
increasing amounts of banana
lands in Central America. What
is the crop?
The crop is Palma Africana or African oil palm, so named because it is
native to southwest Africa. The bill board advertises a processing where
small growers can sell their harvests for “pago inmediato”
[immediate payment].
Oil palm plantations as far as the eye can see on former banana
lands see near the mouth of the Rio Aguan, Honduras.
The oil from the African Palm
Oil is used primarily in
processed foods and skin
products: Palmolive.
During the past decade
producers of the oil have
found a growing market for
the oil for use as biodiesel.
Oil palm fruits
This palmero is going to have to fix that tire to get his pago inmediato, Trujillo,
Honduras.