Bananas have cloth bags around them while growing so that the product doesn’t get any damage to skins or they will be rejected. It takes Pineapple 2.5 years to grow naturally. Only 50,000 hectares are used for growing. More chemicals used on them than any place in world. They speed up growth rate so that they are ready in 6 months. Hmmmm, makes you think!!!

Drug dealers were using pineapples to hide cocaine for transport but government now have X-ray machines on all exports so not so much gets through.

We stopped at a coffee cooperative. Crops are brought in from the growers from Oct to Dec. it takes 4 years to grow a plant that produces. They plant 2 together because the plants compete with each other. For 12 kilo of beans picked, the pickers gets $2. There are 120 farms in this co-op. Th e farmers spray the bushes with a vinegar water mixture for prevention of fungus, twice a week. The beans are dried in a greenhouse for 4 months, then an additional 8 months before go to 50 year old ovens for roasting. The 1st quality beans are heavier, 2nd and subsequent are lighter. Darker roast depends on number of minutes roasted. Light has more caffeine. To make a pot of coffee, the use one heaping tablespoon of coffee per cup, medium ..,,..1 heaving tbsp for every 2 cups