At the finca

My home for the next couple of days was going to be the finca, a typical banana farm in the coastal region of Ecuador. I was staying with Juan Carlos and Chari, the owners of the farm, and their three kids. Additionally, the family had three dogs and many chicken running around, as well as a parrot up in the mandarin tree (unless he was being fed or the daughter played with him). A big wooden shed contained kitchen and dining area, which was also regularly visited by members of the other families living and working on the farm (including their dogs) or relatives living in the nearby village, which often came to help out as well.

The food prepared was typical for the coastal region, and apart from rice and bread, was mainly from the farm itself. Typically, any food served always is rice plus something else. This something else could be vegetables, meat, eggs, cheese, ... In my familiy the rice generally came with platanos (green bananas for cooking), cheese, eggs and a variations of other vegetables and fruit growing on the farm. For lunch, additionally a soup was servered. Breakfast for the workers was similar, for the others fresh fruit, eggs and bread with cheese. Additionally, there was always freshly pressed fruit juices available.

On my first day on the finca, I got a tour of the farm, to see the different types of bananas being grown here, but also some of the many other plants, being used only by the family, not for export: papayas, kakao, pepper, yucca, mangos, lemons, oranges, mandarins, watermelons, cinamon, and many other exotic  plants, whose names I have already forgotten...

The other day,  I got a first glimpse into what I might expect at my next destination, in the jungle. The nephew of my hosts showed me around in a small jungle they had at the edge of the farm. It didn't have any preprepared tracks, so we had a machete with us to clear the way. Again, I got shown lots of different plants and explained their use (for eating, for making jewelry, for building houses, for their colour), as well as many different types of ants and termites and their different types of housing. We also talked about the different animals generally active at night, and why it therefore wouldn't be such a good idea to go for a stroll in the jungle at night (unless you want to be bitten by poisonous snakes).

All the explanations I got, however, as well as any other conversation on the finca, was always in Spanish (meaning I definitely didn't understand everything). Except Juan Carlos, nobody spoke any word of English. (And even Juan Carlos only understood a bit of English, but didn't really speak much either.) But after all, I was here to learn Spanish...