The Photo Gallery - a Trip Down Memory Lane

Album 3

CATIE Headquarters Building, Turrialba, Costa Rica

W. R. Coffman, Doug Hogue and students en route to CATIE in Turrilba, Costa Rica

Ronnie Coffman doing the "Fire Ant Dance." Costa Rica. This dance involved partial disrobing in an effort to get to the biting ants, and such activity is hard on ones composure. The fire ant dance has been danced once or more on almost every trip since 1968. Fire ants make large mounds, and when one stands near their mound, the fire ants crawl up ones legs, but do not seem to bite until they are up the legs quite a distance. This results in shrieking, removal of clothing, jumping, slapping, and considerable merriment from those not so afflicted.

Mr. and Mrs. L. Walker. Our farm household visits to the local farmers near Hone Creek were always interesting and worthwhile. The farmers were all black descendents of Jamaicans, and thus they spoke English, Spanish, and the creole dialect common to the Caribbean. Therefore students that did not speak Spanish were able to speak directly to farmers and to ask and obtain answers to questions without a translator as intermediary. Mr. Walker spent over an hour showing the small group I was with each plant in his tropical home garden. Tropical home gardens are common all over the tropics and are an important, often overlooked sources of food, medicine, wood for lumber and firewood, ornamentals, fruits, and export crops. Mr. Walker demonstrated how he collected nutmeg and then buried the fruit in the ground so the pulp would disintegrate and make the nuts easier to sell. He said an American came around every few months to buy any nutmegs he had produced during the interim. He also harvested coconuts for us, so we could have a refreshing drink of pipa juice. All of the farmers were most hospitable, and although their small houses were tiny and sparsely furnished, they offered us drinks from coconuts (pipa) or other refreshment.

From Puerto Viejo we followed a road south to Bribri lined with beautiful coconut palms. Miles of wide, white sandy ocean beaches were glimpsed through the palms. Bribri is a small town only a few meters from the border with Panama. There we visited an ANAI (New Alchemy Institute) development project whose major activity when we visited was developing a tree nursery for distribution of seedlings of various fruits and tree species to local farmers. ANAI provided initial planting material, basic equipment, and technical organizational guidance while the communities provided local resources, labor, and management. In Costa Rica ANAI has helped 25 rural group organize and manage their own nurseries and introduce new and improved perennial crops to local farmers. The road from Bribri led into the Talamanca mountain range which rises to 13,000 feet. The Bribri Indians, one of the few indigenous Indian groups left in Costa Rica, still live in the rugged mountain areas.
Visiting ANAI Agroforestry Project. Bribri, Costa Rica.

Banana plantation on Rojas finca, Costa Rica

Madison Wright, Bob Blake, Ronnie Coffman, and students enjoying Rojas family hospitality, Costa Rica

Table at a market in Turrialba, Costa Rica. "Do not sit, do not eat, and don't sleep on this table."

Fish culture in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Tilapia.

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CATIE Headquarters Building, Turrialba, Costa Rica	W. R. Coffman, Doug Hogue and students en route to CATIE in Turrilba, Costa Rica
Ronnie Coffman doing the "Fire Ant Dance." Costa Rica. This dance involved partial disrobing in an effort to get to the biting ants, and such activity is hard on ones composure. The fire ant dance has been danced once or more on almost every trip since 1968. Fire ants make large mounds, and when one stands near their mound, the fire ants crawl up ones legs, but do not seem to bite until they are up the legs quite a distance. This results in shrieking, removal of clothing, jumping, slapping, and considerable merriment from those not so afflicted.
	Mr. and Mrs. L. Walker. Our farm household visits to the local farmers near Hone Creek were always interesting and worthwhile. The farmers were all black descendents of Jamaicans, and thus they spoke English, Spanish, and the creole dialect common to the Caribbean. Therefore students that did not speak Spanish were able to speak directly to farmers and to ask and obtain answers to questions without a translator as intermediary. Mr. Walker spent over an hour showing the small group I was with each plant in his tropical home garden. Tropical home gardens are common all over the tropics and are an important, often overlooked sources of food, medicine, wood for lumber and firewood, ornamentals, fruits, and export crops. Mr. Walker demonstrated how he collected nutmeg and then buried the fruit in the ground so the pulp would disintegrate and make the nuts easier to sell. He said an American came around every few months to buy any nutmegs he had produced during the interim. He also harvested coconuts for us, so we could have a refreshing drink of pipa juice. All of the farmers were most hospitable, and although their small houses were tiny and sparsely furnished, they offered us drinks from coconuts (pipa) or other refreshment.
From Puerto Viejo we followed a road south to Bribri lined with beautiful coconut palms. Miles of wide, white sandy ocean beaches were glimpsed through the palms. Bribri is a small town only a few meters from the border with Panama. There we visited an ANAI (New Alchemy Institute) development project whose major activity when we visited was developing a tree nursery for distribution of seedlings of various fruits and tree species to local farmers. ANAI provided initial planting material, basic equipment, and technical organizational guidance while the communities provided local resources, labor, and management. In Costa Rica ANAI has helped 25 rural group organize and manage their own nurseries and introduce new and improved perennial crops to local farmers. The road from Bribri led into the Talamanca mountain range which rises to 13,000 feet. The Bribri Indians, one of the few indigenous Indian groups left in Costa Rica, still live in the rugged mountain areas.	Visiting ANAI Agroforestry Project. Bribri, Costa Rica.
Banana plantation on Rojas finca, Costa Rica	Madison Wright, Bob Blake, Ronnie Coffman, and students enjoying Rojas family hospitality, Costa Rica
Table at a market in Turrialba, Costa Rica. "Do not sit, do not eat, and don't sleep on this table."	Fish culture in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Tilapia.