Bringing in the beans

Kidney beans are a big cash crop in Chepo and the surrounding area.  January and February are the months when people here are harvesting red kidney beans.   Since there is no level ground in Chepo, farmers have to plant on fields which are accessible only by footpaths, and they usually have several small plots planted.  Many families will harvest 25 100 lb bags of beans or more.  At $65-$70 a bag, this can be an important part of the annual income of a family.

Since the fields are not easily accessible, they can’t use machines to harvest the beans.  Everything is done by hand, essentially the same as it has been done for the past 100 years.

Steve helped some of his neighbors to bring in the beans one recent afternoon.  The beans had been pulled out by the roots the week before, and now the plants were dry and ready for the next step.

Andres collects the dry bean plants on a tarp and takes them to be thrashed by the rest of the family.

The first step is to walk over the bean plants, breaking open the pods and compressing the pile in preparation of the next step.

Steve and Alexandra stomp on the bean plants.

The next step is to whack the piles with a wooden stick until all the beans have been separated from their pods.

Alexandra and Yeimy, ages 6 and 11, help out.

Edilia and her friend Janet take their turn at pounding the pile.  You can see the beans collecting on the tarp.

As the sun sets into the west, it’s time to carry the beans up the hill to the house.  It’s only a 10-15 minute walk, but it’s straight uphill.  The men (including 65 year-old Andres) were filling up 100 lb bags to carry up when Steve spied a half-full bag ready to go.  He grabbed it and started up the hill.   It turns out that was Edilia’s bag, which is why it was only 50 lbs.  They filled up another 50 pounder for her and everyone started up the hill.  They all took a couple of rest stops on the way up.  The total for a couple of hours’ work - 200 lbs of beans.  Earlier in the day they had done another 300.

Steve is glad to have only 50 lbs!

There is still a lot of work to be done.  First, the dust and dirt has to be separated from the beans.  The beans are tossed in the air in the breeze or in front of a fan.  Then the beans all have to be picked through by hand to take out the ones which are not of good quality.  All in all, it's a very long process!

The next day it’s time to celebrate our neighbor Diego’s birthday.  He is 9 years old.  He lives with his grandmother Polin across the street from us during school time, but he has been with his mother Anarelis during the last several weeks of school vacation.

The kids (and some adults) ham it up for the camera.

The obligatory piñata is set up and after a few small kids miss, the birthday boy steps up to bat.  The custom is to let the one with the birthday break the piñata, and that is what happens.

The piñata is filled with flour and candy, and pandemonium sets in as it breaks.  In theory, only the kids scramble for the candy, but you can see there are bodies large and small diving into the pile.  The flash reflects off the flour particles in the air.

Polin’s five daughters were all home for the event, which doesn’t happen very often as they are spread out between Chepo, Chitre and Panama City.  Their names are Eliseyda, Anarelis, Yuryelis, Eliseydis and Elisenia.  Can you see why it took me a while to learn their names?  There were lots of comments as this picture was taken.  “Does Heather know you’re here with five women?”, etc.   (She does.)

One final thing - what do you do when there is only one bike and three kids need to go somewhere?  One recent day nine kids went by on three bikes.  I was only able to take a photo of the last bike as they zoomed by.