Pineapples, watermelons and more
Powaka is an Amerindian village locate about 50 kilometers South of Paramaribo…you take the same road out of town as you do to get to the river… but your body stays in tack…you’re only on the bumpy dirt road for about 20 minutes…this automatically makes it a funnier trip. This Amerindian village is in the Savanna…the flat area between the ocean and the rainforest. Others Amerindian villages are found in the deep interior. The village of Powaka differs significantly from the Maroon villages we visited. I guess you might call Powaka… a suburban community. The house are bigger (but still in the shack category) and there’s a lot more space between them …you have to walk a ways to visit your neighbor and with the hot sun of the savanna beaming down… you don’t find many people on the road. The residents of Powaka are a bit better off then there counter parts in the interior. The men are farmers and… the women…well…they of course help with the harvest…they take care of the children… they do all the cooking and they make all the clothing. The Amerindian have some very colorful out fits…lots of red… and some wonderful rituals. ( a guys place on earth). Tanta Roline is the village Shaman (read; Mark Plotkin’s …Tale of a Shaman’s Apprentice)…. she is about 60 years or so old with the energy of a young woman and her chanting voice is that of a songbird. Standing on the edge of the forest …she dances around me… chanting and shaking her beads…massaging oils into my arms and neck…allowing the spirits of health to enter my body…I felt like. …Daniel Day Lewis…(The last of the Mohegan’s). and when it’s over and the spirits are with me…I feel terrific.
Now it’s time to go to work…the purpose of our visit… Hesdy Ormskrek (my other IICA counter part)… is going to show the pineapple growers how to select their planting materials, how to separate them out and how to plant them in the most advantageous way. Giving them the opportunity to produce a better crop and make harvesting easier. You would think they would know how to do this…not really...they have only been growing pineapples in the area for the last 3 years. So now it’s IICA’s job to make them better growers and it’s my job…or should I say… I’m making it my job…. to get at least one full container of Powoka Pineapples shipped out of the country before I leave. I’ve never been a big fan of pineapple...but …once you sink your teeth into a pineapple from Powaka you fast become a fan… it’s like eating candy. Oh … they also grow watermelon and unlike the seedless, tasteless watermelons you currently get at your local U.S. supermarket…Suriname watermelons are full of seeds and full of flavor…I love my watermelon… and the season goes on for months.
Let’s get back to our days work…. Being that we had our 4 wheel pick up truck we were able to drive (15 minutes) part way out to the field.. Farmer Henk walks it everyday during the season…at the end of the road we come to a small creek…the canoe is down stream loading Pom…( we’ll talk about Pom when we talk about Cassava at a later date)…so we take off through the forest with Henk and his machete leading the way. We walk for about 15 minute’s on the east bank of the creek but, we need to be on the west side… the creek is waste deep so they ferry us over in the canoe…I guess they don’t know that my REI boots are water proof… we walked another 600 yards…I know I paced it off…I just had to know how far the women of the village have to walk on this narrow path…with pineapples in a basket that they strap to their back…to get them out of the field and on there way to market. Now… if you’re visualizing coming out into a beautiful green field of pineapple symmetry …forget it…this field was created by slashing and burning the forest. Four huge trees lie in a field filled with burnt stumps...some thankfully… camouflaged by the pineapple plants. Slashing and burning the forest is part of the culture among the Amerindian and it’s a tough job to even talk about change. I’ve got the feeling that Powaka Pineapples and watermelons will show at Wal-Marts well before Suriname’s natives stops slashing and burning their rainforest.…
So…now I know how to grow pineapples …anybody got a plantation for sale?
Powaka is an Amerindian village locate about 50 kilometers South of Paramaribo…you take the same road out of town as you do to get to the river… but your body stays in tack…you’re only on the bumpy dirt road for about 20 minutes…this automatically makes it a funnier trip. This Amerindian village is in the Savanna…the flat area between the ocean and the rainforest. Others Amerindian villages are found in the deep interior. The village of Powaka differs significantly from the Maroon villages we visited. I guess you might call Powaka… a suburban community. The house are bigger (but still in the shack category) and there’s a lot more space between them …you have to walk a ways to visit your neighbor and with the hot sun of the savanna beaming down… you don’t find many people on the road. The residents of Powaka are a bit better off then there counter parts in the interior. The men are farmers and… the women…well…they of course help with the harvest…they take care of the children… they do all the cooking and they make all the clothing. The Amerindian have some very colorful out fits…lots of red… and some wonderful rituals. ( a guys place on earth). Tanta Roline is the village Shaman (read; Mark Plotkin’s …Tale of a Shaman’s Apprentice)…. she is about 60 years or so old with the energy of a young woman and her chanting voice is that of a songbird. Standing on the edge of the forest …she dances around me… chanting and shaking her beads…massaging oils into my arms and neck…allowing the spirits of health to enter my body…I felt like. …Daniel Day Lewis…(The last of the Mohegan’s). and when it’s over and the spirits are with me…I feel terrific.
Now it’s time to go to work…the purpose of our visit… Hesdy Ormskrek (my other IICA counter part)… is going to show the pineapple growers how to select their planting materials, how to separate them out and how to plant them in the most advantageous way. Giving them the opportunity to produce a better crop and make harvesting easier. You would think they would know how to do this…not really...they have only been growing pineapples in the area for the last 3 years. So now it’s IICA’s job to make them better growers and it’s my job…or should I say… I’m making it my job…. to get at least one full container of Powoka Pineapples shipped out of the country before I leave. I’ve never been a big fan of pineapple...but …once you sink your teeth into a pineapple from Powaka you fast become a fan… it’s like eating candy. Oh … they also grow watermelon and unlike the seedless, tasteless watermelons you currently get at your local U.S. supermarket…Suriname watermelons are full of seeds and full of flavor…I love my watermelon… and the season goes on for months.
Let’s get back to our days work…. Being that we had our 4 wheel pick up truck we were able to drive (15 minutes) part way out to the field.. Farmer Henk walks it everyday during the season…at the end of the road we come to a small creek…the canoe is down stream loading Pom…( we’ll talk about Pom when we talk about Cassava at a later date)…so we take off through the forest with Henk and his machete leading the way. We walk for about 15 minute’s on the east bank of the creek but, we need to be on the west side… the creek is waste deep so they ferry us over in the canoe…I guess they don’t know that my REI boots are water proof… we walked another 600 yards…I know I paced it off…I just had to know how far the women of the village have to walk on this narrow path…with pineapples in a basket that they strap to their back…to get them out of the field and on there way to market. Now… if you’re visualizing coming out into a beautiful green field of pineapple symmetry …forget it…this field was created by slashing and burning the forest. Four huge trees lie in a field filled with burnt stumps...some thankfully… camouflaged by the pineapple plants. Slashing and burning the forest is part of the culture among the Amerindian and it’s a tough job to even talk about change. I’ve got the feeling that Powaka Pineapples and watermelons will show at Wal-Marts well before Suriname’s natives stops slashing and burning their rainforest.…
So…now I know how to grow pineapples …anybody got a plantation for sale?
posted by Robert B. at 7:12 AM
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