The complete manuscript of my works about the United and Standard Fruit Companies. photo © Lorraine Caputo This installment of the Ode is from the Places chapter. The Bananero stands, right hand on hip, momentarily taking a rest from his work, a racimo of yellow-green bananas atop his left shoulder. He winces under its weight. Blue pants held up by a yellow rope, large bare feet planted firmly upon his pedestal. The bronze-black skin of his naked chest gleams in the rain, his back to the great port built by that Octopus, United Fruit Company. He faces its plantations of the Motagua River Val ..read more

The complete manuscript of my works about the United and Standard Fruit Companies. photo © Lorraine Caputo It’s a hot day in Omoa, Honduras. I stop at a refreshment kiosk on the road from the highway to the fort, and order a banana licuado. The small business belongs to María Elena’s family. She’s an English teacher. In front of her stacks her students’ exercises. I tell her I’m writing a book about the banana companies. “I’d like to learn more about their history here. But there’s scant information. Not even the museum has much.” She pushes those papers more to one side. Her hand is the col ..read more

The complete manuscript of my works about the United and Standard Fruit Companies. photo © Lorraine Caputo You are a town spun in history, from Cristóbal Colón’s last voyage to a port protected from pirates by the Spanish Fortaleza Santa Bárbara, from the first capital of this nascent country to the execution of filibuster William Walker. Many had their embassies here: France, Spain, England, the US. And both United Fruit and Standard Fruit left their cobwebs, too. ~      ~      ~ I wander through the odd clutter of Señor Galván’s museum. A b ..read more

The complete manuscript of my works about the United and Standard Fruit Companies. photo © Lorraine Caputo A rocky road studded with jade and copper-blue rocks cuts for several miles through a banana plantation, heading for the heart of the Maya past. This land, formerly of Cuauc Sky, Jade Sky … formerly of the United Fruit Company, now (in this late-December of 1993) of Del Monte. A hedge of clavel separates road from field. Their bright red flowers cascade towards the dust raised by passing trucks and tourist buses. Three men ride up on bicycles, a small bunch of bananas slung from the han ..read more

The complete manuscript of my works about the United and Standard Fruit Companies. photo © Lorraine Caputo As the old school bus stops at the central park, I look at my watch. I’ve got an hour to catch the Chiquita train. But where’s the station? The driver suggests I ask the ice cream vendor. He pulls the bill of his ball cap up. “Pues, at the traffic light, take a right. About ten blocks, then. Just past the bridge.” I hop back on the bus. “Oh, I’ll be going right by there,” responds the driver. I know we are getting close: up on that water tower is the familiar blue seal. I’m off and I’m ..read more

After weeks on the road, do you need a respite from the typical Latin American experiences and food? Then head to the nearest Chinatown and trip into a cultural and culinary break! In Spanish, these neighborhoods are called Barrio Chino. If you need a break from the ubiquitous rice or lake of vegetables in Latin American meals, you can always head to a chifa, as Chinese restaurants are called in Latin America, for tallarines (noodles). These eateries are found in cities and small towns alike. The food, though, is often prepared for locals’ taste buds. It can be difficult to find authentically ..read more

The Three Cultures Plaza in Tlatelolco. photo by Susana Torres Sánchez. CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Every country has chapters in their histories that are hidden and hushed. But in the memories of the pueblo, the people those events are held in silence and passed from generation to generation in whispers. At times, the silence is infused with pride – and others, with pain so intense that it is reflected in eyes … In Mexico’s history, one such event is the Massacre of Tlatelolco. In 1968, Mexico – like France, the United States of America and other countries – rocked with demonstratio ..read more

15 January 1994 / Estelí, Nicaragua We gather in front of a blue bullet-pocked building near the central park.  Women of the Madres de los Héroes y Mártires sell home-made plastic flowers.  A late-afternoon summer wind blows. Soon we are a procession, honoring the memory of Leonel Rugama.  That seminarian, teacher, poet.  The guerrillero who helped finance the Revolution by robbing banks.  He and two compañeros were trapped in a safehouse.  Surrounded by tanks, by hundreds of troops.  For three hours the shooting went on.  The planes bombed.  That ..read more

The complete manuscript of my works about the United and Standard Fruit Companies. photo © Lorraine Caputo (Puerto Barrios, Guatemala to Cuyamelito, Honduras / 16 March 1998) We leave the Bananero behind, eternally resting for that moment in his endless toil, and we head in the direction of his gaze, turning our backs on that great port of Barrios. The driver’s assistant yells out the door of this old red and white school bus INCA     INCA     FINCA LA INCA. The sun climbs in the early morning sky. Broken clouds remain after four days of rain. At Entre ..read more

July is a month of many important events in Nicaraguan history, in its search for true sovereignty, freedom from the claws of the Northern Eagle: 16 July 1927 – In Ocotal, Augusto César Sandino leads an attack against the US Marines and Nicaraguan National Guard, under the leadership of Anastasio Somoza García, who later was responsible of Sandino’s assassination and was made president by the U.S. government. 24 July 1928 – Augusto César Sandino’s movement against the U.S. occupation of Nicaragua officially ends – though the struggle would continue …. 23 July 1961 – The Frente Sandinista de ..read more