We toured the Chiquita Banana plantation last week. We drove up on a dirt road with thousands of banana trees surrounding us. We got out and the tour guides introduced themselves to us, then put in a movie about the plantation and also the Rainforest Alliance. We then asked a lot of questions and when that was done we had a yummy meal. We then drove over to where they go through the process of picking the bananas, discarding the bad ones, cleaning the good ones, then packing them up and shipping them out to consumers. We then saw a presentation by the local women about the history of the banana plantation and also how everything works. Unfortunately the whole thing was in spanish, but the point still came across well. The Nogua Group of performers are students, homemakers, community leaders and agricultureal workers when the group was formed in July of 2004. The Chiquita Nature and community project created the Nogua group to provide additional income oppurtunities in the communities. Workshops in theater, tourism, basic administration, and human relations are offered and all incomes go directly to the group. After their show they led us into the banana plantation for how the workers harvest the bananas. They must use lots of pesticides since bananas are native to Asia, as well as build extensive drainage systems like motes because there is so much rain in Costa Rica so the plants do not drowned.