From the top of an old water tower, Boa and I watched a regionally famous crop duster spray Dole’s banana plantation in Valle de La Estrella.  The agility and accuracy of the pilot was exceptional – with each pass, the pilot cut off flow while flying over a road and simultaneously rose slightly to narrowly miss the power lines running parallel to the road.

The plantation spans much of Valle de La Estrella and has consequently dramatically altered the hydrology of the region.  Various dikes and canals are used to control flow through the plantation into the river, and proposed projects to increase control through construction of additional channels threaten a protected coral reef south of the Rio La Estrella’s mouth (in Cahuita) due to increased sediment load.