More than I ever wanted to know about rice

Today I had the morning off and decided to accompany our resident agriculturalist and his family and visitors down to the fields in front of the hospital. The Hondurans were harvesting rice from the field and it turned out to be quite fascinating. First of all, the rice looks like just another weed growing in the field. Second of all, you have to beat it to death on a board to get the rice off. Then the rice has to be tossed about and blown to get the husk off. The most interesting thing to me was realizing that rice does not have to be grown in a swamp. I have always seen "rice paddies" in huge puddles of water. However, according to the locals, rice can be grown anywhere, it is just often grown in swampy areas because it tolerates the water better than any other crop. Other plants would be washed away or drowned out, but rice stands firm in deep waters. Fascinating!

After the rice lessons, we wandered through the fields taking random photos of pretty scenery, huge banana spiders, and cute little crabs. Then we headed down through the "enchanted forest" to Miss Christie's beach. It was a lovely day!!!