Each November, nearly 200 Ngöbe-Buglé indigenous people walk from their homes around Bocas del Toro, Panama, to Hacienda La Amistad, a coffee plantation and biosphere reserve in the Southern Zone of Costa Rica. They are quiet and peaceful people, traveling to make a modest living picking coffee. They work in the fields from about 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. Typically, they fill between eight and 13 cajuelas per day. Plantation owner Roberto Montero says the $7,000-$8,000 most families make in one season is the best money they make during the year. “People relate a good life with a lot of money,”Montero says.“(But) these guys are not stressed out. They don’t know what stress is.” Montero and the workers have a close relationship, he even gives the kids rides home in his 1978 Range Rover.
