Corn and Beans 4/8/13

When I first arrived in January, the corn was growing.  I expected the corn to be harvested and the stalk to be cut down.  But, instead, the corn was picked, and the stocks died.  Most of the corn is grown during one of the two wet seasons.  Where I live there are two wet times of the year, and two dry times.  The dry times aren't that much different from the wet times of the year, there is just less rain.  The temperature varies by 20 degrees farenheit the ENTIRE year.  So, to me, it feels as if there aren't any seasons.

Corn here is different.  Corn is roasted, and tastes somewhere between corn on the cob in the states, and uncooked kernals of popcorn.  Corn on the cob is drier, and the corn is roasted since few people have electricity, and even less people have microwaves or stoves.

Some corn is available in the off season.  I took a two hour road trip to the capital today, and bought a warm cob on the way.  It was 200 Burundi Francs, or about $0.13.  Roasted corn is one of my favorite snacks.

When corn isn't growing, farmers often grow beans.  The beans are planted in the same field as the corn, and the vines from the bean plants climb the dead corn stalks.  If there aren't corn stalks,  farmers will put sticks in the grown for the bean plants to climb.  I originally thought the sticks were placed to prevent people or dogs from treading on the land.