Eida Esperanza Fonseca Cruz, was born 80 years ago at Legua de Aserrí near the capital. Still very young, she came with her family to La Esperanza where years later she met her future husband, Macho Duarte. In 1955, he invested his savings of 8.000 col.in some 155 hectares of land in the highlands of San Josecito.
When Eida and her first newborn child arrived at the ranch in the woods, she began to cry. She was far away from her family and cut off. But soon she got used to it, there was not much time left to complain.
Starting at 5 AM she had to get water from the creek, prepare the fire, plant corn and beans, milk the cow, tend the sugar mill and take lunch wrapped in banana leaves to the men.
When another baby was about to be born, Macho sat Eida on the horse, and following winding trails and crossing torrential rivers during a day-long trip, they arrived at her mother’s house. These trips were the worst. There were no bridges, and sometimes the horses got stuck in the mud. In the old times, Eida says, there were only 15 days of summer and it rained the rest of the year.
There was plenty of food from their own harvest and the men hunted or fished. As of the late 50’s, there was a schoolhouse and a church in San Josecito to meet the needs of the growing neighborhood.
“Our family has always been close,” said Mrs. Eida. She is very proud of her 40 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
Last year, for the first time in her life, she left the mountain to make a long journey by land and sea: Her children took her for a few days to the Barceló Hotel at Playa Tambor, Puntarenas.
