Tarzan Swing Video!

This is a video of Saul, one of our professors, on the tarzan swing. Sorry its sideways.

Plants that Move!

This is a video of a species of plant we found on our nature walk near the volcano that colse their leaves when you touch them!

The Hydro-Electric Power Plant and Sustainability

While we were in Arenal, we stopped at a hydroelectric power plant that supplies much of the electricity to surrounding towns in Costa Rica. It is owned by ICE, the main power and telephone company in Costa Rica. Also, "ICE is the sole authority of Costa Rica's electric power system, with hydroelectric power accounting for about three-quarters of its total power supply." This is very crucial for maintaning Costa Rica's commitment to the environment. While we were there, we got to stand on the dam and one of the mangers of the companies that owns the plant told us everything about it. We learned how it all worked and found out some pretty interesting facts about how it operates. The dam took two years to build, and the water is drained from the river down 2 miles of pipes to the power generation station. This allsows the water to reach super fast speeds so that it can spin the turbines and create electricity. We got to see the turbines in action and it was incredible to see how fast they really spun. The hydroelectric power plant is a great source of renewable energy, especially in Costa Rica where it rains almost every day. This is one example of how sustainability can be applied to certain areas depending on the environment that it is located in. Other areas of the world should find out what source of renewable energy will work best for their ecosystem and use this to benefit the environment as much as possible and curb us away from our dependence on fossil fuels. Here are a few pictures from the power plant:

View of the dam. The water was pretty dirty from all the sediment.

Daine and Steve!

Marty and Rob on the other side.

I thin one of the holding tanks.

One of the turbines spinning to create electricity.

Dole Bananas in Costa Rica

Dole bananas are one of the chief exports in Costa Rica today, and they have a well known reputation for being an environmentally friendly and socially just company around the world. In July 1998, Dole's banana plantations in Costa Rica became the first agricultural producer in the world to receive its ISO 14001 certification developed by the International Organization for Standardization for approved environmental management. This was very important in Costa Rica because of the value put on environmental sustainability and eco-friendliness for companies in the country. Then, on March 2, 2005, Dole announced that its banana farms in Costa Rica recieved certification to the Social Accountability International SA 8000 work place and human rights standard. This certification has improved the Dole reputation even more, as it focuses on "child labor, forced labor, health and safety, freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining, discrimination, disciplinary practices, working hours, compensation and the implementation of an efficient management system." It is a standard that is certified by the ILO conventions, the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on Rights of the Child. The certification covers the planting, harvesting, and packing of bananas for export to the United States and Europe. Obviously, Dole is working very hard to ensure that they are striving for eco-friendliness and social justice.

This certification is a huge step for a banana plantation in Costa Rica because they normally have been known to disregard any rights of workers, pay extremely low wages, and put employees in danger while on the job. Many of the pesticides normally used for banana production have ruined thousands of acres of land, transforming them from diverse tropical ecosystems to barren, chemical filled fields that can now only be used to produce bananas. These pesticides and chemical eventually collect in the soil, ground water, and any runoff from the plantation, putting surrounding towns in danger as well. Also, these pesticides are still extremely toxic, and over 60% of reported pesticide poisonings in Costa Rica are from banana plantation workers. According to the book Green Prison, written by a banana plantation worker, "workers rarely receive adequate and appropriate protective clothing, nor are they properly trained to use pesticides safely." Clearly, banana plantations are not a very safe place to work. However, Dole has ensured, through their environmental and sociail certifications, that they are committed to safer working conditions and environmentally safe plantations. Dole has also received many other recognitions and awards for banana production in Costa Rica, including its corporate social responsibility program. Lastly, Dole has an excellent commitment towards the environment and its workers in Costa Rica, as the compnay has announced an Earth Day Agreement to offset carbon emissions in banana transport, the conversion of its farm equipment to bio-deisel fuel, and has renewed its goals for their health and education programs in Costa Rica.

Manuel Antonio

After our super long weekend in Arenal and Monteverde, we left the next day for what we thought would be a relaxing two day break at one of the most famous beaches in Costa Rica: Manuel Antonio. We all met at the University and found that our "70's" bus had 28 seats for all 28 of us, so we packed ourselves in and headed off on the 5 hour drive to the west coast of Costa Rica. The drive was like any other in this country, with bad roads and small bridges. This bus was old and it barely made it up the hills we had to go up when crossing the mountains. Along the way we got to stop at a small market to get food, and the fresh pineapples were only $1. We also got to stop at this one river where we saw crocodiles! These things were huge! We continued on and finally got to Manuel Antonio (after crossing the most rickety one way wooden bridges I have ever seen!) Our hotel was a block from the beach and when we first walked in we saw a lizard right in the middle of the floor. We headed down to the beach front to get lunch. I have realized here that Tico Time is definitely true. Food service is slow anywhere you go! Tico's ( Costa Ricans ) have no regard for time and it is not rude at all to be late for anything. So food service goes the same way and it took about an hour and a half to eat. We didn't care too much because it was raining and cloudy, so we weren't in a big hurry to get to the ocean. When it stopped raining a little, we all went into the ocean and body surfed which was amazing because the waves were seriously huge! Way bigger than in San Diego or Fort Lauderdale. We decided not to surf that day because we figured it would be sunny in the morning. We played 500 with a football which was fun because you could dive and not get hurt. So, after we were all pretty tired out, we went back to the hotel. On our way back we saw a monkey up in the trees! This was the first monkey I have ever seen in the wild so I was excited. We all changed and went to happy hour at the bar on the ocean front, and the servers loved us because we were all buying drinks and eating food. It was a great time, and we headed off from there to a discoteca where we danced (salsa and merengue of course) and hung out for a few hours. By midnight we were dead tired from the long day and we took a taxi home and went to bed. The next morning we all awoke hoping that it would be sunny, but it was raining harder than ever, so we pretty much did nothing until we left at 2:00 to head back home. We didn't get to go surfing, but hopefully that will happen sometime in the next 2 weeks. Apparently there is a tropical storm here in Costa Rica and that is why it has been raining for the past 5 days straight! We are all dying to get some sunshine and can't wait for it to clear up.

Arenal and Monteverde

WOWWW.... Seriously one of the coolest weekends of my life!... Ok so I guess I will start on Friday. We left San Jose for the town of Fortuna where the Arenal Volcano and many other landmarks are located. When we got to the hotel, which was more like a motel, we all changed into our bathing suits and headed off to the Hot Springs at teh base of the volcano. This place had 12 different temperature hot springs, but the first thing we saw was the slide. We all ran up the stairs and expected the normal medium paced slide that you go down once and get bored with. But we were totally wrong. This slid was the fastest, most dangerous water slide I have ever been on, and we all decieded it probably wouldn't have even been allowed in the U.S. It only has two turns but you whip down the second one so fast that you almost reach the edge of the slide and you definitely feel like you are going to go flying right off the side. Then after this second turn you rocket down to the bottom and your whole body slides on top of the water at the end because you are going so fast. it was so fun to watch people come down the slide because their bodies would fly in every direction haha. I got airborn coming around the second turn and flew for a few feet above the water at the end, and it was amazing! Pretty much everyone had brusies after their first time down but we all loved it and proceeded to g down at least 5 more times! So after we got done with that, a few of us decided to try the hottest spring that they had at this place. When we first stuck our feet in we all thought we would never be able to get in. It took us all a while and a bunch of the guys got all the way in after a few minutes, and I followed behind, inching my way lower and lower into this burning water. Eventually I got all the way in, and Paul and I were the first out of the whole group to dunk our heads under! We are the only ones with pictures to prove it too haha. We had no idea how hot it really was, so when we checked we were all pumped to see that it was 152 degrees!!! By the end of the night we all got in, which completely trumps last years group, in which only one girl was able to get in this hot spring. We were all so excited and we spent the rest of the night drinking at the bars in the hot springs, despite how rediculously expensive the drinks were... $6 bucks for a beer!

The next day we went horseback riding from the stables to the waterfall at Arenal. I had never ridden a horse before so I was pretty nervous and didn't know what to expect, but it turned out to be so much fun. We rode for about half an hour through fields and creeks, all with stunning views of the volcano and the surrounding mountains. Plus, we got to actually gallop and go fast on the horses which was hilarious and so much fun. The guides didn't have any restrictions for us so we could go as fast or slow as we wanted, depending on what the horse was willing to do. Apparently I had the mean horse because it actually attempted to bite Heidi, Heidi's horse, and Nolan! And I of course had no idea how to control this huge animal so it was quite an adventure for me. Horseback riding was definitely a new experience that I really loved. We rode the horses all the way to the waterfall where we had to go down what seemed like 500 steps that were actually just rocks. It was scary going down because if you made one wrong step you could have easily rolled down the cliff that was 2 feet to the left of the steps. Eventually we made it down and the views of the waterfall were stunning. We all swam in the crystal clear waters, which were decently cold especially compared to the hot springs the night before, and climbed along the rocks behind the waterfall. I have never seen anything so gorgeous and we all had a blast. After returning to the hotel to change, we headed off to the lava fields on the other side of the volcano. To get there we had to walk through a forest that had paths that were carved in it by eruptions from the volcano many years ago. We could even hear the popping of the volcano, which sounded exactly like popcorn. Once we got to the lava field we had to climb rocks and we were able to see stunning views of the lake from the tops of some of the large black rocks. It was unlike anywhere I had ever been before and it was cool to be somewhere that hot lava had run through only 30 years ago. We went back to the hotel right after and came back to a power outage in the town! Luckily we all had flashlights and we drank and played cards by flashlight and candlelight. AND, we got to see the volcano spitting up orange lava! It was so cool and apparently it is rarely visible because of the clouds that normally engulf the top of the volcano.

The next morning we took what is called the "jeep boat jeep" route from the town of La Fortuna to Monteverde way up in the mountains of Costa Rica. However, it was more like van boat van, as jeeps would have been way too expensive. We took a very slow boat across the lake and got to take in the scenery (unfortunately I forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures). We then took old vans on the worst, oldest roads I have ever seen for about two hours! We travelled up the mountains and I could have sworn the vans weren't going to make it up some of the steep slopes. We were driving on rock roads with millions of potholes but it was fun because the drivers were crazy... they would whip around turns and our wheels would skid and everything. I felt like I was in a car chase through the mountains. The veiws from up top were again gorgeous, and we could see the volcano, the lake, small farms in the valleys, and everything you could possibly imagine seeing from the top of these mountains. Eventually we got the our hotel in Monteverde, which was set up more like a summer camp with bunk beds and everything. The Monteverde Reserve is in a cloud forest high up in the mountains where there is 100% humidity. It rained the whole time we were there and absolutely noghting dried, not even my hands in the bathroom under the hand dryer. We ate lunch and got ready to go ziplining through the rainforest!! AHHH! this was honestly one of the most exciting and thrilling things I have ever done, even in the pouring rain. The guides strapped us in, gave us a few instructions, and we were off. They clipped us in at the first station and we slid down to the next. There were a total of 13 ziplines, the next longer than the other. At the end of one of the middle ziplines, I did a free fall from about three stories up!! They attached me to a rope and I screamed on the way down, and they stop you by tightening the rope. It was the first free fall I've ever experienced and it made me so excited to go bungee jumping! Right after the free fall was the TARZAN SWING! We had to climb about 50 stairs to the top of this metal structure wher the guides strapped us to a rope that was attached to a huge tree limb above the canopy. As soon as they opened the gate they literally pushed you off and you fell for a story or two and then swung just like Tarzan low to the ground and then up above the canopy. It was amazing!! We still had a few more ziplines to go and the last two were definitely the best. They were both 2400 meters long and flew above the canopy. Th clouds were so low that you felt like you were sliding into an abyss, as you could see only whiteness in front of you and the green of trees below you. Ziplining through the rainforest is something that I will never forget, and I highly recommend it to everyone!

Later that night we had a night tour of the cloud forest in the pouring rain. This was very exciting, and we saw a number of different kinds of bugs, trees, and insects. We saw bats, one which almost hit Steve in the face, and a tarantula!! This thing was huge and had orange stripes, and I have never seen a scarier spider. We had to turn our flashlights off at one point and we discovered exaclty what pitch black really is.. I could not see and inch in front of my eyes. That night we played Mafia in the hotel haha, and we discovered so many different kinds of bugs in our bathroom, enough to make me not even shower that night. The next morning we did a morning walk through the rainforest where we saw plenty of birds and another gorgeous waterfall. Many of the groups saw the famous quetzal, a green and blue bird native to Costa Rica, which thousands of people come searching to see every year. It rained again all day and we were all pretty eager to get out of there. The drive back was long in our huge tour bus and I took a bunch of pictures. That was the end of our amazing weekend, and despite the rain, we all had a blast!

Bananas

Bananas currently account for over 7.1% of Costa Rica's export revenues. In 2007 alone, Costa Rica exported over 2 billion kilos of bananas to other countries such as Belgiium, Germany, and the UK. Because of the large amount of income that it brings to the country, banana production is very important in the Costa Rican economy and culture.
Costa Rica was the first Central American country to produce bananas, which began in 1878 after Minor C. Keith was commisioned to build a transnational railroad. Since he needed cargo and passengers for this new railroad, he planted bananas alongside the tracks to provide paying fares both inland and back to the sea. In 1899, Keith and his railroad companies merged with the Boston Fruit Company to form the United Fruit Company. Costa Rica became the world's largest producer of bananas in 1911, and it has continued to reamin as one of the top producers and exporters of bananas in the world since then.
Currently, bananas are cultivated in the Estrella and Matina valleys, in the lowlands of Santa Clara, in the area of Sixaola river, and in parts of south-west. A little more than two thirds of all bananas are exported by Chiquita, BANDECO (Del Monte) and the Standard Fruit Company, which is more commonly known as Dole.

Eco-Tourism

Costa Rica is currently focusing on ecotourism as its key economic development. Ecotourism is defined as "environmentally responsible travel to natural areas, in order to enjoy and appreciate nature (and accompanying cultural features) that promote conservation, have a low visitor impact and provide for beneficially active socio-economic involvement of local peoples." Eco-tourism is currently booming all over Costa Rica, especially in places like the Monteverde Reserves, Lake Arenal and surrounding forests, The Arenal Volcano, beaches on the Pacific and Carribean sides of the country, and in its many rainforests. Costa Rica has used ecotourism to stimulate the economy and to promote conservation and sustainability. Ecoutourism brings money into the towns and cities that attract people from around the world. It also brings jobs to Costa Rica because many people are needed to work as tour guides, in hotels, on beaches, in new restaurants, and a variety of other places. In this way, ecoutourism substantially benefits the Costa Rican economy and the lives of many natives in the country. Ecoutourism also serves to provide visitors with knowlegde and information about conservation and preservation. This type of tourism works to preserve the land, not drain it of all its resources like most tourist destinations seem to do. Sustainability and environmentalism are promoted, and eco-friendly hotels are built while tour guides teach visitors what is so beautiful about nature and why it should be preserved. Costa Rica sets an example for the world in this field, as nearly 28% of its land is set aside as reserves and protected areas. In this way, extinction of thousands of species of plants an animals has been prevented using ecotourism, compared to bringing money into the country through other things like industry.

















This past weekend we visited the Reserves of Monteverde which are cloud forests up in the mountains about 4 hours north of San Jose. The town of Monteverde was founded by Quakers from the U.S. who moved to Costa Rica in the 1950's. They left the U.S. because they did not want their sons to go to war, and they chose this new place because they discoverd that Costa Rica had abolished its army in 1948. The Quakers immediately took a stance of environmentalism as soon as they arrived, choosing to preserve as much of the rainforest as possible. The Monteverde Reserves are now the most desired tourist destination for people around the world. The variety of species, including over 850 species of birds, can be found in these reserves, including the beloved quetzal, which is a green and red bird that is native to Costa Rica. During our visit we took both a night walk and an early morning walk through the cloud forest with expert guides. They explained to us why ecotourism is so important for the country, and how global warming is having an affect on the cloud forests. Warmer temperatures are changing the environment for many animals. For example, our guide mentioned that their is a certain type of catepillar that grows fungus on its skin, but as temperatures are rising, many of these catepillars have died because the fungus is able to grow to much and it eventually kills its host. Also, the golden tree frog that was native to Costa Rica is now extinct due to overcapture of these gorgeous creatures. A golden tree frog has not been seen anywhere in Costa Rica for the past 20 years. These are just two of the many examples as to how changes in the earth's climate due to human pollution and carbon emissions have affected plants and animals in the rainforest.
















All in all, ecotourism has been a great success for Costa Rica, and many nations are following its lead. It has set a great example as to how one can use nature to benefit the economy without destroying it, and hopefully this idea continues to catch on throughout the world as the trend to "go green" becomes more and more popular. Ecotourism has brought jobs and tourists to Costa Rica, all in the hope of preserving its natural areas and showing the world how gorgeous nature really is.

My Host Family

We had one of the most interesting dinner conversations with Fernando today.  Just out of curiosity, we asked how long Fernando and Carmen have lived in Costa Rica, because they had told us earlier that they were originally from Peru.  Fernando told us that they have lived here for 14 years, so we asked him why he moved.  This is where it gets interesting.  He told us his whole story in Spanish so I am not 100% positive that my interpretation is correct, but I hope it is close enough.  He explained that a revolution started in Peru that pitted the native Peruvians against U.S. intervention and thus any white people in Peru or any Peruvians that had foreign relations.  (Here is a website about the revolution that I found in case you want any more information:  http://www.csrp.org/history.htm).  However, many of the revolutionaries decided to use terrorism as a means of getting what they wanted.  Fernando was an important engineer and business man in Peru, so he must have had relations with U.S. companies, and he wanted no part of the terrorism.  Also, he may have owned part of the cell phone company Nokia, and because of the revolution it went bankrupt in Peru, and somehow he owed someone $150,000 dollars.  The terrorists wanted him to join their cause against foreign intervention in Peru and told him and many other families that if they didn't their wives would be hung and their children would be killed.  One day, his children went to a party, and the terrorists threw dynamite over the wall into the party, severing children's arms and legs and killing a few people.  Luckily, his children were ok, but this is when he decided to leave the country.  He spoke with such fervor about his hate for the terrorists and how no one could live like this.  So, this is why Fernando and Carmen and their family came to Costa Rica, and he has worked to pay off the $150,000 of debt that he owed.  The revolution is over now, and Peru is again a peaceful and beautiful country.  Fernando has thought about returning, but he has already been in Costa Rica for 14 years and it would be hard to leave his businesses here and start all over again.  

Fernando's story really made me appreciate how lucky I am to never have gone through such terror, and to live where I do. Life in Hinsdale is nothing close to real life and it cannot even compare to how other people have lived their lives. I am incredibly blessed and I wish Fernando and Carmen a peaceful and happy life from now on.  

Fun Stuff

How did people communicate before their were cell phones???? Last night we had a little debacle on our way to the bar. A few of us were supposed to meet Bob and John at the university so that we could all walk to the bar together. After waiting for 20 minutes after we were supposed to meet, they still hadn't shown up, and we were so confused because it was Bobs Birthday! He had to be going out, right? So we decided that they weren't coming and we trudged through the rain to Pescaditos. It is a very small bar, but they do have a projector screen that is constantly playing soccer games on tv! It was awesome to sit and drink and watch some great soccer action. After about an hour of hanging at the bar, Bob and John walked through the door and explained that they had been waiting for an hour for their taxi to pick them up! If we had had cell phones we would known where the heck they were and that they were actually coming to celebrate.

I discovered last night at the bar that they sell Light Imperial so I was pumped! We all had a blast that whole night. And we found out that there are a bunch of us that will be living within a block of each other at school next year!!! I also discovered that beth lives in Woddstock, IL which I drive right through every time I go to my lakehouse, and that she comes up to Lake geneva pretty often.. so hopefully we will see each other up there! the night was awesome and we all can't wait for our 6 day vacation starting this weekend! Here are a few pictures:

Organic Coffee Production in Costa Rica

Today we visited an organic coffee plantation called Cafe Britt. We were all shocked on our drive their that we didn't have to climb mountains to get their, as it was in the middle of a city. We later found out that this was just the tourist location of Cafe Britt's company, and was not the place where their real coffee is grown. The tour was very informative and it was probably more of a theatrical presentation than a tour. We learned just abou everything about coffee, including the precise processes of taste testing and smell testing. After both of these trips to coffee plantations, I really wished I liked coffee! It smells so good but tastes so bitter. Like Daisy's brand of coffee, the coffee of Cafe Britt is grown high up in the mountains. However, Cafe Britt has been producing "certified organic coffee since 1991." Unlike inorganic coffee production, organic coffee is not cultivated with pesticides or other unnatural fertilizers to improve growth and efficiency of the plant. Cafe Britt uses 100% organic materials to improve and fertilize their soil, which ensures soil quality anp protects ground water. They pick all of their coffee manually and use water to separate the fruit from the beans. Cafe Britt buys all of their plants from growers who consistenlty produce orgainc coffee and that are certified in the organic business. Also, Cafe Britt practices fair trade. This means that they pay their suppliers prices higher than that of the market because of their outstanding quality. Beause they are a giant company, Cafe Britt can afford to practice fair trade and produce organic coffee. They bring in enough profit to cover the large costs of production, which is nearly impossible for small plantation owners such as Daisy Rodriguez. Cafe Britt helps their growers to be as efficient as possible because they believe in improving the sustainable development of coffee production in Costa Rica.

Inorganic Coffee in Costa Rica

Coffee production in Costa Rica first began in 1779 after the plant was brought over from Saudi Arabia. This first type of coffee was of the Arabica species, and it is still the top species grown today. By 1829, coffee had surpassed all the other products produced in Costa Rica to become the number one source of revenue. Coffee remained at the top of the export list for a long time, but currenlty it accounts for less than 10% of exports. This is not necessarily because coffee demand has decreased but because of the Central American Free Trade Agreement that has encouraged thousands of businesses to invest here in Costa Rica. These foreign businesess are atrracted by tax incentives and their products now account for a majority of exports. The Free trade Agreement also lowered tariffs on trade between countries in the Americas, which has allowed coffee exports to increase, despite the percentage decrease in total exports from Costa Rica.

I remember reading in one of our books that Costa Ricans do not produce a substantial amount of coffee, but they pride themselves on the excellent quality of their coffee. In order to learn more about this well known industry here, we visited a family owned Coffee Plantation in the mountains of the town of Alejuela. The bus trip there was quite terrifying because we had to travel on skinny dirt roads that were full of rocks and potholes up the side of this mountain in our gigantic charter bus. I'm pretty sure we were all shocked that we made it as high up the mountain as we did, or that we didn't get hit by other passing cars because the roads were so tiny! The slopes of these dirt paths were so steep that I really thought the bus was going to roll backwards at any moment. Eventually the bus had to stop and we set off on foot towards the plantation. We took tons of pictures along the way of the gorgeous views from way up there. Farming here is so much different from the Great Plains where everything is flat. Plants are grown on steep slopes up and down hills, and they are all surrounded by ¨natural¨ fences, which were mainly large trees or tropical bushes to separate areas of farmland. The natural fences really made everything so pretty.

The plantation is owned by a local business woman named Daisy and her husband, and they produce their own brand called Del Cafe Tal. They grow coffee at the highest possible altitudes up in the mountains, which is optimal for coffee growth. Daisy is involved in the entire business, as she grows the plants, collects the beans, dries them, roasts them, and brews the coffee at a little store in her town. She recently won the award for the best coffee in Costa Rica, and Costa Ricans always claim that if you are the best in Costa Rica you are the best in the world when it comes to coffee. The plantation was gorgeous and the views were even better. Daisy and her husband were originally inorganic coffee farmers, and they followed the normal practices of fertilization and using pesticides so that they could produce the largest amounts of coffee beans possible. When the trend came around to switch to organic growth, they jumped on the bandwagon and tried it out. However, organic coffee growing was very difficult for the family because the increase in revenue was minimal and was not worth the extra work. Also, the switch from inorganic to organic reduced the number of sacs that the plantation produced from 800 to only 30. Thus, their profits greatly decreased and it was very difficult to sustain the business. Daisy and her husband also explained that the coffee business is very corrupt (which is not that shocking because it seems that a lot of business practices here are corrupt as well). She said that many inorganic farmers claim that their coffee is organic in order to get better business. After 3 years of struggling to make a profit with organic coffee, Daisy and her husband switched back to inorganic practices. She continued to receive only $1.50 per pound of her coffee sold. However, she recently just won the award for best coffee in Costa Rica, and this will allow her to receive almost $15 per pound! Don't worry Mom, I bought a bag of her coffee and I will be bringing it back home... everyone in the group who tried it said it was delicious!

It seems as though organic coffee is a very difficult crop to produce in Costa Rica because of the corruption and the minimal increase in revenue. Small farmers like Daisy cannot compete with the larger companies such as Starbucks that are able to produce organic coffee at much larger volumes that bring in larger profits.

Sustainability

After a long day yesterday we went out last night to a little bar named Pescaditos.  I had tons of fun with everyone and we all got to know each other even better.  Plus beers are super cheap and the Costa Rican beer "Imperial" tastes great.   I guess I officially bought my first legal beer last night because the drinking age here is 18!  Exciting!  This trip is seriously going to be amazing mainly because of the group of people I am with.  We talked a lot about what we are going to do on our off day next Wednesday, and we are thinking about going surfing at one of the most beautiful beaches in Costa Rica!... hopefully being able to snowboard will help me with that.  After we took a speedy cab home from the bar (which only cost $3 bucks!) we had a little incident at the house with hundreds of ants!  Abbey found a nest of red ants behind the picture frame in her room, and we decided to drench the whole room in Raid.  It was pretty gross but eventually we got it all cleaned up.  People here are just very used to bugs, and I guess we are gonna have to learn to live with them too.

We had our first real class today in a small classroom at Veritas University. Our classes are about environmental sustainability in business and we jumped right into it today. We talked a lot about businesses in general and their goals and how these goals can conflict and be in accord with nature and the environment. We are trying to stray away from the idea, though, that businesses are inherently bad and that environmentalism is good. Businesses should be able to work with their environment rather than against it, and environmentalism can help companies be profitable.  This stiff is so interesting to me and yes, I officially think I am a tree hugger.  We also learned some interesting facts, like when large fishing boats off the coast of Hawaii used nets to try to catch plankton, they found 6 times more plastic at the bottom of the ocean than plankton.  This led us into talking about eliminating waste and certain aspects of the cradle to cradle idea in one of our books.  There is this new clear, plastic film that contains nanocells for solar power and it can be put on windows in order to power buildings and homes.  All of this stuff makes me want to help out with the design plans for the addition my family is putting on our lakehouse.  Maybe we could make it the first eco-home in Lake Geneva.... but I'll have to talk to my dad about that one haha..

Tonight we are going home for dinner with our host families, and Carmen and Fernando always make delicious food so I can't wait... it is so much fun trying all these new things, like the dish we had last night called locro, which has potatoes, corn, some type of yellow vegetable, and spices all mixed together with a cream sauce. Fernando made us some type of vanilla cinnamon cake for tonight so that will be delicious as well I'm sure! After dinner the whole group is off to dance class haha, where we will be learning how to salsa and merengue.... Alright I guess thats it for now, I'll be posting all week so get ready for some exciting stuff (especially this weekend when we go ziplining through the rainforest!!)

Yaaayyy I am finally at a computer. These first few days have been incredible, and we have only been in San Jose so far! We toured the city yesterday and it is definitely a crowded, busy city. The buildings are gorgeous and the parks have amazing types of trees and flowers. Something that I noticed was that the city is very dirty, which is surprising for such an eco-friendly country. But the views from every spot in the city are beautiful, as it is surrounded by mountains. We saw the rich areas and the poor areas, but the surprising thing is that every single house has a fence around it and bars on the windows. Apparently the design of the fence and bars is a sign of status for the household. We ate rice and beans for lunch at a restaurant in the city, which is Costa Rica's typical dish. There are 27 kids on this trip, and it has been amazing meeting all of them so far... This group is so nice and so much fun and I have a great feeling that we are all going to have an amazing time together! Abbey, Lindsay, and I met our host family the first night, and they are the sweetest people! We are staying with Carmen and Fernando, who have children and grandchildren in the U.S. They have a cute house near the university which enables us to walk to the university and back every day. They speak very little English and we speak only a little Spanish so it is interesting haha... But I am now finally able to use the Spanish I learned for 7 years! Last night they took us to Hollywood video, which they own and to McDonald's for ice cream, and it was fun trying to converse with them. It was gorgeous and hot in the morning, and it poured from 3:00 pm onwards last night, so they weren't kidding about the rainy season. We had class today which consisted of traveling to the offices of a company called Cinde that specializes in encouraging foreign investment. We learned a lot about the economy and heard some interesting facts about Costa Rica, and I am curious to see how the country continues to grow over the next few years. During our break time today we decided that we are going to go surfing on our off day next Wednesday and bungee jumping on one of the last days in the trip! I seriously can't wait! Well, we are off to the bars tonight! I will try to post some pictures today but I have no idea if this will work. To everyone at home, I miss you all!

Pre-Departure

Hey everyone... This is my blog site for my 4 weeks in Costa Rica. I will be writing about the trip and posting many many pictures starting next week!