Stephanie in Costa Ricaaaa!

Updates....

2008-06-12T16:20:00.000-07:00

Since this trip has been some of the best few weeks of my life, it is going to be extremely difficult to leave on Saturday. Soooo, for about a week now, Bob and I have been contemplating staying here a few extra days after everyone else leaves, mainly because we just don't want to leave this country, and because there are still a few things we want to do here. We love the "pura vida" lifestyle and we were hoping to go back to the beach and actually get to go surfing. It sounded like a great idea, so we checked the prices on changing our flights and started to get everything set up so that we could stay. We talked to Kim Sulleau back at Miami and she was ready to help us get it all planned. We knew we could have so much fun! I could seriously live in this country: thats how much I love it right now and don't want to leave. However, my parents were pretty much against it when I called, so I'm pretty bummed, but it will be nice to get back home too and see my family and friends. I respectfully disagree with them as to why I shouldn't stay haha, and while thinking about it today I realized that I feel just as safe here than I do in downtown Chicago, despite it being a foreign country. So Dad I went ahead and changed my flights anyway... just kidding! Dont' worry I am coming home Saturday with the rest of the group, but I will definitely be coming back to Costa Rica sometime in the near future. In fact, some of us talked to day about returning over Christmas break when it is summer here! Yaayy!

Ecotourism: Poas Volcano and La Paz Waterfall Gardens

2008-06-12T15:41:00.000-07:00

Except for bungee jumping tomorrow, today was our last trip while we are here. We travelled early n the morning to the Poas Volcano, which is northwest of San Jose in a cloud forest. It rained, of course, and we were not sure whether we would be able to see the top of the volcano or not. It is supposed to be a rare event when it isn't too cloudy up there that you can actually see anything. Incredibly, the clouds cleared right when we walked up to the viewing platform. We were overlooking a huge crater with volcanic smoke spewing out of a pool in the middle. It gave off a strong stench of sulfur, but it was worth it to be up there viewing something as gorgeous as this, even in the rain.

After leaving the volcano, we travelled to La Paz Waterfall Gardens just 30 minutes away. (La Paz means peace in Spanish for anyone who doesn't know.) This was definitely a huge form of ecotourism for the country, as it was place to view exotic species of birds, frogs, snakes, butterflies, hummingbirds, and plenty of other animals. We saw gorgeous toucans with rainbow colored beaks, small green macaws, and parrots that liked to climb on Peter's back. In the butterfly room we saw hundreds of different species of butterflies, including the well known blue morpho butterflies. Next was the humminbird are, which was so much fun because you got to be as close as you wanted to a bunch of hummingbirds flying past your face so quickly. As you can imagine, is was pretty difficult to get pictures because they move so fast! We also saw a number of different kinds of snakes, frogs, and monkeys. After viewing all of these wonderful animals, it is easy to see why Costa Rica wants to conserve its rainforests and protect its species diversity so badly. By letting tourists view these animals, they are hoping that we will feel the same way. How could you allow the destruction of all of these animals' habitats to continue after viewing them so closely and seeing how really magnificent they are? In this way, ecotourism in Costa Rica is helping to promote environmentalism, conservationism, and the protection of species diversity, as well as creating new jobs and stimulating the Costa Rican economy. As I have said before in past blogs, ecotourism is now the number one source of revenue in the Costa Rican economy. Thus, it seems as though ecotourism in Costa Rica is a win-win situation, for both people and the environment.

After the animal gardens, we walked down a bunch of stairs to view the waterfall, which was stunning and seemed to flow with extremely clean, clear water. Throughout our hike, we saw a number of waterfalls and took pleanty of pictures. (Unfortunately my camera battery died in the middle of the hike but I still have a few good ones.) At one of the locations, we got to see why they call one of the falls "white magic." The trick was to look at the rocks over which water was pouring for about 20 seconds, and then look to the right of the waterfall slowly. What we saw was some sort of optical illusion, as it looked like the rocks next to the waterfall were moving! It was really cool and I think I did it a few too many times because I was pretty dizzy for a while afterwards. The waterfalls really were a great sight to see, and once again they really made its visitors appreciate nature.

Ecotourism in Costa Rica is one of the new trends in economic development. It has brought much revenue and many jobs to the country, as well as benefitting and protecting the natural habitat. Hopefully other countries around the world will be able to follow Costa Rica's lead in this great industry. They too can protect their own environments and bring in tourists to view what makes their country beautiful. If this is done sooner than later, maybe the world can save hundreds of species from extinction and preserve the natural beauty that the earth has given us for free, which we so often take for granted.

Coffee

2008-06-11T10:31:00.000-07:00

Like banana production, growing coffee in Costa Rica is not the best thing for the environment. It has caused soil erosion, deforestation, and pollution of rivers and streams. Much of the coffee bean is made up of contaminants and over half of it is thrown away as waste. Often, farmers just throw the waste into rivers and streams. At the end of the coffee season, rivers can be found with piles of bean pulp and full of sugar water and contaminants which can destroy life in them and hurt people and animals. The Costa Rican government is currently working to control the amount of pollution that is getting into rivers and streams from coffee plantations by imposing regulations on the proper way to treat wastes. However, it doesn't seem to be enough because it is still occurring all over the country. Farmers need to be educated about what they are doing to the environment and told how they can change their ways. Their should be some type of program implemented where farmers can take their waste to a company that can dispose of them properly,or even better, find an alternative use for them.

Deforestation and soil erosion are occurring throughout Costa Rican coffee production areas because farmers are constantly looking to expand their fields so that they can get more return in this growing sector of their economy. Trees are being cut down to provide more land for production. There is a new kind of coffee plant coming into the market that does not need shade and can grow in direct sunlight. It is able to produce three times as much coffee as regular coffee plants. Despite this benefit, This new plant is causing even more deforestation because trees are not needed for shading. In order for Costa Rica to become a sustainable economy, they need to do something about the damages they are doing to the environment. They need to protect their reputation as an eco-friendly country and adopt new ways of farming for both coffee and bananas that are sustainable and do not hurt the environment. Otherwise, they may encounter expanding liabilities in the future in regard to their harmful effects.

Bananas

2008-06-10T18:50:00.000-07:00

I've noticed throughout the trip that our host family always has at least 50 bananas around the kitchen every day. Some are green, some are birght yellow, and others are purely brown. We have them every day for breakfast with a little bit of honey which makes them taste even better. Carmen also uses whole banana slices for desert in jello. I had the absolute best banana bread ever at the Chiquita plantation, too. It was warm and you could definitely tell that it was picked straight off the tree. Bananas are so rich, fresh, and flavorful here in Costa Rica that it is going to be hard to start eating the bananas we get back in the U.S.

Unlike Chiquita, many of the banana plantations here in Costa Rica are very bad for the environment. They cut down acres of land for the fields, and pesticide runoff gets into streams, rivers, oceans, soil, and eventually into humans and animals. Workers are not paid well, nor are they equipped with the proper equiptment or training to handle the banans or pesticides safely. Our instructor Glenn mentioned that a lot of times you will see pesticide cans laying on the ground at the ends of the fields. Clearly, there needs to be an improvement in the safety regulation of banana plantations. Currently, there are a number of organiztions working toward this goal, including the Emaus Forum, the Commission of Human Rights in Central America (CODEHUCA), and EUROBAN. The Emaus Forum has worked to halt the uncontrolled expansion of the banana industry which was destroying rainforests, as well as working to improve working conditions in certain plantations around Costa Rica and promote organic production. The Comission of human rights has also been working to improve working conditions and to protect employees' health through unions and labor organizations. EUROBAN is a European group of organizations that are concerned with banana production and fair trade within Latin American countries. Despite many of these organizations efforts, much more still needs to be done regarding banana production. The U.S. and other large countries hav a huge voice because they are the main consumers of all of these bananas. people should be educated about which banana companies are good and which are bad so that we can force the bad companies to improve their conditions.

Puerto Viejo, Cahuita, and Manzanilla

2008-06-10T16:55:00.000-07:00

After leaving the Chiquita banana plantation, we headed off on our huge tour bus once again for Puerto Viejo, a small town on the southern Caribbean cost of Costa Rica. Puerto Viejo is basically a small version of Jamaica, and you can't walk more than 20 yards without seeing someone with dreadlocks. We got to the hotel, which seemed a little shady at first: it was in an alley and we were warned that Puerto Viejo is relatively not the safest town, just like San Jose. But, it actually turned out to be be pretty nice. The rooms were a decent size and had no bugs in them, which was great because our last hotel at La Selva was full of many of the insects that we saw in the rainforest. We settled in and went to dinner at a small shack at the end of town. We got the option of chicken or beef (standard here in Costa Rica), so I ordered the beef with a Carribean style sauce, which I never would have tried had I not been in the Caribbean. In between ordering and actually getting our meals, a few of us walked to some of the little shops along the beach. Ever vendor had basically the same stuff: lots of jewlery, bracelets, Bob Marley gear, and other fun things. All of us were offered pot at least twice, and a few of the guys were even offered cocaine. It was pretty funny, and we knew that it was a totally normal thing here. Now that I think about it, I don't think we saw a cop in that town the whole time we were there. Anyway, I bought a really cute bracelet that I wear almost every day. After shopping for about 20 minutes, we had to run back to dinner because it started to downpour. We got back to our table just in time for the food to be served. Our meals came with rice and beans, plantanes that tasted like cookies, and veggies. It was delicious and the service was great despite there only being two cooks. Then we all had one of the most delicious chocoalte cakes ever! It has been a while since I've had some good chocolate, because many of the desserts that we get here are fruity or at least somewhat healthy.

That night we went to one of the small bars on the beach, and it turned out to be a kareoke bar!! We all had a blast singing to the most random songs, including One Hand in My Pocket by Alanis, and even a few Spanish songs. You will all be shocked when I say this, but I was up at the mike singing most of the songs haha. Of course iIwas singing with 4 other people at all times, because we all know I could never sing anything solo: my voice is horrendous. We discovered that our amazing bus driver Ronaldo has a great singing voice, and he sang a few English songs with us which was so fun. After about an hour, we noticed that we had a crowd of locals watching us through the windows. I'm sure we looked like crazy drunk Americans, which I'm sure didn't surprose them. I had sooo much fun! But, the night doesn't stop there. We walked from the first bar to a second, which was much bigger, on the ocean, and an intense dance club. We danced all night, and hung out at the tables on the beach. We definitely felt like we were in paradise once again. Late into the night, a laungere show started, which I guess is becoming pretty popular here in Costa Rica. It was hilarious to watch.

Abby, Me, Beth, and Nolan singing at the mike.

In the morning we woke up early and drove to Cahuita, an even smaller town on the coast where we boarded some boats to go snorkeling again! It was cloudy again, but much warmer than our first time snorkeling in Cano Island. This time, we were swimming with the fish, and we had to float as best we could so that we didn't touch the coral, which dies if it is touched. I had a blast and saw some gorgeous fish, including a small black one wioth neon blue spots, and a huge colorful fish that had bright green, blue, purple, and yellow scales. We snorkeled for about 2 hours, and I was the first one in the water and the last one out. It is an experience I will never forget! While snorkeling, I thought a lot about one of the thories we learned in class: that all the fish in the world may be gone by 2048 due to overfishing and pollution of the oceans. It's a scary thought, and I hope the world can find a way to prevent this. After snorkeling, the boats dropped us off further down the coast where we got to hang out on the beach and eat some fruit. There were monkey that would walk right up to you, and we saw a few snakes and plenty of crabs. It was cool to see everything so close.

All of us laying out at the beach after snorkeling.

After snorkeling, we drove to our hotel in Manzanilla, called Las Palmas. We were all shocked when we got there to see a gorgeous resort with its own private beach, a pool, plenty of plam trees, and luxurious rooms, which we had yet to experience. We immediately changed back into our bathing suits and played frisbee in the water. After a few hours of hanging around on the beach, we got ready for the buffet-style dinner in the veranda. It was absolutely delicious, of course, and I had some of the best fish I've ever had, but I have no idea what it was! We were all stuffed so we decided to take a nap. After sleeping for a few hours, a bunch of us decided that it would be a great idea to stay up all night and watch the sun rise at 5:00 the next morning. it turned out to be one of the best nights I've had on this trip, which says a lot. We played cards for a while ( for everyone at Miami we plyed Asshole so it reminded me of all of you!), swam in the pool for hours, and hung out on the beach just talking and having fun until morning. Unfortunately, it was too cloudy that morning to see the sun actually come up, but it was definitely worth it. Despite not sleeping at all, Marty, Abby, peter, and I decided to go for a run at 7:00 that morning along one of the roads and on the beach. It was a picture perfect run: it was sunny and we all felt great afterwards. The next day was pretty eventful as well: I layed out on the beach and relaxed, hung out in the pool, and just enjoyed the sun for the whole day. That night, we partied at the tiny hotel bar, watched some super weird movies, and had a bonfire on the beach. The bonfire was perfect, and Peter is definitely the best person to have if you are lost in a forest. He made a great bonfire out of wood he gathered from along the beach and in the forest. We all had fun talking and laughing at our instructor Glenn who was pretty drunk and told us he wouldn't remember any of this in the morning. A few of us then went for a night swim in the pool for about an hour, and this again was a great time. Overall, these 3 days were absolutely amazing, and I will never forget any of it or any of the amazing people that I spent it with!

Our hotel!

The small crab in our bath tub.

Abby and I's view from our room.

The 7 of us that stayed up all night! : Heidi, Bob, Me, Steve, Diane, PJ, and Evan.

PJ, Daine, Steve, and Heidi.

The start of it getting light out.. probably at 4:30 that morning.

The sunrise in the morning. Too bad it was cloudy.

The beach... absolutely paradise!

Coffee

2008-06-10T16:30:00.000-07:00

Personally, I don't like coffee, but after this trip I really wish I did! Costa Rican coffee is supposed to be some of the best in the world, and even though the country does not produce necessarily the most coffee, it takes pride in the quality that this country can produce. At both Cafe Britt and the small inorganic coffee plantation with the upcoming brand name of Cafe Del Tal, I tried small sips of coffee and still didn't like any of it. All of the coffee drinkers in our group, though, said it really was amazing. Even though I don't like the taste of coffee, I absolutely love the smell! The aroma of coffee in the morning is one of the most refreshing things to smell, and if coffee tasted like it smells, I would be addicted as well. In searching for more information about coffee on the internet, I found this really great website that provides some fun Costa Rican coffee recipes. The website is owned by a company called Costarrican Coffee, and they are an internet delivery service of their brand of coffee to anywhere in the world. Here are a few of the fun recipes! The Caribbean one has to be made in places like Puerto Viejo, where we just went, because lots of things there are made with coconut. Even the rice and beans had coconut in it where we ate dinner the one night. The coffee float just sounds fun, and maybe i'll even like the taste of that one!

Caribbean (hot) 8 servings
1 coconut
2 cups milk
4 cups strong coffee
1 tablespoon sugar

1. Punch two holes in to coconut, pour liquid into saucepan
2. Bake coconut for 30 minutes at 300 F degrees
3. Break open coconut, remove meat, and grate.
4. Mix coconut meat, coconut liquid, and milk in a sauce pan
5. Heat over low heat until creamy.
6. Strain
7. Toast grated coconut under broiler
8. Mix milk mixture, coffee, and sugar
9. Pour into mugs, garnish with toasted coconut.

Coffee Float (cold) 4 servings
2 1/2 cups strong coffee
2 teaspoons sugar
2/3 cup cream
4 scoops of coffee flavored ice cream
1 large bottle of Coke

1. Sweeten coffee with sugar, and chill
2. Mix coffee and cream
3. Fill 4 glasses half full
4. Add one scoop of ice cream to each glass
5. Top with coke

More recipes at: http://www.costarricancoffee.com/recipes.htm

Chiquita Bananas

2008-06-09T20:33:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we visited the Chiquita banana plantation in Sarapiqui. We got to talk to and ask questions of two of their representatives and tour guides. Chiquita is an inorganic banana producer that has considered switching to organic production, but this would severely decrease the amount of bananas that they could produce and they would not be able to meet the overseas demand. Thus, they still use pesticides, herbicides, and insecticides on the banana plants, which can all have extremely damaging effects on workers and nearby residents, including exposure to carcinogens and toxins. When we drove up, we could see the signs next to the banana fields with skulls and crossbones telling workers not to enter the fields within 24 hours of the pesticide sprayings. However, the workers houses were no more than 10 yards from the fields anyway, so they must be getting some harmful effects just living there. Despite these facts, Chiquita is actually one of the most safe and environmentally friendly banana producers in Costa Rica. All of their agrichemicals are approved by the EPA and the EU, and only minimal amounts of these toxins are used. Chiquita has recently joined the Rainforest Alliance and has started to work on a project in which they employ local residents to plant trees in hopes of replacing rainforest areas from the plantation to La Selva's forests which are about a 30 minute drive away. According to Chiquita, the company has planted at least one million trees in residential areas. Also, working conditions are superb compared to other plantations. Chiquita makes sure that their employess are paid at least 40-50% above the minimum wage. Workers are well trained and are required to use protective clothing and gear at all times. All of their farms in Latin America are certified by independent auditors to the Social Accountability 8000 standard which ensures no child labor, protection of employee health, 48 maximum weekly working hours, and no harsh treatment. Lastly, Chiquita is striving to be as sustainable as possible. All of the twine and plastic bags that are used in the fields are recycleable, and the water is monitored regularly so that traps prevent organic waste from polluting streams and rivers.

While at the plantation, we got to visit the processing and packing site which was really interesting to see happen right in front of you. Half of the bananas that are picked are packaged, while the other half is thrown into a truck. This other half is composed of bananas with the slightest imperfections, and one example of their use is for baby food and other banana products. We also got to watch a show put together by some of the local women that Chiquita employs to teach its visitors all about the bananas. This group of women is called Grupo Nogua, and it is made up of students, homemakers, and agricultural workers from the local communities. Chiquita established this group in 2004 in order to provide additional income for nearby residents as well as to educate tourists and other people about what Chiquita does. We walked through one of the banana fields and learned how the plants are grown, and how the blue bags are used to keep insects from getting at the bananas. Traditionally, most banana plantations used to just toss the plastic bags into a nearby river, but Chiquita uses recyclable bags and makes sure that all of them are reused in some way.

All in all, Chiquita is a relatively sustainable company, at least compared to other banana producers around the world. They are not yet at their full potential and there are still many things that they could improve as to not damage the environment and endanger their workers health. They should start working to find some way to produce bananas organically while still meeting the demand of the rest of the world. For this to happen, Americans and other large consumers of bananas might want to start buying organic bananas only. This way, the demand for Chiquita's bananas would go down, and they would be able to produce them organically. This goal would require many years of change, but it is one step to becoming a more sustainable company.

Ecotourism: La Selva Research Station

2008-06-09T19:57:00.000-07:00

On Thursday we travelled to La Selva Research Station north of San Jose. La Selva is a bilogical research station run by the Organization for Tropical Studies, and there are miles of paths through the rainforest that allow scientists as well as tourists to view and study the diverse area around them. It is comprised of 1,614 hectares (3,988 acres) of old growth and disturbed tropical wet forest. La Selva has an extremely rich species diversity, including more than 1,850 species of vascular plant flora, 350 species of trees, more than half of the 886 species of birds in Costa Rica, five of the six species of felines in the country, more than 70 species of bats, approximately 500 species of ants, and thousands of reptiles, amphibians and other insects. It was one of the first protected areas in Costa Rica, and it brings guests from all over the world to view nature at its finest. La Selva participates in ecotourism by educating its visitors about the importance of species diversity, the effects of global warming, and about some of the current experiments that scientists are conducting at the station. They hire local employees and train local guides, as well as providing services for hotels and other parts of the tourism sector of the economy. The research station at La Selva works to promote environmental consciousness and the importance of species diversity for life on earth.

While at La Selva, we wnt on 3 different hikes through the rainforest. The first one was in the afternoon on Thursday, and we saw a bunch of really exciting animals and plants. There were huge caterpillars on the ground, and tons of poison dart frogs all over the place. These tiny frogs are red with blue legs and are lethal if eaten. We also saw monkeys playing up in the canopy and toucans flying from tree to tree. That night a few of us went on a night hike looking for snakes because there are supposed to be thousands of snakes all over these forests. We didn't see any snakes, but we saw plenty of huge spiders and other insects. In the morning we went on our last hike, and we saw at least 10 different species of birds. We learned from our guide about many of the plants in the area, including one plant that sends some of its roots down from the middle of its stem.

The Osa Peninsula

2008-06-05T12:04:00.001-07:00

On Sunday we travelled all day (for about 8 or 9 hours on a cramped tour bus) to get to the Osa Peninsula which is in the southern part of the country. The trip was pretty eventful, as the highways to get there are roads made of rocks and dirt. If the roads were actually paved all the way there, it probably would have cut our travel time in half. But, it was still nice to be able to enjoy the scenery going through extremely small towns. After about 5 hours of driving, we ran into some trouble: one of the bridges was out! We had no idea what was going to happen because we were in the middle of absolutely nowhere. After asking a few of the townspeople, we turned around and found a different road to get to our destination. But this had some problems too. One of the bridges that we had to go over was pretty shaky and thin. We all had to get out of the bus so that the bridge wouldn't collapse underneath us, and the driver had to take 30 minutes to maneuver the bus down the steep slope before the bridge and come out on the other side. We had to recruit a bunch of the townspeople to help out, and eventually all of the guys got behind the bus and pushed so that the back end didn't hit the ground. If the bus had been 6 inches longer, we definitely would not have made it! After that ordeal, we had to travel on a dirt road through a field of palm tress that stretched on for miles. After another hour, we finally reached a paved road and took that to a town on a river that continued on to the ocean. We all boarded some large motorboats and sped off to the river delta and into the ocean. The views were gorgeous throughout the whole ride, which took about two hours. We ended up in a remote little town and had to wade from the boats in the water onto the beach where jeeps were waiting to take us up into the hills to our "hotel." The place we stayed was unlike anywhere I have ever been! Our rooms were platforms with tents on top of them that looked out over the ocean. It was like camping, except we had a working toilet and shower (with no hot water of course) and actual beds with headboards and everything. The main building was a gorgeous open room with wood floors and couches. This is where we ate breakfast and dinner, and hung out all day when we had nothing to do. We had to take our shoes off when we walked in because everything outside was so muddy, which was fun because its not very often that I walk around nice places barefoot. The first night we hung out in the main lodge and played cards. We saw plenty of huge bugs and even a frog hanging out by the stereo.

The trees that we went through on our boat ride in the river. All of their roots are above ground and they are only located in the river, not on its shore.

The beach we ended up at.

The view from the lodge.

Jon, Julianna, Marty, and Carmen hanging out in the lodge.

The next morning we took the boats out and travelled along the shore to the Corcovado Reserve, which is a large area of preserved rainforest. We set out on our first hike which was very exciting. We got to see howler monkeys up in the trees, macaws (which are huge red, yellow, and blue birds), leaf cutter ants, agoutis, and tons of other fun things in the rainforest. We walked along the beach for part of it, and i even learned how to break open a coconut. All together, we hiked for about 3 hours, and by the time we got back the tide was so high that we had to wade with our clothes above our heads through one of the streams that feeds into the ocean. We came back to the main uilding at the reserve and ate a delicious lunch, and spent about 30 minutes at the beach. Then we set off on a 30 minute hike out to a waterfall deep in the rainforest. The hike their was awesome, as we hide to rough it over and under trees, through streams, and up and down steep hills. The waterfall was gorgeous and we all got to jump off one of the ledges into the pool at the bottom. It was so much fun to be in the middle of pure nature.

The next morning we set off on the boats for about an hour to Cano Island to go snorkeling. Despite the rain we sped over huge waves and by the time we got their it had stopped raining, even though it was still pretty cloudy. Snorkeling was amazing, and I saw tons of really cool fish and coral. We got to dive down to the bottom and see everything up close, and I even followed a huge school of fish around the area. After snorkeling, we ate lunch on the beach and played with the hundreds of little crabs running around on the shore. By the time we left the island, the sun had come out, and on the boat ride back to our hotel we got to see dolphins swimming at the top of the water! They dove in and out of the water in their search for food, and I was so excited to see dolphins out in the wild. That night back at the hotel, we drank at the main lodge with the owner, Fernando, who is definitely one of my favorite Ticos that I have met so far on this trip. He was so fun and got us all up and doing the salsa and merengue. I learned how to play the card game hearts which I was horrible at first but Im getting decent at it now. We all had a blast that night and were all pretty tired from the long day. We left for San Jose the next morning, and on the boat ride back we got to see a crocodile up close on the bank of the river. The views from the ocean and the river were absolutely gorgeous; everywhere around us was paradise.

Ecotourism in Costa Rica

2008-06-05T11:03:00.000-07:00

This past week was full of eco-tourism adventures. On Saturday we went whitewater rafting on the gorgeous Pacuare River. It was soooo much fun and I had a great guide named Ricky who I got to talk to on the bus ride their. Talking to him made me realize how much I love the people here in Costa Rica because they really are so genuine and nice. Also, we decided he has the best job ever. On the rafts we got the real sense of what "pura vida" means, which is one of the common expressions that everyone in Costa Rica uses. The literal translation is Pure Life, but it can be taken in so many different ways, and one of them is that life is truly amazing. We definitely realized this while taking in the scenery and the excitement while whitewater rafting. The river was in great shape and the rapids were intense. I even fell out once in one of the Class 4 rapids which was actually so much fun! Its funny to notice that safety regulations are definitely not as strict in the U.S. Before jumping into the rafts, we got a few instructions about what to do in certain situations, but for the most part they just kind of put you in the boats and said good luck! It actually makes it much more exciting, and a few people in our had some close calls. Luckily, everyone came out alive and we all had a blast. Throughout the trip we learned a lot about the area surrounding the rapids, including plenty of interesting facts about the native tribes that live along the river. We could see their huts and even rope swings on which they transport barrels of goods across the river. The guides told us much about their culture and how Costa Rica has worked to preserve these areas for the native peoples. Costa Rica is proud of its heritage and wants to preserve it and the environment in any way possible. They try to promote this by educating tourists about the goals and values that they have and why they are so important. Clearly, anything you do in this amazing country involves some sort of ecotourism.

There are a number of indigenous populations throughout Costa Rica, including the Bribri, Cabecar and the Boruca. These three groups live in the mountains of Talamanca located in the southern part of the country. The Bajo Pacuar Indians live along the banks of the Pacuare River, and these are the indigenous peoples that we saw while whitewater rafting. In general, only 1% of Costa Rica's population is of aboriginal blood. Because of this extremely low number, the government and other organizations have been working to preserve the cultures and customs of the natives. In 1977, the government passed a law that established Indian Reserves and protected its occupants from persecution. The tribes that we viewed along the Pacuare all had straw houses in the hills overlooking the river. They are very peaceful groups and they live off the land surrounding them. Also, most have thier own language that is very different from Spanish. We saw a number of families fetching water from the river and I was surprised to see that they all wore western dress. It is important to Costa Ricans that the customs of the indigenous tribes are conserved because of the pride they have in their heritage and history. Every person who chooses to engage in the ecotourism of the country by visitng this river can come to notice the importance of these tribes.

Tarzan Swing Video!

2008-05-30T20:12:00.000-07:00

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

Plants that Move!

2008-05-30T19:41:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-30T19:10:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-30T08:33:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-29T20:43:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-29T16:14:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-29T11:35:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-26T13:52:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-23T11:09:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-22T16:57:00.001-07:00

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

2008-05-22T16:13:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-21T15:43:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-20T11:45:00.000-07:00

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!!)

2008-05-19T15:29:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-14T20:55:00.000-07:00

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!