Costa Rica 2008

Last Trip

2008-06-12T16:06:00.001-07:00

Today we took a trip to Poas Volcano and Lapaz Waterfall Gardens.

We headed out at seven in the morning for the volcano and it wasn't looking like the weather was going to be good to be able to see the volcano. We stopped for coffee and I bought some gifts for Anna, unless I want to keep them...haha.

The volcano is a basaltic volcano the stands at an altitude of 8,200 feet above see level. When we got up the volcano it was really cloudy and we couldn't see it. One of the guides, not ours, started yelling that the clouds were moving and just for us the clouds cleared and we could see the volcano perfectly. The guide said he had been waiting up there for 45 minutes, waiting for the clouds to move. It is often a rare occasion to see the volcano because it is so high above sea level and it is located near a cloud forest. The volcano wasn't anything I expected. It looked like a whole in the ground that smelled like sulfur and it had a pool that was emitting smoke (it's a prehistoric-looking hole that spews boiling sulfurous gases according to infrocostarica.com). I took so many pictures. We didn't stay up there very long because it was cold (first time I was really cold in Costa Rica and I had shorts on) and it started to rain more. The park also had a really nice gift shop where I only bought a few things because it was expensive.

After our trip to the volcano we went to see the waterfall. Our first stop when we arrived was to see the aviary where I was attacked by a bird who insisted on trying to eat my raincoat. It also stole one of my bobby pins. I thought I got it bad, but Peter was a target by the bird who liked me and a McCaw. I saw beautiful birds and took a lot of pictures. In that same area they had a monkey cage where there were tiny monkeys who liked to chew on my camera string; they had huge feet that were soft. These monkeys are from Brazil and are called the White Tufted Eared Marmosets.

Our next stop was the butterflies, but we had to walk through a pass that had Spider Monkeys and White Faced Monkeys in cages. The White Faced Monkeys were beating each other up and the Spider Monkeys were hiding. The Butterfly Observatory was one of the most beautiful things I have seen on this trip. There were thousands of butterflies flying everywhere. I took a lot of pictures, but than my camera battery died; that was really upsetting. I got to see butterflies hatching, butterflies who were drying their wigs, butterflies flying, EVERYTHING TO DO WITH BUTTERFLIES I SAW IT!

After the butterflies we went to the Hummingbird Garden. There were so many of them and they were zooming everywhere I thought I was going to get hit. You could here them zoom by you and you could get to see them really close, but they wouldn't let you touch. This is the only place in the world to find 24 hummingbird species that is documented.

Next, we went to the Serpentarium where we saw all different kinds of snakes. Some were large and didn't move and others were bright colored and they looked like they were ready to bite you, but they were in class cages. There were 30 species of snakes of Costa Rica there. Some of the most famous snakes were Bushmaster, Terciopelo, Green Vinesnake, and Golden Eyelash Viper.

After the snakes we got to visit Casuta de la Paz which is a house that is set up to look like the times 100 years ago in Costa Rica. This reproduction was built only using tools available to the average farmer a century ago. There was an ox-driven cart that a lot of us got pictures with, but the ox's smelled really bad.

Our next stop was the Ranarium where we saw frogs. I saw the two kinds of poison dart frogs that Costa Rica has, one is red and one is a pretty green. There were leaf frogs too that don't look like frogs when they are on a leaf because they squish down into the leaf and look like a slimy green blob.

We took our last nature hike last where I felt the spray of a 120 foot waterfall; it got me pretty wet. We started out at Templo water fall, walked to Magia Blanca (this is the magic water fall because if you look at it for 20 seconds than look away it looks like the trees are moving up towards the sky), than we moved on to Encantada, Escondida, and finally La Paz.

After our hike we shopped around at the gift shop than headed back home to San Jose.

This little trip was definitely focused on tourism, but I like that because it makes it easier to see all the beauty, but sadly they did have to damage the surroundings to make cement paths, bridges, and things like that. I enjoyed our last trip a lot even though it was gray outside and wet.

Last Weekend Adventure

2008-06-10T15:04:00.000-07:00

Pool

About 4:40 in the morning

4:50 AM

View from my hotel door

The hotel

This crab was in Ronaldo's bathroom

Free bananas

Thursday we went to La Selva Biological Station and stayed the night. The Next morning we went to the Chiquita plantation and after that we headed to Puerto Viejo and spent one night there. We had fairly nice rooms, but three of the guys got this huge suite that had two bedrooms, two baths, and a kitchen.
Saturday morning we headed out to the Caribbean to go snorkeling. It was a lot shallower than where we had snorkeled before and you could see the coral reefs clearer. I saw them so clear that I even hit one with my knee when the tide moved.
After snorkeling we went to Manzanillo and stayed at the most beautiful resort that was right on the coast of the Caribbean. The rooms had the coolest windows that were mirrors looking into the room from the outside and windows looking out in the inside. They had nice bathrooms with hot water and some of the bathrooms had a bidet. Not only did we have the Caribbean right outside our doors, but we also had a nice pool.
The first night I stayed up all night to wait for the sun to rise with Diane, Steph, Bob, PJ, Even, and Steve and it went from pitch black to sunny from 4:40 to about 5:30. Lucky us, there were clouds and we didn’t get to experience much.
The next day we took a hike out to this lookout point that was close to Panama. The rest of the day there was a lot of sleeping and a little bit of rain. That night Peter made a bonfire on the beach and I opened up another coconut. This time it took me a lot longer because I didn’t use a rock. I used my pocket knife and I wouldn’t let anyone help me!
Monday we left to go back to San Jose. This trip we watched all three Bourne movies, Oceans 13, and Even Almighty on the bus to give you a sense of how long our rides were.

La Selva

2008-06-10T14:26:00.001-07:00

My guide with a bird's nest in his hand

Poison dart frog

Huge spider

Bird that didn't move

Our home for the night

We started off our trip for our last weekend at La Selva Biological Station on Thursday.
La Selva is situated at the joining together of two major rivers in the Caribbean lowlands of northern Costa Rica. It comprises 3,900 acres of tropical wet forests and disturbed lands. The Station is bordered on the south by Braulio Carrillo National Park (closest national park to San Jose). The station is a protected area as well where biologists/researchers study the animals and plants and hope to increase the biodiversity of Costa Rica by keeping a large part of Costa Rica protected. They figure out how plants and animals behave in their surroundings. While we were there I went on three nature hikes, one of them was at night without a guide! I learned a lot more about the rainforest and its animals and plants while I was there by Roberto and my guide from La Selva.
We saw a lot of poison dart frogs that were red, monkeys that put on a show for us, and wild pigs with their babies called peccaries (?) that were really tame.
We learned about the plants that live on other plants (Epiphytes) and strangler fig trees (trees that grow around other trees until they cover the whole three and it dies from lack of sunlight).
La Selva has four major tropical life zones and protects a large portion of Costa Rica’s biodiversity including more than half of the 886 species of birds, home to 1850 species of vascular plant flora, thousands of mammals, reptiles, insects and amphibians.
There are two equipped laboratories at La Sleva. La Selva can sleep 80 people in six-person eco-dormitory rooms and cabins (we got to sleep in the turtle cabins). There is a huge bridge that connects the two parts of La Selva. La Selva is one of the world's premier sites at which to conduct ecosystem research according to the Organization of Tropical Studies website.
La Selva's combination of protected ecosystems and laboratory facilities is unique. There is an extensive trail system of more than 50 kilometers, which provides access to a wide range of different biodiversities. The entire property has been topographically surveyed and there are markers ever 50 meters, so, it´s hard to get lost.

Cafe Britt is Everywhere!

2008-06-10T10:55:00.002-07:00

As I have been traveling around Costa Rica the one thing that I see pretty much everywhere is Cafe Britt coffee. You can buy it in grocery stores, tourist shops; I even saw it in clothing stores. My host family drinks 1804 coffee, it´s another big coffee I see around. Although coffee is still an important drink, many Costa Ricans prefer herbal teas. According to Culture Shock, Ticos still have one of the highest per capita caffeine consumption rates in the world. I can easily get coffee at anytime. Coffee dispensers can be found in banks, supermarkets, school, etc.
Coffee is used as one of the many remedies that Costa Ricans have. Coffee is used as a migraine cure and it apparently opens up constricted blood vessels in the brain.
According to Cafe Britt, a cup of coffee can last 20 minutes and should never be re-heated. Although this is a sin to Cafe Britt, many Ticos re-heat their coffee and even use instant coffee. There are no foreign brands of coffee sold in Costa Rica according to Culture Shock. Coffee in Costa Rica often tastes great because it is generally grown over a mile above sea level, where low air pressure results in hard beans. Soft beans burn when roasted.
Costa Ricans almost entirely rely on Nicaraguan`s to work for them. Young Ticos are no longer interested in the hard work and low pay.
The process of red coffee berry picking takes a week: pressing, peeling, fermenting, sun drying, raking and roasting at about 250 degrees Celsius. The longest roast is called a French roast.

Little Girl

2008-06-10T10:04:00.000-07:00

All the bad bananas

Plastic bags on the bananas

Chiquita is a Spanish word used to describe a little girl.
The Chiquita banana plantation that is in Costa Rica has been practicing to be more sustainable for four years with the Nature and Community Project. The Chiquita plantation has tall bushes around their plantation to keep pesticides inside the plantation. There are signs around the plantation that say keep out when they are spraying the pesticides. Chiquita uses harmful pesticides and the workers that have more contact with them have to get blood tests every three months to make sure they have proper levels. Unlike many other plantations in Costa Rica, Chiquita takes proper care of their workers and it is their number one priority to keep their workers safe from the pesticides. All workers are trained in appropriate agricultural practices, occupational safety and proper use of protective equipment.
How Chiquita packs their bananas: Banana stems arrive at the packing station where they are counted, weighed, and examined by quality inspectors. Plastic bags and twine are separated and compacted to be recycled. In the dehandling area, banana hands are cut off the stems and placed into water tanks. The fruit that meets Chiquita specifications is cut into clusters of four to eight bananas. Bananas with blemishes are processed into puree, and the rest is sent to organic waste composting trenches. The fruit is washed in water tanks for ten minutes to eliminate latex residues that can stain the fruit. Water that leaves the tanks passes through a solid waste trap, which prevents solids from reaching the water drainage systems. Clusters of bananas weighing a total of 18 kg (40 lbs), the equivalent of a box, are placed on trays where workers gently affix the Chiquita labels. The tray is passed through a final shower to seal the cuts and prevent crown rot. The fruit is packed and weighed. Boxes are placed on pallets and stamped with a traceability code. Recycled plastic strips protect the corners of the boxes. Plants are placed in containers, which are loaded into Chiquita´s great white fleet ships and transported to the various markets.
The Nature and Community Project is a joint effort by Chiquita, the Swiss retailer Migros, GTZ, Rainforest Alliance and the local community to preserve 100 hectares (250 acres) of rainforest, promote environmental awareness through education and provide additional income opportunities for the community. The Nogua Group is one of the small businesses created to generate income for this community. This group is the one that did a play presentation for us.
Chiquita employs 25,000 people and owns approximately 37,000 acres of banana farms in Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras and Guatemala. Workers in Chiquita farms enjoy higher living standards than other agricultural workers.
Although Chiquita is not 100% sustainable they are trying to make a better situation with what they are doing. The fertilizers they use are approved by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the European Union regulatory authorities. Since 2000, Chiquita in Costa Rica has achieved 100% Rainforest Alliance certification.
Another thing that Chiquita does to be more environmentally responsible is that is has protected land close to their plantation that is connected to other protected areas. It also has planted at least one million trees along rivers, lakes, roads, and residential areas.
With expanding liabilities, in the future Chiquita may be liable for destroying Costa Rica's environment from pesticides. Chiquita introduced bananas into an environment that cannot handle them so they force bananas to work by using pesticides which makes bananas a damaging plant.

Bananas Destroy Lowland Forests

2008-06-10T07:45:00.000-07:00

Bananas are another major source of income and are now bringing in twice as much money as coffee. According to Culture Shock, "Costa Rica is the second biggest banana producer in the world after Ecuador."
Banana farming requires a lot of land to be profitable. Many lowland forests have been destroyed because bananas need flat and moist land. Bananas are native to Asia. Because bananas need a lot of land there aren't small family farmers who can sell their bananas worldwide. This led to the domination by big, foreign-owned companies with local workers.
Banana farming created too much water build up so they had to create irrigation systems. This helps spread the pesticides that are sprayed on the bananas into the rivers, which go to the ocean.
Plastic bags are put over the bananas because they need shade and to keep the bugs off. If they hadn't cut down all the tropical trees from the forest they may have had enough shade to please the bananas. Also, don't they use gross pesticides to kill off the bugs? Because bananas are native to Asia they are not used to the bugs and fungus in Costa Rica. This is why they have to use so many pesticides on the plants. The plastic bags used to be a big problem because they weren't recycled properly and drifted into the ocean. Today, there are better recycling programs and some of the bags are created to be biodegradable. More harmful pesticides cause cancer and sterilization.
Six months after the banana plant is planted a large flowering stem emerges which is where the fruit comes from. One stem contains between 120 to 150 bananas. The banana fruits are bagged about two weeks old. The bananas are ready to harvest about 12 weeks after bagging.
Trivia: the average person in the US eats more than 25 pounds of bananas each year.

Coffee is Everywhere or Not

2008-06-10T07:36:00.000-07:00

The role of coffee in Costa Rica has changed dramatically. Fifty years ago coffee was so recognized that tearing out a coffee field would have devastated the country. According to Culture Shock when coffee prices rose after WW II, dozens of counties rushed to plant coffee, the worlds second biggest dollar commodity after oil. Soon supply was greater than demand and price fell dramatically, which they never really have recovered.
Now, many farmers say that the cost of producing coffee is more than what they earn from it. Hundreds of fields have been ripped out. Today, coffee only covers 2% of the land and what used to be rich coffee land is now cemented over because of the rapid population growth. This large cemented area is where I live half of the time, San Jose.
Some other former coffee fields have been planted over with higher earning ornamental plants and ferns. This diversifies the economy.

OSA

2008-06-09T16:15:00.000-07:00

Doggie at the camp

huge bug

lizard that walks on water

Group picture

Our beds in our tent

waterfall I jumped off of

Sunday, June 1, was spent traveling to the OSA Peninsula. The roads were gravel and dirt, which makes it take us longer to get to where we are going. We went through a huge palm tree plantation (that's what it looked like). They were in perfect lines for miles. They were doing a lot of roadwork the majority of our drive and had to wait sometimes to cross one-lane bridges that were very tiny. We were almost to where we were going to get onto boats to get to the peninsula when we found out the bridge was washed out, completely gone. We had to go back a little way and found a tiny bridge to cross. We had to get off the bus for safety reasons and the bus bottomed out and the guys had to push the bus. Lucky us, the bridge was by a bar and some drunk Ticos came out to help with the situation...haha. If Ronaldo were driving (our regular driver with the Mercedes Benz bus) we would have gotten over it with no problem.
We took two boats and a boat with our luggage down the Sierpe River to get to our final location. There was a very pretty scenery but it was raining some of the time. Interesting fact: Costa Ricans don't like having docks because that makes it public property under law so there aren't many docks around which makes it harder for us because we have to get wet to get out of the boat. There weren't any docks, which kept the protected areas even more protected because it restricted who could come to the areas.
We took taxicabs up the hill to get to our eco-camp, Drake Bay Wilderness Camp, where we were staying for the weekend. It was a short ride up hill. The camp was very muddy, but we had a lot of fun. We lived in tents that had real beds in them, but the beds didn't have box springs so the mattresses went through the boards and it was quite uncomfortable and hard to find a good position to sleep in.
Monday we walked down the hill to the beach where we got back on the boats. They took us to another part of the peninsula that was protected, Corcovada National Park. We did some eco-tourism there: two nature walks. We had to leave he location as we left it. At this park I saw the most animals. I saw Scarlet McCaws, jaguar footprints, howler monkey, bugs, crabs, agouti (I think, brown, cat-sized rodent), and tapir footprints (one of the largest mammals in Costa Rica).
My guide through the forest didn't ware shoes. He did everything barefoot and it looked painful, but he said it hurt for him to ware shoes. I got to wade through a "river" where there was a half eaten otter floating. I have a picture, but it's disgusting.
There was fresh water everywhere and I got to swim in it in two different places. Our guide opened a coconut for us and that is when I fell in love with fresh coconuts. It tastes completely different from the coconut flavoring.
Tuesday it was raining and we thought that our trip to the island, Isla Del Cano, would have to be canceled. It wasn't and we got to snorkel in the coral reef and we swam at the beach. I saw beautiful fish while snorkeling. My favorite was a blue one that was iridescent. I opened my first coconut on this beach all by myself. It took me about fifteen minutes. I had to break open the outer shell by hitting it against a rock and then had to peel back that layer. When I got to the coconut I had to take a rock and hit it around it in a circle and finally it cracked open. It was very delicious. On the boat ride home we stopped and watched the dolphins jumping in the water.
A little more about the eco-camp: I overheard that the owner started building it last August and we were his first visitors. Everything was open, there weren't many walls and I don't think their were any windows. Our showers drained into the forest, which I don't think was very eco-friendly because there are chemicals in our shampoos and soaps that are not gentle to the rivers that flow into the ocean.
Wednesday we returned to San Jose. It pretty much took the whole day.

Pacuare River

2008-06-09T16:00:00.001-07:00

Saturday, May 31, we went rafting on the Pacuare River. We left that morning around 6:30 am and didn't get back to Veritas until around 6 pm. My guide on the bus and on the raft was Ricky. He was a really fun guide and liked to play jokes on us. I was the target on my boat. He pulled me off the raft a few times; it was really funny. The scenery was beautiful and I wish I had a waterproof camera.
There were some class 3 and class 4 rapids and the rest were 1 and 2. There were a lot of people who fell off the rafts. There was a big scare when two rafts got pushed together and everyone on both rafts fell off. One of the girls (not from Miami) got stuck under the water and was in shock when she finally got some air. She had to ride in my raft, sitting on the floor, holding onto a rope. No one in my boat fail out besides Steph, but we aren't counting that because she had to switch from the right side to the left side when we had to take on the girl and she only fell out for a second.
We saw indigenous people who get their food from a line that goes across the river with a basket attached to it. We went under a lot of abandoned bridges; some of them were abandoned because of the earthquake that was in the early 90s that destroyed the train tracks and plans for an electrical company (?) to move across the river. It reminded me of the Indiana Jones movies.
I had such a great time and even a sunburn on my thighs and shoulders (I wore sun screen).

Ecotourism

2008-06-04T18:01:00.000-07:00

Golden frog

San Jose is the capital of Costa Rica, but it is not known as a good tourist destination. It´s dirty, overpopulated, and seems to be no different than other large Latin American cities. What makes Costa Rica different than other Latin American countries is what is outside San Jose. I call it the ¨country¨, but it is Costa Rica´s natural parks and protected areas around the country that makes it a good tourist destination.
Costa Rica prides itself with being a large ecotourism country. Ecotourism enhances cultural and environmental factors. Our first ecotourism destination in Costa Rica was to Arenal (volcano) and Monte Verde (cloud forest). They are ecotourism locations because Arenal is a natural park and Monte Verde is a protected area.
Arenal is a visited tourist destination because of the volcanic eruption of 1968. When we traveled through the park we saw how the land had naturally recovered from the eruption without human involvement. There were smaller plants that covered the ground and when we got closer to the volcano the volcanic rocks took over and a few plants grew around them.
Monte Verde is a protected cloud forest. There was a primary forest that is older than 80 years old. There is also a secondary forest that has been cut down within the last 80 years, but it is now growing back and will become a primary forest again. You can tell the difference between the two because the secondary forest has shorter trees and more foliage on the ground. The primary forest has taller trees with fewer plants on the ground because there was less sunlight for them to survive.
According to Cradle to Cradle, ¨Nothing goes in or out of the planetary system except for heat and the occasional meteorite. The system is closed, and its basic elements are valuable and finite. Whatever is naturally here is all we have. Whatever humans make does not go ´away´´´ (103). Costa Rica is taking advantage of their naturally beautiful landscapes and making it so humans cannot destroy some parts of their country (natural parks and protected areas). This is becoming very appealing to tourists because they want to see what ´´natural´´ looks like. This may also destroy what is making Costa Rica a lot of money. People can destroy protected areas, trampling through, taking things that aren´t supposed to be touched, and scaring away the natural wildlife which could eventually destroy the natural habitat of the plants that need the animals to help them pollinate and grow.´´ The vitality of ecosystems depend on relationships: what goes on between species, their uses and exchanges of materials and energy in a given place…Remove the threads, one by one, and an ecosystem becomes less stable, less able to withstand natural catastrophe and disease, less able to stay healthy and to evolve over time´´ (Cradle to Cradle, 121-122).
Example: The golden frog was a very popular frog in Monte Verde, but now it is believed to be extinct because it hasn´t been seen for over twenty years. Reasons for its extinction include that a fungus was introduced into Monte Verde that killed off the frog. Another conclusion is because of the climate change that is a result of global warming.
One way Costa Rica is trying to lessen the amount of tourists is by not making it easy to get to these locations. Our ride up to Monte Verde was a very long ride, up a mountain, and the road was full of potholes. Not widening to roads or fixing the potholes is a strategy that local towns are using to keep to tourist population low, but how long will that last?

Tropical Depression in my Heart

2008-05-30T09:24:00.002-07:00

howler monkey

On Tuesday we took a couple of days off without our teachers because they were in Cuba. We planned a trip to Manuel Antonio beach where we thought we were going to relax and play in the ocean and get tan...that didn't happen as planned.
All twenty-seven of us got into a smaller bus than normal where there were flip up seats that were apparently uncomfortable (I always got a window seat). On the way to Manuel Antonio we stopped on a bridge over a local river to take pictures of the crocodiles. They were big and nonresponsive. It was pretty much raining the whole way there and, go figure, it was raining when we got there!

We walked down a hill where the beach was and had lunch. It took forever to get my nachos and they didn't taste good anyway. It was still raining and some of the guys went to the beach instead of having lunch. After lunch we went to the beach. There were a lot of waves and the water was very salty, Pacific Ocean. I didn't enjoy that very much so I looked for shells and crabs instead. When we were swimming in the ocean it wasn't raining anymore but it was still cloudy. I didn't get a tan. A Tico gave me a pretty shell though. On the walk back to the hotel we saw three monkeys. One of them was road kill...ew.

That night we went out to dinner and they gave me America dollars back for change....what am I going to do with that here?!

Wednesday I had a really nice breakfast, a huge pancake. After breakfast some of us went on a nature walk. We didn't see much, but there was a beautiful view. We didn't think we were going to see any monkeys, but a tree almost fell on us and that woke up the howler monkeys, so, we got to see them sleeping. We saw a huge rat thing and something else that looked like a raccoon. By the way, it was raining the whole time on the nature walk.

Basically the trip kind of stunk because of all the rain when we were expecting sun.

Banana Herb

2008-05-30T09:01:00.000-07:00

Thought to be a native plant of tropical Asia, the banana was introduced into the Caribbean and then to Central America and Costa Rica sometime after the Spanish invasion. The banana cultivating started in 1878 (the first 360 stems were shipped to New Orleans). Costa Rica became the first Central American nation to plant bananas.
According to banana.com the banana plant is not a tree, it’s actually the world's largest herb! Learn something new every day. Banana “trees” are mainly tall, upright, and fairly sturdy, but the main stem is called a pseudostem, literally meaning a “fake stem.” Each stem can produce a bunch of yellow, green, or even red bananas before dying and being replaced by another banana plant. Bananas are a valuable source of vitamin B6, vitamin c, and potassium.
In Costa Rica plantains are a popular fruit in their cuisine. A plantain is in the banana family but is cooked instead of eaten raw like the typical sweet banana. When the plantain has a green skin it has a texture similar to potatoes yet has much more starch. A fully ripened one has a sweet texture that crosses between a sweet potato and a regular banana.
Every day I have either plantains or bananas for breakfast, I don’t know which one is which yet. For lunch, I sometimes have fried plantains or banana chips. I like them both. By the end of the trip I will hopefully be able to tell the two apart.
In Costa Rica, ripe bananas from an entire bunch are peeled and boiled slowly for hours to make a thick syrup which is called "honey".

Golden Bean

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

Coffee came to Costa Rica from France. As a sign of sustainability, Costa Ricans can use the same coffee plants for many years. The harvest season for coffee is from December to about January. The average lifespan of a coffee plant is about five years. It takes about three years for the coffee plant to mature and grow the coffee fruit. The time to pick the coffee bean is when the skin is a dark red. If you pick it too late the coffee bean will taste bitter. To sort out the bad coffee from the good, coffee producers put them in water and the coffee that sinks is the good coffee. The bad coffee beans float.
The dictator Braulio Carrillo introduced coffee in the early 1830s. Costa Rica needed a cash crop to sustain it and coffee became the ideal choice. The coffee plants were handed out to the poor and tax breaks and free land were offered to any Ticos that wanted to grow the crop. After independence from Spain, Britain became the biggest purchaser of Costa Rica's "golden bean."
Coffee was also responsible for underdevelopment in Costa Rica. The crop was practically the only export from 1840 to 1890 and productions of basic foods fell because coffee plants took up the available land. The country became dependent of imports, which left it vulnerable to price shocks in the future.

Best Weekend Ever

2008-05-29T11:26:00.000-07:00

Cloud Forest
Red/orange Belly bird
waterfall in cloud forest
volcanic rocks

Arenal Volcano from my motel
Group picture at the dam
Picture from far away of the water fall
Down at the water fall
Huge bug

Friday morning we left for the Arenal area, which is a volcano that is still active. It´s last large explosion was in 1968 where it wiped out a small town and now there are large volcanic rocks and a lake in its place. Four-hour drive later we get to our hotel slash motel where we had a perfect view of the volcano. Normally it is covered with clouds, but because the whole world is messed up, global warming, the rainy season started late and the volcano top was clear. Friday night we went to the Baldie Hot Springs where they had a lot of hot water, slides, and bars everywhere. I went down the water slide three times and each time my headache got worse because it was so intense. It felt like I was going down a normal water slide than it got really steep and you flew off the slide into the water. I bruised my elbow the first round and after that little injuries occurred. Big John hit his head really hard the first time he went down, he didn´t go down after that. I sat in a 152 degree hot spring for a couple of minutes and after that I was so hot and dehydrated...good thing the water was free at the bar. We had dinner at the hot springs. It was really good buffet type.

Saturday morning we drove to an important dam in Costa Rica and walked around. We also got to see the inside workings of the dam. After that we drove to the horse ranch where we saddled up for a thirty-minute horseback to La Fortuna waterfall. I didn´t take my camera on the ride and I am glad because a few people broke theirs. My horse was very temperamental in the beginning but we became close friends at the end! Steph´s horse was temperamental the whole time and bit my leg, it did hurt, and then bit my horse! My horse´s name was Ja-something. I chanted it so I would remember, but that didn´t work. When we got to our stopping point my horse laid it’s head on my shoulder and got my shirt very sweaty, it was gross, but like I said we bonded.

La Fortuna waterfall was down in the forest. We had to walk down so many stairs my legs were shaking by the time I got down, but it was a beautiful sight. It was very cold compared to the hot springs the night before. We didn´t stay very long and it hurt even worse to walk up the stairs. I felt like I was going to puke because I was working out so hard. I just wanted to get the stairs over with, that´s why I tried to walk fast up the stairs.

After lunch we went on a hike, in the rain, at the Arenal National Park. We were listening to the howler monkeys and trying to listen to the volcano popping when a bug bit me under my shorts. It itched and hurt so bad, I still have about four bites from that one bug. On this trip I discovered the coolest plant ever. Glenn called it the sleepy plant. When you touched the leaves they would close up. On our hike towards the volcano we didn´t see much besides a daddy long leg which is apparently not a daddy long leg, it’s not even a spider because it has a lot more legs and it´s not poisonous. The coolest part of the walk was when we came to the volcanic rocks. It look so cool, it was an ongoing view of volcanic rocks that were thrown from the volcano in 1968. On the walk back it started to rain and some lady wanted to buy my umbrella from me. I didn´t have much pity for her because we´re in Costa Rica and it rains all the time. It was her own fault.

Sunday we drove to the lake that covered the town that was destroyed from the 1968 eruption. We took a jeep boat across the lake to Monteverde. When we got off the boat we took about an hour and a half drive, up the mountain, in tight nit vans to Monteverde. It was so bumpy, but there was a gorgeous view the whole way up. It was really scary though. There weren't any rails and many times it felt like the bus was going to fall off the mountain.

We arrived at La Casona de Monteverde at the entrance to the park where we were going to sleep for the night. The best part of the trip was when we went zip lining, but it was raining the whole time. The last zip line was 4400 feet. We crossed through the jungle than a valley than the jungle again and it was cloudy. I also did the Tarzan swing. I climbed up some stairs and when I got to the top they strapped me to a rope, asked me how I was feeling, I said I was scared so they pushed me off. I felt like I was dropping to the group, which was the scariest part, I screamed, and then I swung towards the trees. I went back and forth about 2 times than they stopped me. It felt so good to do that. After the zip lines we were all soaked and muddy. We went back to where we were staying and got ready for out night tour of the reserve with a guide. We didn´t see much besides bugs, bats, spiders, and a few frogs. I saw more bugs in the girl's bathroom where we were sleeping than on the night tour. It was kind of miserable because it was raining the whole time. I saw a huge tarantula that had orange legs.

The next morning I had to get up at 5:30 for our bird watch tour at 6. We saw a few birds, but didn´t see the Quetzal, which is the country´s bird. Some other groups saw it. I saw some kind of red belly bird and a small waterfall. Did I mention that it was raining then too? That was about an hour and a half walk. After that we packed everything up and went back to the dreaded San Jose, which pretty much took all Monday.

Eco what?

2008-05-22T18:31:00.000-07:00

Ecotourism is a form of tourism that appeals to ecologically and socially conscious people. Ecotourism focuses on volunteering, personal growth, and learning new ways to live on the planet. It typically involves travel to destinations where flora, fauna, and cultural heritage are the primary attractions. Ecotourism is extremely popular with the many tourists visiting the extensive national parks and protected areas around the country. Costa Rica is recognized as one of the few with real ecotourism. Since the 1990s Costa Rica has become famous for ecotourism and national parks. In terms of 2008 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index, Costa Rica reached the 44th place in the world ranking, being the first among Latin American countries.
On this trip we have experience a lot of ecotourism. We traveled to two coffee plantations so far that showed a lot of flora and fauna (huge gross bugs).
The world´s largest service industry is tourism. The developing nations of Central America, with its cloud forests, active volcanoes, and wide variety of flora and fauna, are taking advantage of the growing demand for ecotourism. Costa Rica is leading this trend. The idea behind ecotourism is to preserve a nation's natural resources while profiting from them. However, their ecotourism industry is starting to become ecologically damaging with the growing supply of tourists. Unlimited numbers of tourists are allowed into Costa Rica. They should put a cap on how many should be allowed to come in or their multibillion dollar industry will collapse when their rain forests and animals deplete. With tourism there is an increase in garbage problems.
Costa Rica is a prime location for tourists because of its biodiversity, environment, and location (five hour airplane flight from Ohio). A quote that one of our speakers told: "We humans fight war against nature forgetting that we will be the losers."

B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

2008-05-22T17:59:00.002-07:00

Bananas were introduced into Costa Rica sometime after the Spanish invasion. According to Info Costa Rica website, in 1899, Tropical Trading and Transport Co. merged with the Boston Fruit Co. to form the United Fruit Co., which became a dominant force of the political economies of the "banana republic". Costa Rica is also known as the coffee republic as well. Today, Costa Rica´s main exports are not bananas or coffee anymore, but integrated circuits and modular circuits. As of 2005, Costa Rica produces 2.2 million metric tons of bananas. Costa Rica has Chiquita, Del Monte, Dole, and Fyffes.
There are banana trees around San Jose. We see them on the side of the road and there was even one in the back of a gift shop we went to that had a garden.
When we went to Cinde, the Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency which is a private non-profit apolitical organization, they talked about how they are trying to get new investors to come to Costa Rica to products and export to other countries. I don´t have their PowerPoint that they are going to send to us that talked about the numbers involved in the industries including bananas and coffee.
I will have to research bananas more. I can´t seem to find a lot of information about them now.

Daisy's Coffee

2008-05-21T15:44:00.000-07:00

stray dog
old coffee sun drying
Diasy´s coffee shop sign
huge bug

Daisy´s coffee plants
scenery walking up the mountain

The picture I was talking when the guy tapped me

coffee

hydrangeas

roaster

our bus drove up most of the way and this is where we got out to walk.

huge flying ant

According to the Global Exchange website, the U.S. consumes 1/5 of the entire world's coffee, making it the largest consumer in the world. Today we went to Daisy Rodriguez Coffee farm and Del Cafe Tal, her coffee shop. Recently, Daisy's coffee was awarded the best coffee in Costa Rica, number two in Latin America. Her coffee is so good that she can sell it for $15 a pound. I bought a pound for $10 today, discount! We all got a taste and I thought it was very delicious. Her coffee plantation was gorgeous, but it was a long walk, uphill, to the top of the mountain, where her plantation was. There were hydrangeas lining the side of the road some of the way. A very beautiful blue. Jamie asked Daisy if she had the hydrangeas to test the acidity of the soil, but she said that her neighbor planted them and really didn't know what he was talking about. They call hydrangeas something else and didn't know the English translation.
Daisy has seven employees year round, and 70 (from Nicaragua) around picking season which starts in December. Nicaraguans in Costa Rica have the same connotation as Mexicans to the U.S. They are harder workers and cheaper labor. She also has a herd of stray dogs, very cute and friendly dogs.

Even though Daisy has a small coffee farm, that she bought 10 years ago, she has quality coffee and does not receive prices for her coffee that are less than the cost of production like other small plantations.

Unfortunately she was not able to maintain an organic coffee plantation that she tried out for four years. She quit her organic plantation three years ago.

Fair Trade assures consumers that the coffee we drink was purchased under fair conditions. According the Global Exchange website, to be Fair Trade certified, an importer must meet stringent international criteria; paying a minimum price per pound of $1.26. This is supposed to provide technical assistance such as help transitioning to organic farming. Fair Trade can only help companies that agree to the criterion, which mostly means larger coffee dealers like Starbucks.

The coffee plants, today, had white flower blooms and some had the red berries. We picked a few of the berries, opened them up, and found white coffee beans. I put the bean in my mouth and it didn't taste anything like a coffee beans, it was actually kind of slimy, but still hard. I have some gorgeous pictures that I will hopefully be able to post once I figure out my camera situation.

The weirdest thing happened to me while I was taking pictures of the mountains. I was standing on the sidewalk, close to a driveway and as I was taking the picture a car hit me! (it tapped me). Why couldn't the guy just honk his horn if I was in his way, which I don' t think I was. He could have gotten into the drive without hitting me! No bumps or bruises, just a weird experience.

First Few Days

2008-05-20T11:21:00.000-07:00

Tico cow
My room
Post office
Group picture

View of mountains outside Universidad Veritas

We arrived in Costa Rica around 8:40 Costa Rican time. Outside the airport was crowded with people waiting with signs. We have a nice Mercedes Benz, huge, bus that takes us around everywhere. We got dropped off at Veritas where our host families picked us up. My ¨dad¨ picked Emily and me up in a car that sounded like it was going to fall apart. We thought it was just going to be him and us in a shack in the ghetto, but he drove us to a lovely house that has gorgeous wood floors and ceilings, with paintings on the walls. They have somewhat hot water, five TVs, internet, three bedrooms, karaoke, three grandchildren and one that was born the day we arrived. There are little microscopic bugs that crawl around everywhere and moths that fly around.
The next day we had to be at school by 8:30. We drove around a lot in our bus and then they dropped us off the walk around San Jose. They have cows painted everywhere like the Cincinnati flying pigs. I have a few pictures of some of them, if I can get everything to work!
I uploaded my pictures onto the computer and the computer wouldn´t change the English and when I tried to put the pictures on my memory stick they wouldn´t open. I had to upload 70 pictures onto the Miami server, one by one....ugh.
I survived my first rain on Sunday. We walked from Veritas to the market to home in POURING rain. The front of my capris were soaked...there are pictures and a video of the event! The only thing that seemed to survive the rain that night was my waterproof watch, mascara, and waterproof Cradle to Cradle book...haha.
I am really surprised how much English is spoken. They even take our ¨real money¨ (joke!).
We went to a really cute gift shop that is specifically for tourists...they had a lot of really cute things in there. The most surprising thing was that had a collection of cigars and some that were bought that day by the guys were Cuban cigars (no one got in trouble, it was normal). The store had a beautiful garden in the back...there should be a really funny picture of bananas and me somewhere.
Costa Rica is known for it´s natural beauty, but there is trash everywhere. I don´t understand why they don´t have public trashcans!! They also have stray dogs wondering around everywhere and yesterday (Monday) Emily and I had a dog walk us home for a block...it was so cute.
Sunday night we went to a bar where they had football and an awesome bar tender, Raffi. Don´t worry I didn´t drink anything but water, even though the guys joke saying I got so wasted! Monday night we went to another bar that played American 80s music with the videos. They didn´t bother me about not drinking this time because Lindsay and Emily didn´t drink either. It is fun to go to the bars and talk. I had a lot of fun both times and everyone watches out for everyone.
Tonight we are going dancing!! I have been waiting for this moment and have been suggesting it since we got here. We are not going to a club, we are going to classes!
Today we had our first class...it was about three hours long. It wasn´t bad at all and I am not just saying that because my teachers are going to read this! We have a two hour break now to blog, email, and upload photos. I´ll write soon.

First blog!

2008-03-25T14:18:00.001-07:00

I cannot wait until Costa Rica. I am excited about the things I am going to see and the pictures I will take. I will have to re-teach myself how to use my 35 mm camera...haha, I haven't used it in three years. I hope it's like riding a bicycle.