Thoughts on Costa Rica (random)

So having been in Costa Rica for 2 weeks now, I have a few observations that i found very interesting here. Many of the cars, trucks, and SUV's are diesel powered, which in most cases is not very clean burning. Another thought is that many Tico's do whatever they want as far as traffic laws and traffic lights are concerned. They blatantly go through red lights or illegally pass each other. Its interesting how these little things are different. Most of the cars are from Japan, very few from the USA. Water is not free at restaurants. It many cases, it is the same price as beer, which doesn't make a lot of sense to me. The food here is much different, but pretty tasty. Gallo pinto is pretty standard, but one thing that i do not like, papaya, tastes horrible. The school, Universidad Veritas, they have guards at the entrance who carry guns, pretty intense. I saw my first prostitute last night, blatantly standing on the street corner. The bar we went to last night, Castros, a dancing club, had 2 security guards at the front with bulletproof jackets on and guns. All the houses in San Jose have 2 if not 3 gates before you can enter the house. Most of the houses have what i call razor wire, not barb wire, but razorwire along the roof line. Security is a big deal here, and I have been told its a sign of status. On my walk to school everyday, we pass this one house that has a security guard sitting out front with a beating stick as his only weapon. The house isnt even that nice, but the guard sits outside all day.  

Trip to Manuel Antonio

The beautiful beach of Manuel Antonio. (except its raining)

Crocs or gators? dunno

This guy above was at least 10ft long, no joke. 

We left for our trip at 7AM tuesday and returned to San Jose wednesday night. On this trip, we did not see the sun once, and the temperature definatly did not exceed 80 degrees. The beach was pretty, the town was not as much. We arrived early in the day, around 11AM or so. We walked around, saw the vendors and such and ate lunch. We later played in the water, which was surprisingly warm. We then went back to the hotel, showered and

went to happy hour, followed by more drinks at the hotel and then to a bar. This was it for tuesday, but on wednesday it was STILL raining and we headed out early because the weather was not ideal. So, i am still wanting to see a sunny costa rican beach, or country for that matter, it has rained a lot here, and i am not too please about it. I guess thats what i get for going to a rainforest during the rainy season.

Banana's Round 2

Still haven't seen any banana planatations or really heard much of anything about banana's yet. My house mother feeds me fresh banana's every morning. Maybe banana's are a large economic market in Costa Rica? Agriculture is 14.6% on the labor force in Costa Rica. A good chunk of that comes from banana's. The Standard Fruit Co. began productions in the Atlantic lowlands in 1956. Alongside ASBANA (Asociacion de Bananeros), a government-sponsored private association, Standard Fruit helped revive the Atlantic coast banana industry. Much of the new acreage has come at the expense of thousands of acres of untouched jungles. Banana export earnings rose from $482.9 million in 1992 to $531 million in 1993.

The banana industry is very important to developing countries along with coffee and tourism. Banana exports worldwide are valued at $4.7billion/ year. At the local and regional level where a strong bond is established between banana-generated income and household food security. Bananas are produced in mainly tropical climates because of the ideal growing conditions. Latin American and the Caribbean region dominated up to the eighties in banana production, the Asian region took the lead in banana production during the nineties. Costa Rica accounts for 3% of banana production amongst the world. However, Costa Rica accounts for about 14% of banana exports and distribution amongst the world.

Banana's grow in tropical regions within about 10 degrees of the equator that get about 78-98 inches of annual rainfall and where the temperature averages around 80 degrees F. Banana production is very labor intensive but plantations also utilize machinery. Workers must bag the stem of the plant and mark the bags with colored ribbons, 10 to 13 weeks from bagging. Some plants require twin to hold them up to ensure that they do not fall over with the extra weight of the stem. Workers also place padding in the banana's to protect them from bruising. Harvested plants are cut down, which allows for new growth.

Tourism round 2 (Ecotourism)

Tourism is Costa Rica is still the largest money maker for the Costa Rican economy. Things haven't changed in a week but I have more information to include. On our most recent trip to Monteverde, we experienced the private forest for eco-tourism. Its a park full of animals but the park is very strict on what we can and cannot touch. They believe in keeping the forest exactly as they found it, unharmed and completely natural. We went on two nature hikes, one at night and one during the day. We saw very few animals but I learned that people come from all over the world to see the biodiversity in the "cloud forest" as they call it. It rained the entire time we were in Monteverde. Along the lines of tourism, I was strictly a tourist when I went to La Playa de Manuel Antonio on the Pacific Ocean. No teachers, just the 27 of us. We stayed in a cheap hotel and went to the beach which was not extremely nice or beautiful. This was very touristy, home of the 10$ hamburgers and happy hour drink specials. There were many vendors and many people trying to sell us things. This place was Costa Rican tourism in a nut shell. I have just found out that Costa Rica also offers gay couples tours, Costa Rica has everything to offer its tourists. You name it, Costa Rica can offer you scuba diving, snorkeling, horseback riding.... etc.
During my research, i have discovered a discrepency in economic data. Some information says that tourism is the countries number one money maker, where others say that the Intel plant here generates more income. Needless to say, both are very important to the Costa Rican economy which is rapidly growing as quality of life also continues to improve.

Costa Rica is trying to be green, and offer ecotourism in which unlimited tourists can visit the cloud forest and rainforest, but can it really remain sustainable and unharmed given the enormous amount of tourists each year? This is one concept that takes much research, but there is no doubt that it is hard to maintain the environment here, but Costa Rica is taking a step in the right direction. 

Costa Rica is selling something when they attract tourists. They are selling an image of a "green industry" or a country devoted to wildlife and the conservation of the environment. This is why Costa Rica attracts and promotes so many ecotourists. Costa Rica tries to boast environmental regulations on travel services, which may hurt some profits in the short run, will pay off in the long run because they will have such a preserved country. The government works hard to keep the regulations in place and keep the country preserved!

Coffee Round 2

After being to Cafe Britt and Daisy's coffee plantation, I feel more informed about coffee in Costa Rica. They pride themselves on quality because it is grown at such high elevation. The arabica coffee plant is the only strain of coffee that is allowed to be grown, says the Costa Rican Government. Tarrazu is celebrated as Costa Ricas best and most flavorful coffee because it is supposedly grown in a region with the best soil and highest altitude. Coffee beans are all hand picked. The first export of coffee was in 1820 to Colombia and was a major industry in Costa Rica ever since! The National Theater in San Jose was built to honor the heritage and growth of Costa Rica and also for the first Coffee growers back in the 1800's.

Another issue surrounding coffee is fair trade coffee. Fair trade ensures a living wage of $1.26/pound for poor farmers. Fair trade's strategic intent is to deliberately work with marginalized producers and workers in order to help them move from a position of vulnerability to security and economic self-sufficiency.

COOCAFE is the only certified fair trade coffee cooperative in Costa Rica. Together, they represent 3,500 small coffee producers, in 9 independent cooperatives throughout the whole country. They strive to achieve social and economic development as well as support an environmentally sustainably way of life. They also must meet the quality requirements of their customers, because as we know, Costa Rican Coffee is held to very high standards. 

Weekend Trip to Monteverde and Volcano

These are the videos from our weekend trip to Arenal Volcano, the waterfall, and Monteverde which is the cloud rain-forest. It rained the whole time, as i finish this post, (wednesday), i have not seen the sun in 4 days (at least). It definatly rains a lot here in Costa Rica.

Cafe Britt Visit

Today we visited Cafe Britt right outside of San Jose. This is a small coffee plantation with a packaging and roasting plant. This is not nearly the same as the other plantation we visited, this was very touristy and seemed very fake. However, I learned a lot about organic coffee and about the general business of Cafe Britt. The grounds were very nice and the restaurante was very fancy and the food was great.

Tourism in Costa Rica 1

Tourism in Costa Rica is HUGE. It recently beat out banana's as the countries number one foreign currency earner. Which means that tourism is the countries number one source of income. We are here as tourist and every dollar spent here is tourist money for Costa Rica. Things to do here range from bungee jumping to beautiful beaches. Thus far we have toured the main sites in San Jose and coffee plantations. Tourism is a $1.9 billion dollar industry in the country. Costa Rica is the most visited country in Central America with 1.9 million visitors in 2007. Most tourists come from the USA at 54% and Europe with 14%. Eco-Tourism is also huge which includes the national parks and protected areas that cannot be developed. Our tour guide says that more and more of the forests are being developed into hotels and such which traps the animals into a smaller and smaller area. One reason Costa Rica is such a hot spot for tourists is its unbelieveable biodiversity, with 24 protected parks.

The difference between ecotourism and tourism is that normal tourism is a beach lined with crowded hotels and theme parks. Ecotourism offers a much more natural option to tourism by simply enjoying the wonders of nature. Ecotourism takes visitors to remote regions not fully developed (such as Monteverde) so that they may see diverse wildlife and an escape to the modernized world. Ecotourism is a relatively new concept that is the fastest growing tourism industry with average growth of 20-30% per year. The reason for the boom is that consumers are becoming more and more eco friendly and more concerned with the planets well being. Tourists now want the feeling of being environmentally responsible while at the same time enjoying the wonders of nature. The number of tourists that visit Costa Rica is rising each year bringing even more revenue to the country. One commonly accepted definition for this new concept of ec0tourism is, "purposeful travel to natural areas to understand the culture and natural history of the environment; taking care not to alter the integrity of the ecosystem; producing economic opportunities that make the conservation of natural resources beneficial to local people". 

Crazy Taxi Ride

So Bob and I live pretty far away from the school so we take taxi's multiple times a day. Last night, we stayed at the bar untill close (Midnight), and the bartender called us a taxi. The taxi appeared out front, but it was not a real taxi. It was completely yellow, with no triangle or anything. We decided to get in anyway against our better judgement. Stephanie was in the car with us and we dropped her off first, and then the driver took myself and Bob to our house. The only problem is that the ride should take about 5 minutes where it actualy took 30 mins. On top of the length of time the ride took, the windows were fogging up and it didnt change the drivers speeds at all. He was speeding through stoplights and stopsigns, needless to say, I was a little worried. We ended up getting to the house, but the taxi had no meter so he said 3000 Colones, we were like no way jose, so we payed 2500 colones. NEVER TAKE A FAKE TAXI(unless you want a joyride around San Jose).

Intro to Bananas in Costa Rica

BANANA! According to infocostarica.com, bananas have just lost to tourism as the countries main foreign currency earner. Banana production continues to grow to meet international demand. Most banana plantations are in the Atlantic lowlands. Banana's have been part of the agriculture sector since 1840 in the Caribbean. Costa Rica has clashed with the banana worker's union for years and has caused much turmoil for exporting. Banana export earnings rose from $482.9 million in 1992 to $531 million in 1993. I look forward to seeing the banana plantations and see how they are grown. The finishing of the atlantic railway created a boom in banana production and export. The giant fruit company United Fruit was created in 1889, with the merger of Boston Fruit Company and Minor C. Keiths business.

Banana's are the largest herb in the world. A banana plant grows continually from the same rhizome, which can send up several shoots. Banana production is about 1,635 banana's per hectare. The new rhizome or plant trunk are dug up and replanted because the plant reproduces asexually. The workers must select the strongest shoot to be the next producing plant and eliminate the rest of the shoots. It takes 6 to 8 months for the stem to develop a large bud, which inside the bud are tiny flowers that develop into banana's.

One stem of banana's contains between 120 to 150 banana's. A box contains 100 banana's, a container holds 960 boxes, and a ship can transport 400,000 boxes. The average person in the US easts more than 25 lbs. of banana's each year.

Costa Rican Coffee and Plantation Visit

This is what the coffee looks like growing on the plant. I was surprised that the plants also have flowers on them.
Country side on the way to the plantation.
Hangin out in the coffee fields.To give you a size of each plant.
They let the beans dry out using the sun as shown here above.
We arrived at the coffee plantation today 5-21-2008 which was called Del Cafe Tal, or its the name of the coffee brand. The lady who owns the plantation, Daisy, did not speak hardly any english, but spoke to us via a translator. We were very excited to hear that her plantation is the #1 in all of Costa Rica regarding quality. We could purchase the coffee beans for $10/pound(I think she gave us a discount). We learned a lot about coffee in Costa Rica and the difference between organic vs. non-organic coffee farms. The plantation today was organic for a short while and was very unproductive so the owner decided to switch back to the traditional approach(fertilizer...etc).

Coffee production began in Costa Rica in 1779 in the Meseta Central. This area had very very rich soil and a near perfect climate for the plant. Coffee growing soon surpassed cacao, tobacco, and sugar in importance and by 1829 it had become the major source of foreign revenue. Costa Ricans take much pride in the quality of their coffee rather than the quantity. We learned today that the plantation owner gets 15% return on the actual value(selling price) of the coffee. Lets say the coffee sells in stores for $100, she would get $15 of that. It was very interesting to know that Costa Rica exploits cheap labor too! They have immigrants from Nicaragua do the cheap labor and make $.60 per bag of coffee collected. They collect about 12 bags a day, thus around $7 dollars a day in cheap labor.

Settling In/ Initial Reactions

           Costa Rica is not as different as first imagined. My host family, mainly Mrs. Maria Joaquina Rojas is the sweetest lady that I could ever imagine. She makes us breakfast and dinner and even cleans our rooms! She is very helpful and her children are even more helpful. Her son, Juan Jose, is 24 yrs old and he speaks very good english and acts as a translator between us and the parents. The parents speak some english, but not much, but speak spanish very slowly so that Bob 'my roommate´ can understand her. Thanks to Bob´s spanish skills, he can speak spanish very well and also translates for me. The only down side is that our walk to Universidad Veritas is 30 mins and not a straight shot by any means. However, Bob and I trek it together which makes it bearable.

Costa Rica has almost any American restaurant that you could ever want. Other than that, the country is very different, most notably the weather. Its very nice weather, not too hot thus far, but it rains everyday. I have been told that we have arrived just in time for the rainy season to begin. I am antzy and ready to get out of the city and see what Costa Rica has to offer!

I am meeting many new people and Saul and Glenn are taking good care of us. I have just found out that I forgot both books we are supposed to read, so I will take that added challenge one day at a time. Another challenge is that communication amongst my classmates is very very very hard. No cell phones, no laptops= hard to makes plans and meet up with people. We make plans to meet up at the escuela around 9 PM before we hit up the bars. It seems to be working pretty well so far, but we will see. I am pleased to see that my cell phone works here with a few exceptions. Texting works perfectly, but i can only make local calls. I am VERY excited to see my cell phone bill, I know it will be really pretty!

The people here are extremely nice and willing to help. It is in the Costa Rican culture to be caring and loving. Again, an exception occured. Last night 5/18, Bob and I were taking a cab back and we handed the address to the driver and he stopped at what he thought was the house, but it was not. anyway, we had to call Juan Jose who talked to cab driver to the right house.

To be continued=