Blogging about coffee on my last day

The biggest expectation I had for Costa Rica was trying their world famous coffee. Shocking enough for me was that getting a good cup of coffee was hit and miss. I did learn that most of the good coffee is exported to Europe and the United States, leaving the less than par coffee here for the locals because they can charge lower prices for bad coffee.

With Bananas and coffee being the two biggest crops in Costa Rica, it’s amazing to me how completely different they are. In terms of production coffee needs to grown high in the mountains at lower temperatures, while bananas need direct sunlight and 80 degree temperatures. It’s also amazing to see who produces each product. On our tour through Costa Rica I noticed that coffee is grown by some big producers but for the most part it is grown by small farms and then sold to larger producers. Bananas on the other hand are mainly produced by big companies like Chiquita and Dole. I tend to think that coffee is more a part of the fair trade market because there are more producers of coffee than bananas. I would say the biggest difference between coffee and bananas is their sustainability. Even though coffee and bananas are not sustainable I feel that coffee is "less bad". When I am in the grocery store I never see organic bananas but I do occasionally find organic coffee, and as we all know organic is much more sustainable in the long run than products grown with pesticides.

More Bananas

I was looking at some of my earlier posts on bananas and I realized that I don’t have any research on the banana industry as a whole, so I guess this one will be dedicated to that. Bananas are originally native to southeast Asia and Australia. Bananas are grown in 107 countries. They have the best results growing between the latitudes of 30 N 30 S where it maintains a constant temperature of 80 F. Bananas are considered a major staple to many developing countries. Most of the production around the world is by small farmers who sell their bananas at the local market. The leading banana producers include India, Brazil, and China with Costa Rica coming in 7th.

When I was at Chiquita I did notice the serious amount of drainage systems around the banana plant. They ranged from 5 to 10 feet deep. I think this is because the banana plant needs a lot of water but when there is too much water the plant can die.
One thing that I have noticed since I have been down here is the banana leaf and how it’s used for cooking. There have been many entrees and side dishes that have been served on banana leafs. I think this is a fairly smart idea to utilize all parts of the banana tree.

When I was preparing to come to Costa Rica I was thinking I was going to see many more banana plants. It really wasn’t until the trip to the Caribbean until I saw my first banana tree. I was also expecting to have bananas apart of my diet in Costa Rica. I don’t think that I have eaten a single banana since I have been down here.

Overall my perception of the banana industry is that it is very unsustainable. But I do think companies like Chiquita are recognizing some of these problems and they are moving in the right direct. When I return to Costa Rica in the future I hope this problem is solved for the sake of the environment, because I could not imagine the world without the beautiful country of Costa Rica.

Puerto Veijo

On Thursday June 5th our group left for the La Selva Biological Reserach Station. When we arrived I could tell that I was in a totally different climate. I beleive we were in the lowlands of Costa Rica where it was extremely humid. After we arrived the enitre group went on a nature hike. There wasn't too much to see besides monkeys. For dinner that evening we had porkchops and rice and beans. That night a group of nine of us went on a nature walk with no tour guide. We didnt see too much but it was one of the most fun tours we have taken.

The next morning we took another tour with one of the most boring tour guides of the trip. We couldnt make it ten feet before he had to introduce another plant species. After breakfast we took off to Chiquita where they gave us their speal on how they are becoming more sustainable, and we also got to see where the bananas are sorted and shipped. For more info on Chiquita see my other blog. After the banana visit we left for Puerto Veijo. We did a little shopping on the strip of the beach and then we had dinner. That night we went to karaokee at the bar next to our hotel. And then we went to another bar that had music that we could dance to. And around midnight the bar sponsered a lingerie show which was pretty amazing to the say the least.

The next morning (7th) we took off for a hotel that was right on the beach and it by far the best place we have stayed at. This was also the first time for me being in the Caribean. During the day we played some beach volleyball and did some swimming.

The next morning 8th I took a nature hike to a beautiful spot on the ocean with about twelve other students. The best part was when Marty and I swam out to this huge rock out in the ocean, and this was after our professors said it probably wasnt a good idea. I lost my sandals along the way so I came back with a lot of cuts and sea earchant spines in my feet and hands. That night was a night of drinking and we made a bon fire on the beach.

The next morning we settled up our tabs and left and went back to Puerto Viejo for some souvenier shopping. Nothing much has happened since besides school work. I am starting to get excited for the trip home. But I have loved every minute of it.

Visit to Chiquita

On Friday 25th our group traveled to Chiquita from La Selva. I found this to be one of the most interesting company visits that we have taken this summer. Some things that really stood out were Chiquita emphasizing that the banana industry is moving towards sustainability. In my mind that situation is nearly impossible due to the high amounts of chemicals that are being used for the health of the banana plant. Another thing Chiquita wanted to emphasize was that they were a part of the Rain Forest Alliance since 1991. This means that Chiquita must meet strict environmental standards, including minimal pesticide use, protection of wildlife, conservation of water and soil, environmental education, fair pay, adequate housing and safe working conditions for employees, and zero tolerance for deforestation. From what the company said, Chiquita is one of very few companies that have moved towards more environmental friendly practices.

One interesting fact is that bananas are not native to Costa Rica, they are actually from Asia. So for this reason many diseases can wipe out the entire crop of bananas. Because of the extreme amounts of overhead and supplies that are used it is almost impossible to grow bananas at a local level.



Workers
The Banana industry employs 10 percent of the workforce in Costa Rica. These workers generally receive higher living standards than other agricultural workers. Depending on the country anywhere from 5 to 30 percent employ women. I noticed that when we went to the factory that most of the employees that separated the bananas were all women. Chiquita treats their workers very kindly by allowing them to unionize, giving them medical benefits, selling houses at reduced prices, and donating schools to the community.


Banana Production
The banana plant actually grows several shoots from the same plant, but only the strongest is kept and the others are transported to start a new plant. It takes around 6 to 8 months for a plant to develop a banana stem. When the bananas grow they are protected with a blue bag that helps block out radiation and harmful insects. Many of the banana plants are unstable, so they are tied together with twine to ensure a healthy plant. When ready the banana stem is cut off from the plant and are hung in cableways and sent to the processing factory. While at the packing station the bananas are inspected and Chiquita makes sure that the bananas meet all weight and quality standards. All bananas are run through large water tanks for cleaning and then they are placed on conveyors for packaging. After the bananas are packaged they are shipped by truck and then by ship, and it usually takes anywhere from 3 to 11 days for the actual banana to hit the market.


In my opinion Chiquita is still far from sustainability but they are moving in the right direction. It was nice to see that the main thing that they wanted to emphasize is that they were meeting all standers set by the Rain Forest Alliance.
I really haven’t experienced the banana crop since I´ve been down here. I don’t know if the locals don’t like it or if it’s one of the more expensive fruits?¿

Tourism #3

The tourism part of Costa Rica has been in full swing since I've been down here. It feels that almost everything to do is catered towards tourists. Every souvenir shop or even markets are all priced with dollars instead of colones. The entire country fulfills everyone’s lifestyle from thrill seekers to beach vacationers to family attractions. One thing that I´ve noticed is the huge amount of jobs that rely on me, the consumer, to spend money. For example, the trip to the OSA required a series of boat drivers and jeep drivers, and the employees at the resort that we stayed at. Once we were there we snorkeled which involved boat drivers and snorkeling experts. We also did a tour through the National Park which required a tour guide. A few things that I initially didn´t realize that was connected to tourism was the restaurants that we eat at and all of the different souvenir shops that we spend our money.

I would say that Costa Rica’s incredible amount of diversity and warm climate make the country a hot spot for any vacationer. Where else in the world can you find the eye lash pit vipers, monkeys, poison dart frogs, and tarantulas all on one nature hike. What makes Costa Rica so nice is that the entire country isn´t over industrialized. Even though the standard of living is much lower than the US, I feel that if the country was a lot richer it would become too industrialized and would lose a lot of tourism. I feel the only reason that I would come back is for the experience with nature and the feeling that not a whole lot of people are around me. And when Costa Rica starts to lose that feeling I believe tourism will be hurt the most.

OSA Peninsula

On Sunday we travled to the Osa Peninsula which took about 10 hours to go a few hundred miles. We left arounf 6 am and the roads were terrible. Unfortanelty a road was blocked due to the tropical storm and we were forced to turn around. The bus ended up getting stuck as it was backing up and we had to push it. The roads that we took as a back up were on some kind of plantation and didn't look like it was big enough for a huge touist bus. After a really long bus ride we reached a boat dock on the Sierpe River. On the way there I noticed the tree cover was amazing and it looked like a scene from Jurasic Park. We reached the eco-camp around 4 o'clock and we played cards for the rest of the evening. Our group was actullay the first to stay at this resort.

On Monday we went to the Corcovada National Park by boat. We took a nature hike where we saw monkeys, Costa Rica's national bird the McCaw, and a lot of insects and lizards. We also took a second nature walk to a waterfall where we able to jump off from the top.



Tuesday was dedicated to snorkle off the coast of an island called Isla Del Cano which was a few miles from the Osa. We were able to a few schools of fish anlong with the coral reef. It was defineltly like nothing I have never done before.

The hospitality of the resort was excellent. We had a different dish of food for every meal so we were never burnt out on one thing. We had either steak, fish, or chicken in the evenings with a bowl of soup. And we always had some kind of tropical drink.

Wedensday we headed back to San Jose. Also, on Wednesday I figured out that I was accepted to the business school, so I was pretty pumped.

White Water Rafting

Due to the tropical storm plans were changed and we went white water rafting on Saturday (31st) on the Pacaure River. It was an excellent day to go rafting because of the water level and it was sunny all day. We left San Jose a little after 6:30 and returned are 6:00 that night. The Pacaure River is the most famous river in Costa Rica and the part of the river we rafted on had class 3 and 4 rapids. Our group rafted for 18 miles which took most of the day because we had to stop for lunch. Lunch was brought on the rafts and we had fresh watermelon and pineapple and wraps. I had 6 people on my raft Marty, Rob, Diane, Chase, Glenn, and our raft instructor Roberto. Our instructor let us swim through rapids towards the end which was really fun. Nobody in our group fell out, but it was fun to watch the other boats when people fell out. The best part was when we watched two rafts flip over because they were sucked up the bank and the people on board were forced to evacuate. We finished our trip back at the station where we purchased t-shirts and got dressed.

Overall I would say that rafting has been one of the most enjoyable trips this summer. I highly recommend anyone trying it at least once and I would definitely pay money to do it again. Our group went with a company called Exploradores Outdoors, but there were many other companies that we saw that would do the same job.

Problems facing the Banana Industry

In my research, banana production in Costa Rica is far from sustainable especially for big business producers. The banana tree´s fruit is highly depended on pesticides for its survival, and it takes a lot of pesticides to produce a good crop. The results of pesticide run off are only bad because it contaminates the soil and usually flows into rivers and streams. It is estimated that 60 percent of pesticides applied to bananas gets carried away from its original destination. Unfortunately around 90 percent of the coral reefs in Costa Rica have been destroyed because of pesticide runoff. This situation is very similar to what we have learned in class, that pesticides create extensive amounts of dead zones at the mouths of rivers.

Also, banana production requires an enormous amount of space, which can only be achieved by deforesting many habitats. The results of deforestation include flooding, landslides, and loss of habitat for other creatures. It is estimated that there have been 18 extinctions of trees in Costa Rica. This not only creates a problem with biodiversity among trees but with animals that are displaced because of deforestation.

Employment in the banana industry is far from ideal. Employees usually work long hours in harsh conditions and they are rarely given the opportunity to organize to improve these conditions. Its estimated that there are 80,000 workers in banana plantations. But only 30% have stable in employment leaving many workers to roam the region. Workers are paid around 250 dollars a month which is more than any other agriculture crop. On the hand these workers only average about 15 years in the industry and are let go by the age of forty because the work is so intensive. Many of the employed workers are kept on three month contracts so they become very disposable and there is little stability for the average worker.

Indigenous citizens to Costa Rica are also facing problems with the banana industry. The expansion of vast amounts of banana companies has often driven out many indigenous people. Many tribes have to deal with the threat of contamination of rivers and soils. Some of these people become displaced and are to become workers.

In my opinion there are a few solutions out there that can solve many of these problems. As we have discussed before fair trade could be an answer to creating a reasonable wage and better working conditions on the plantations. Also, organic plantations would solve many problems pertaining to pesticides and would be healthier to the environment.

Tropical Storm

The tropical storm Alma has passed Costa Rica late Thursday and will probably hit Nicaragua. The last time I checked the storm on Thursday the winds speeds were about 65mph

Banana Research

Costa Rica highly depends on the exporting of bananas. They are the second largest exporter after Ecuador. Bananas account for 68% of traditional exports in Costa Rica. Fifty percent of banana production occurs on medium sized farms. The banana industry employees 50,000 people in Costa Rica. The banana production farms sell most of their banana production to the United States to companies like Chiquita, Del Monte, and Standard Fruit. These companies own many of the plantations and control the profitability of the product. Two way trade between the United States and Costa Rica exceeded $7.9 billion in 2006. Costa Rica has remained constant in its production of bananas over the past few years by producing 2.3 million tonnes each year. Most of the profits (88.5%) generated by bananas are at the retail level.

Most of the banana production in Costa Rica is based in the Atlantic lowlands, where the land is fertile, flat and the air is very humid. Banana production will only be successful in the best soils. The soils need to be well drained with a high balance of nutrients and a pH level between 6 and 7.5. Prime soils are frequently found in alluvial plains and on volcanic ash deposits. An intereseting fact is that banana production can only exist when the temperature is between 80-100 degrees and this is why bananas remain a tropical fruit.

According to Chiquita banana production consists of four major segments: plant growth, banana protection, harvest, and cleaning and packaging. Bananas are grown from existing plants not seeds. So when a whole crop is destroyed it becomes impossible to replant. Also, banana crops are not very diverse genetically, so when a disease hits the plants it can potentially whipe out the entire crop.

The Beach

Tuesday and Wednesday were our free days so we took a five hour bus ride to Manuel Antonio which was right on the beach. On the way there we stopped at a bridge and we saw about 15-20 crocodiles in the river. It looked like something you would see on the discovery channel. At Manuel Antonio we stayed at Coco Beach Resort which had an amazing view of the ocean. The whole town was very touristy, but it still had the Costa Rica feel to it. The first thing we did was hit up a place to eat. I had the snapper and it was excellent, and the cool thing was that it still had the head and fins attached. After the restaurant we hit the beach. The waves were really powerful in some spots. The sad thing was that we didn’t get a ray of sun the two days we were there, but I did see my first monkey in the trees. After the beach we dried off and went to happy hour at another restaurant. I had a pina colida, rum and coke, daiquiri, and a margarita and they were all really good. For dinner I had a quesadilla which was alright. That night we took a bus to a discoteca where we danced for a little while, and then we took cabs back to the hotel.

The next morning (28th) we had breakfast at the hotel and I had the biggest pancake in my life. After breakfast I did some reading while taking in the beautiful view. We took off at 12:00. We stopped for lunch at a place that normally doesn’t seat a lot of people, so we were there for two hours. I ordered a cuban with fries. We got back into San Jose around 7:00. When I got back to my host families house they were very excited because her boyfriend just won a new car. I don’t really know how but they were pretty excited.

Weekend trip to Monteverde

Friday the 23rd we had business class in the morning and we had a quick lunch at Veritas. We left San Jose at 1:30 to travel to Monteverde for the weekend. It was about a three-four bus ride north-west. That night we checked into our rooms and took in some scenery. The Arenal volcano was literally in our back yard. The volcano is over 400o years old and is Costa Rica's most active volcano. Later that night we traveled up the road to the Baldie hot springs. The hot springs are a series of pools that is very touristy, and I think it is somewhat heated by the volcano. Most of the pools were around 104 degrees but the hottest was 152 which most of us got into and it was really uncomfortable to say the least. Drinks were ten bucks a pop and you can really feel the alcohol in the hot springs. After the springs we dried off and walked to the restaurant which was a part of the hot springs. It was a very expensive restaurant. Everyone ate at the buffet. I had tilapia, some really good pasta, and probably the best potatoes that I've ever had. After dinner we went back to the hotel and partied. I went to bed around 12:30 or 1:00.

The next morning (24th) we had breakfast at the hotel. I had the famous gallo pinto, eggs, toast, and coffee. After Breakfast we left for the hydroelectric plant. We were able to visit the dam and the actual plant where the turbines are. Costa Rica generates about 80% of its electric through hydra electric plants. The plant was pretty boring but it was worth seeing, especially because its hard to get tours in the US because of terrorist attacks. After the plant we took the bus to a horse stable, where we rode horses to the waterfalls. The view was absolutely amazing because the volcano was in the background. The horseback riding was really fast and we were around to go at our pace. The horse was absolutely exhausted one we get to the falls. The La Fortuna waterfall is about 75 meters tall and it was the biggest one that I've ever seen. It was quite a hike down to where the waterfall hits the river. We were able to go into the little pond and swim and most of us went behind the waterfall to take in some of the scenery. When we got back to our hotel we had lunch, bologna sandwiches, yum. After lunch we went to Arenal National Park to see the lava flow. We weren’t able to see any lava but when we were really quiet we could hear the rocks falling off the side of the volcano. After the Park we went to a steakhouse but we were only aloud to get chicken or fish. It was still fairly tasty though. When we got back to the hotel the electric in the whole town went out and we didn’t have electricity for about an hour. So we did a little partying in the dark and I went to bed around 11:00.

The next morning (25th) we got up really early and had breakfast at the hotel and took off to Monteverde. We had to take a boat across Arenal lake which was about an hour and the view was amazing. We got on a couple of really small vans that took across the country side on really bad dirt roads, which have probably been the worst roads we have been on the whole trip. We checked into the lodge in the mid afternoon and got a quick bite to eat. Guess what, it was more rice and beans. After lunch we went zip lining in the rain forest. I would say that zipping has been the most fun activity so far. It was too bad that it was pouring rain or I would have gotten more pictures. At the zip lining place they also had a Tarzan swing which was absolutely crazy. We walked up to a 75 foot platform where they strapped us up and we just stepped over the edge and swung back and forth deep into the forest. The zip lining was pretty sweet too. Since we were in a cloud rain forest it was sometimes hard to see what is in front of you. After zip lining we went to a pizzeria which everyone was dying for some food that wasn’t rice and beans. That night when we got back to the lodge we went on a nature hike in the dark. It was raining really hard so we couldn't see much. The coolest thing I saw was an orange ring tarantula. At the very end of the tour we turned off our flashlights and walked in complete darkness. When we got back everyone was completely drenched.

The next morning (26th) we had to get up at 5:30 to do a morning nature hike. I think it was mostly to see birds and look at plants. Then we had about a 6 hour bus ride home to San Jose. That night we went to the local bar for a few hours and called it a night at 11:00.

This weekend was a blast. Its amazing to see how well Costa Rica has this tourism thing down to a science. There wasn't a moment where I felt like I needed to do more, and if anything I felt that we did too much and I was exhausted. It was neat to see how many diferent pieces of the puzzle are out there to make our stay very enjoyable. For instance one thing that I didnt intially recognize is the advertising. I dont think there was a weeekend trip where I didnt pass a sign for either bungee jumping, zip lining, or Arenal. There is just so much to see and do here, and I just like the fact that Costa Rica still has that undeveloped feel because in my opinion without it tourism would not be such a money maker.

Cafe Britt

On the 22nd we traveled to Cafe Britts headquarters in Santa Lucia de Heredia, Costa Rica. It was founded in 1985 by Steve Aronson It has store locations in Costa Rica, Peru, and Chile. Britt has been a leader since it was started. They have challenged many laws and have ultimately reformed the coffee business in Costa Rica. This has allowed some of the best coffee to be sold at the local market. They are also one of the first coffee producers to sell their product on the internet.
It was a very informative and high energy presentation. They showed how the coffee was picked and processed. An interesting fact is that after the bean is picked it loses 80% of its weight.It employs 800 employees in 43 locations. Britt is one of the largest coffee manufactures in Costa Rica. Interestingly it only has two places where it grows coffee in about an 8 acre area. It purchases the majority of its coffee from small farmers around Costa Rica. Britt only purcheses the best coffee beans from mountain grown plantations. They have many different products such as roasted gourmet coffee, tropical coffee, and coffee beans covered with candy. They do a great job of combining tourism with coffee. Over 50,000 tourist go through their plant every year.

Overall the presentation was excellent and upbeat. I felt the most powerful thing I recevied from the presentation was Britts ability to not only sell a product but to sell their brand through tourism. It was as if we were riding a ride through their presentation and at the end we were funneled into the gift shop where we could buy their product.

Research on Tourism week 1

According to most of our tour guides, tourism has increased since the 1990s. According to the Global Market Information Database, tourism expenditures for Costa Rica $487.8 million and total receipts are $1729.1 million. In 2007 their were 1.9 million visitors into the country making it the most traveled to country in central America. Around 54% of these tourist are from the United States. Over 13% of country employment is related to the tourism and is 8% of the countries Gross National Product in 2005. Ecotourism also plays a vital role in costa ricas sucess. Many tourist travel to costa rica to see its protected areas and wildlife. For the most part the dollar has stood its ground in costa rica with relatively low food costs and inexpensives places to stay. Increased tourism in costa rica has put a heavy demand on the construction sector

Getting Settled In

The next morning we met our maid, who makes us breakfast and does our laundry every Monday. We had pancakes and water w/ berries. That morning we had our first business class meeting to go over expectations. After lunch at the University we traveled to CINDE, which is explained in another blog. I cant quite remember everything that happened, too much is happening everyday. For dinner I believe we had pot roast but it was pork instead of beef with lemonade. That night paul and i went out to the bar and met our other classmates at Piscantos. It was a very small bar and we certainly outnumbered the Costa Ricans. Since we bought so much beer they started to hand out free shots and the bar tender even did some with us..haha.. I believe it was a family owned bar which in most cases are common in costa rica. I believe we got back in at 12 and went straight to bed

Tuesday the 20th we had Coco Crispies and Manga. I think the Manga has been the first thing that I have not liked since I have been here. We were suppose to have a Spanish survival lesson but our instructor was in a car accident. So we went over some of the reading material and it was a slight introduction. It rained most of that evening so we decided not go out. We had dinner with both Edgar and Viviana. She made spagetti and garlic bread. Later she let us try a weird fruit that I had to crack open and almost looked like a small guard. The fruit resembled fish-eggs and it was very gooey and definitely a different taste. We watched Identity w/ spanish subtitles. I hit the bed at 10:00 so I would be well rested for the trip to the coffee plantation.

Trip to Daisy's coffee plantation

These are some of the drying tables for the coffee beans. It usually takes about 5 to 7 days for the coffee to make it from the plant to packaging.
These are some of the coffee beans, they should be harvested around January.

We traveled out of San Jose on Wednesday to a coffee plantation. Our first destination was cancelled due to a lot of run and mud, which would have been bad for hiking. So we rescheduled a visit ti Daisy's plantation. It was over 1000 meters in altitude. We were able to see the coffee being grown and some of the workers attending to the plants. I believe most of her coffee beans get harvested later on in a few months. She told us that she had recently (May 16th) one an award for the best coffee in Costa Rica. It was so high in the mountains that there was little sun which is great for growing coffee. There was also a huge temperature change once we reached the mountain peak. This is our trip to Del Cafe Tal and the owner Daisy

She told us a lot about the coffee process, so i am just going to list off some of things

1. She used to grow organic coffee but switched to nonorganic because the selling price were becoming equal and the expenses are a lot less than organic.

2. When she sells the coffee, her expenses usually total 50% of her profits.

3. Normally she is lucky to receive $1.50 per pound, but recently since she one the award she is able to demand $15 per pound.

4. She normally employs 70 workers for the harvesting season

5. She never sells to the Costa Ricans because they cant afford, but she was looking into selling it to high end supermarkets in CR.

6. Her biggest exports are to The US and Europe

7. She said that she rarely sells to Starbucks because they offer low prices

8. In order to classified as organic a farmer must have zero pesticides in the ground which can take some time if the farmer was previously a nonorganic farmer.

9. Coffee plants are planted in rows because it is easy for harvesting and it helps erosion

We travel to Cafe Brit tomorrow which sells both organic and nonorganic. From what I've heard this should be a much larger business with more workers and more coffee.

Coffee Research

Fair trade in recent years in the coffee industry has developed and started to grow.  Fair trade refers to creating an equitable market for both producers and consumers.  An advantage to free trade is that poor coffee farmers that produce high quality coffee enter the market and everyone wins.   This type of trade is vital to any market because is one of the three most traded goods in the world. In the 90s and early 2000's coffee bean prices have dropped significantly while the retail price has either remained constant or has risen. So coffee growers were ultimately losing profits to the retailers. This has also led to larger coffee corporations buying the smaller plantations coffee and selling it for more because they have more power to negotiate prices with retailers.  So, the fair trade agreements have helped pass down profits to the small coffee growers.

The best way to grow coffee beans is in the shade.  This strategy helps slow down the maturity process allowing the coffee bean to produce more sugar and a better flavor.  But some coffee growers are forced to grow their plants in the sun because they need a quicker turn around so that they can avoid impoverishment.  This consequently leads to deforestation and erosion.  So the benefits of fair trade coffee are that it helps the environment and the small farmer.

The most famous coffee in costa rica is found in the regions of Tarrazu, Tres Rios, and Alajuela. The best type of coffee is found at high elevations around 3,900 feet.   There are two types of coffee grown in Costa Rica Organic and nonorganic.  Organic requires the bean to be pesticide free and this demands a higher price when going to sell the beans.

The first couple of Days

We arrived in Costa Rica late on Saturday night. We took a bus into San Jose where we met our host families. Our first night was very enjoyable and surprisingly there was no rain. Our host mother (Viviana) is a 26 year old pre-school teacher and luckily for me she is fairly fluent in English. The first night she took us out to Subway in her extremely small car. The one thing that Ive noticed is that Costa Ricans are terrible drivers. Our host mother said costa rica is known for their many car crashes and fender benders. They have a weird habbit of beeping their horn before going into an intersection to warn traffic coming the other. The streets are very narrow and some are impossible to have two lanes. There are a lot of one way streets and rarely the streets are labeled. I think our street is street 35?

After Subway she took us to a bar to meet her boyfriend (Edgar, who is a graphic designer who studied at the same school that we are studying at) and some of their friends. Costa Ricas national beer is Imperial and Pilsen which have grown on me since Ive been here. Everyone here is very polite and welcoming of Americans especially the ones that speak English. I think I have got in a bad habbit of just pointing to stuff because I dont know any Spanish, well at least enough to have a conversation.

The next morning (18th) she made us gallo pinto, bacon, and scrambled eggs with milk blended with fresh berries. We then got on a bus with a tour guide who showed us San Jose. We drove by the Presidents house and the old main arby hub of Costa Rica. For lunch I had sea bass, plantalones, with some unknown vegaetables. The drink was very very fruity and it was made out of recycled rice water and squeezed pineapples. That night our housekeeper took us to a mall outside of San Jose to eat. The funny thing was that Paul and I both ordered Costa Rican Food and her and her boyfriend both ordered American food (KFC). They said that they prefer American food because it is very quick to make. We came back to San Jose in hopes of going to the bar, but it closes early on Sunday. We met her mother Juillette ( I dont know here she was the first day?) And they also have a pet dog and rabbit.

Cinde

Yesterday we visited CINDE a nonprofit organization located in San Jose. CINDE interacts with compnanies outside of Costa Rica in the hopes that they will establish their business in Costa Rica. CINDE focuses on three specific sectors Advanced manufacturing, Electronics, and Services.
CINDE gave us a quick background on Costa Rican business. Costa Rica is an agriculture based economy and they are in the middle of adapting to the Central American Free Trade Agreement. Costa Rica is currently seeing a shift from an Industrial economy to a service economy. Currently coffee only makes up about 3% of exports and Bananas are 7%. Real Estate is the 2nd biggest foregn investment and manufacturing is number one. Costa Rica is very much affected by globalization. They felt severe downturns with the dot.com bubble. Costa Rica in the 1980s experienced a recession because of their lack of exports. And as a result Costa Rica diversified and started to export more. Unemployment in Costa Rica is currently very low for their location (4.8%). They also told us that Costa Rican wages have been going up due to their ability to speak english.
The success in Costa Rica is due to its exports. And the entire economy is set up to intise companies to come to Costa Rica. For example Costa Rica has low Corporate income taxes, and in some cases for new companies no corporate income tax.

I personally thought of CINDE as being a very important peice to Costa Rican Success. Naturally Costa Rica is a big importer of American goods, but when they can intise companies to set up shop in Costa Rica it can only benefit their quality of life. Costa Rica in my opinion will only benefit from gloablization and what CINDE is doing currently. Costa Rica has many natural resources that are not being utilized and with proper approaches companies can benefit as well as the Costa Rican themselves.

Well, I’m about to leave for my trip in less than a week and I am getting excited. I’m still not too sure what to expect because I have never been outside the U.S. And I don’t speak Spanish so that might be a problem?

Let’s see, I think a few goals that I have for this month long ‘vacation’ are to get a tan, gain some weight- from all the rice and beans ‘that sounds so good right now’, and to get acquainted with the Costa Rican citizens.

I guess a few things that I am looking forward to are:
The Beach— Who wouldn’t look forward to that?
The Rain Forest – zip lines, and monkeys of course
The Banana Plantations – Actually my dad made a few business trips to Costa Rica to sell conveyors to the Chiquita company. So, I’ve seen some first hand pictures and everything looks amazing.
Meeting my host family


I’ll try and post updates every chance I get and maybe a few pictures. Now lets go to COSTA RICA!

Costa Rica

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