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!