Adios Costa Rica

My study abroad trip has unfortunately come to an end but it has gone in the books as the most unforgettable trip. Not only did I learn about sustainable business in another country, but I got to experience a different culture that really benefited me in many ways. I have grown as a business woman and an individual. I got to meet a Congressman that might be President of Costa Rica one day. I also got to feel like Charlie in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory because I learned how to make chocolate and got to visit a bubble gum factory. One of the most important parts of the trip is I got to know sixteen other individuals that I will remember for a lifetime! 

Alex- The best roommate and the best person at pulling Dardar's

Johnae - Best Captain to drive our fishing boat

Lizzie- Miss LSU

Jacob - the class clown and the annoying older brother I never had

Danielle Lites - Miss Fashion Queen

Roman- the quite but hilarious guy that always puts a smile on your face

Kailey - Winner for best bathing suits and for applying the most sunscreen

Matt - Mr. Bilingual Adventure

Austin - The "Cowboy" Gentlemen 

Mariem - the Most Humble and Thoughtful of us all

Danielle Touchard - The Sweetheart

Morgan - She might be tiny on the outside but has a strong and lovable personality on the inside

Peyton - Miss Party Queen & future founder of PETA in Costa Rica

Greg - the lifesaver! If it wasn't for him I might have had to use my ISD card to get my body back home

Kelly - Future Mrs. Costa Rican 

and last but not least...

Momma P - Costa Ricans thought she was my mother (even though she is way to young to be) but the best professor for this trip! I learned so much from her and she is a great role model for us all! 

Now I'm off to pack for the next adventure of my life. I will be starting an internship in Houston soon and hopefully I can relate the business practices I learned in Costa Rica to the international firm I will be working for this summer. PURA VIDA!

Paradise!

Even though we are not required to post blogs anymore for our trip, I thought it was still neat to keep a diary of my day to day activities. Today we left San Jose and headed for Tamarinda for our weekend beach trip! I got to enjoy getting attacked by parrots, but at least I got this amazing shot!

We then got to the beach and enjoyed swimming in the Pacific Ocean and the beautiful sunset! 

Tomorrow I will go deep sea fishing and CANNOT WAIT!!!

Last Day In San Jose

Our last day in San Jose was full of informative lectures. This morning our first guest speaker was Mr. Manuel. He said back in the day you would work with your family because there wasn’t any job opportunities available. A fun fact from his lecture is that Panama doesn’t speak English and it is not a bilingual country. He has four sons: All four are very successful and have a high education. This man is the definition of a proud parent. Their website name is Ticoshopping.com. Some of the company’s marketing strategies are don’t argue with customer, and use a lot of Facebook for advertising. After he mentioned that comment, I thought to get a better understanding of their advertising strategies I should visit the company’s Facebook page. I encourage everyone to go and like their page just to check out how neat it is. They actually do a great job and I am thinking of buying coffee from them when I get back to the states. The company’s best selling product is coffee if I forget to mention that by the way!

Ms. Lisa was our second guest speaker and she gave a presentation on The Costa Rica Economy of Today. A fun fact is Christopher Columbus discovered Costa Rica. An interesting fact from this lecture is San Jose is the fourth most livable city in Latin American, according to the Economist Survey. A survey was done and the outcome is Costa Rican’s are very happy people and on one survey they had this country coming out to be the happiest country in the world. We then ate lunch and had this yummy treat for dessert! 

Ms. Gayle with the Peach Corp. was our third guest speaker. Ms. Gayle works in the slums of Costa Rica talking to us about poverty in Costa Rica. She started off her presentation by making us think of poverty as a state or condition. She said,"imagine waking up and there’s no water to take a shower, drink water, or flush the toilet with. There is not steady source of water to drink." A fact about poverty in Costa Rica I did not know about is the male is not the bread winner there are no guys that stick around, women live in depression. Her first step when trying to better these poverty cities is by starting to educate the children, then building up to parents and so on.

Our fourth guest speaker was a Dean from the University of Costa Rica. He is a chemist, has a PHD, and can speak English and French. He said Pura Vida was a saying used by comedians years and years ago. Before coming on this trip we read a story called Monday and he was actually the author of that short novel. It was neat to see the smile on his face when we told him we read his work. 

Finally our last guest speaker of the day talked to us about Costa Rican’s African descendent culture. These decedents mostly are around the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. A brief cultural trend is the name of his presentation. Diquis Stone Spheres are stone balls that are known from archaeological sites and buried strata that have only pottery characteristics.

We finished the day by attending a local Jazz Cafe which reminds me of a House of Blues. The event was suppose to start at nine but because Costa Rican's live in "Tico Times" it didn't start until 9:50 PM. Even though I was pretty tired I enjoyed saying appetizers with Dr. Lanier and listening to Latin Pop music. 

The Gift Bearer

Today started off like every other day by our group eating a lovely breakfast. Then our busy day began. We first headed to the local market where we explored different shops. Then we walked around the city viewing sites such this theater below. During the transition of touring the city and heading up the hill to visit Congress...we lost Lizzie. No worries she was found and it's not Johnae's fault for not noticing her roommate wasn't with us anymore because the shoe stores were way to distracting for her to notice.

Then we made our way to Congress. We took a tour of blue building and got to meet the President of the Congressmen. He is in the primary stages of running for President of Costa Rica so it was neat to ask him his views and what is his primary goals would be if he were to win. On Monday when we had lecture day I was given the task of presenting the gifts to our guest speakers after they finished filling our brains with knowledge. Once again I was chosen so Dardar gave me the name of Gift Bearer.

Next we headed off for lunch and to our surprise we had hamburgers and french fries! We also ate very yummy ice-cream. The restaurant was connected to a souvenir shop so we had a tour on how they made souvenirs after we ate lunch. A fun fact about this place is that after they cut the wood for the first time they put the wood in storage for FOUR years until they can finish the second and third cutting stages.

Last but not least we got the visit the Bubble gum factory! This was soooo neat! Below I inserted a video to show you the packing process. Yes..... I was the Gift Bearer. The Costa Rican's were so sweet, they gave us a whole BUBY bag of bubble gum as a souvenir! 

We headed back to the hotel to freshen up then we went back downstairs to listen to our last guest speaker of the day. To no surprise I was the gift bearer again. I do not mind this job whatsoever because I love to see the smile on their faces when we give them such a small token of our appreciation. BUT this one was a little bit toooooo friendly and full of himself! An interesting fact about Mr. Guest Speaker was that he was the dentist on The Swan....I think this is enough said! Setting aside his flaws, he presented great information on Medical Tourism in Costa Rica. We ended the night on top of a hill over looking the city drinking wine and enjoying a nice Costa Rican meal. What a view!

Once we got back to the hotel we had a nice surprise from the famous SERGIO! It was nice to finally meet the Costa Rican everyone talked about from last year!

Tacata Tacata Tacata!

Starting the day off on May 14th at 12:00 AM might have not been the best idea... but our group got to experience the "social" life here in Costa Rica. This bar has the same technology for playing music like we do at home in the states. It is a computerized jukebox that can play any song you request. Our group had a lovely time dancing and got to socialize with some of locals. Then we headed back to the hotel for a short nap and started our day off again at 6:30 AM. We went through winding roads and our bus driver was going as fast as he could (even around the curves) to try and get us to see the Irazu volcano in time before the clouds came in. Unfortunately, we did not get to see the volcano as the clouds showed up just as we were walking up the mountain. Below is a picture of what we should have been able to see today but the big white fluffy clouds were hiding this beautiful scene. An interesting fact is the last time the Irazu volcano erupted was in 1963 which is the same year John F Kennedy visited Costa Rica. He was the first U.S. President to visit Costa Rica and sadly in that same year he was assassinated.

Even though we did not get to experience this beautiful site, we did have fun site seeing on the mountain tops. We saw the local livestock and family pets as well as breath taking views of the cities below. I have met many wonderful people on this trip and last night/early this morning I bonded with the talented Miss Liz. A fun fact about Liz is she was a member of the Golden Band from Tigerland (sorry Mom I made friends with such a huge Bama hater)! 

Then we headed to the Central Market in Cartago. This was a pretty neat place with different shops, smells, and food. Fernando introduced us to exotic fruits that were surprisingly really tasty. The shops in the market included a variety of different products such as fish stores, dog food venues, and shoe shops. 

Our next stop was lunch. My oh my was this an adventure! The first street we took had a landslide that blocked the road, so we had to turn around and try a different route. The second attempt was a fail due to the fact that our bus was too tall to make it on the bridge. Finally we arrived at our destination after our third attempt. This place was absolutely beautiful! The name of it is Casona del Cartago but I like to call it the Secret Garden. It is no surprise that couples come and have their weddings at this destination!

Our last stop was the ruins of the ancient cathedral and the Cathedral de Los Angeles. Before arriving at these destinations I was tired and just ready to take a nap. My attitude sure changed when we arrived and heard the stories behind the ancient cathedral ruins. There are several reasons why this cathedral never was finished being built. First reason was because the weather kept interfering with the building process. Then there was a massive earthquake. The last reason the cathedral was never finished was because the mayor killed the priest after having several arguments about the cathedral. The worst part of the story is that the priest and mayor were brothers. Our last stop was at the Cathedral de Los Angeles. A neat thing story about this place is on every August 2nd, over one million people walk from San Jose to Cartago to give thanks and ask for favors at the Cathedral! 

 

This day is coming to an end but I decided to change it up. Even though I'm not homesick yet, I was in the mood to have an American night. Alex and I grabbed Wendy's, came back to our hotel, and we are now watching the Big Bang Theory! Don't worry we are still keeping this educational by putting the close captains in Spanish! To close this blog on a fun fact, Costa Rica got rid of its army in 1948 to put more money into the educational system. Most Costa Ricans know at least two languages and many graduate college with multiple degrees!

The Uncommon Caribbean

Aloha! Even though today didn't consist of Ragin' Rapids or a hike through the Rainforest, I still enjoyed my day in Costa Rica. To prove to my wonderful Daddy that I am here learning, this blog will consist of fun facts about Costa Rica and how this country is so unique. Below is my breakfast which is the traditional Costa Rican meal. These are the best fruits (mouth watering) and rice and beans (very delicious). 

After breakfast we went to a meeting room and listened to our first guest speaker, Mrs. Gibson with CINDE. CINDE is a Costa Rica Investment Promotion Agency. The main topic of her presentation is, "Why Invest in Costa Rica?" She gave several reasons such as qualified work force, excellent business climate, and quality infrastructure, but the one that really interested me was the quality of life. The people are the main attraction in Costa Rica! More fun facts from her presentation are: more than 80% of Costa Rica's GDP comes from trade activities, Costa Rica exports 4,562 different products to 147 destination countries, and Costa Rica is one of the biggest exporters of banana’s in the world. 

Our second guest speaker talked about how Costa Rica is a travel destination. In this presentation I learned how Costa Rica is referred to as the "Uncommon Caribbean." Unlike most Caribbean travel destination spots, Costa Rica started developing in the Central Valley and over time made its way to the coast lines. That is why Costa Rica is more developed in the central provinces. Not long ago this country was not considered a destination spot and only gave five different types of tours in the 1970's. The three E's that Costa Rica concentrates on are: Economic Sustainability, Environmental Sustainability, and Equity (or social) Sustainability. 

After our second guest speaker we had a fancy lunch. Dr. Lanier really tested me on my dining etiquette skills and I completely failed at remembering to pass the butter (I hope this doesn't reflect my grade). You would think after I took the Dining Etiquette class at UL 5+ times I wouldn't make one mistake. I guess she just made me nervous since I was trying my hardest not to scare her with my laugh again. Hearts of Palm was a vegetable Dr. Lanier recommended us to try and I'm glad she did because I enjoyed its unique taste! After lunch, we listened to two more guest speakers. Our third guest speaker was from Procomer and he gave a presentation on Trade Promotion Management. Trade Promotion Management provides tools to position Costa Ricans goods in the international market through trade fairs, export and buyer missions, and business agendas. Their goal is to facilitate the internationalization of enterprises SMEs (which means small to medium) through the timely supply of information, training and advice for making strategic and operational decisions. Procomber helps companies in the internationalization process by information training, diagnosis, advising, procedures, programs and services, and internationalization. 

Our last, but not least, presenter gave an important presentation of an overall view of Costa Rica. The guest speaker is the Research Coordinator for Estado de la Region. He collects data to determine statistics such as the quality life of Costa Rica. Fun Facts of Central America that I learned from this presentation are: there are a total of seven countries, it has a total population of 41 Million, poverty is 46%, and the GDP in US dollars is 106 billion (7% US). The Costa Rica region is now in the most risky and complex situation in the last 20 years because of challenges. Challenges include: Demographic transition pressures failure development, migration: benefits now but risks for long term, highly vulnerable to climate change, high and persistent social exclusion, weak infrastructural capabilities of states, hybrid political Regimen and Democratic Backwards. 

I hope this blog gave everyone an educational background on Costa Rica...see Dad I am learning! 

Rain Rain is Here to Stay!

Today was such an adventurous day! I got to experience the ECOTOURISM of Costa Rica! First my day started off with such a yummy breakfast! I finally got to experience beans, rice, and fruit for breakfast :)  Not only was that good, but the coffee was amazing! Such a great way to start off the day. 

First we went White Water Rafting down the Sarapiqui river. On our way there it started to rain. Here is a fun fact of Costa Rica: Last week started the rainy season in so we should be experiencing rain almost everyday. The weather worked out perfect because it rained while we white water rafted and the beautiful sun came out for our Rainforest hike. 

The adrenaline was sure running on the third rapids when Greg, Alex, and I feel out of our raft! I carefully followed instructions of what to do when going overboard and planked like a board! No worries MOM I still have all of my teeth and no broken bones! Then the very handsome Costa Ricans cut up pineapple for a snack and showed us a neat little jumping cliff. YES I KNOW hard to believe I jumped! Trust me I was so nervous but all I could think about was what could be worse than falling out of a raft into big rocks....surely not jumping off this 10 foot cliff.

Next we experienced the delicious chocolate tour! To get to the plantation, we hiked through the Rainforest and crossed over this very interested (sketchy, shaky, I swear it was my last walk) bridge! We enjoyed the exotic animals and insects such as toucans, monkeys, and "man eating" ants. Words and pictures cannot describe how yummy this chocolate was! Learning how the development of what to do with coca beans from the 1500's to 1800's  was neat! I learned the process of making chocolate and finish product was delicious!

To end our day we listened to our tour guide, Willie, give us a presentation on Sustainable Ecotourism in Costa Rica. I learned about the different kinds of certifications and its benefits. After this busy day we ate pizza and recapped on all the fun we had. Cannot wait to hear more about Costa Rica in our all day lectures tomorrow!

To end this blog I would like to wish a very HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to my beautiful, best, most selfless mother in the world! I love you and hope you had an amazing day!