picturesAfter Sunday at San Jose:
Monday: Classes
Gardening-listen to my audioblog
Class
Pilates-Feel the burn baby! Our Director Nolan’s wife Tina runs a community center in Atenas called “Su Espacio.” Her Pilates workout was amazing. I think I will be a Pilates addict from here on out. I love finding new workouts that makes muscles you weren’t previously aware of sore.
Tuesday: Organic Coffee Farm
We vistited an organic coffee farm and got to see the trees, the mill, the drying rack, and the green coffee that is exported to be roasted by major companies like Starbucks. Coffee farming has recently become less profitable because of the flood of coffee introduced into the market from the World Bank restructuring Vietnam. Vietnam is now the world’s biggest supplier of the “low quality” coffee that is used to produce instant coffees like Folders (sp?).
Luckily for Costa Rica, they hold a niche market of “high quality gourmet coffees.” They can make this niche market more profitable and environmentally sustainable by producing gourmet organic coffees. Organic coffee plantations look more like forests because they are shade grown. They are also supposed to be easier to manage because it is difficult to buy expensive fertilizers and pesticides to fight off diseases. The problem is access to the lucrative organic market; it is costly to get certified and difficult to market small harvests in the world market.
Past School for Field Studies participants have helped these farmers by selling directly to their college campuses. They are able to sell the organic coffee cheaper than the conventional coffee because they cut out the middle man. I am considering bringing some back to use as a fundraiser for UMBC Students for Environmental Awareness.
I pose with a bag of unroasted coffee beans. I accidentally deleted all my pics from this day so Brenna has kindly let me post hers.
Brenna’s pic of the giant waterslide at the organic coffee farm. Many farms such as this one produce extra income through agro-tourism and serving as a bed & breakfast for tourists.
Wednesday: Community Service
I decided to splurge on some new clothes while spending time in town. I knew how to ask, “How much does this cost? And What size is this?” but for the life of me I couldn’t figure out how to ask, “May I try this on?” without sounding very silly. Despite my broken Spanish, I was happily able to make some more elegant additions to my wardrobe of hiking gear. I am currently a big fan of light, flowy fabrics and anything with beads or seeds. Yay, long skirts. They are replacing sweats as my favorite comfy wardrobe item to hang out in.
I model my new clothes at the Center for Sustainable Devopement in San Jose. Sioban took the photo –pretty lighting.
Thursday: San Jose – U of Costa Rica
All over the University of Costa Rica was graffiti in protest of Tratado Libre Comercial (TLC) which is known in English as the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). From my brief exploration of the U of Costa Rica, it felt like an American University, except that the library bathroom had no toilet paper and there was tropical flora everywhere. ”
I pose next to one of the many anti CAFTA graffiti markers protesting, “No TLC” at the University of Costa Rica.
A very pregnant Ingrid Rodriguez, from the Centro de Investigaciones en Desarrollo Sostestenible (Center for Sustainable Development) of the Universidad de Costa Rica, gave a lecture on biotechnology and genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Did you know that genetically modified soy and corn is used to make snacks, cereals, vegetable oils, and soft drinks? According to Ingrid’s presentation, 60-70% of the prepackaged foods in the US contain GMOs. Currently, products are not required to label if they contain GMOs.
A GMO is an organism whose DNA has been modified via gene splicing with DNA from another species. Examples of GMOs are tomatoes that feature delayed ripening, insect resistant Bt Corn, and blue carnations.
Ian Hawley, the SFS Admissions Counselor stands in front of the Center for Sustainable Development with a group of students
Friday: Classes
6:00 AM woke up early because it was my turn to make breakfast. We made eggs, fruit salad, and I sautéed a bunch of onions, gorgeous garlic, potatoes, mushrooms, peppers, and some taro that I had helped pick a few days prior.
7:00 PM: Janiva and Mare gave us dance lessons in the outdoor classroom. We started off with a Meringue which is basically marching in place. Then we moved onto a Bachata. Lastly we worked on the salsa which is the most difficult. The lessons started off with the basic step, then we worked in two lines, and finally we broke up into partners and danced to the music. A challenge for many of us, including yours truly, is to isolate our hips and keep our upper body still. Hahn and Miriam salsa below.
Hahn and Miriam salsa.
9:00 PM -Don Yayo’s Karaoke. Karaoke is a great way to learn Spanish because the words are slowly belted out so you have plenty of time to read and translate.
S-Feb 18th: Organic Market
5:45 AM we departed the center.
7:00 AM we arrived at the Largest Organic Market in Costa Rica
This market is open once a week from 7-9 AM in the morning. There were about a dozen vendors present. The market has been shrinking because of the Walmart owned grocery chains which are cleaner and more accessible.
Lizzie interviews Don Rafael the largest producer of organic fruits and vegetables in Costa Rica. He sells his good here and in supermarkets.
Organic Vendor uses a machete to cut open fresh coconuts from his farm for us to drink.
Dr. Juan Aguirre, our economics professor who organized us to take demographic and market habit surveys poses with Laura, Brenna, and me as we drink fresh coconut milk.
After the organic market of La Feria, we went to a traditional market. It was huge! Our professor pictured above said that he counted over 300 vendors. There was every fruit and vegetable I could imagine. There were green beans a foot long! Going to the market seems to be both a practical and a social activity. I expected the vendors to be obnoxious but they weren’t. They would answer your questions if you wanted but there was not of a lot of yelling. It was very chill.
Brenna’s Photo of shoppers in the large convential market. I didn’t bring my camera for fear of robbery. Two of my fellow students were robbed in San Jose.
San Jose Street Corner. Photo taken by me from the safety of our bus. Note there is trash on the ground everywhere. Nobody seems to care.
Sunday:
Life is tough. I spent half the day working on my tan, lying out on Steve’s awesome float raft reading about the economics of our world water supply. I have an amazing talent for falling asleep while reading in the pool and not dropping the paper articles into the water. This is an important skill for any environmentalist who doesn’t want to waste paper.
Another great place to hang out and read is in one of the campus’s many comfy, colorful hammocks. Can you tell I’m addicted to hammocks? After visiting the two markets, Laura, Starbuck, Meg, and I went straight back to the center for a lazy weekend.
Alli and some of my more adventurous classmates went to Santa Elena, stayed on a sugar cane farm, and rode horseback up the mountain to the cloud rainforest.
Sioban and her crew went to the Carribean where they were attacked by monkeys. Apparently, the stole Yoshi’s bag, threw her water bottle away, and then tore open a bag filled with individually wrapped cookies. The gang of monkeys devoured the cookies and left a mess. I was told that Miriam tried to growl and intimidate them but they didn’t care.
1:00-3:00 Gran Tope
So I may have gone a bit overboard with the photos from Gran Tope but I can’t help but be completely enamored with cowboy culture. I just wanna be a cowgirl, baby! As a kid, I did a little bit of English style riding and this is completely different. When the horses walk they look like they are dancing. I’m not sure if this stylized form of movement is a result of training or breeding. I really appreciated the fact that the Tope was a family event. Riders were males and females of all ages (although males significantly outnumbered females).
In the evening there was traditional dancing. In the beginning Laura and I just sat and watched. After a few dances, Dennis one of the political candidates with the PAC asked me to dance. He was an excellent dancer; it was so much fun! We did the Salsa, a tango, Mexican Cumbia, and la Bachata. I love how dancing with a good dancer makes you look like you know what you are doing. Dennis was a charming cowboy of about 40. After dancing he took Laura and I for a tour of the stables, let us pet the champion horses, and see the bulls. Then we danced with these 10 year old little boys on the dirt floor in the center of the rodeo. They were adorable and they gave us hugs and kisses afterwards. I know it’s cliché, but life if definitely measured in the moments that take your breath away instead of the number of breaths you take.
