So i have been in Costa Rica for a almost two weeks now and i have truely noticed how much toursim is a part of this country. It is everywhere. Even in downtown San Jose there is a market that seems to be designed for tourists. I would never expect to see a local go down there and buy an Imperial tee shirt or a shot glass with Costa Rica painted on the side. You cannot go 5 min. without seeing a bus drive buy with a tourismo sticker on the back.
In this blog i am going to talk about some of the benifits that eco-tourism has on the country as a whole. In 1963, laws were passed which created about 70 national parks which covered 21% of the countrys landscape. So far on my trips, guides have explained that around 30% of Costa Ricas land is currently untouched and remains preserved by law. This would never have happened it if were not for the growing trend of eco-tourism in the country. Farmers have given up their past jobs which envolved clearcutting land for cattle, and replaced them with tourism related jobs. If you think about it, there are houndreds of diffrent jobs that go along with toursim. Jobs include things such as bus drivers, souvenir shops, guides etc. Toursim opened many doors for employment options all across the country. Thanks to eco-toursim, these lush forests and lands are protected aposed to being cleared. This has payed off in medical research and sustainable food products. Without the revenue generated by this industry the land would have been lost to logging and farming years back. Ecotoursim also effects the people who are paying to see the forests and exotic beachs. When they leave they have this sense of a perfect untouched lanscape that is quickly vanishing in the world today. This makes them want to preserve areas like this through donations, groups, votes, and other support options. Ecotoursim is responsible for creating and maintaining many conservation groups around the world. One of the largest benifits of eco-tourism is that it brings large sums of money into Costa Rica without the use of factories and negitive companies that tend to harm growing nations. It truely brings an a source of income that does not cost anything to nature and leaves behind an untouched landscape. Instead of building highrise hotels and highways, ecotourism creates small wood lodges and dirt trails that people from all over the world pay big money to stay in. Ecotoursim also creates a diversification of industry to the nation of Costa Rica. The country does not need to primarly focus on agriculture of bananas and coffee, they also have tourism as a large economic backbone of the country.
Friday, May 30, 2008
SOOO FAR
This past weekend was amazing!!!! Probably one of the coolest couple of days ive ever had. We first drove to the Arenal Volcano. I had never been to a volcano before and i think we got about as close to it as you can get. The hotel we stayed in was literally on the side of the volcano. IT was intense. Every morning i would literally wake up to the view of an active volcano. It looked exactly like the pictures you see that involve dinosaurs, almost a perfect cone. At night you could see the orange lava comming from the top. I probably could have staired at it all weekend. The first night we went to the hotsprings. It was like paradise. There were beautiful pools of naturally warm water and amazing waterfalls. Of course i got bored with the mild pool and went into the hotest one. IT WAS 158 degrees!!!!! I have never felt anything like it in my life. When i fully submerged my body underneath the water i got a rush of goosebumps that felt exactly like the ones you get when it cold outside. The water completely drained me of all energy, it was unreal. If i would not have gotten in i know i would still be wishing i had. There was also a waterslide that deffinately would not be legal in the United States. I went down it not thinking it was going to literally turn me into a rag doll. In one turn it was imposible to stay on the slade and i think i was 3 feet in the air, which fell into what felt like a 70 degree drop. I may have blacked out haha. I was one of the lucky ones who did not get hurt, and after 2 runs i was satisfied. I truely cannot discribe the hot springs in words. It was like nothing else i have ever seen, and it was probably one of the best experiences ive had.
The next day we was just as much fun!! We went to this horse ranch in the middle of nowhere and hoped on what felt like wild horses! I took beginners horseback riding last semester at Miami and lets just say it did not prepare me for these horses at all. I was at the mercy of my horse, which was a rush. The ride was beautiful, and i have never seen horses sprint so fast. I see where the term horsepower comes from, and so does my lower back. The horses took us to what i feel like is one of the most beautiful places on earth. It was 10 story waterfall that fell into a natural pool surrounded by jungle. The water was crystal clear. I could not believe my eyes!! I also could not believe how COLD the water was. The experience was bliss and i probably could have stayed there for the rest of my life. It was one of those places that you almost feel sad because you want everyone you know to experience it to. Later that day we went for a hike on the side of the volcano. When the group was quiet you could hear giant boulders tumbling down the side. It was and overall sweet experience to be standing on a river of lava rock that once devistated the surrounding land. Unbelievable!
Sunday was the day we had all been looking forward to. We went to do the zip lines in Monte Verde. When we got to the course, it started to rain. I feel like rain is an understatement for what it was. It literally felt like there was a constant stream of water on my shoulders the whole time. While standing around our professors seemed a little nervous after asking what rain does to the zip lines. The respones was that it makes the ride faster and the stop harder. I was pumped. The zip lines were huge....they went forever. One of the ziplines went through a clearing in the forest then out over a valley where we were probably hanging 180 feet off the ground, through a cloud ( its a cloud forest) and back into the jungle. haha i could not believe my eyes. Stoping did not seem to be that hard, but i could see the conciquences of not stoping...which was running into a tree 60 feet in the air. Ouch. On one of the long ziplines over a valley the wind picked up in my face and i did not make it to the platform. It was awsome because i had to reverse my position and do like a sloth crawl for about 60 feet. If you have ever seen teh show man vrs wild, that is exactly what it felt and looked like. I was almost tempted to stop short a second time hah. There was "jungle swing" in the middle of the course which was a complete suprise. the jungle swing is pretty hard to describe, but we climbed up a 60 food platform and one at a time, were hooked onto and extremely long rope attached to a giant tree about 200 feet out. When you jumped off the platform there is about a 30 foot fall before the rope snaggs and you swing out into an opening in the cloud forest. WHAT A RUSH! it was a crazy experience and i would have done it 10 more times. The feeling of the initial fall was breath taking, and the rest of the ride was a perfect view of the forest. It definatly took a little nerve to do, but was worth every scream of classmates before me. Haha that was actually the worst part, watching everyone else do it first.
Later that night we went on a night hike in the dark forest. It was pouring rain but still really interesting. Kind of scary though. We saw some really cool insects out there and what the guide claimed was a small taranchala turned out to be like half the size of my fist. At one point i was annoyed that i hadnt spotted anything and was eager to find something cool. I saw what looked like a snake and yelled out to the group really excited like, and everyone came rushing over to see. It turned out to just be a big earth worm and i felt like an idiot. My friends would not let that one slide for a while haha.
The next day we went on a morning hike, which was actually what i would consider a night hike because that is on many occasions the time i would go to bed on weekends back at miami. We woke up at like 5:30 and went out looking for birds. We did not spot much untill the very end. Late in the hike we spotted a male quetzal. It is an extremely rare bird that people search for years without spotting. It was extremely lucky. I think we spotted about 4 of them. They are really cool looking with green, red and orange all over their bodies.
The weekend trip was truely an experience of a lifetime and will be a memory plastered in my head for the rest of my life! This one weekend was worth the cost of the entire trip alone in my opinion.
The next day we was just as much fun!! We went to this horse ranch in the middle of nowhere and hoped on what felt like wild horses! I took beginners horseback riding last semester at Miami and lets just say it did not prepare me for these horses at all. I was at the mercy of my horse, which was a rush. The ride was beautiful, and i have never seen horses sprint so fast. I see where the term horsepower comes from, and so does my lower back. The horses took us to what i feel like is one of the most beautiful places on earth. It was 10 story waterfall that fell into a natural pool surrounded by jungle. The water was crystal clear. I could not believe my eyes!! I also could not believe how COLD the water was. The experience was bliss and i probably could have stayed there for the rest of my life. It was one of those places that you almost feel sad because you want everyone you know to experience it to. Later that day we went for a hike on the side of the volcano. When the group was quiet you could hear giant boulders tumbling down the side. It was and overall sweet experience to be standing on a river of lava rock that once devistated the surrounding land. Unbelievable!
Sunday was the day we had all been looking forward to. We went to do the zip lines in Monte Verde. When we got to the course, it started to rain. I feel like rain is an understatement for what it was. It literally felt like there was a constant stream of water on my shoulders the whole time. While standing around our professors seemed a little nervous after asking what rain does to the zip lines. The respones was that it makes the ride faster and the stop harder. I was pumped. The zip lines were huge....they went forever. One of the ziplines went through a clearing in the forest then out over a valley where we were probably hanging 180 feet off the ground, through a cloud ( its a cloud forest) and back into the jungle. haha i could not believe my eyes. Stoping did not seem to be that hard, but i could see the conciquences of not stoping...which was running into a tree 60 feet in the air. Ouch. On one of the long ziplines over a valley the wind picked up in my face and i did not make it to the platform. It was awsome because i had to reverse my position and do like a sloth crawl for about 60 feet. If you have ever seen teh show man vrs wild, that is exactly what it felt and looked like. I was almost tempted to stop short a second time hah. There was "jungle swing" in the middle of the course which was a complete suprise. the jungle swing is pretty hard to describe, but we climbed up a 60 food platform and one at a time, were hooked onto and extremely long rope attached to a giant tree about 200 feet out. When you jumped off the platform there is about a 30 foot fall before the rope snaggs and you swing out into an opening in the cloud forest. WHAT A RUSH! it was a crazy experience and i would have done it 10 more times. The feeling of the initial fall was breath taking, and the rest of the ride was a perfect view of the forest. It definatly took a little nerve to do, but was worth every scream of classmates before me. Haha that was actually the worst part, watching everyone else do it first.
Later that night we went on a night hike in the dark forest. It was pouring rain but still really interesting. Kind of scary though. We saw some really cool insects out there and what the guide claimed was a small taranchala turned out to be like half the size of my fist. At one point i was annoyed that i hadnt spotted anything and was eager to find something cool. I saw what looked like a snake and yelled out to the group really excited like, and everyone came rushing over to see. It turned out to just be a big earth worm and i felt like an idiot. My friends would not let that one slide for a while haha.
The next day we went on a morning hike, which was actually what i would consider a night hike because that is on many occasions the time i would go to bed on weekends back at miami. We woke up at like 5:30 and went out looking for birds. We did not spot much untill the very end. Late in the hike we spotted a male quetzal. It is an extremely rare bird that people search for years without spotting. It was extremely lucky. I think we spotted about 4 of them. They are really cool looking with green, red and orange all over their bodies.
The weekend trip was truely an experience of a lifetime and will be a memory plastered in my head for the rest of my life! This one weekend was worth the cost of the entire trip alone in my opinion.
BANANAS WOHOO
It is well known that Costa Rica has a very large banana industry. I have not had a chance to visit any of the local banana plantation so all my information is based off of the internet and is fact based. I think we will be going to a banana plantation in a week or so, and i will give you my personal experience. All i can say right now is that Jamie, my roommate, and i have bananas for every morning for breakfast and they are very fresh. So here are some extremely interesting facts about bananas in COSTA RICA¡¡¡¡
Bananas were first brought to Costa Rica sometime after the spanish invasion, along with most of the countries exports. Recently bananas have taken over tourism as the the number one foreign currency earner. The banana industry is rapidly growing. Bananas first entered the United States through the city of New Orleans in 1870. Bananas are and extremely labor intensive crop to grow and harvest that takes a lot of pesticides and chemicals to maintain. Many of the workers in Costa Rica are extremely underpaid and face many health problems due to the chemicals. This was very different back in the day. Workers used to be highly skilled and well paid employees.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
COFFEE
In the last two days our class traveled to two diffrent coffee plantations that are very famous here in Costa Rica. The first one we visited was a coffee plantation that recently won the national award for Costa Rica´s number one coffee. I was very suprised to hear this considering the fact that the owner had only been in business for a couple years. This plantation was an example of the traditional system of growing and producing coffee. Including herself, the plantation hired 7 workers year round, and 70 during harvesting season. She explained how the region in which she grows impacts her decisions and makes her bean diffrent from other competition. The plantation is located up in the mountains. She went on to explain that for her it was near impossible to maintain an organic plantation due to her elevation and the falling prices of coffee in Costa Rica. Without the tradional way of growing using fertilizer and chemicals the plants would not get enough nutrients to grow. The fact that she is located up in the mountains means that the plants are exposed to less sunlight which obviously would have an impact on the plants. In the past years Costa Rican coffee prices has dropped dramatically. This makes it very hard for the farmers to stay in business . She explained that prior to her award she had made about a dollar per pound of coffee bean produced. What was shocking is how much money is pulled out in expenses. About 50% of that dollar made is used in expenses. I have never heard of a crop that costs so much to maintain. The expenses go to the constant upkeep of the land and work that goes into the picking and roasting process. But things are not so tough for her now that she recently won the award for Costa Rica´s number one bean. Now she sells her coffee for about 15 dollars a pound which is an extremely high price. The farm has focused its efforts on truely creating quality of the bean apposed to quantity. I quickly understood why the coffee was number one when we got to taste it. It was literally like nothing i had tasted before, although i am not a huge coffee drinker. The taste was extremely rich and potent. A couple of people were trying coffee for the first time and probably will not venture another cup for a long time. My roommate Jamie had two cups and could not sleep for hours haha! I thought it was hilarous.
The next day we traveled to a more commercial farm called Cafe Britt. This farm was definately different than the day before and seemed to be heavely tourist focused. Although the scenery was not as beautiful as the mountains, the informational tour was amazing. They walked us through everything from the harvesting and picking to the roasting and packaging. I had no idea so much effort went into preparing the coffee bean. They even went as far as to explain how to prepare and taste the perfect cup of coffee. Did you know that a cup of coffee is only good for 20 minutes. They took us inside the factory-processing area where we got a look at the roasting and packaging machines that prepare the famous brand for sale. They truely had efficiency and mass production down to a science. And did i mention that they are organic!! I would never expect that the small plantation would be traditional and the mass produce would be organic. That seems a little reverse to what i am used to. Cafe Britt gathers its coffee beans from houndreds of different farmers across the country. I got the impression that they were like the walmart of Costa Rican coffee in the sense that they go around to small local plantations and buy the coffee for bulk for cheap prices. This probably leads to the pricing problem that many coffee farmers face. The overall tour was very informative and i learned alot about both the production and origion of coffee. An intresting fact that stuck with me was that coffee was discovered in Ethiopia Africa buy a goat herder. What happened was the goats went up to these bushes with red berrys and started to eat them. Almost imidiately the goats went wild, jumping and running around!
Today in business class we learned about how business decisons have a strong impact on how the company is sucessfull. We went into depth about how the decisions on production and how you go about it has a strong impact on sales and survival. This relates to the small tradional coffee farm vs. the large organic farm. Since the small farm has decided to use chemicals and be non-organic it faces the risk that one day the world may decide to only want fresh organic beans and she will have to start all over from scratch. Instead she has decided to take the short term benifits route by using these chemicals to inhance production and quality of the product. Cafe Britt on the other hand has gone organic which is harder to produces but looks better on the green sustainable business side of things. We have seen a huge shift in green marketing and environmental practices which will most likely benifit them in the future. It is decisions like this that impact the fact on wether or not businesses survive in the long run.
The next day we traveled to a more commercial farm called Cafe Britt. This farm was definately different than the day before and seemed to be heavely tourist focused. Although the scenery was not as beautiful as the mountains, the informational tour was amazing. They walked us through everything from the harvesting and picking to the roasting and packaging. I had no idea so much effort went into preparing the coffee bean. They even went as far as to explain how to prepare and taste the perfect cup of coffee. Did you know that a cup of coffee is only good for 20 minutes. They took us inside the factory-processing area where we got a look at the roasting and packaging machines that prepare the famous brand for sale. They truely had efficiency and mass production down to a science. And did i mention that they are organic!! I would never expect that the small plantation would be traditional and the mass produce would be organic. That seems a little reverse to what i am used to. Cafe Britt gathers its coffee beans from houndreds of different farmers across the country. I got the impression that they were like the walmart of Costa Rican coffee in the sense that they go around to small local plantations and buy the coffee for bulk for cheap prices. This probably leads to the pricing problem that many coffee farmers face. The overall tour was very informative and i learned alot about both the production and origion of coffee. An intresting fact that stuck with me was that coffee was discovered in Ethiopia Africa buy a goat herder. What happened was the goats went up to these bushes with red berrys and started to eat them. Almost imidiately the goats went wild, jumping and running around!
Today in business class we learned about how business decisons have a strong impact on how the company is sucessfull. We went into depth about how the decisions on production and how you go about it has a strong impact on sales and survival. This relates to the small tradional coffee farm vs. the large organic farm. Since the small farm has decided to use chemicals and be non-organic it faces the risk that one day the world may decide to only want fresh organic beans and she will have to start all over from scratch. Instead she has decided to take the short term benifits route by using these chemicals to inhance production and quality of the product. Cafe Britt on the other hand has gone organic which is harder to produces but looks better on the green sustainable business side of things. We have seen a huge shift in green marketing and environmental practices which will most likely benifit them in the future. It is decisions like this that impact the fact on wether or not businesses survive in the long run.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Eco- Tourism Blog #1
In this first blog about eco-tourism in Costa Rica, I am going to focus just general facts and information about the subject. In the future blogs i will go more indepth as to both the positive and negitive side that tourism is having on Costa Rica. So far in the few days i have been here i have noticed that tourism is a huge industry for the country and i am right in the middle of it. On the first day we took a tour in a bus around San Jose, with a paid tourguide. We got to see many diffrent parts of the city including everything from soccer/football fields, the opra theatre, down town, to the red light district. We experienced everything from neighborhoods with houses that cost in the millions, to areas that we should not end up in unless we are in a "big group". I took it as just dont go. While on this tour i realized that I am a part of this industry. Our tour guide makes a living off of our visites and the bus driver makes a living on driving us around. Tourism support a large portion of population in various diffrent ways.
Ecotourism is the fastest growing sector of the tourism industry the world's largest service industry. I think the reason for this is that people are finally waking up to the fact that things such as deforestation and global warming are happening and are trying to soak up as much of these exotic sights as possible while they are here. To me this is both good and bad. Its in a way sad that people are paying to travel to get a glimpse of these ecosystems before they disapear apposed to helping to stop the deforestation and pollution first hand. On the otherhand some of the money spent on these trips go to preserving the forsets and regions and are also a reason for the country to keep them around for as long as possible.
The tourism industry of Costa Rica Brings in about 1 million tourists per year, which in turn gererates approximately 1 billion dollars a year. Of these million tourists a year, 48.7% are from the United States. People travel from all parts of the world to this little country, but why? Well one of the strongest reasons is the country's amazing biodiversity. Costa Rica offers everything from lush rainforest, to erupting volcanos, to beautiful white sand beaches. All of which i will be visiting and disgussing more in later blogs!!!! As i travel to each of these regions i will be writing about my personal experiences and the impact i feel tourism is having on the country of Costa Rica.
Ecotourism is the fastest growing sector of the tourism industry the world's largest service industry. I think the reason for this is that people are finally waking up to the fact that things such as deforestation and global warming are happening and are trying to soak up as much of these exotic sights as possible while they are here. To me this is both good and bad. Its in a way sad that people are paying to travel to get a glimpse of these ecosystems before they disapear apposed to helping to stop the deforestation and pollution first hand. On the otherhand some of the money spent on these trips go to preserving the forsets and regions and are also a reason for the country to keep them around for as long as possible.
The tourism industry of Costa Rica Brings in about 1 million tourists per year, which in turn gererates approximately 1 billion dollars a year. Of these million tourists a year, 48.7% are from the United States. People travel from all parts of the world to this little country, but why? Well one of the strongest reasons is the country's amazing biodiversity. Costa Rica offers everything from lush rainforest, to erupting volcanos, to beautiful white sand beaches. All of which i will be visiting and disgussing more in later blogs!!!! As i travel to each of these regions i will be writing about my personal experiences and the impact i feel tourism is having on the country of Costa Rica.
The Arrival!!!
We arrived in San Jose around 9 pm in an airport that was suprisingly nicer and more organized than most airports ive been in in the U.S. Veritas University is amazing! It seems to be an Costa Rican art type school by the way the locals dress. The school is very up beat and is extremely up to date in techonology. My host mother is very nice....i think, since i cannot understand anything she says. We communicate mostly through hand jestures which is funny since it looks like we are mimes. The house is nicer than expected, and i havent quite gotten used to being waited on during meals at all times. The meals started off as being more americanized, such as pancakes, frosted flakes, and chicken nuggets. Now they are turning into more of what I assume is the Costa Rican traditional cuisine. For instance, this morning we had coffee, eggs, rice and beans, with assorted tropical fruit. The fruit is to fresh to be true!!
Our bus tour around San Jose was very interesting and it gave me a good look at what San Jose is all about. It still amazes me that the president's house is in the middle of urban block, with no security. It really sums up the people of Costa Rica. There is a mutual respect and trust between people in this country that cannot be found in the U.S. I will add more about the tour and San Jose in a later blogg, but the city is beautiful! Im off to class...to try and learn some spanish!
Our bus tour around San Jose was very interesting and it gave me a good look at what San Jose is all about. It still amazes me that the president's house is in the middle of urban block, with no security. It really sums up the people of Costa Rica. There is a mutual respect and trust between people in this country that cannot be found in the U.S. I will add more about the tour and San Jose in a later blogg, but the city is beautiful! Im off to class...to try and learn some spanish!
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