Final Blog

As I write this last blog, it feels like an eternity since I've been back home. It felt the same way when we were still in Costa Rica. Maybe the drastic contrasts in environments screwed with my head a little. And drastic it is. I have been almost too comfortable since being back home. I have far more choices from which to spend my time. 

Being in a foreign country was an eye-opening experience. People live much simpler lives, yet Costa Rica is still the happiest country in the world. Many things I saw and heard go against our American ideals. Lots of Americans would have been very uncomfortable in this environment. I'm glad that our group was very adaptable to these changes. And that's what businesses must do in these foreign environments: adapt. The ones that don't are bound to fail.

While Costa Rica is not as developed as the United States, they have been able to avoid hurting the environment in their developmental process. Unfortunately, the rest of the Americas have not taken note quite yet. This coupled with their educated workforce has allowed them to stay competitive with the rest of the world. With better infrastructure, Costa Rica will be an even more attractive place to live and visit.

Hopefully other nations will catch on to Costa Rica's methods. If and when this happens, this world will be a better place to live. It was great to visit a model of what the world could be. It's certainly not perfect, but compared to the rest of Latin America, it's one of the best places to be.

I gained a lot from being outside of my comfort zone. I am a bit of an introvert and this trip definitely wore on me a bit. But I got to see and do some really cool things that many people don't get to do. I definitely look forward to more world travel in my future, and I'm happy to say I started in Costa Rica.

Pura vida!

Our last day in San Jose was also our second lecture day. It was mainly about the people and way of doing business in Costa Rica. Our first lecturer was an entrepreneur in the restaurant business.
The second lecturer was a female economist who talked about the history of the country's economy and why it is successful today. Wars created turmoil throughout it's history, but it remained an agricultural success story throughout. After World War 2, the socialist party opened the economy up and things began to look up more than ever. Abolishing the military helped too. In the 1980s, wars in Central America and rising oil prices forced Costa Rica to depend on the US.

Nowadays, Costa Rica has the widest variety of exports in the world, moreso than the US and China. Numerous free trade agreements have opened up more opportunities for businesses. Costa Rica's central bank also encourages the flow of US dollars, which is a very attainable goal with all the tourism they bring in.

Next, we had a representative from the Peace Corps speak to us. She is stationed in La Carpia, the poorest slum in San Jose. It is comprised of Nicaraguan immigrants. She pointed out to us the many misconceptions of poverty. Many people think that people in poverty are simply lazy, and that is not the case all of the time. Sadly, the lack of family structure has sent many into generational depression, living day by day, meal by meal. Mothers are the breadwinners, and fathers are often absent. Self-esteem is extremely low. The goal of our speaker and the Peace Corps is to start educating children, which leads to mothers gaining some self-esteem. Eventually, they hope that this passes down through future generations. And thankfully, she believes it has.

The last two speakers spoke more about the culture of Costa Rica. The first one was a famous Costa Rican writer. His English was not very good. His main point was to look at history and culture from multiple perspectives, not just your home country's. I really liked that point. Americans should all take this advice. The last speaker spoke about the history of African immigrants to the country. Most are on the Carribean side, which we did not spend any time in. They were originally brought here as slaves. However, their integration into society was much smoother than in the US because of the wide variety of races and skin colors in the nation.

That's all she wrote for San Jose. We are now in Tamarindo at the beach. I will be writing my final blog about the beach experience in the coming days. We fly back home tomorrow, and I am ready to be back!

Day 5: Congress/Bubble Gum Factory

Today started in downtown San Jose. We visited the Central Market and walked around the major shopping areas. Then we headed to the Costa Rican Congress. Unfortunately, they wouldn't let me and a couple of the other guys in because we had shorts on. So our tour guide brought us to an outdoor market where we tried all sorts of fresh fruit, juice, and cheese tortillas, which are a popular dish here. While waiting for the rest of the group to finish the tour, we saw the former President of the Congress and took a picture with him (equivalent to Speaker of the House).

After that, we went to lunch at a souvenir factory, and then shopped for souvenirs. The guys and I found some Cuban cigars, and will be sharing them at the beach. The owner's son took us on a brief tour of the factory, showing us how all the wood they use is processed. Most of their products are made from wood, with necklaces being the main thing they sell.

The bubble gum factory was next. The company's name was Pogo. We basically got a tour of every step in the process. The machines they used were pretty amazing to watch. Manufacturing is a complicated process that I often wonder about, and getting to see some of it first-hand was really cool.

Our final activity today was a lecture about medical tourism. This occurs when people leave the United States and Canada to find cheaper health care abroad. Costa Rica is one of these destinations. Doctors are actually in school longer than in the United States, and all hospitals must meet the same standards as the US. So the health care is just as good, cheaper, and covered by insurance. Sometimes, the travel and hotel expenses are covered too. Even if a patient had to pay for travel, hotel, and other expenses, it still may be cheaper than having the procedure back home. The way Costa Rica can accomplish this is due to the cost of doing business. People don't make as much money here, but the cost of living is also drastically lower. So it's a growing phenomenon. We'll see how far it goes before the US government steps in and tries to break up the party.

Tomorrow, we have our final lecture day. Our last activity will be learning Latin American dances. Yay...

Day 4: Irazu Volcano/Cartago

After we all had plenty to drink at a Mexican restaurant last night, we started today by driving up a winding mountain road two miles above sea level to see the Irazu Volcano! Needless to say, by the time we got there, we were all about to pass out. And then the clouds rolled in, blocking the gorgeous view that you can see on the background of this blog. Pretty disappointing start to the day. However, I got some great pictures of the mountainside on the drive up, which I will be posting here and on Facebook.

We drove back down the mountain to the city of Cartago, the former capital of Costa Rica. San Jose became the capital in the 1800s because coffee, the country's main export at the time, grows better there. The first place we visited was the central market. It was a very smelly experience, including fish that desperately needed to be cooked, and cheese that sent us scrambling for the exits. It was a very foreign place to all of us. But I guess it's something everyone needs to see. And smell. We also got to check out the refurbished train station, which is reopening tomorrow. It will provide a new route into San Jose, and the goal is to reduce vehicle traffic. There was plenty of it between the two cities, so it seems like a good plan.

Next we headed to a coffee plantation, where we had lunch and some extremely fresh coffee. On the way, we were delayed twice, by a landslide that blocked the road, and by a bridge that the bus could not fit on. Eventually, after half the bus including myself had fallen asleep, we made it. We heard a brief rundown on how it is harvested. It was raining, so we did not get to experience the full tour. But we got to drive through the plantation and see all the coffee trees, which I have plenty of pictures of.

Our final tour was of a beautiful old church back in Cartago. It was awkward because there was some sort of prayer service going on as we walked around and snapped pictures, but the tour guide insisted that it was ok. The people in there did not seem to mind.

Now we're back at the hotel, and I am having a chill night. I ended up getting some food on my own and catching up on the NBA playoffs. I also got to Skype with my family, which was nice. Tomorrow we visit the Costa Rican Congress and a bubblegum factory. Only a few more days until we hit the beach!

Day 3: Lecture Day

Today was lecture day. We listened to four different speakers in a fancy conference room in our hotel. I think we all learned quite a bit about how Costa Rica thrives in an area of the world that has lots of political and economic risk.

The first speaker was from the Costa Rica Investment Promotion Agency. Their goal is to encourage foreign direct investment (FDI) in Costa Rica. This has been a successful campaign, as FDI flows are growing, and have been a positive in the country's balance of payments. A big reason for this is the educated workforce of Costa Rica. There is no military here, and the money that has been saved by eliminating the army has gone to education. If only America could catch on to this...

Our second speaker gave a presentation on Costa Rican tourism. That is the main reason this country has thrived so much compared to the other Central American countries. This is a much less violent country than some of its neighbors. The Central Valley and North Guanacaste are the most visited Costa Rican provinces (which are the two that we will be visiting). Also, the least visited province (the South Pacific) is the one with the most potential for tourism. Due to local backlash, it has not been able to capitalize on its resources. We also learned that France is the most visited country in the world, followed by the United States, and then China. I found that pretty intriguing.

The next speaker spoke about trade promotion management. This industry's goal is to facilitate internationalization of enterprises through the timely supply of information, training, and advice. They do market research and set up meetings between companies and their international clients.

The final speaker talked about a State of the Region report. This report analyzes all aspects of development in Central America. Unfortunately, because of violence induced by drug trafficking, much of Central America holds lots of risk for businesses, national and international. Costa Rica is far ahead of most of its neighbors in nearly every category, especially in environmental terms.

After we were done with lectures, we went to a Mexican restaurant, where we all had a great time. I'm sure we drove the staff crazy with our fragmented Spanish, but we made sure to tip well. I am typing this as I am enjoying another Imperial, Costa Rica's Budweiser. Tomorrow, we travel to the Irazu volcano. It'll be great to see the background of this blog in person!

Day 2: White Water Rafting/Rainforest/Chocolate Tour

After catching some much needed z's, we got on the bus and departed from San Jose to the countryside for white water rafting and our rainforest tour. There are no interstates here, so it took us a while driving down two-lane highways constantly passing bikers and slow-moving cars to get to our destination. It was also raining pretty hard, which we've come to expect. The rural areas were beautiful. Parts of it reminded me of similar areas back home, but simpler. And with mountains.

By the time we got to the river, the rain had subsided. Rafting was pretty intense. Two girls in my raft and I fell out on about the fifth big rapid. Thankfully no one got hurt, despite the giant rocks hiding underwater. After rafting, we ate an extremely big and tasty lunch. Overall, it was a pretty awesome experience.

After we ate lunch, we went to the rainforest for the chocolate tour. We walked on a very long and very wobbly bridge to get to the forest, and saw some howler monkeys on the way. They weren't too excited or upset to see us, so I think that's a win. After hiking for about 20-30 minutes, we arrived at a pavilion where we watched a presentation on how chocolate is made. Turns out cocoa fruit is pretty gross looking, and does not taste like chocolate until much later in the process. I had no idea how much sugar, milk and other things are put into chocolate. Most "chocolate" we eat is less than 50% chocolate. And eating 100% chocolate isn't too pleasant. You learn something new every day.

After the chocolate tour, we sat through a presentation on how Costa Rica encourages environmental sustainability. They defined sustainability as meeting the current generation's needs while keeping the future generations in mind. AKA, keep people happy now without destroying the environment for our grandchildren. Eco-tourism is the main way they get revenue to do such things, which we are a prime example of. I can only hope the United States and other countries catch onto things like this. Unfortunately, it appears Costa Rica is the exception to the rule at this point. But I'm proud to say that I am participating in their initiative.

Tomorrow, we get to rest a bit longer before we have a full day of lectures. Should be very informative, and I'm looking forward to it.

Buenas noches!

Day 1: Travel/First Taste of San Jose

After an early morning and a couple of sleepy flights, we have arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica! While landing, we had a great view of the countryside, getting a great look at some mountains. The first thing we did after landing was exchange American dollars for Costa Rican colones. After trading in $100, I got over 43,000 colones. It feels strange to have that much money, even though the purchasing power here seems to be weaker than back home. Then we got on the bus and headed into the city. As I looked around, I noticed many differences and many similarities to home. It's apparent that I am in a foreign country, based on the people, language, homes, buildings, and landscape. However, it is still dominated by billboards and other forms of marketing, including many American products, such as McDonalds and other fast food. Our tour guide isn't a huge fan of it, and I'm sure many Costa Ricans share his mindset.

We checked into our hotel and then went to grab lunch. Everyone had their phones out calculating the exchange rates while looking at the menu. I was used to this, as I just took a final exam with these calculations less than a week ago. Then we checked out a convenience store. The first thing I saw was bananas. I had never seen fruit in a convenience store. The healthy lifestyle of Costa Rica I have been hearing about didn't take long to show itself. It makes me wonder which is more true: Costa Ricans are very healthy, or Americans are abnormally unhealthy.

Walking around the streets was also very interesting. The downtown area was mostly one-way streets with no lane markings, and slightly more reckless drivers than I'm used to. Reminded me of New Orleans a bit. The last activity was a short orientation with the rest of our tour guides, and a preview of tomorrow's white water rafting and chocolate factory tour. I am excited to get a good night's sleep, and even more excited for tomorrow. It's been great so far, and we've barely started.