Ecotourism! & Cafe Britt!

What is ecotourism? Ecotourism is the travel to areas of natural resources to better understand the ecosystem, culture, and history. Costa Rica is the leading country in Latin America for ecotourism. This is because they are able to use their resources to their advantage. Not only do they have beautiful beaches, but they also have active volcanoes, rain forests, and wildlife.

Tourism brings approximately one million visitors to the country and about one billion in revenue. With that being said, almost 50% of all visitors are from the United States. Why are Americans attracted to Costa Rica. Well, a few reasons are biodiversity, location, safety & stability, and higher standard of living, just to name a few. Biodiversity is a term that refers to the incredible range of environments. Costa Rica offers volcanoes, mountains, beaches, and rainforests all in a country the size of West Virginia. Location is key. Costa Rica's proximity compared to America gives it a huge advantage over many eastern countries. Even though Costa Rica doesn't have an army, it is still a relatively safe environment because no one is attacking the country. Also, the low crime rates are a major persuasive point for tourists. The final point was higher standard of living which is another selling point for tourists. Since, Costa Rica aboilshed it's military it has been able to devote more money to higher education. As a result, Costa Rica has one of the highest literacy rates in Latin America.

Many benefits can occur becauce of ecotourism. The first is that it can provide financial rewards to the parks. Some of the income brought in from the tourists can go directly back to them to help building up the park. Another, benefit is that it would promote private conservation efforts which would open up more jobs and therefore allowing the economy & GDP to grow. The final benefit is that for the most part it is economically friendly. A major point to take away is that ecotourism took the place of different industries that could have been far more harming to the environment such as polluting factories.

On the other hand, you must look at the negatives that are involved with ecotourism. One of the major costs is that it creates visitor overcapacity. This can be a problem because the tourists can harm the surrounding environments such as the plants and animals. The second major negative that you must look at is the issue of profit versus protection. If the parks become to consumed in profit and forget their responsibily to protect the wildlife it could be costly. A possible reason that this could occur is that the park isn't receiving enough funding or has poor management.

Information from: http://www.american.edu/TED/costa-rica-tourism.htm

It is very exciting that I was actually apart of Costa Rica's ecotourism today!!! We visited Cafe Britt coffee plantation. It was different than visiting Del Cafe Tal because it wasn't a family owned organization. Cafe Britt treated us just like tourists. As shown in the pictures above we had tour guides directing us through the plantation. In the second picture, we were shown how the harvestors pick the berries of the plants and then place them into the bucket around their waste. In the third picture, we were shown what a coffee bean looks like and how to recognize a "good" one. If the berry is still green, then it isn't ready. However, if the berry is red, then it is considered a "good" one. Finally, if the berry is black, then it has died and has no value. In the fourth picture, the tour guide is showing us how the bean are prepared and then packaged to be shipped around the world. The final picture examplifies the tourism aspect of the day. The guides started by showing us how to prepare a cup of coffee followed by a short skit of the history of coffee. Overall, it was a wonderful experience.

Del Cafe Tal!!!

Well, we ended up not going to Montecristo, but instead we went to a family owned coffee plantation named Del Cafe Tal. It was wonderful experience to see how coffee is produced and prepared. In the first picture, you can see a beautiful shot taken just before we got to the plantation. The next picture shows all of the coffee plants lined up in rows. It was very interesting to see that the coffee bean is actually inside of a red pulp, and that all of the workers must first remove the bean from the plant and then the red pulp. The next picture is of a machine that they use to help prepare the beans, and then they must lay them out to dry out on the tables shown in the fourth picture. The final picture is of me standing in the coffee field after I had picked my own coffee bean. After our trip to the Del Cafe Tal plantation, which was high in the mountains (to allow the beans to aquire a more acidic flavor), we rode on the bus back to the town. There the family owned business has their own coffee shop for the locals. After going inside, the owner showed us a roaster that they use for preperation of the bean. El cafe fue excellente!!!

The entire process of how coffee is prepared is very interesting. The actual coffee bean that is picked is inside of a berry. The berry most be washed off in order to receive the bean. For a period of time the pulp was deposited into rivers, but in order to become more sustainable the Costa Rican government put a stop to it through environmental laws. Now, the pulp is returned back to the fields and used as a fertilizer. This is an excellent example of waste = food from Cradle to Cradle. Then there is another layer of skin on the bean that must be rubbed off and then the bean is ready. Next, the beans must be roasted using machines. However, the traditional way was to let them dry out in the sun.

I also wanted to add some Costa Rican coffee recipes that I fould interesting:

Caribbean (hot) 8 servings
1 coconut 2 cups milk 4 cups strong coffee 1 tablespoon sugar
Punch two holes in to coconut, pour liquid into saucepan
Bake coconut for 30 minutes at 300 F degrees
Break open coconut, remove meat, and grate.
Mix coconut meat, coconut liquid, and milk in a sauce pan
Heat over low heat until creamy.
Strain
Toast grated coconut under broiler
Mix milk mixture, coffee, and sugar
Pour into mugs, garnish with toasted coconut.

Grog (hot) 6 servings
3 cups coffee 1/2 cup heavy cream 1 cup brown sugar 2 tablespoons softened butter 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon Peel of one large orange, broken into 6 pieces Peel of one large lemon, broken into 6 pieces
Place one piece of each peel into cups
Mix butter, sugar, cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon
Mix coffee and cream
Pour both mixtures into cups and stir.

Overall, it was a great experience to come to Costa Rica and see not only how coffee is produced and other sustainable issues along with it, but also to taste the wonderful coffee!

The History!

In order to truly know the importance of coffee today, then we must look to the past. Therefore, I felt that it was important to take note of the value that coffee has had on Costa Rica. Coffee came to Costa Rica in the 1770’s. Coffee production didn't begin until 1779 in the Meseta Central. This area was perfect because of the climate and soil. It was a slow process for coffee to become a dominate industry in Costa Rica, but it was bound to happen. Even though coffee isn't the largest Costa Rican export today (compared to bananas, textiles, and microchips), it is important to know that it once was during the 1800's. This was because at that time transportation of exports took a long period of time and coffee being a nonperishable good allowed Costa Rica to export more coffee. Coffee was one of the first goods to change the Costa Rican economy. It went from a small economy to that of growth and commercialization. From the 1840's to WWII the British were the number one purchaser of Costa Rican coffee. However, today the United States are the number one importer of Costa Rican coffee.

Something interesting to take note of coffee exportation is that coffee is a plantation crop and their income is affected by price fluctuations. This severely hurt the Costa Rican economy in the 1980's. In order to recover, Costa Rica teamed up with other Latin American countries to initiate a plan. Now, their coffee is sold in installments to insure price stability. It is also interesting that in 1994 Costa Rica diminished the tax on export coffee.

Information from: http://www.infocostarica.com/business/eco_coffee.html

Veritas University!

Here are some pictures of Veritas University. The university is less than a mile away from my host family's home which is good because Rob and I have to walk there every morning. The first picture is of me stand out front of the university followed by a picture of the entrance to the school. The next picture is of a study area inside of the university and yes that is inside! The final picture is of the cafeteria where we eat lunch everyday.

Cinde!

The first picture is of a business that we visited on Monday called Cinde. Cinde is a private, non-profit organization that promotes foreign direct investment (FDI). Cinde is not part of the Costa Rican government, actually according to Dr. Adelman, Cinde is self-sustaining due to a large donation from the United States many years ago. Some of the companies that Cinde has helped integrate into the Costa Rican economy include; Intel, Procter & Gamble, Baxter Healthcare, and many more. For more information about Cinde visit cinde.org. The next picture is of me standing outside of the Cinde building. The final picture is of Rob and me finishing dinner in our host family's dinning room!

Pictures of My Home Family!

The first picture is of my host family's house followed by a picture of their front door. As you can notice there are metal bars around the home. Many of the buildings in San Jose have these bars to help protect it from intruders. The next picture is of me in my room the first night I got there. It is very nice and clean. The final picture is of Rob and me with our host mom. She has shown us nothing but love. She knows a good amount of english which is good because I don't know much Spanish. She is very patient when trying to communicate and is willing to try and figure out what I'm saying. Also, she is a wonderful cook!

First Day in San Jose!

Hello everyone! Here is a little information about my first day in Costa Rica. I got home late the first night and met my home stay family. They are all super friendly and helpful. There is madre who is the sweetest mom you would ever meet and she can cook! She knows a good amount of english which is really good because wow I totally forget all my spanish (not good)! However, they are all really patient and nice about it. Madre told me that her husband passed away two years ago but she seems to be doing ok. She has four children, three boys (27, 20, and 4) and one girl who is 9. They also have two other costa ricans who live in the house. There are also 5 students who live with us, Mark from South Carolina, Eric from Maine, Dan from Florida, Rob and me. Luckily with all those people we all pretty much have our own room! The house is actually like 2 houses with a courtyard in between and they also have a dog named Lilly. I slept OK last night but it was really easy to wake up with the bright sunshine filling my room and the birds chirping, I don't think I have ever heard birds chirp that loud. Then madre made us ham sandwiches for breakfast at 730 in the morning. Then we went to the university where we got our ids followed by an all day tour of San Jose. We rode a charter bus most of the day and walked a little bit. Most of the buildings where under 2 stories and bars on the windows. The most exciting part was that we got to drive past the president of Costa Rica's house. Then we walked through the park. You know how Cincinnati has pigs all over downtown, well Costa Rica has cows. They were really cool and usually funny. Then we went back to the university and we were done for the day so me and rob decided to walk to the market to get some bottled water and snacks. However, we didn't know it was going to pour the rain! I've never seen it rain so hard. When we finally got home Madre hung our clothes up to dry and we just chilled at the house till dinner. For dinner we had chicken burritos. They were delicious! For the rest of the night we just spent time with our host family talking and having a great time! I know realize what culture shock truly means. I've never been stared at or looking at differently walking down the street until today, but I wouldn't change anything. I appreciate this experience and will remember this day for the rest of my life.