Banana cultivation started in Costa Rica in 1878 when the furst stems were shipped to New Orleans. Bananas are not native to the Carribean or Central America, but came over some time during the Spanish Invasion. The production of bananas really took off with the completion of the atlantic railroad i n 1890. A man by the name of Minor Keith had possession of 324,000 hectacres along the railroad, and paid the trailway buildings for the incomes from banana plantations. From 1883 to 1889 banana stem exports rose from 100,000 stems to over a million stems. He then merged his company with the Boston Fruit Company to for the giant company of the United Fruit Company. The banana production industry has suffered greatly from strikes and diseases. Unlike recently, working conditions were appalling, and strikes were so frequent that when the Panama disease and then Sigatoca disease swept the region in the 1930s and 1940s, United Fruit abandoned its opperations in the Atlantic and move to the pacific coast, where it planted around Golfito, Coto Colorado, and Palmar. The indusrty had bigger problems grow with the formation of unions. In 1985, after a 72-day strike, United Fruit finally closed its operations in southwestern Costa Rica. Many of the plantations where replaced by stands of palma africanaand others others were leased to independent growers and farmers cooperatives who sell to United Fruit. Banana export earnings rose from $482.9 million in 1992 to $531 million in 1993. Bananas were obviously a big part of Costa Rica's formation as a county to what it is today. As of 1992 there were 50,000 hectacres of banana planted in Costa Rica, a 50% increase from 1985. Banana production just recently lost the top spot as Costa Rica's top GDP production to Tourism.

The other day i got my first experience of shopping at a Costa Rica mall. I walked with a group of people about the mile and a half walk to the local mall to go shopping with everyone. I was supprised to see how similar it was to malls in the U.S., even down to the 100 colones gumball machines everywhere. The had Tommy Hilfinger stores and Hollister stores and all of the popular American brands, but they were mixed in with several local stores that were in Spanish I had never heard of before. They even had almost identical pet shops, except I think their's smelled a little worse. A bunch of us guys found the sports store where they were selling cheap soccer jerseys and we went crazy. They had great deals on jerseys that you simply cannot find in the United States because soccer or "football"is not big enough. After 45 minutes on deciding which jerseys I wanted it was time to pay and leave. I still have not gotten a chance to visit the local market to shop, or to eat at the local KFC, my two top priorities.

On friday morning we had our regularly schedulled class and lunch, and then we departed on our bus the 3 hours and 15 minutes to the Hotel Rossi. The hotel looked pretty nice, with three beds per room, clean sheets, hot shower, and color televison there was not much more that could be expected. We even had a gorgeous view of the Arenal volcano we were only a few miles from. Soon after arriving we changed shortly and headed just down to the road to the Baldi Hot Springs that were naturally heated by the volcano. It was not quite what I expected because the only other time I have been ro hot springs were in Yellowstone National Park and they were just pools of hot water heated just like the geysers were. Nothing was added or removed. However at these hot springs the hot water was channeled through a several story waterfall, which then flowed into artificial pools. They even had other fake waterfalls and seats in the shallow pools, as wells as swim-up bars everywhere where any drink cost well over 5 dollars. Even the plants in the landscape were obviously planted by the owners of the hot springs and well maintained. The average tempurature of a hot tub is 110 degrees, and there were several of us that went in the hot spring of 152 degrees! They also had three waterslides that were incredible fast and dangerous, and there is no doubt in my mind would not be legal in the U.S.A. most people hit their heads hard on the slide, pulled a mussle in their necks, or felt like they were about to fly out. We then ate dinner there and drove back to the hotel for bed. The next morning we woke up for dinner at 7, and was very Americanized because the of the three choices for breakfast one was called "Desayuno Americano" which was ham in scrambled eggs. We then went to a hydroelectric dam. About 80% of Costa Rica has their power supplied by hydroelectric power. We got to talk to the engineer and ask him all sorts of questions, as well as go inside the dam to see all the equipment and the two turbines that generated all the power. We then went to ride horses to go to the waterfall. They were soo much fun, wanting to gallop away with the slightest kick of the feet. After maybe a 45 minute ride we reached the La Fortuna waterfall, which is ten stories high. It took several minutes to walk down the hundreds of stairs to reach the bottom of the waterfall, but when we finally got there with our legs shaking form exhaustion the view was breathtaking. We got to swim around the cool water for a couple minutes, the head back up the steep steps. We then got hiked in the Arenal National Park all over the volcan lava flows. We could even hear the rocks from the volcano. I thought it was very appropriate that my "Montesumas Revenge" began to occur that lasted for a few days, with countless trips running to the bathroom just in time. We then went to a Steakhouse where we were served chicken, but I was feeling horrible so I did not really eat anything. We went to bed and woke up again at 7 again to eat breakfast, then had a company pick us up to deliever us to a lake, where we took a 45 minute ferry ride and had a great view of the volcano the whole way. At the other side there were three vans waiting to take us to Monteverde, out next destination. One of the important things to know about Monteverde is that the locals do not like loads of tourists pouring in. One way they control this is not fixing any of the huge pot holes in the road so the entire ride was like a rollercoaster, and my stomach almost lost it a few times to say the least. That ride was an hour or two, but when we got there is was pouring rain, the same theme for the rest of the trip. We entered La Casona de Monteverde, the enterance to the park, ate lunch at our hotel, and headed off immediately after that to view the top of the rain forest via ziplines. We did a total of about 14 or 15 zip lines, with ther last 5 or 6 being what seemed to be endless rides over vast streches over the canopy. Everyones favorite part of the trip by far was the Tarzan rope. We climbed up stairs and were strapped in by our harness and attached to a rope tied to a tree way above. One by one we each took about a 3 meter drop, and then the rope pulled tight just before we were about to the ground and swung us over and above part of the rainforest, and then back to the other side. it took 4 or 5 swings to slow down enough to be stopped, but by that time you were ready to end it because the drop was very exillarating. By the end we were drenched from head to toe no matter what kind of waterproof clothing anyone was wearing because water was just everywhere. After that we only had dinner and 30 minutes to dry off and then we were off to the night hike of the rainforest. We separated into groups of eight with one specialized guide and each with a flashlight. He had incredible eyes because he had been doing this for 8 years. If I went by myself I would not have been able to see a single thing, but he was able to point out several insects like crickets and caterpillars. He informed us that Monteverde received about 12 meters or so of rainfall every year, which we experienced while we we soaked once again during the duration of the tour. He explained to us that everything worked together in the rainforest, like insects cut holes in leaves which allows sunlight to reach the lower leaves at the bottom of the rainforest. Everything was beautiful to see in the rainforest in its natural environment, but there were not any big animals that you would see on the Discovery Channel. We did see, however, some of the 52 indeginous species of bat at Monteverde, and well as the Orange-kneed Tarantula, which is native only to Monteverde. We finally ended that day exhausted around 11, only to wake up at 5:45 the next morning for a morning hike. It rained so much that night that even though the rain had stopped for 6 hours, it still was dripping from the tall trees like it was still raining. It was cool seeing the rainforest in the morning, and we got to see the rare male and female Quetezal, a very rare bird even the tour guide said he had not see in a few months. People come from all over the world to see this bird but rarely get the chance. We also so beautiful hummingbirds of different green, blue, and purple shades and markings. We finally left to go back to Veritas after the morning hike exhausted.

It is pretty much the same routine everyday for life around the house. Nolan and I wake up everyday at 7 45 to shower and have ¨el desayuno¨ or breakfast which typically consists of eggs, tropical fruit, coffee, toast, and something else that varies like Frosted Flakes or rice and beans. We then head off to the Veritas Universidad to go to the computers to blog or mess around before class or a field trip around nueve. We still do not have water that is slightly warm, but slowly I am getting immune to the bitter cold. After the field trip we get lunch if we were not served 0n the field trip and then have classes. I still cannot tell how well people can speak English in this country because the people our grandmother brings around the house cannot really speak any English. I also only heard the native students at the Universidad speaking Spanish. But going to tourist places they speak both languages very fluently, and occasionally when it is apparent I am struggling to order or say something some of the native students come out of no where to speak perfect English and help me. The native students here dress very artsy, and the ¨gringots¨ and fully enrolled students tend to almost not acknowledge each other´s existance. After we leave the school we leave to go home on our about 7 minute walk. We are very tired and take an hour or two nap every day, only to be woken up by the knock on our door informing us dinner is ready. The grandma seems to be having worse arthritis every day in her leg, and I just learned today that her maid today was from Nicaragua. She told us today she was very ¨tristes¨ because she only gets to go back to see her family once a year. The atmosphere is very depressing in our house becuase they seem so miserable. After the last class gets out all the students coordinate where and when we want to meet up later that night to hang out and chill.

Thursday, May 22 we went to the Britt Coffee Plantation. It was a lot different than the coffee plantation we visited yesterday because this one was designed for ¨touristas¨. As soon as we got off the bus we were given a cold coffee beverage and a tour of the grounds immediately. We were in a group of about 50 people and there were 3 tour guides that explained how all the operations worked in a comedic way with lots of jokes. They told us Arabs were the first ones to put coffee in a stew. The workers there filled their coffee baskets when it was harvest time with about 25 pounds of coffee, but once it was done being processed that 25 pounds would be reduced to only 3.5 pounds. Sometimes they sucked on the juices of the red fruits the coffee, but if you do it too much it would act like a laxative and would not be able to work for a while. Once the red fruits are ripe they must be harvested the same day as picked within 8 hours or else they would over ferment and taste like vinagar. In order to tell the good beans from the bad the workers would drowned them in water, and only the ones that sunk to the bottom were used. They do not have any problem with any insects with the coffee plants, only sometimes fungi. The first step in the process was to put the beans in a machine that squeezed the skins off and the skins got caught in a net and the beans passed on. Next the beans are washed so the second layer of skin falls off. Then they need to dry the beans. They can either do this for free by basking them in the son which takes a fair amount of time, or they have a gas drying chamber that only takes a couple of minutes but costs money and is highly explosive. Now the beans can either be planted or preserved with full freshness for up to a year and a half. The parts of the beans and bad beans will be recycled and used as fertilized with ¨chicken poo¨ for a later crop. To plant the seeds, they plant them in the ground and cover them with one inch of soil and put banana leaves over the top of that. They had banana leaves growing within the coffe plantation for easy accessto the leaves. 8 weeks later they first sprout and open with two leaves. They then tranplant the best ones and put them in the field and take care of them. They have to wait 2 years before the plants start producing fruit. They are all organic operations and can produce fruit for up to 40 years. They have some of the best soil there due to the volcanic action so they do not have to worry about rotating crops to preserve the soil. Coffee Britt also has operations in Chile, Peru, Mexico, and several other countries around the Americas. There were two coffee ¨sins¨ discussed when drinking coffee. Never reuse the coffee grounds and never reheat the coffee. The ¨life¨ of a cup of coffee is about 20 minutes which is the time it takes to cool down. Whe nthey roast the coffee it loses 20% of its weight. It pops like popcorn when it is cooked, and the only difference between a dark and light roast cup of coffee is the time it is in the oven. The longer it is cooked the darker the roast. Good coffee does not change taste from hot to cold. That is why some places serve coffee steaming hot beacase it is most likely a ¨crappy cup of coffee¨. Professionals taste coffee by ¨slurping¨ very loudly to make sure oxygen gets into the taste and also so it sprays on all of the taste regions in the mouth. To make there coffee decafinated, they ship their coffee off to plants in Germany to remove the caffine and send it back to them to be bagges. Germany can then sell the caffine to companies like Coca Cola to be used in their products.

Yesterday on Wednesday the group gathered early in the morning to depart on an adventure that took 1:15 minutes to arrive. We changed coffee plantations at the last minute, but this particular plantation was run a woman who employs 7 people including herself, unless it is harvesting season in February when she employs 70 people. She recently won an award for the best coffee in Costa Rica which was published in the paper a few weeks ago. She reported after she won her distingished award the price for a pound of coffee she sold skyrocketed from $1.50 to up to $15! She had 32 hectacres where she planted her coffee on a farely steep slope of a mountain. She has been running her operations for about 10 years. She began with traditional coffee growing methods, then switched to an organic method, where the coffee plant is supposed to live for about 15 years as opposed to 4 or 5 using the traditional methods. She only did this for 3 or 4 years and then switched back to the traditional methods because her crops significantly decreased in production. Today we are going to go to plantation Britt, which is a big commercial coffee plantation that sells to buyers like Starbucks.

The idea of Ecotourism id to preserve the nation's natural resources, while profiting from them. They have over 1 million people visit the country each year. Costa Rica does not limit the amount of people that come to their country, nor in their protected areas and with the free land agreement the construction of high-rise hotels and resorts all over the place could be on a path for trouble. Ecotourism in general is the fastest growing sector of the global economy, increasing at 20-30% every year. Costa Rica is about the same size as West Virginia, andf has turned to ecotourism for its key to economic development. Ecotourism generates over 1 billion dollars for Costa Rica. The United States contributes 49% of Costa Ricas foreign vistors.

The second day in Costa Rica I woke up at 7:30 and was the first time I did not take a shower the whole day in a couple years. However, there was a hot breakfast waiting for us that consisted of delicious coffee, watermellon, toast, and a cerial called Zurcaritas more commonly known in the United States as Frosted Flakes, still with Tony the Tiger saying "They're Great"! in spanish. We then proceded to say "adios" as she gave us both a set of two keys to the house that opened the different locks. She walked us as little ways and gave us directions to the Universidad. We took a tour, got our pictures taken for student I.D. cards, then reboarded the bus from last night to go all over the place in San Jose to sight see. We drove by the presidents house who that besides a couple of cameras and high fences had no visible elaborate security. He also drove the same Honda CR-V that I drive at home. We also saw the National Theatre, walked all over the city, and ate at a delicious local authentic resturant. Around the city they had landmarks of life-size cows that different artists painted. My top three favorites were the cow in the trees dressed like a tourist on the zip line, a cow that had a shish-kabob gong through it with chunks of meat and vegetables painted on the side, and also there was one that had just slices of a cow, appearing it was in the middle of a butcher working on it. We returned to have dinner with the host families, and as we were getting off the bus to go home it started to opur rain. It was terrentially downpouring, and I had never experienced rain coming down for so long so hard because it almost lasted through the night. No matter where we went that day we stuck out like tourists, and everyone around knew it. We were stared at constantly for the clothing styles were pretty different. Also I was coonstantly paranoid my packpack was going to either get taken or stolen from. The natives are all very friendly for the most part though. They are relaxed and laid back. While we were on the tour earlier there seemed to be a couple of kids in every party out at least, which I would like to know how the population is growing. The next day we visited Cintes, which is a not-for-profit business that acts as the middle man for companies that are looking to expand into Costa Rica, because they have a lot of great benefits that are attractive to many companies. The woman that presented talked about the promotion of Foreign Direct Investment, how they have been very stable and have had great economic growth over the last 20 years, and that the financial sector is increasing, as well as medical and electronic services.

Our flight arrived in Costa Rica via Atlanta around 9 o'clock p.m. on Saturday night. Going through customs was painless, and as soon as we passed through the checkpoint where our bags were waiting outside for us. We then boarded our bus to go to Veritas Universidad. Our host families were waiting for us outside. Nolan Page is my roommate and out host lady is a grandmother about the age of 65 or so. She was waiting with her daughter and grandson, who drove us four or five blocks to the house we will be staying in for the next month. Her daughter and grandson just picked us up to make sure everyting went alright and drove home because she spoke pretty good English. One thing I had to get used to was that every house and high fences with barbed and razor wire on top of that. If that is not enough, I have to open 4 doors just to get inside the house. After the plethora of doors were opened and locked safely behind us, we got to see the meticulous inside of her house. Everything was in order without a speck of dust anywhere. She showed us to our rooms, where I got a double bed that when I first sat on it sank just about as much as a rock does when you sit on it. I got my own room and closet so I could not complain. One of the first things she told us was "no aqua". She told us that in the next afternoon it would be back on and that it would be "calientes", but that was not completely true.