We have completed our two week travels here in Costa Rica and it was an amazing experience. We learned so much while also having so much fun. It was a nice mix of plantation tours, cultural experiences, lectures and other activities that allowed us to experience a lot of what Costa Rica has to offer….

Buen Día! Today we started out with breakfast with our host family and then off to the train station as we were heading into San Jose for a walking tour of the City. San Jose is the capital of the country and a port city for many of the products that we are studying such…

Today we visited both a Banana and Pineapple plantations. The experience was really cool as we got to tour the plantation and see how each of the fruits grow. We learned about the transportation process for both products as they are being sent to different places for consumption. It was interesting to notice the differences…

Today was a really sweet day! We had a wonderful chocolate tasting at Sibö and we learned all about chocolate’s history and industry. The tasting was led by one of the owners and he is a historian. He provided lots of very interesting information and made the tasting special. We got to try unique types…

Today we visited Life at Monteverde. This is a local farm in Monteverde that grows different crops to be used in a cafe and they grow coffee to sell. They are super focused on sustainable practices and finding new ways to grow crops and utilize natural resources. A lot of the workers live on the…

Today we went to the Cloud forest in Monteverde and explored multiple trails within the reserve. We went on a guided tour and saw many types of wildlife such as monkeys, toucans and lots of Coatimundi. After the tour a few us went to explore a trail that led to a waterfall! It was beautiful….

Today we traveled a couple hours up the mountains to the lush town of Monteverde! The drive up showed the different ways that locals live in Costa Rica. Each section of the drive was very different from one another. In Heredia and the area around the “Tectonic depression” the houses are very close together and…

Our adventure today consisted of touring the coffee plantation, Cafe Britt. We learned about the coffee growing and making process again and got more information about the coffee industry as a whole. This tour was so much fun as the guides were super animated and made learning really enjoyable. Once the tour was over we…

Hola! We started our day with breakfast with our families once again and then headed out to travel to the Doka Coffee plantation. This was an amazing experience and I learned a lot about the coffee making process. This plantation was started in 1920 and is the oldest around. It was originally founded by a…

Today was our first full day in country! Yesterday was a packed day of traveling and getting to meet our host families. When we arrived we were greeted by our amazing tour guide and got driven to meet our momma’s. Something I was excited yet nervous about being in Costa Rica was using my Spanish….

Hello! My name is Helena Bohmann, and I am a freshman at the University of Pittsburgh studying Human Resources Management with a minor in Spanish. This program is the perfect combination of my interests, and I am super excited to learn more about the industries and culture. Costa Rica is a beautiful country known for…