Today we took a two-hour bus ride to Coopedota in Santa Maria de Dota. Coopedota is a cooperative that specializes in supplying coffee to the people of Costa Rica. Much like Café Rey, Coopedota didn’t flaunt themselves as a “luxury” brand, due to their marketing mainly towards Ticos. The main difference between Coopedota and the…

After yesterday’s free day, we had to get back into the swing of things. Today included another crack-of-dawn alarm clock and, miraculously, only 85% humidity. After we convened at La Universidad Latina, we boarded a bus (one might call it rustic) and went to la Hacienda Alsacia, a farm dedicated to producing coffee beans for…

Today, sadly, was our last day in Monteverde. It was spent visiting Life Monteverde, a local family owned farm and coffee plantation. We were broken up into tour groups and were shown around the various facilities, gardens, and growing areas. Over the course of the entire day, our guides made sure to continually stress the…

Today, we woke up after a night in the luxurious Hotel el Establo at the pleasant time of 6:00 A.M.  We had to meet up with the rest of the group in the hotel’s “lobby”, and then departed towards the Monteverde Cloud Forest. The forest has been established for about 60 years, and it was…

The first half our day today was spent on a 4-hour bus ride up to Monteverde. On the way, we drove through an area that was quite a bit less developed than what we were used to seeing. After almost a week in the Heredia/San Jose area, we had gotten accustomed to busy roads with…

¡Buenos Días! Today was another extremely long day, but we all had a great time. We took a train to the capitol, San Jose, and started the day by visiting Veritas, a university in the city. At Veritas, we were given a tour of the campus, and educated on some of the academic programs they…

Today, as Professor Teeter had previously stated, the honeymoon was over. The “joyous” bells of the Iglesia 15 metros al sur woke me up at the comfortable time of 6:00 A.M., where I began my day with a quick shower and breakfast. After convening with the rest of the group at 7:15, we boarded a…

Even though we learned a lot about Costa Rica’s history and culture before we departed, I still had some questions. It felt like after absorbing so much information, we had only scratched the surface and only covered basic knowledge in order for us to not be completely clueless. Today, we were given a lecture on Costa…

Our first day in Costa Rica was filled with walking, Spanish classes, rain, rain, and more rain. Something that myself and many others pointed out almost immediately was the amount of American shops and restaurants in the area. While I expected to see at least a McDonalds here and there, I did not expect to…

Costa Rica, one of the most beautiful countries in the world, is currently ranked 2nd in the world in environmental sustainability by the World Energy Council. Trailing only Switzerland, Costa Rica has seen extreme improvements over the last few decades, as various policies were implemented in order to encourage the conservation of natural resources. By…