Today, we visited Coopedota which is a cooperative that consists of around 900 small farms that work together in order to be competitive within the coffee industry in Costa Rica. This is unique because there are so many different companies working together in a type of democracy. All decisions that are made affect thousands of…

Today, we visited ICAFE which is the institute in Costa Rica that focuses on the research and development of the coffee industry. It is not funded by the government, so it obtains its funds through a 1.5% tax on every coffee shipment that is exported. All of this money is devoted to helping farmers better…

While in Monteverde, we learned how Quakers from Alabama were who started the preservation of the cloud forest. In 1951, Ricardo Guindon’s father, Wilford “Wolf” Guindon came to Costa Rica, along with four other men, because they did not support the United States’ war efforts. They were pacifists, so it was logical for them to…

While visiting Life Monteverde today, I learned about the life of a Tico farmer, Guillermo. He took us on a tour of his family owned farm and taught us about the many different aspects of it. He explained to us that there is much more to his business than growing coffee. They not only pick,…

We left Heredia early this morning for our trip to Monteverde. Over the four-hour bus ride, we passed through many different types of towns and sceneries. Heredia and San José (the two places we had visited before today) are a part of the Central Valley which I have noticed is where most of the hustle…

Today we visited San José, the capital of Costa Rica. San José was very different from Heredia where we are staying because it had a much bigger city feel. There are a lot of shops for tourists and some of the restaurants are American fast food chains. San José also contains a great amount of…

Today we visited two coffee plantations: Doka and Café Britt. Even though these two companies both produce coffee, they are very different. Doka is a family owned plantation that not only brews its own coffee but also exports its coffee beans to be further processed in other countries. Their tour was very educational. While Café…

Today through a lecture by Dr. José Sánchez, we learned more about the economic situation over the past 50 years. The economy in Costa Rica is ranked 2nd out of all the Latin American countries and 47th internationally. This seems very successful, but there are a great number of issues within the economy and government….

Between arriving to our homes last night and exploring the city today, Heredia has exceeded my expectations. Everyone I have met has been very kind and helpful. So far, we have come across many locals who were interested in our group. Many people have stopped to ask what we were doing in Costa Rica, and…

Costa Rica is widely known for its sustainability efforts which are a very important part of their communities’ daily lives. At a quick glance, the initiatives provided throughout the country promote growth in some of its main industries: agriculture and ecotourism. This definitely contributes to my perception of the country as an outsider. Not only…