Living outside the comfort zone...

My Costa Rican experience has truly been one of a kind.  I'm not even sure where to begin...  As I think back to when I first arrived in San Jose, I think I was initially shocked.  I certainly wasn't expecting to see some of the poverty that I had seen.  However, I also saw past the poverty and saw a city that was busy, bustling, and full of life.  Coming from a small community, this was somewhat foreign to me.  Lafayette had nothing on this place.  The first days in San Jose were eye openers for me.  Seeing bars on the windows, beggars on the streets, and this random guy walking up to our bus and pretending to shoot us with a gun was not exactly what I was expecting to see.  Looking back, I am so glad that I allowed myself to experience the culture, even though sometimes I truly was a little scared.  I guess this is what they mean when they say that, "You can't experience those kinds of things in a classroom."  This may sound silly, but San Jose also taught me how extremely important it is to make sure that the street is clear when you attempt to cross it.  I won't ever forget the night when Danielle, Morgen, Laura, and I were walking back from picking up supper.  Danielle and I didn't really check to see if the street was clear before we started crossing and the next thing we knew there was a city bus a couple of hundred yards down the street honking at us.  Yes, we screamed a little bit!  The lectures that we attended at the hotel also helped to broaden my view of how Costa Ricans actually view life here.  One lecturer really inspired me.  He spoke to us about how he was an entrepreneur.  He believed that he could create something unique and did exactly that!  They say that the United States is a place where you can make dreams come true like that, but you don't find many people willing to put forth the hard work and effort that it takes to actually make it to that point.  His advice to us was to, "think outside of the box."  When you really think about it, that's something that we've all heard before, but how many of us actually do it?  Another thing about the Costa Rican culture that inspired me was how truly happy they are.  Most of these people don't have many of the luxuries that most of us take for granted, but they are so much happier than we are with life.  Appreciating what they have and taking care of what they have gives them a sense of pride that no one can take away from them.  Do you want to know what most Costa Rican's would say their most valuable possession is?  It's not their iPhone or iPad, it's their family.  Most of us take for granted how very fortunate we are to have people that love and support us, but in Costa Rica that is probably their main source of happiness.  We do have that here in the United States, but most of us are too busy caught up in the hustle and bustle of life to even make time for the ones that we love the most.  This definitely gave me a whole new perspective on life and made me look forward to seeing my family members pick me up at the airport at the end of this Costa Rican adventure!  San Jose was really a place where many of us were exposed to a different way of life.  When we set out for Tamarindo, I wasn't quite sure what to expect from the culture where we got there.  It was a cute little beach town that had a gravel road that led to our resort.  We stayed at the Barcelona Langosta Beach Resort.  It was absolutely beautiful and was like a little piece of heaven on earth.  Watching the sunrise and sunset were some of the most calming and relaxing sights that I have ever seen.  Being in Tamarindo helped me to view life in a different way.  The way of life wasn't rushed and hurried like a lot of my daily life is.  I do realize that I was at an all inclusive resort and it would be relaxing, but it made me think about how I'm spending the little time that I have here on earth.  I know that I don't want to look back at my life and remember running around and never being content, instead of enjoying the things in life that really matter to me.  The most inspiring part of this trip was when our tour guides son talked to a few of us on a bus ride back to the resort about the things he had noticed about us.  He wasn't being rude in anyway when he said it, but he basically said that as Americans we are always comfortable with our lives.  If something is uncomfortable to us, we usually find a way to slip back into that state of comfort because we don't want to deal with something that isn't comfortable for us.  At first I was a little shocked, I had thought I was handling everything well.   Then I thought about what he had said and it really did make sense.  Most of us aren't happy when we can't get our wi-fi to connect, much less when something really bad happens to us.  We constantly try to find that place of comfort.  Then he explained to us how we never really grow as a person if we live inside of our "comfort zones".  At that moment it all made sense in my head.  Living life isn't about being comfortable, it's about growing into that person that we were all meant to become.  It's not a fast process, but we can never grow as a person if we don't leave our comfort zones.  As I return to reality, I want to make sure that I take the time to enjoy the little things in life and to actually take a risk and step outside of my comfort zone.  Studying abroad in Costa Rica has taught me so much more than just visiting a country, I think this experience helped to nudge me out of my comfort zone.  Costa Rica you will be missed! Pura Vida! 

Learning the lingo... Echo means to miss something... I'm definitely missing Costa Rica and the amazing people that I've met along the way! 

Yeah, these are some of my favorite people!

I'm not sure anything compares to a Costa Rican sunset...

Last morning at the resort :( So bittersweet!

Adios San Jose!

After an amazing night last night, today was another day filled with lectures at the hotel. This was our last full day at the hotel before we head off to the beach!  The best thing about lecture days is that we get to sleep in just a teeny tiny bit longer!  The most adorable thing happened at breakfast today.  I was making some waffles and I only wanted two mini-waffles and the machine made four.  Well there was this older woman who came up to the waffle machine while I was making mine and she looked at the machine.  I tried to ask her if she wanted the other two.  She spoke Spanish so I couldn't really understand what she said.  When they were done I decided I'd bring her two waffles at her table to see if she wanted them.  When I gave them to her she told me, "Gracias" and smiled really big.  A little later I was going to refill my glass with water and she came up to me and told me how good the waffles are and how much she enjoyed them and then she gave me a big hug!  It absolutely made my day!  Our first lecture was with Mr. Manuel.  He is an entrepreneur here in Costa Rica.  He stressed the importance of stepping out of your comfort zone and thinking outside of the box to achieve whatever goals and dreams that you may have.  He told us about how one day he offered two of his sons the opportunity to start their own company so that they could pay for school and that he would help to get them started.  Mr.Manuel helped them to establish an online website that ships Costa Rican products to anywhere in the world.  He wanted to create this type of business because there would be no accounts receivable or inventory to keep track of.  As an accounting major this was adding up in my head and seemed like a brilliant idea!  His simple idea of having customers order products, purchasing the products for them, and then shipping it to the customer has grown into a business that can probably be sold for half a million dollars.  Here in Costa Rica that is quite a bit of money!  I really enjoyed his lecture and maybe one day I can create a unique company of my own!  Our second lecture was from Ms. Lisa.  She is an economist here in Costa Rica.  She explained to us how the economic model of Costa Rica has changed since the colonial times to how it is today.  It was very interesting to learn about how much has actually changed in their economy.  I also learned that Costa Rica's markets depend on the United States' market quite a bit.  She had also done separate studies on why Costa Rica is the happiest country in the world.  Costa Ricans are known to live their lives content with what they have and always having a positive outlook on life in general.  Their love for their family also plays a major role in the amount of happiness Costa Ricans have!  After our second lecture it was time for another fancy Costa Rican lunch!  I'm telling you ALL we do is eat over here! Lol, the food is quite tasty and I guarantee you the elliptical is waiting for me back at home!  The desert was a mint chocolate mousse cup today.  Mint chocolate is my weakness!  I'm pretty sure I was in heaven. :)  Our third lecture of the day was the director and founder of the Costa Rican Humanitarian Foundation.  She joined the Peace Corps many years ago and that only added to her love of helping the less fortunate.   Since then she has worked in the slums of La Carpia, which has around 34,000 citizens.  She explained to us about the poverty that is found in this area and how she has worked to make changes in this community.  It was very hard to hear what these people dealt with and I couldn't help but feel bad for those people.  I realized how blessed I truly am.  This foundation helps children, mothers, and fathers by providing them with medical care, food, cloning, and basic necessities.  This guest speaker really touched my heart and I hope to be able to give back to my community one day like she gives back to La Carpia.  Our fourth guest speaker was a writer, a past dean of the University of Costa Rica, a chemist by day, and many other talented things.  He actually spoke French!  It was like a little piece of Louisiana was here with us.  He was very entertaining and had a unique way of sharing and telling stories of the many experiences that he has had over his lifetime.  Our fifth and final guest speaker of the day talked to us about the African descendant culture of Costa Rica.  The Caribbean coast of Costa Rica has major African American influences in their culture.  He spoke about how Costa Rica was named after the color of the beaches.  Christopher Columbus in 1502, thought the beach looked like it was made of gold.  They referred to it as "rich coast," which means Costa Rica.  I also learned that there was slavery in Costa Rica.  Slavery began in 1542, but it wasn't as severe as it was in the United States.  They were often brought here to work in homes.  The houses that were built by the African Americans were very similar to those found in Louisiana.  Their houses were built like plantations houses built on stilts with high pointed roofs to help with the humidity.  This speaker had a great way of presenting his information in a way that we could relate to which made his lecture very enjoyable!   After our lectures, we all gathered to meet in Dr.Lanier's fancy suite room that she was upgraded to and we were able to watch the sun set!  We then set off to the Jazz Cafe!  After almost going to the wrong Jazz Cafe due to a misunderstanding with our taxi driver, we finally made it!  The food was great and the live music was actually really good too, even though it was in Spanish and I didn't know a single word they were saying. Tonight was really fun and tomorrow we set off bright and early for the beach!  I cannot wait!  I'm pretty sure that the five hours of traveling on our bus will be we'll worth it!  :) 

Learning the lingo... Leer means read. 

The waffles that I shared with that sweet lady!  

Ms. Lisa talking to us about the Costa Rican economy.

Eeeeeeek. Mint chocolate amazingnessss! :)

Our view of the stage at the Jazz Cafe!

We lost our Lizard :(

After a good nights rest, we headed out to downtown San Jose bright and early! 

Our first stop downtown was at a local market.  It was very similar to the one that we walked through in Cartago yesterday!  The smell of fish still made me want to puke.  Dr. Lanier bought all of the girls a sun flower from a local market! They were so pretty!  We were able to see a theater where many plays are performed.  It was also where Barack Obama was when he came to Costa Rica last week.  After we saw the theater, we stopped to use the restroom at a McDonald's.  When we were going to leave, we thought we had everyone.  We continued walking down the streets of San Jose towards the office where congress meets.  After a few blocks, we realized that we were missing Liz!  We had forgotten her at the McDonald's!  I have to give the girl props.  She was SO calm.  If I would have been left behind, I guarantee you I would have been in tears.  After we found our Lizzard, we headed towards congress.  We were able to learn about the Costa Rican government.  They have a democracy just like us.  The Costa Rican Congress has 57 members and 22 of them are women.  Their congressmen and women cannot be re-elected for multiple terms.  To run to be a member of congress you must be older than 21, be a born Costa Rican or a naturalized citizen for more than 10 years, and most importantly have no criminal record!  We also learned that San Jose has 21 of the 57 members of congress.  One interesting thing that I learned it that Costa Rica is officially a Catholic country.  This was very surprising to me that the government would choose one specific religion.  While we were visiting congress, we were able to meet a congressman who served as the president of congress and is in the running to be the president of Costa Rica!  They will find out within the next month if he wins!  After visiting congress, we headed off to have lunch at a souvenirs shop outside of San Jose!  After a little souvenirs shopping, we toured a factory where the beads for necklaces, bracelets, and other items were made from wood.  We were able to see how the beads were sanded down with different types of sandpaper to get the finished product.  We also got to see how all of the products were made by factory workers.  The things that these people were making were absolutely beautiful.  After touring the factory, we headed off to tour the bubble gum factory in San Jose.  This was by far one of the most interesting things I have seen.  I felt like I was in the show "How It's Made" on the Food Network channel!  It smelt like a huge piece of bubble gum when we were inside.  The smell was so strong!  We were able to see the whole process of how the bubble gum was made.  The coolest part to me was how they colored the pieces for specific orders, such as the red, green, and yellow pieces of gum that were going to Jamaica!  They even let us have some gum to taste!  After the bubble gum factory tour, we came back to the hotel to hear a lecture on medical tourism, which has become extremely popular in Costa Rica.  Medical tourism allows individuals to come to Costa Rica and receive medical care for much cheaper than it would cost for them to have the procedure done in their country.  The doctors in this field of work have three additional years of schooling compared to those from the United States!  After our lecture, we headed off to have supper on top of the mountain overlooking San Jose!  The sight was breathtaking!  There were so many lights and I couldn't believe that San Jose had that many lights.  Today was another great day!

Learning the lingo... Rapido means fast! 

My sunflower and my fellow photo bombers! 

This is the congressman who spoke to us and who will be running for the president of Costa Rica! 

This is where the bubble gum is dyed in the factory! 

Our view of San Jose from the resturant on top of the mountain!

Hangovers and high mountains...

After a long day of lectures yesterday nothing was better than being able to see more of Costa Rica today!  Last night we ventured out to a bar in San Jose!  The locals were really nice and we even got to play some of our music on their make shift DJ stand.  It was a computer playing youtube videos! Hahaha, it definitely was an interesting night.  We started off our morning early because we were trying to reach the Irazu Volcano National Park before all of the clouds rolled in.  We traveled up steep and winding roads for quite a while.  That little bus was practically the little engine that could.  Once we reached the park, the weather had changed drastically.  It was chilly, but the wind made it feel so much colder!  We went inside of the little store that is located in the park and five minutes later we saw a cloud rolling in over the mountains.  We tried to hurry to see the Diego de la Haya crater, but we got there a little too late.  The clouds had rolled in and it was even colder than when we initially got off the bus!  After touring the volcano, we passed through Cartago.  This city was the first capital city of Costa Rica.  We were able to view and walk on the new train tracks that were built to connect Cartago and San Jose.  There were workers who were finalizing and finishing up the new tracks because they open tomorrow!  We then walked around a market.  The first smell that hit my nose was fish.  I felt like I was back home in Louisiana.  Not only were there vendors selling fish and meats, but they also had vendors selling fresh fruit.  We were able to try papaya!  I wasn't crazy about it, but it did taste ok.  After visiting the market, we set off to go to Orosi Valley where we would have lunch.  It took us quite a little while to make it here because the first road that we took had a landslide on it so we couldn't pass it.  The alternate route had a bridge that was too short for our bus to fit under, so we had to find another way to get there.  After about an hour, we finally arrived at Orosi Valley!  It was so pretty!  This coffee farm had so many plants and beautiful flowers!  We also learned a little bit about coffee.  Most of the workers who pick the coffee beans come from other countries, such as Nicaragua.  After Orosi Valley, we went to visit the Cartago Basilica.  This Catholic Church is home to the patron saint of Costa Rica, Saint Los Angeles.  This church was built in 1912, which was two years after a major earthquake hit Costa Rica in 1910.  Every August second, thousands of people walk to this church to give thanks and ask for favors.  People come from all over the world to celebrate this day and some even walk for three or four days!  This church was absolutely beautiful!  I was even able to light up a candle in the church to give thanks and ask for special favors!  After lighting up my candle, there was a ceremony going on in the church that happens everyday at three o'clock.  They asked for people who have May birthdays to come up.  Fernando, Austin, and I all have May birthdays so we were able to go up and be recognized!  We also received a bag of Costa Rican candy!  After visiting the church, we headed back to San Jose.  Tomorrow we get to visit downtown San Jose and visit the Capitol.  We also get to do some souvenirs shopping and I'm kind of excited! :) 

Learning the lingo.. La bolsa means bag!  I learned this after I spent five minutes trying to explain to the lady that I needed a bag.  After she figured out that's what I needed, she kindly gave me the bag and said, "la bolsa".  Haha, I guess we learn something new everyday! 

This was the cloudy crater that we weren't able to see by the volcano. 

The new train tracks that will connect Cartago and San Jose! 

Fresh fruit at the market in Cartago!

Beautiful flowers in the Orosi Valley! 

This is the Cathedral de Los Angeles in Cartago!

Thank God for chocolate covered coffee beans...

This morning was certainly a later start than yesterday.  We didn't have to be ready for our full day of lectures at the hotel until 9:30.  I was SO excited when I came down to the lobby for breakfast to find that I could have a waffle for breakfast!  My day was absolutely made!  Our first guest speaker was from CINDE.  This stands for the Costa Rica Investment Promotion Agency.  This agency has been around for 31 years and attracts high-tech related investments for Costa Rica.  They have a five different sectors that they focus on which include life sciences, advanced manufacturing, services, technologies-renewable energy, and projects.  In the life sciences sector they provide cardiovascular and vascular parts that are made for Saint Jude Medical services!  This was really interesting to me that some of those parts were made here in Costa Rica!  Our second guest speaker focused on the importance of tourism in Costa Rica!  Tourism in Costa Rica has actually increased by three percent in the past years.  Costa Rica has many product lines and services that they provide to tourists in their country.  This makes Costa Rica very unique because they have so many different opportunities to offer! I also learned that there are seven providences in Costa Rica.  San Jose is located in the Central Valley providence and Tamarindo, where we will be traveling to this weekend, is located in the providence of North Guanacaste.  After this guest speaker, we enjoyed a very fancy Costa Rican style lunch! It was really good even though I'm not sure exactly what I ate.  Around two o'clock, we had our third guest speaker who works for a company named PROCOMER.  He focuses on trade promotion management in Costa Rica.  Their main focus is to provide tools to companies so that they can see the benefits that are possible for working with Costa Rican companies.  They provide services in many different sectors such as agriculture, food, industrial, and services.  They also provide business agendas to companies.  These business agendas provide personalized plans for companies who come from other countries to work with Costa Rican companies.  They also offer trade agendas who's are similar to business agendas but are provided to up to ten companies at a time.  They are also considered to be less personalized than business agendas.  Our final presentation was about the economic and social demographics of the Central America region.  These presentations provided me with the opportunity to learn about the many things that Costa Rica has to offer to tourists, other countries, and other companies!  The most interesting that I heard today was from our third guest speaker.  I had no idea that all of the baseballs used in the MLB were made by hand in Costa Rica!  Also, Dr.Lanier brought us chocolate covered coffee beans to try!  They were actually really good and I don't even like coffee.  The only problem is you have to watch how many of them that you eat because they are full of caffeine, but they did help to keep us awake during this long day full of lectures.  Today was another great day in Costa Rica! Tomorrow we get to climb to the top of a volcano and visit one of the most visited churches in Costa Rica! 

Learning the lingo...  De Nada means you're welcome or in other words "it's nothing"

This is our second guest speaker who talked about tourism! 

Our fancy set up for our Costa Rican lunch!

The Costa Rican chocolate covered coffee beans. (The white chocolate ones were my favorite!)

Ragin' Rapids!

Three words.  White. Water. Rafting.  

Today was a day of firsts for me.  I have never been white water rafting before and I figured that it would be fun, but I had no idea that I would enjoy it this much!  On our way to our destination for white water rafting, we were able to see the rainforest side of Costa Rica.  It was much different than the city streets of San Jose that we had seen yesterday.  Once we got to the white water rafting location, we were separated into groups and we got our helmets, life jackets, and paddles.  Laura, Dr.Lanier, Greg, Peyton, Kelly, and I were all in the same raft.  Our tour guide was the greatest and certainly made our journey down the rapids entertaining!  He thought it would be funny to tell us the commands such as paddle forward, backwards, and stop in spanish.  It helped us to pick up some spanish, but when we didn't respond he'd often tell it so us again in english!  He could even text and steer our raft at the same time!  At one point and time down the rapids, our raft was turned sideways and I managed to flip out of the raft!  Initially, I was in shock and then I realized that I was floating in the water with rocks.  BIG ROCKS.  That was when I kinda freaked out and was doing everything in my power to get back into that raft!  Half way down the river, we stopped to jump off of a cliff and into the river.  It was so much fun!  Then we got back to the land and found fresh pineapple that our tour guides had cut up for us.  I can't explain how fresh that pineapple was.  It was so good!  After rafting, we enjoyed lunch at the adventure center.  Once we had lunch, we went to our tour for the cocoa plantation.  We were told that it was going to be nothing like Willie Wonka's Chocolate Factory and boy was he right!  To get to the plantation, we had to take a little hike.  This included walking over a bridge that was extended over the forest and river and felt like it was so much longer than it was.  I felt like I was walking on a trapeze and I was only one step away from falling off of it!  Once we arrived at the cocoa plantation, we were taught about how the cocoa plant is processed into chocolate.  It was nothing like what I was expecting.  The plant that the chocolate is made from is yellow.  It was really strange to me that this plant had no characteristics or was even close to resembling chocolate, but that was the plant that was used to make it.  We also tasted a milk chocolate and a dark chocolate.  The texture was much different than the chocolate candy that I have had.  I think it was so different because this chocolate was made with 60% cocoa powder compared to candy that is made in the US with only 10-20% cocoa powder and the rest of it is sugar.  After our chocolate plantation tour, we viewed a presentation about the Tirimbina biological reserve.  The presentation explained the many different certifications of ecological sustainability that were available.  Tirimbina is a non-profit organization that makes most of their profits from the tours that they give such as the cocoa plantation tour that we went on.  Tirimbina also has a four leaf certification from the Certification of Sustainable Tourism, also known as the CST.  Costa Rica strives to be as ecologically sustainable in as many ways as they can.  We finished off our day with dinner at a local pizza resturant.     Even though it took a good little while to get our pizza, it was worth the wait!  Today was truly amazing and I can't wait to see what tomorrow has in store!  

Learning the lingo... Alto means stop.  However, even though there are "alto" signs ALL over Costa Rica I think that they view them merely as suggestions.

Laura & I for lunch after white water rafting!

I even got to help grind the coffee beans during the presentation at the cocoa presentation!

The shaky bridge that we had to walk over to get to the cocoa plantation.  It was way too long and shaky for my liking, but it did give a great view of the river that we had went through earlier this morning on our white river rapids tour!  

Happy, Happy, Happy!

Well day one of this Costa Rican journey has definitely been one for the books!  The fact that I am sitting in Costa Rica still blows my mind.  This has really been a dream come true and it's only just beginning!  This morning was an early one and began by arriving at the airport at 4:30 in the morning. I was wearing a shirt that quoted Phil Robertson from Duck Dynasty.  The words "Happy Happy Happy" couldn't describe how I felt today in a more perfect way!  I had a flight from Lafayette to Atlanta and then Atlanta to San Jose, Costa Rica!  On my way to the airport in Lafayette, it started monsooning.  I mean literally raining cats and dogs.  I was scared that our flight may be delayed due to the weather.  Thankfully, all of our flights were still on time!  The flights were great and only had a little bit of turbulence.  Upon arriving in San Jose, we went through customs and immigration.  This was a completely new experience for me since I have never been out of the country before!  Then we were met by our tour guide!  His name is Fernando.  I think that he will help to make this trip unforgettable!  As we were driving through San Jose to our hotel, there were many interesting sights.  For one, people in Costa Rica all drive like they are on a NASCAR racetrack.  Secondly, there were many mountains and hills surrounding the city.  It was such a beautiful sight.  Our tour guide also informed us that President Barack Obama had been to San Jose in the past two weeks and they had shut down the highways just so he could have ideal traffic conditions.  They were so honored to have him in their country.  I never thought that main highways in a country would be shut down just because the President of the United States was coming visit.  Tomorrow we are off to go white water rafting and visiting a chocolate factory that's outside of San Jose!  I am quite excited to go white water rafting and can't wait!  This first day in Costa Rica has surpassed my expectations in so many ways and I feel so incredibly blessed!  

           

Happy, Happy, Happy y'all!

            

Flying into San Jose!

             

           Our view from the bus in San Jose and the mountains surrounding the city!

      Learning the lingo... Buenos Dias means good day!