The ladybug lands in Granada, Nicaragua!

Hello friends!

The ladybug is currently typing away at a computer in beautiful Granada, Nicaragua! It was quite a chore to get here, but in the end everything worked out just fine. So, where did I leave you last?

The Fourth of July! This Fourth was the best Fourth in the history of Fourths except for perhaps when the Declaration of Independence was adopted by our government. We first started the day by going to these small waterfalls that created a perfect deep swimming pool surrounded by rocks. The water was so beautiful! It was nice and cool too, which felt so good on a sticky humid day in Costa Rica. Also, above the natural pool was a rope swing that we all (mostly) used to jump into the water. It was sooooo high up in the air! When I swung off I was 20 feet above the water before the dive. We stayed here for a while, just swimming around, hanging out with other visitors, and watching local Tico boys swing about 30 feet in the air, AND they were doing back flips and crazy diving twirls.

After swimming we had a pizza lunch and then geared up to go zip-lining. Zip-lining was so much fun! The cables were incredibly high in the air, and the views were spectacular. From the zip-line we could see waterfalls and ravines through the jungle with the volcano in the background. I have never done anything like it.

After zip-lining back and forth through the canopy we rode on horses down the mountain. It was difficult though because it was raining heavy and my feet kept sliding in the stirrups. Luckily, I held on, and even was able to trot quickly ahead of the group.

After horseback riding we headed out to the natural hot springs near the base of Arenal. Unfortunately, I really did not like the hot springs. It was nothing like I expected. I thought I was going to be sitting in a mud pit in the middle of the jungle, but instead it was this fancy schmancy uber-expensive resort that had made pools for the hot springs to fill. Boring, wasteful, and I couldn´t buy anything because it was all priced far above my budget.

Finally, we left the hot springs, I grabbed some grub which hurt my stomach (I don´t think that fettuccine Alfredo with seafood is supposed to look slightly neon yellow) and then passed out after an incredibly busy day!

So, I´m going to go back to my hammock here in the hotel, but I will fill you in on the excitement that transpired previously when I have some time tomorrow. Hint- it involves me skinning a pig.

Love,

Ceci

The ladybug gets wet

Hola!

Right now I am writing from a computer at the hotel we are staying in La Fortuna! We are really close to the Arenal volcano, but unfortunately there are too many clouds in the way of the view. Yesterday we stopped a little more than halfway here to go water-rafting! It was a blast. The guides were super fun and it was really nice to something fun with the whole group.

Today we are first going to a waterfull with a huge rope swing, then we are going on a zipline canopy tour, then horsebackriding down the mountain, and then to the hot springs at the volcano. I´ll fill you in on all of the fun later.

Love,
Ceci

The ladybug is fluttering to Nicaragua

Hello again!

I only have a little bit of news- today I met with three lawyers here in Heredia who told me and Rose that all of the Human Rights Laws that are supposed to protect workers are never enforced, especially for immigrants. This was interesting, because so far all of the coffee farm owners and some workers have told us that they have lots of benefits and labor rights. The lawyers are printing out copies of the laws surrounding Human Rights issues and labor, and I am going back to pick them up around five.

Other than that, no more news. Oh! I learned how to dance salsa and meringue in a free dance class at the Intercultura. I have been improvising this whole time, but apparently I only had to improve a few things in the basic steps. When fall quarter starts I think I might register for a salsa dance class to perfect my step.

Tomorrow we leave for Nicaragua! We are going water rafting and ziplining on the way up to the border. As soon as I get to an internet café, I will fill you in on all of the fun.

Ciao!
Ceci

The ladybug is resting her wings after fluttering a lot.

Hello Hello Hello!!!

The ladybug took a reprieve, but has returned! Where did I leave you last? Ah, I believe it was last week on Thursday. So, starting Friday….

On Friday we had this amazing opportunity! Two representatives from Fair Trade Labeling Organization International (FLO) came to the Intercultura to speak to us. One was from FLO general: she is a representative who works to promote Fair Trade and to establish relations with companies and famers here in Costa Rica who want to be certified. The other representative is from FLO-Cert, and his organization focuses on the certification and audits of farms and companies who are Fair Trade certified. I really hope that I have the chance to talk with Uriel, the guy from FLO-Cert, tomorrow, because I have many questions about the ramifications of non-compliance.

After we had this talk we then took taxis to San Jose (we were all jam-packed and it was pretty uncomfortable) to hear a presentation of a representative from SCACR. SCACR is the organization that is in charge of deciding who wins the Cup of Excellence in Costa Rica for each year. As I said before, we actually had the opportunity to visit the winner of the Cup of Excellence this year in the mountains of Naranjo. Also, the representative of SCACR is in charge of training and contacting new farmers who wish to be a part of this major coffee alliance, specifically women farmers. Although the organization serves to train all farmers on how to increase the quality of their crops, this particular representative is in charge of training women farmers. In Costa Rica there are many obstacles in the paths of women who want to be coffee farmer owners. They are pressured to be at home with their families, they might have pressure from their husbands to not have such a dominant role, and the industry in general is run almost entirely by males which lead to low self-esteem and confidence in the women to have a sense of empowerment. About 20% of the participants in the industry in Costa Rica are women. So, this representative focuses on outreach to new women farmers and the organization hosts special training for women to empower them to gain confidence, gain new knowledge on the techniques to improve quality of their crops, and provides the necessary tools to be successful in a male-dominated industry. After the presentation we participated in a cupping exercise, where we learned how people in the industry evaluate coffee. This was fun, but swishing coffee in my mouth and smelling coffee over and over again caused a big headache.

After this long day of lectures and presentations a group of us crammed into a taxi on a miserable drive back to Heredia. Although San Jose is only 20 minutes away from Heredia normally, it took us almost an hour because of rush hour traffic. The fumes were unbearable, and it was raining so the roads were really insecure. I felt pretty nauseous at the end of the ride. But! This leads to the fun part! So, Rose and I worked really hard to organize a trip for us and some of the members of our group to a beach called Montezuma. Montezuma is on the Pacific Coast. In order to get there you have to take a bus to Puntareñas, a ferry to (I forgot the name of the town), and then a taxi or bus to Montezuma. Normally, the whole trip takes about 7 hours (including the ferry ride which is one hour long). However, Rose’s host mom is the most resourceful person in the world and she managed to get a hold of a friend of a friend who owns a van that holds ten. He charged us a total of 400 dollars for a round trip bus ride and to take us around the beach town. With ten of us, this only cost 40 dollars round trip per person, which would have been around the same price had we bussed it the whole way. So we got in the van, drove to the ferry, waited around until more cars showed up because the ferry was docked and wouldn’t leave until 30 cars were there and we were number 15, got on the ferry, arrived on the other side, and drove to Montezuma. We go to our hotel and finally were able to relax, get a drink, dance some salsa, and hit the sack around 3. Phew! Talk about a long day. Remember, we had those lectures earlier, so I was really exhausted by the end of it all.

So! Finally to Saturday. Saturday was a lovely, relaxing day, where all we did was hang out on beaches. Our driver, Javiar, took us to this beautiful beach, and we swam in the Pacific, sunbathed, read books, looked for pretty shells, and chased hermit crabs all over the place. At this beach we ate amazing pizzas and drank mojitos that were made with fresh mint. After this beach Javiar took us to another beach that had a freshwater river that was actually fresh! Completely safe to swim in (as long as we didn’t swallow the water, of course). There was this tree that was crookedly hanging over the river and had a rope hanging from it. Of course, y’all know me, I climbed up the tree, grabbed onto the rope, and with a little bit of difficulty eventually swung on the rope off the tree into the water! I made a big splash. It’s all on video, and as soon as I figure out how to, I will post it on this blog for your enjoyment. After a fun day at the beaches, we headed back to our hotel, where we walked around the main street buying trinkets and things to bring back to family and friends. Then we ate at a restaurant, I had my favorite seafood and pasta in white cream sauce and I split it with a friend because it was too much for me to finish, we then went back to the hotel, had some drinks and chatted on the porch which is on the beach front and it was really relaxing to be near the shore, and then went to sleep. Next day: ate breakfast, and then had a pretty awful ride back because a girl in our group threw up and it was disgusting. We got on the ferry, away from the bus, by the time we got off the ferry the bus was okay again and then we went back to San Jose. I think it was an extremely successful weekend.

Monday we got back and we went to the Poas volcano first thing in the morning. It has this crater in the middle that is filled with bright green liquid! Like I said before, as soon as I can figure out how to, I will put a picture up on here. We took some pictures by the crater, and then headed up the volcano further on a beautiful hike for 2 hours. Afterwards, we went to yet another coffee farm that is the largest supplier to Starbucks in Costa Rica.

And finally today, we had a talk by the director of agronomy of Starbucks for Costa Rica! Interesting talk…

Ok, I am done typing. As always, more to come soon!
Love,
Ceci

The ladybug is really hungry and really tired

Hello all,

So far it has been a whirlwind of activity over here in Costa Rica. Everyday we are jumping from place to place. Real quick synapsis since the last post...

Tuesday we had a lecture on the history of coffee in Costa Rica, followed by group discussions on focus topics. I decided that I am going to focus on the aspect of law in relation to the decision making processes of coffee farm owners, i.e., what influence does the law have on the decisions to buy property at specific locations etc.

Wednesday we hiked a whole lot. We first went to the coffee farm at Coop Narunjo, which had really amazing coffee, and then we went to a second farm in the area that actually won first place in Costa Rica for the best coffee. That was really neat because it is owned by one woman who really cares about the Nicaraguans and the environment. Definitely made me wonder the importance of certain labels, such as fair trade, shade grown, and organic, because although I had criticisms of the labels going into this trip, it was very interesting to hear it from a first hand perspective.

Today we went on a really touristy tour of Cafe Brit which was incredibly corny, but the point was to see what a person traveling here would normally see, perhaps without any previous knowledge of the coffee business or coffee history. We then went to CICAFE, which is the national institute for research of coffee plants.

Other news before I leave, homestay family is finally warming up to me. I think they are just really shy because now my homestay mom smiles a lot. I am borrowing a phrasebook and a dictionary and combined I am able to communicate a little bit. Anything important that I have to tell her I ask Rose to do for me, which has made my life sooooo much easier. Thank you Rose!

Also, I am feeling really frustrated with the program right now. Although I am visiting interesting places and people and learning a lot about coffee, I am only really catching about a fifth of what is going on simply because I cannot speak Spanish. Our program director made it very clear in the very beginning (as in, during the interview process) that Spanish was not a requirement for the course. He assured us that we would have everything translated, and that we can participate equally in the program with the Spanish speakers. However, this is really not the case, and I am not the only one who feels this way. Some of us in our group took Spanish in high school and some in college and they still feel like they are at an incredible disadvantage during our trips. It is just very frustrating to be told one thing and have the reality be entirely different. Tomorrow I will talk with the instructor about this.

Ok, time to eat! More to come soon, as always. But even though the ladybug is tired, hungry, and a little confused, she is very happy to be in Costa Rica!

Love,
Ceci

The ladybug goes to school

Hello!

The ladybug has now officially started school in Costa Rica! Well…sort of. We aren’t technically in school, but we are still getting credit for exploring Costa Rica! Everyday is packed with trips and activities that will teach us about the economics and inner workings of the coffee production continuum. Fun stuff. But first, back to where I was last time.

Merel, Marina, and I were staying at the hostel in Panama. That night we had a fun time at the La Iguana bar, which is run by the same Rasta boys who owned our hostel. The bar played amazing Reggae music and was jam packed with young people dancing. After that everyone moved to another bar that made me feel like I was on a pirate ship. Everyone was dancing on this dock and if you looked over the edge you could see tons of little fishes and rusty ship parts. Michelle and Melissa (Michelle is Mexican and Melissa is Colombian) who are from my group danced the most since the music here was salsa and meringue. They were twirling and kicking incredibly fast, too fast for me to keep up.

The next day it was raining in the morning so unfortunately our grand plans of snorkeling and dolphin seeing were thwarted. However, Merel, Marina, and I did take a 40 minute bus ride to part of the Island to an AMAZING beach. Drago Beach is one of the postcard perfect places of palm trees and white sand and clear green water. There is this restaurant right there that serves fresh seafood which was so delicious. We lazed in hammocks and watched the waves while drinking ice teas. Afterwards we headed back to the hostel where we played cards and read a little bit before heading back out to the bars. I only stayed for a little bit though, because I wanted to catch up on sleep before making the long trek back to San Jose.

The next morning we left for San Jose at 7am. We caught a boat from Bocas to Changuola, which lasted about an hour. It was really neat to ride the boat this morning, because it went through some areas of mangroves and jungle. I even saw a few pink pelicans, and Silverio saw a monkey. From Changuola we took a bus (by the way, remember that all of the buses here are minivans that are supposed to hold 10 but almost always hold 15), to the border again. We walked over the bridge again into Sixaola where we waited until the bus to San Jose came. Melissa got really sick because it was getting really hot waiting around. We get on the bus and realize that this trip was just going down hill. Although the bus looked nice from the outside (it was a Mercedes), on the inside it was really beat up and smelled awful because of the insect fumigation that occurs at the bridge. The bus was really hot and after about an hour and a half of driving, something happened to the motor and we got stuck in the middle of nowhere, Costa Rica, waiting for the mechanics to fix it. About an hour of standing in this unbearable heat and humidity we started off again towards San Jose, and by the time we had reached San Jose we had been riding the bus for 5 hours. Sweaty and tired we managed to grab a taxi to Heredia, where we met up with the group again.

So now where are we….last night. Last night, we met our host families! Mine is pretty cool, I thought there were going to be kids my age but I guess the information is wrong because there is only one son and he is 12. When I got there my host family’s family was hanging out and boy are there a lot of them. My host mom’s 5 sisters and their kids were all there talking loudly over each other in a small space. Their kids are ages 3 to 5 and they are certainly spunky. The kids were all laughing at me because I couldn’t understand anything that they were saying. After I washed up I gave my host family the gift I brought, and they really liked it. I brought a large circular tile (about a foot in diameter) that an artist in Sequim painted and sculpted into a nighttime scene of the Olympic Mountains and a moon. I also brought a little picture book of Washington to compare the tile to. They seemed to really like it. After dinner, we went over to another host house where a girl, Rose, is staying. Her host mom is best friends with my host mom so we chatted and stayed for a while. It was nice because I think my host mom is uncomfortable around me since she doesn’t speak English and I can’t speak Spanish.

Today the group got oriented to the Spanish-English school that is our base. We had a scavenger hunt activity that took us all around Heredia, and it was fun discovering neat things about the place.

Okay, time to get off the internet. More to come soon!

Love,
Ceci

The ladybug flutters to Panama!

The ladybug traveler has somehow made it to....Panama!

Today was a crazy day. We left the hostel in Puerto Viejo at around 8am to catch a bus to Sixaola. We lugged our luggage in the hot hot heat for about a mile from the hostel to the bus stop. The bus was super crowded, I was sitting on the floor, and the bus driver was driving soo fast on this narrow mountain road I felt like I was in the Night Bus from Harry Potter! We made it to the border at Sixaola, crossed a bridge into Panama, took a crowded van that was suited for 10 but was carrying 15 of us and one child through the mountains to a port, got into a boat, and finally made it to Bocas del Torro.

Here, the Marina from my group, and Merel the Holand girl, we broke off from the bigger group to get ourselves a hostel. It is soooooo nice. On retrospect, Rocking J's was pretty sketch. Here, the beds are clean, the building is clean, the people working here are nice and trusting, and we are close to everything. Although Rocking J's was cool, it was dirty and we found out about all of this nasty stuff that was going on behind the scenes. Apparently the staff had changed the lock on some Israeli's locker and stolen some money, and there were rumers of drugs, and it just sounded awful. BUT, here it is beautiful and fun, and tomorrow we are going on a boat tour that will take us snorkeling and to see dolphins and to hang out on a beautiful beach etc etc. Good times here in this lovely area.

I'm sure you all are just wishing you were here on sandy beaches in green warm clear water!

Love,
Ceci