Reflections from the air conditioned internet cafe

The weather:
The weather here is beautiful for the most part. It rained hard and long last night. Today has been very humid, but the temps are not higher than 90 degrees since we've been here. The sun is only out part of the day. This time of year is the transition season. It is the beginning of rainy season that will last through October. We were unclear whether we were in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere, but as this is winter for Costa Rica, we must be in the Southern Hemi. So even though it is not hot, the humitity is causing us to sweat a lot! Luckily, I have probably lost 5 lbs in water weight and with any luck will lose 5 more before we leave.

The roads:
Wow- the roads here off the 2 or 3 main highways are aweful! It wasn't as noticible in the bus yesterday, but the cab we took today (we ended up taking because we missed the bus) proved a rough ride. Josh got a little sick and I think my neck and back are a little more out of whack than they were this a.m. So many potholes so little time. Average speed is 30-40 mph. A guy named Tim who we caught a ride from told us that they keep the roads bad on purpose to keep people away. Southern Nicoya where we are staying is pretty secluded, but it is becoming more and more popular. Unfortunately, development is inevitable here. Cost of land has risen tremendously in the last few years. I really hope the potholes stay.

Other random thoughts:
Ecotourism-yeah right!
Costa Rica is touted as an ecotourist destination in the US and probably elsewhere. It is a very developed nation an continues to develop. The tourist industry is huge. I am deeply concerned about some of the things I see as I'm here. The tourists where we are in the Nicoya Peninsula rent 4 wheelers and drive very fast. It is anti-ecotourism in the biggest way. I am not impressed. Not only that, but huge amounts of rainforests have been and are being torn down to put up massive resorts for people to stay. The coffee industry is huge here and again a large amount of rainforest is cleared to raise coffee bean. Some of you may know, but there is a push for shade grown coffee in the US so that the forests do not have to be destroyed to support our caffine addictions. Not only that but there is very little recycling here. I noticed that when I was in Ghana last year, but they are not nearly as developed at Costa Rica. The owner of our hotel is very environment conscious. She has to haul recycling approximately 50 miles which is no small distance when you realize how slow you need to drive to get there.

Interesting observation:
We were on a tour 2 days ago of a coffee plantation and the tour guide in sort of a bragging tone said (on two seperate occasions) that the Costa Ricans are well off enought that they don't need to work out in the coffee fields because it is very hard labor. So what they do is bring in people from Nicaragua (the country directly north of Costa Rica) and pay them very little money for hard labor. Sound familiar? Not only did he mention that fact dos, he went on to point out that the people in the fields were darker and looked different than people from Costa Rica. I realize there is racism and discrimination all over the world, but it was difficult for me to hear this blatant racism and on a tour at that.

Americanization:
The culture from the states has infiltrated here in a big way. A number of stores we were in had thecr prices marked in US dollars. US dollars are taken at every store. Many Europeans change their Euros into dollars instead of colones. I found out that in Panama (the country just south of Costa Rica) they don't even have their own currency. They only use the US dollar.

I really want to learn Spanish after this trip. It is on the top of my to do list when I return home.

For more information about Costa Rica go to: http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/cs.html