Zip lining!

This weekend we went to Puntarenas to do a Canopy Tour.  We started out riding horses to the top of this giant waterfall and took 25 zip lines down to the bottom.  Horseback riding was quite entertaining.  The horses follow the same trail every day and so they definitely had a mind of their own.  They were very competitive about who was in front of them and would randomly speed up the pace to catch up to the front of the line.  I named my horse Pepita and she was such a diva!  Anytime a horse got near her she would snap at them and put them in their place.  I thought she was hysterical.  We went horseback riding for about an hour until reached the top.  It was time to get suited up for the zip line tour!  

They gave us a harness, gloves and a helmet.  They taught us how to stop, where we should place our hands and how we should have our feet when zip lining through the jungle.  Zip lining is SO FUN!  We went zip lining over a giant water fall and also repelled backwards down a huge cliff.  We reached our halfway point where everyone took a break and swam in the waterfalls. The water felt great because it was pretty hot that day! 

After swimming in the waterfalls we continued on and went down the other 12 zip lines.  One of the zip lines was my absolute favorite because it was so long and it felt like I was gliding through the jungle, it was incredible!  After we completed our zip line tour we went to lunch and watched the US vs. Ghana World Cup game and unfortunately they lost L.  Most of the people on the tour were Americans and so everyone was pretty bummed with the outcome.  I also learned that the last World Cup game that the US lost was also against Ghana so I am pretty sure the players think it’s a curse.

After lunch we headed to the beach for the rest of the weekend.  On Saturday night we went out and met a group of guys from Florida who were in Costa Rica as a reunion to surf together and we went out with them for the night.  Lots of dancing and clubbing, Costa Rica style!  On Sunday our body alarm clocks woke us up at 7:00 am and we went to the beach and caught some rays before heading to the “Taco Bar”.  The “Taco Bar” was soooo good!  It was an outside taco bar that had swings for seats, the best-blended papaya smoothie/drinks and the best mahi fish tacos in town.  After a late lunch we headed back to San Jose to end a great weekend. 

More cultural observations!

A few more Costa Rican cultural observations:
-Brushing teeth- the dentist here probably never have to worry about their patients getting cavities because Costa Ricans brush and floss their teeth at least 7 times a day. It isnt just a simple brush either, people will be in the bathroom brushing their teeth for at least 10 minutes. This obviously is not a bad thing but it amazes me!
-Machas- Machas are fair skinned people with light hair and so, I am a macha. My co-intern and I had the receptionist call a local taxi company for us and said to look for "dos machas" standing on the corner. My program coordinator has been greeted by Costa Ricans as "Whats up macha?" because he is a light-skinned American.
-Tips- It is not required to tip your waiter at a restaurant unless the service is incredible!! So the grand total on the bill is what you owe, unless you are feeling generous :)
-Invasion of space- my co-intern and I went to a restaurant on our lunch break and we were greeted by our very friendly waiter. He took our order and then proceeded to stick around and ask us if we were Scandinavian (yes, it happens all of the time). After taking our order he stood about 2 feet behind my chair and jumped into the conversation as much as he could...I did not know that we invited him to have lunch with us. Even when we ignored him he still was pestering us with questions.
-Tamales- Tamales are so delicious here but I was a little taken back when I saw what they looked like. The difference about our tamales and the tica tamales is that the tica tamales are wrapped in banana leaves versus corn husks. Funny story about John F. Kennedy visiting Costa Rica: JFK went to a local restaurant in one of the beach cities and decided to order a tamale. After he was finished the restaurant asked him what he thought about the tamale and he said that the "lettuce on the outside was really hard". Apparently no one at the table informed him that he had to remove the banana leaves before eating the tamale. So the JFK story is always brought up when someone orders a tamale.
-Fruit: The fruit is so much bigger here and there are many different varieties! For example, there are about three different types of pineapple and two different kinds of mangos. They have "mangos" which are exactly like the mangos that we can find in the US and there are "mangas" which are about the size of a small watermelon. All of the fruit is very fresh and very cheap. Every Saturday is "Market Day" so everyone is out in the streets of San Jose selling fruit, vegetables, or whatever they feel someone might need.
-My address: I finally learned how to read my address from a friendly cab driver! Yes, I know...I have been here for 3 weeks. This is my address: "De la casa Italia 100 m sur, 200 este, 200 sur and 75 este." So from the old Italian restaurant on the corner I live 100 meters south, 200 meters straight, 200 south and another 75 meters straight. Try finding your way home from that, I dare you!
This weekend I am going zip lining over waterfalls and headed to the beach! Cant complain, pura vida =)

A weekend in Jaco!

This past weekend we went to Jaco!  One of the girls in my group knows a local woman who lives in San Jose who offered to take us to the beach but unfortunately she got sick and wound up in the hospital.  We then resorted to plan B and headed to the bus station to catch the next bus to Jaco!  The bus cost 4 dollars each way and was about a two hour trip until we arrived in Jaco.  The bus was really nice, similar to a large charter bus in the US and sat 50 people.  On our receipt there was a number of our assigned seat to the bus…we soon realized that they sell 10 more spots on each bus and the extra 10 people have to stand the entire way!  The bus was a little bumpy and so the extra passengers were holding on and swaying every which way in the aisle.  

At the bus station we met a new friend named Jorge, who was traveling alone from Mexico for the weekend and headed to Jaco as well.  We invited Jorge to join us for the weekend; the more the merrier!  After a two hour trip we arrived and walked from one side of town to the other side, which only took about 20 minutes.  There is one main street full of street vendors, shops, restaurants and hotels.  We finally found our hotel called “Flamboyant” which was right on the beach.  We changed quickly and made our way down to the beach.  The beach was not a white sandy beach but was covered by smaller rocks instead; the weather was perfect!  While laying out on the beach we were approached by a local named Freddy who taught surf lessons on the beach and he told us about the local surf competition that was happening that afternoon at a beach about 5 minutes away called, Playa Hermosa. 

Why not check out a local surf competition?  We grabbed our stuff and shared a cab with Freddy to Playa Hermosa to spend the afternoon with the locals.  The surf competition took place in front of the restaurant and bar which was called “The Backyard Bar”.  We found a table right on the beach, ordered dinner and watched the surf competition.  The waves were huge!!   We got to meet the #1 pro surfer in all of Costa Rica and meet the other participants as well.  We watched the sun set and then it started to rain, not just rain….it was the closest thing to a hurricane that I have ever seen!  Everyone headed up to the Backyard Bar indoor patio and bar where we watched the awards ceremony for the surf competition and had a few drinks. 

Most of the people at the bar were from the United States or other countries which was kind of fun because we were able to talk to people from other countries and find out why they ended up in Costa Rica.   The next morning we woke up and had breakfast at this local breakfast place and watched the World Cup.  We spent the day laying on the beach and by the pool.  Later that afternoon we we did a little shopping and explored the town before heading back to San Jose.  Our bus left at 5 pm and we headed back to work to get ready for another week of work!  A relaxing weekend by the beach was just what I needed to end the week. 

Here is the country of Trinidad- one slide show of many.

2010 Trinidad Presentation

View more presentations from liannef.

The most incredible man I have ever met.

Throughout my internship I will be attending a few seminars with speakers from big companies in Costa Rica.  This week we had our first seminar and went to the Franklin Covey office where met our speaker, Randall Arias.  Randall grew up in Costa Rica and works as the manager of Franklin Covey for the country of Costa Rica.  We arrived a little early and so he tested me on my Spanish and said that I am doing incredibly well for being in Costa Rica for 10 days!  Woohoo!!  After everyone arrived he introduced himself to the group and began his story.

Randall was born with a very rare disease where his feet were attached to his back and he did not have any joints in his arms.  This disease is so uncommon that there is not even an English translation and at the time the ultrasound was not available so there was no way of knowing it existed.  His surgery took place when he was 2 days old where they had to break his legs and detach them from his back.  As a young boy his family was his main support and they never made him feel different or out of place.  He still was able to travel on vacations and be a part of everything with his brothers and sister. Until age 10 his arms still stuck out straight in front of him after undergoing about 20 surgeries at this point.  His parents then searched all over to see if anyone had the resources to help him and they finally found a doctor in Mexico who could perform the operation.  At age 10 his parents took him to the airport, took him to the gate where his plane was leaving and sent him on his, alone.  At this time his mom was terrified to fly on an airplane and his father needed to stay in Costa Rica to work in order to support his family so he ventured on to Mexico.  When arriving he was picked up by a representative from the hospital and went into surgery the next day.  After surgery on his arms, which took about 10 operations, he was able to touch his face for the first time and walk with special crutches.  Randall stayed in Mexico for a few months after that to go through physical therapy and recover and for about 3 years after the surgery he made annual visits for check ups. 

He completed high school and did not know if he wanted to go to college; but all of his friends were going to college so he decided to go too.  Randall was accepted to the University of Costa Rica and did not know what he wanted to major in and so he decided to follow his friend who offered to take him to school.  At this time there were no ramps or wheelchair access to buildings and so his friend would carry him up the stairs just so he could go to school.  After 4 years, Randall graduated in law but decided not to follow the law career path and so he hopped around from job to job.  Randall owned several businesses and sold them all when he wound up meeting Mother Teresa.  After meeting Mother Teresa, he quit his job and left everything behind to follow Mother Teresa and help others around the world.  He traveled with her for 4 years and met his wife, who was also traveling with Mother Teresa.  Soon after they got married and now have 3 children.  He gave a piece of advice that I really liked, “Never give up on yourself and never compare yourself to others because we are all unique.  You have time to make mistakes.  If you are not satisfied with what you are doing now, try something new.  Venture out on your own and see life from a new perspective.  In the end you will see that the most satisfying opportunity is right in front of you.”

Incredible story, isn't it?  We have a lot to be thankful for.  

The projects have begun!

Back to work! Today we met our boss named Jeff who works as the logistics manager for Aerocasillas. He is always traveling but works in San Jose for most of the time. When we first met he immediately said that we will be doing a lot of projects for the summer and we are going to try and get them done before we return to the states. Some of the projects that he would like us to work on this summer are: improving marketing through the company website, utilizing social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, creating a recycle campaign, making videos, analyzing every country’s statistics and figures and marketing new ideas based on Internet retail sites. On Monday, I was assigned to break down our current website and compare our site to other online retail competitors. I noticed that our competitors had a new look, updated their site frequently, had links to big upcoming events on the main page (Father’s Day and the World Cup) and had enough resources to answer any question that the customer may have. I also got to spend the day doing a little online shopping (can’t complain) to search for the most affordable websites and separated them by gender and category. They wanted us to see what if feels like to be a customer of Aerocasillas and go through the process of online buying so we created our own "employee account". We were given a gift card to shop on Amazon and I bought a pair of shoes! I guess unpaid internships have a few perks along the way. :)

Our first project has begun! About a month ago each country sent out a survey to their customers asking them to rate their satisfaction with Aerocasillas. The survey consisted of about 30 questions, which asked customers to comment and rate the customer service, online process, delivery, etc. Some countries had a large return rate of surveys and others did not. Each of the surveys were sorted by country through a survey maker website and converted to an excel file. One more thing I forgot to mention...every computer is loaded with Spanish Microsoft Office. I can now add to my resume that I am bilingual in Microsoft Office. It has been a little difficult to navigate being that the set up is a little different and of course, not in English. My co-intern and I have been reviewing the excel file to analyze each country by making suggestions, reviewing averages, personal comments and highlighting the good areas and the bad areas that the company needs to improve. Once we have reviewed all of the information we need to make a 20 slide PowerPoint and attach the excel sheet of information for each country. There are 24 countries total, so our goal is to have the project done in 2 weeks. Customers were able to take the survey in Spanish and English and there were over 2,000 Spanish surveys and over 8,000 Spanish surveys that were submitted.

First things first, I needed to go through every country and read each survey question and understand what all of the numbers meant, summarize comments shared and find key information to improve the company. After reading through each country's surveys, I began my next step of calculating the Net Promoter Score (NPS) for each country based on the survey results. I am not sure if you are familiar with the NPS system but the score is determined by the answers on whether the customer would recommend the company on a scale of 1-10. Grouping customers into three clusters of promoters (who scored either a 9 & 10), passives (who scored either a 7 & 8) and detractors (who scored either a 1-6) we are able to see the results on each company. The final score is determined by subtracting the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters and we are able to determine if the company is performing to the best of its abilities. The United States average is an NPS of 10 so anything above a 10 is good. I actually just calculated the NPS for Haiti and they received an NPS of -22, so its safe to say that the Aerocasillas in Haiti needs some company reconstruction. It is interesting to see how the company works internally to determine all of the data. We have completed one of our PowerPoint's, I'm not sure if I can add it to my blog but I will see if I can do that later.  We showed the final presentation to our boss and he was very impressed.  He told us that we exceeded his expectations and he is more than satisfied with our work.  I guess you can say that we started off on the right foot!

Arenal Volcano & Hot Springs Weekender!

I added pictures to the blogs below, so definitely check it out! :)


Saturday morning we left to begin our adventure to the Hot Springs, Arenal Lake and Arenal Volcano.  In Costa Rica they have a main highway which takes everyone to the various cities across the country.  Unfortunately there was a terrible accident in which a giant tour bus hit a taxi and shut down the entire freeway so we were forced to take the bumpy back roads and arrived to our destination just in time to watch the England vs. USA soccer game over lunch.  After lunch we shopped around and explored the town; it was so hot and humid!  We checked into our hotel and headed out to explore and see the Arenal volcano and Arenal Lake before the rain came.  When the rain arrives the volcano is completely covered and you would not know it was even there!  Most of the volcanos are still active in Costa Rica.  We met a group of guys that said they saw the volcano have a mini eruption the night before and they were able to see a little bit of lava flow because it was a clear night.  

Getting out of the rain just in time, we headed for Baldi Hot Springs!  This place was absolutely incredible!  There are about 25 different pools, 3 wet bars and 3 water slides.  We picked the perfect time to go because it was raining and the temperature cooled down so we were able to relax and enjoy the hot springs.  We went down all of the water slides and sipped on tropical drinks to end our Saturday afternoon.  Funny fact about the water slides, the engineers who built the slides originally constructed each slide without a cover so the top of the slide was exposed.  The engineers did not take into account the amount of force offered by the slides and several people were injured because they flew off the slides.  Needless to say, they had to close the slides for repair.  We left the hot springs and had wonderful dinner at an Italian restaurant and got ready for a night out on the town!  We met quite a few Americans at the local bars and were able to talk to them about their experience in Costa Rica!

Baldi Hot Springs Website: http://www.baldihotsprings.cr/

On Sunday morning, we were going to hike the volcano and go swim in the waterfalls but our plans changed when it had been raining all morning.  The hike would not have been too fun with rain pounding in our faces and the waterfall would have been pure mud due to the amount of rain.  So we settled on plan B which was to go to this resort called Los Lagos.  Los Lagos had a walk though which had native animals of Costa Rica and we saw crocodiles (the ones we saw were apparently “smaller” than usual) which were so scary!  After the crocodile spotting we learned a tip just in case we ever encounter a crocodile- run in circles and do not run in a straight path because crocodiles are very fast when they have a straight shot but the key is to fool them and run in a zig zag motion.  
We also saw beautiful butterflies, poisonous frogs and turtles!  After the walk through we headed for the hot spring area where they had springs and water slides that were similar to Baldi Hot Springs.  After another relaxing afternoon we headed back to San Jose and returned early evening for work in the morning!

TGIF & The World Cup

On Friday we went to the Aerocasillas pick up center.  At the pick up center we sorted packages by client number and opened the center at 9 am for customer pick up.  The pick up center used the same system that we have seen the past few days and we were able to log into the customer accounts when they gave us their client number to see which packages or mail needed to be picked up.  We met all types of people thoguhout the day picking up their packages including a woman who was 77 years old and spoke 7 different languages!  The Aerocasillas workers at the pick up center were very nice and helpful; they helped us use the computer system and appreciated our extra help.  On a typical morning they have around 100 total packages delivered but on Friday there were 300 packages delievered and ready for pick up!  The Costa Rican government imposes a lot of taxes on various products that enter the country; but twice a year they allow the citizens two opportunities for a tax free purchase.  The customer needs to print a form from the online website and attach a copy of their credit card and drivers license.  After the form is complete the customer turns it into the Aerocasillas pick up center.  The customer is able to wave the fees of the product if the form is completed.  Customers typically save the opportunity when buying expensive purchases because the taxes can add up so quickly.  Electronics in Costa Rica are very expensive; a digital camera can range from $600-750.00 and so ordering a digital camera on Amazon.com can save a customer almost 300 dollars!  By having the product shipped from the US, paying for taxes will still be significantly lower than the standard Costa Rican price.  There are so many websites online that offer great discounts for Central American customers!

The World Cup.  

Friday morning was the opening ceremonies for the World Cup.  The World Cup is like Christmas morning for Costa Ricans!  My home stay mother is a high school teacher and she said that on the morning of the opening ceremonies it is required by the government to allow the entire classroom to watch the first game.  At the pick up center we met two world cup fanatics who explained in detail the way the world cup bracket works.  There are 8 separate groups with 4 countries in each group with a total of 32 teams.  The teams play within their groups to begin the elimination process.  Teams are awarded 3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie and 0 points for a loss.  After each team plays within their group the elimination towards the final round takes place all month and the winner is given the World Cup! The United States beat Costa Rica in the qualifying games and so Costa Rica is not one of the countries represented in the tournament.  Surprisingly they do not have any hard feelings towards the US and are actually rooting for us!  The US played England on Saturday morning and tied, keep it up USA! 

The first few days of interning.

After my early morning wake up call to meet another intern at the bus stop at 6:30 am my day began!  I caught the first bus, which took me into downtown San Jose, and then we caught the bus that went directly to our company.  We met our mentor at the bus stop and she guided us through a whole day of orientation!  Orientation = slideshows in Spanish for hours. I am interning at Aerocasillas, which is an Internet retail company.  The company assists Costa Ricans as well as other Central American countries to buy products online and deliver them to the customers.  In Central America people do not have the ability to order products online as easily as we do in the United States, which is why they create an Aerocasillas account to receive packages.  We learned about the company and how certain fees were added on to the products shipped from the United States…we then had to calculate the cost of products with the new fees, which was very difficult for me.  I am the worst at math and I told them if they were to assign me math calculations their company would fail, so that ended quickly. :) 

Our second day of work started out at the process center.  We were able to see how each package was processed and how the Aerocasillas system worked.  Customers purchase an Aerocasillas account, which has a yearly fee of $20.00, and then have to pay for taxes, duties, etc. depending on the product they purchase.  At the processing center we observed how packages were accounted for.  Employees weight each package, open each package, account for how many items are in the box, the cost of the product, tracking number and take the invoice out of the package.  The package is then sealed and sent to the delivery department to be delivered to customer’s homes or for pick up at the office. Aerocasillas also delivers mail to the customers and magazines from the United States, the mail is also weighed to determine the price and the customers are billed later.  The Aerocasillas system is pretty slick and they are very organized.  They ensure the best service and have a way to track where the package is at any given time.  

Day three has arrived!  I am officially a city girl because I have the bus system down and am beginning to find shortcuts to make my mornings easier. Today was our final day of orientation and I can honestly say that I can fully explain this company to anyone.  We are going to see how the pick up center works tomorrow and I will finally begin my marketing and public relations internship on Monday!

A few more Costa Rican Observations:

-Costa Ricans eat mayonnaise on everything…. legitimately everything. This will be one thing that I will not add to my diet.

-The streets of traffic throughout San Jose remind me of a school of fish. No one follows the lines and a giant bus has legitimately come so close to running over smaller taxis that I am in on a daily basis.

-When you are anywhere at work you are given a “breakfast break” of about 25-30 minutes.  Many people bring breakfast, lunch and dinner with them to their jobs because they are gone all day.

-Prostitution is legal but street vending is not…hm, something is wrong with this picture.

TGIF tomorrow and excited to adventure to the Arenal volcano this weekend! Buenas noches. 

coffee addiction

The first thing I woke up to in the morning was my host mother telling me “Wow you are big!” So of course Im thinking, oh great she thinks I‘m fat.  She then replied, “No senorita, alto alto!”  Meaning that she thinks that I am tall.  I forgot to mention that, I am noticeably taller than most of the women and some men in the city of San Jose; everyone is very short here. Today we had a mini orientation at the Universidad de Veritas and they showed us the computer labs, library, and various centers they had available for students.  After the orientation we headed toward the mountains to a coffee plantation called “Cafe Britt”.  Costa Rica is known for its famous coffee plantations.  We began the tour and entered into the coffee fields.  We were greeted by some very energetic tour guides who turned out to be actors which made the tour very entertaining!  In Costa Rica the climate is perfect for making coffee because volcanoes surround them and the weather is not too cool.  

The tour guides began to explain the harvest process, which begins with the coffee cultivators picking the cherry red fruit from the coffee plant.  After the berries are picked they are then sent to the processing plant to remove the pulp from around the beans.  After the pulp is removed from the beans, the beans lay out in the sun with a little bit of water for one week (the workers have to sift through the beans every hour the entire week to ensure the beans are receiving equal amounts of sunlight).  After a week the beans are then moved to the roasting station where they are roasted at an approximate temperature of 465 degrees Farenheit (the beans begin to "pop" when added to the heat and the aroma fills the room). 

 After visiting the plant we headed to the theater where they gave the history of the coffee bean in Costa Rica and performed a silly skit of a wedding.  Who was chosen out of the crowd to be the maid of honor? Yours truly.  I had to give a mini toast in Spanish and we toasted with coffee!  My prize for volunteering was a floppy coffee hat.  After the tour we were privileged to have lunch with the owner and founder of “Café Britt” and were able to ask him questions about his booming franchise in Costa Rica.  Having lunch with the owner resulted in free coffee drinks which kept me going for the remainder of the day.  My Costa Rican coffee addiction is now official!  We had a shorter day today so that we could prepare for our big day tomorrow at our internships and so we were dismissed early to go home.  Sorry to keep talking about everything I eat, but tonight I had tacos and they were not like ordinary tacos, they were Costa Rican tacos.  Carne asada, onions, salsa and peppers are stuffed inside a tortilla and cooked on the stovetop.  The taco pockets are then prepared over a mound of cabbage and topped with mayonnaise and ketchup and guacamole…I definitely passed on the ketchup and mayonnaise.  Tomorrow my internship begins! 

learning the culture.

After a good nights sleep we are ready for our second day in San Jose.  We meet Joaquin who works for University of Dreams and is a walking guidebook of Costa Rican culture.  First things first, Joaquin wanted to cover all bases of protection and ways to be safe so he gave us tips on how to carry our bags, hiding money and responding to vendors who try and sell you things with the intention of ripping you off.  Now being aware of all precautions we begin our tour.  Joaquin pointed out the government buildings of Costa Rica, embassy’s, major plazas, theaters and landmarks. 

We were given a large sum of Costa Rican colones for bus and taxi transportation but the money given to us was 10,000 colones which is a little less than 20 dollars being that the exchange rate is 540 colones = 1 dollar.  It began to rain and then it started pouring so it was time to ride the bus.  Before getting on the bus we had a task to go and break the colones into smaller change because we needed to ride the bus later.  I stopped at a coffee shop and ordered a small chai tea, little did I know that my “chai tea” became this extravagant drink with different swirls, colors and it also included their own version of a blended chai tea.  Lets just say it was high calorie and a little too much for me so I had a few sips and tossed it!  But, I got the change that I needed and we headed for the bus.  There are several bus stops all throughout town, its just a matter of actually making it on the right bus to take you to your destination.  The bus fare was about 40 cents!  The price of transportation via bus or taxi is extremely cheap which is why most people prefer to take the bus system or taxis because its so easy.   We took the bus toward the University and got off to stop at a place called Bagelmen’s for lunch.  Bagelmens was very American and so the food was definitely up to our standards.  At Bagelmen’s we discussed our routes to work each day, differences in culture and homestays.  After a brief seminar and lunch we headed toward “California street” which led us to the Universidad de Veritas.  Because it was Sunday the school was closed so we did not get to see anything that exciting!

Things I have learned about the Costa Rican culture so far:

-Rice and beans: Rice and beans are served with every meal.  For breakfast they have a special dish that is called “gallo pinto”.  Its a gourmet dish and so different (sarcasm).  “Gallo pinto” is a rice and beans mixture with some added spices.

-License plates: Depending on the last digit of your license plate is the specific day that you can drive.  If your license plate ends in a number 1 you can only drive on Mondays and Tuesday, a number 2, Wednesdays and Thursdays, etc.  On the weekend, everyone is free to drive.  They had to do enforce  this system because they did not realize how popular cars were going to be in San Jose.

-Taxis: Taxis do not stop for you.  It does not matter if you are in a cross walk or not, they will run you over if you are in their way.  In Costa Rica pedestrians do NOT have the right away.

-‘The blonde effect’: there is no way I am ever going to look like a Tica (a term used for Costa Rican women) because of my blonde hair.  They call it the blonde effect because you immediately get honked at, you can stop traffic, hail any cab, and draw all attention to yourself even if you don’t want to.  The blonde hair is a dead give away. 

-Not giving a straight answer: Costa Ricans do not want to seem rude so they will never give you the straight answer of “NO”.  Their culture is very high context and so you must look at their body language and listen to the way they answer you in order to understand if you are getting a “yes” or “no” answer.

Greetings:  A greeting between woman to woman is greeted by an “air kiss” and hug which is given on the left.  Men and women depending on the relationship exchange this same greeting or they exchange a handshake.  A greeting man to man is greeted by a handshake.  In Costa Rica giving a firm handshake like we do in the US is not allowed.  If you do this you are considered “angry”. Haha I got a kick out of this because I am all about the handshake!

-Not giving change:  if you have a large bill for a small purchase they have no problem refusing your business or telling you to go buy something more expensive because they don’t want to give you a lot of their change.  They also give you a dirty look if you ask them for a large amount of change on a big bill.

After spending the afternoon exploring we met back at the hotel because it was time to get picked up by our families!  I am staying with the Chavarria family and my mothers name is Adelaida, my fathers name is Alfonzo and they have 2 children, Julian-age 2 and Eva who is 6 months.  They live in a nice two-story home, a few blocks from the University, with 4 bedrooms and bathrooms.  Unfortunately the Costa Rican homes do not like nice at all from the outside because they are covered in tall gates, barbed wire and have barred windows (I guess they are trying to be extra cautious and follow up with the same safety precautions as their neighbors).  We arrived at home and they showed me to my room that is a fairly good-sized room with a closet, double bed, desk, TV, and my own bathroom!  I brought my family a few gifts that they definitely appreciated!  I brought them a pound of sees candy, a pair of earrings for my mother, a rattle for Eva and a playdough kit for Julian.  Upon arriving to the house I spent almost the entire evening talking with the family in English and Spanish and asked questions about their lifestyle, career, etc.  My mother is a school teacher for 7^th,8^th and 9^th grade students and my father is a computer engineer.  I did not see too much of my father tonight because he was busy working outside.  Their son, Julian, is in a preschool/daycare program and so he had homework that required painting…he then decided it was a great idea to paint my arm instead of his worksheet.  After completing his homework we opened up the playdough gift and began to play with the playdough and the cut-outs….after about 15 minutes of fun he thought it would be really funny to throw every piece of playdough at me.  I didn’t know I was living with a 2 year old terrorist.  Eva, on the other hand, is the most easy going baby I have ever met and is so sweet.  My mother and I had dinner together tonight which consisted of rice & beans, grilled chicken with guacamole, and vegetables with a Tica rice dessert.  Mom, take note, I will not be in the mood for Mexican/Costa Rican food for a long time when I return to the US.  Time to finish unpacking!

Finally arrived in Costa Rica!  Customs were way too easy which kind of surprised me so I was in and out of the airport with my baggage in 20 minutes!  After the airport we then traveled through the city of San Jose trying to get through the masses of cars on a busy Saturday.  We arrived at our hotel, Hotel Don Carlos which was a very nice and had a lot of old architecture and pretty fountains. 

After traveling all day it was time for lunch!  We stopped at a local restaurant that had a choice of 5 different items depending on the day and the entire menu was in Spanish.  I ordered this chicken dish that also came with rice, beans and a small salad.  The food isn’t too bad!  While sitting at lunch we learned that every meal, including breakfast, comes with rice and beans. I guess I will be consuming a lot of rice and beans during my stay!  We also learned that the waiter will not bring you your check unless you ask for it.  In Costa Rica it is rude to leave a check on the table because it gives the sense that the restaurant is kicking you out.

We then began to wander through San Jose to have a little taste of the downtown lifestyle.  None of the streets have signs that are large enough to read and so people base their directions off of 2 main roads…I am for sure going to get lost.  Walking though downtown we reach a plaza, which reminds me of Union Square in San Francisco that is surrounded by shops, restaurants, and lots of street vendors.  Street vending is illegal in Costa Rica and all of the vendors have a quick system to pick up their blankets full of items and run off without getting caught.  San Jose has sooo many coffee and ice cream shops; the Costa Ricans love their caffeine and sweets.  We stopped at a famous Costa Rican ice cream shop called “Pops” and had a scoop later on in the afternoon and it was delicious!  Our director insisted we buy a Spanish to English dictionary and an umbrella- apparently these are the 2 must haves for tourists.  After a long day we have a mini orientation to go over emergency contacts, expectations and our 2 month schedule and then its off to bed for a good nights sleep.  Im not a fan of red eye flights and so I was definitely sleep deprived. Buenas noches!