Day 7

We had to be down in the lobby by 5am to board the bus and leave for Tocumen International Airport for our 8:30am flight to San Jose, Costa Rica. We had about a three hour bus ride from the airport to the Karahe Hotel with our new bus driver Marvin. While on the bus, Estaban gave us a brief introduction to his native country, Costa Rica. The name Costa Rica, the rich coast, originated from Christopher Columbus who had originally founded this land in hopes of finding gold. When he arrived, however, all the gold that remained was in the hands of the indigenous people. The country had been abandoned until 1565 when the second largest city, Cartago, was founded. During this time, the economy was based purely on the sale of tobacco and mules. The mule trade route went from Cartago to Portobelo to Peru. Even though the economy was growing, no Spaniards wanted to move here because of the difficult terrain. In 1821, Costa Rica, along with Mexico and the other Central American countries, became independent countries. However, the people of Costa Rica didn’t know how to run a government so they tried to model themselves after the British colonies in North America. When they asked the Queen of England to become a colony, she refused because of all of the issues England was having with the North American colonies. However, she did offer to help their economy. Shortly afterwards, Jamaican pirates were found off the coast of Costa Rica and brought to the mainland. They brought with them coffee plants, now a staple of the Costa Rican economy. The biggest importers of coffee at the time were England and New York. The coffee is referred to as the “golden bean” because it was the product that really helped the Costa Rican economy flourish. Currently, technology is the number one revenue generator in the country, followed by tourism. The economy is considered fragile because of its large dependence on tourism. After the September 11^th attack tragedy, many people around the world were afraid to fly, especially Americans who are the number one tourists in the country. The highway we took from the airport to the hotel had been under construction and was just opened this year. After much influence from President Oscar Arias Sanchez, who had won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1987, the highway was carved through the mountains which surround Costa Rica. After changing some of the laws, Sanchez was the first president to ever be reelected. The completion of this highway has allowed the people of Costa Rica to travel from San Jose to Puntarenas in only one hour.
The national expression of Costa Rica is “pura vida,” literally meaning “pure life.” After we arrived at the hotels and unpacked, we took a trip to Manuel Antonio National Park. Once we arrived, we were separated into two groups. Our group was lucky enough to see a variety of animals such as howler monkeys, squirrel monkeys, woodpeckers, and deer.

Our tour guide also used his telescope to point our tree frogs, bats, sloths, and owls. When the tour was over, we got to spend some time at the beach. The water was beautiful and we all jumped right into the warm water. We learned that the movie Spy Kids 2 was filmed on this beach. Afterwards, everyone went their separate ways to spend their free time downtown.

Nosotros subimos al bus a las cinco de la mañana y viajamos al aeropuerto internacional tocumen por nuestra vuelta a San José en Costa Rica. Tuvimos un camino de tres horas desde el aeropuerto al hotel Karahe con una nueva persona que maneja el bus, Marvin. Durante la viaje, Esteban habló de su país materna, Costa Rica. El nombre Costa Rica, “rich coast” en ingles, viene de Cristóbal Colón quien encontré este país con la intención de encontrar oro. Al llegar, todo el oro estaba en las manos de las indígenas de Costa Rica. El país estaba abandonada hasta 1565 cuándo la ciudad, Cartago, estaba encontrada. Durante este tiempo, la economía estaba basada en la venta de tabaco y burros. Los burros fueron entre Cartago y Portobelo e un más tiempo, entre Portobelo y Perú. Aunque, la economía estaba creciendo, los españoles no tuvieron una parte porque la tierra estaba difícil para navegar. En 1821, Costa Rica, México, y los otros países de Latinoamérica cambiaron a países independientes. Desafortunadamente la gente de Costa Rica no sabia como operar un gobierno, entonces traté de ser como las colonias en Norteamérica. Cuando pregunté a la reina de Inglaterra si pude ser una colonia, la reina dije no porque las colonias y Inglaterra tuvieron malas relaciones. Ella ofreció a ayudar a Costa Rica. Después, piratas jamacas estaban encontrados cerca de la costa de Costa Rica. Compraron muchos plantos de café, ahora una parte importante de la economía. Los importadores más grandes de café eran Inglaterra y Nueva York. Café esta referido a “Golden Bean” porque era el producto que ayuda la economía de Costa Rica más. Hoy en día, tecnología es el primer generador de dinero, siguiendo de turismo. La economía es frágil porque la economía depende mucho en el turismo en Costa Rica. Después de la ataque de la once de Septiembre, muchas personas en el mundo tenían miedo de volar, especialmente los americanos. El camino grande que tomamos desde el aeropuerto al hotel estaba construido muchos anos en el pasado y solamente abrí este año. Después de mucha influencia del presidente Oscar Arias Sánchez, quien gané el premio nobel en 1987. El camino estaba poniendo en las montañas después de romper partes de las montañas. Después de cambiar unos leyes, Sánchez era la primer presidente que estaba presidente mas de un rato. La terminación de construcción significa que las personas de Costa Rica pueden viajar desde San José a Puntarenas en solamente una hora. La expresión nacional es “pura vida” que significa “está bien” o literalmente pure life en ingles.Después de la llegada al hotel, viajamos al parque nacional Manuel Antonio. Al llegar, estábamos separados a dos grupos. Nuestro grupo tenemos suerte al ver fauna incluyendo monos diferentes y otros animales. Nuestra guía usé un telescopio para ver ranas, búhos, y murciélagos. Cuando terminamos, vamos a la playa. El agua era bella y entramos rápidamente. Entendemos que la película “Spy Kids Two” estaba a esta playa.

Samantha Faille Class of 2014, Robert Gingras Class of 2014