Till we meet again...

It was about, six days ago...

I can still remember how that coffee used to make me smile

And, I know that  if I had my chance that I could make those Ticos dance, and...

Maybe they'd be dancin for a while...

But, the last week made me shiver with every blog that I'd deliver

Bad news on the doorstep - We only had three days left...

I can't remember if I cried when the Cuban smoke went in my eyes...

That cigar touched me deep inside the day... I told Costa Rica good-bye....

So, bye bye Tamarindo good-bye

Drove our tour bus to the airport, but the plane hadn't arrived

The costa rican gang were eaten pizza and fries, dreading

This'll be the day that we fly.

This'll be the day that we fly.

Did you ever stay in San Jose and do you believe in the Costa Rican, way...?

If Pura Vida tells you so

Now, do you know Espanol? Can coffee save your mortal soul? And...

Can you teach me how throw real slow?

Well, I knew Costa Rica was into Eco-Tourism, we learned about the five leaf system...

We didn't have on closed-toed shoes- but, our feet didn't turn black and blue 

I was an amateur, travel photographer with a DSLR and a SD card, but...

I knew going back would be hard the day I told Costa Rica good-bye....

I started singing,  bye bye Tamarindo good-bye

Drove our tour bus to the airport, but the plane hadn't arrived

The costa rican gang were eaten pizza and fries, dreading

This'll be the day that we fly.

This'll be the day that we fly.

Now, for six days we've been on our own and I framed my pic of moss growing on a stone, but...

Life's not how it used to be...

When Fernando used to sing "gimme some of those rice and beans" man his smile really gleamed.

In his voice singing to you and me...

Oh, and while we are all downtown Lizzie got lost then found...

Fernando was concerned - but the precious cargo was returned.

And, while we learned about geothermal in parks, the undressed left their mark...

The congress session was about to start the day I told Costa Rica good-bye...

We were singing,  bye bye Tamarindo good-bye

Drove our tour bus to the airport, but the plane hadn't arrived

The costa rican gang were eaten pizza and fries, dreading

This'll be the day that we fly.

This'll be the day that we fly.

Hurry skurry in a tubing furry - kept trapping Laura making her worry 

Three miles long, went by so fast.

Man that tubing kicked my ass

Time to zip line quickly passed swinging over the forest was a blast.

Now, the horse back riding was mine for gold while that waterfall was extremely cold.

We all gave it up to chance, oh, but who cares we took the stance

Cause the guys took a mighty leap - Austin refused to come into the deep

Did the hot spring put you to sleep the day  I told Costa Rica good-bye...

We started singing,  bye bye Tamarindo good-bye

Drove our tour bus to the airport, but the plane hadn't arrived

The costa rican gang were eaten pizza and fries, dreading

This'll be the day that we fly.

This'll be the day that we fly.

And, there we were, all in one place - at the beach surfing waves 

With more caipirinhas in our hands

So, come on, Austin be nimble, Matt be quick - Jacob flash that camera smooth and swift, 'cause...

Pictures are a tourists only friend....

And, as I danced with them on the stage, Fernando and Danielle won first place.

No casino in that hotel could break Greg's losing spell

And as the discotica boomed into the night to engage in cultural rite, I saw...

Kelly laughing with delight the day I told Costa Rica good-bye...

She was singing,  bye bye Tamarindo good-bye

Drove our tour bus to the airport, but the plane hadn't arrived

The costa rican gang were eaten pizza and fries, dreading

This'll be the day that we fly.

This'll be the day that we fly.

I met a guy who walked the shore, and I asked him he'd been here before

He was a retired Canadian aye

He told me about lulu's bar but that'd I have to travel too far 

but… Matt and me tried anyway

And, on la playa the children played, the lovers kissed, and the puppies laid, 

but… no seashells as a token - found a coconut and broke it.

The three surfers I admire most Stephan, Matt, and Lizzie should boast, 

they… caught the last wave to the coast the day we told Costa Rica good-bye...

And, they were singing, bye bye Tamarindo good-bye

Drove our tour bus to the airport, but the plane hadn't arrived

The costa rican gang were eaten pizza and fries, dreading

This'll be the day that we fly.

This'll be the day that we fly.

They were singing, bye bye Tamarindo good-bye

Drove our tour bus to the airport, but the plane hadn't arrived

The costa rican gang were eaten pizza and fries, dreading

This'll be the day that we fly…

Don McLean- American Pie

No Internet? How do I function?!

Now this is the story all about how
My life got flipped, turned upside down
And I'd like to take a minute just sit in the sand. 
I'll tell you how I became the prince of a town called Tamarindo! 

In... San Jose where I was not born nor raised, in the Tryp Hotel is where I spent most of my days. Chilling out, eating, writing my blogs, taking some guided tours outside of school. When a couple IT guys who were up to no good, started blocking our IP's in the lecture room.  We missed one little blog, and Lanier got scared she said, "We're taking you too Barcelo Langosta they have Internet there"! 

We whistled for our tour bus and when it got near it almost hit a pedestrian so we said we got to get the heck out of here. If anything we thought the bus driver was rare but we thought nah forgot it yo homes to tamarindo!

We pulled up to the hotel about one or two and I yelled to the tour bus "Mi amigo Pura Vida! Looked at our paradise, We were finally here.. to lay on my hammock and inhale the fresh air. 

Well that took me about an hour. Well worth it I think. Today I woke up and took a shower, I have diagnosed my shower/shower head with Multi-personality disorder. Now I am no doctor but I did stay at the Tryp last night. After this scolding lava/arctic cold shower, I ate a delicious breakfast. Once finished we all backpacked to the WiFi waste-land for our lectures.  We had five lectures lined up to talk to us about business, economy, societal problems, culture, and the Afro-descendant  history of Costa Rica. 

During our business lecture, we discussed the ins and outs of an internet business. If you want a successful business the key factors are to have NO INVENTORY and NO ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE. That way you don't have to worry about merchandise walking away and customers not wanting to pay. When creating a business make sure you make it as simple as possible, and always look to the future not what is currently being done. 

With our economic lecture, we learned the reasons why Costa Rica is the happiest place on earth. A study was done and found that with happiness comes from more education, positive work environment, family, country's state, and with improvements overtime.  Now with our Societal Problems lecture, came and spoke with us about the problem in the area called La Carpio. This area is mainly made up of Nicaraguan immigrants living in Costa Rica, which is known as the biggest slum in the city. We learned about Non-Profit called Fundacion Humanitaria and the societal problems in the area and how this foundation is trying to turn it all around.

Our last two lectures were about the culture and history of Costa Rica. They were both very interesting, and we learned alot from them. After our speaches we packed up all our luggage for the long trek to the all inclusive beach resort! 

Bocaj to save the day!

Today was a very packed day, and to think it is still not over. To start we got all dressed up (well some of us) and went to visit the Central market. I decided to venture off for two seconds and turned around then everyone was gone! I found them very quickly but Lizzie was a different story. We all decided to go into the McDonald's (Confirmed Fernando's love) to use the restroom, and once everyone was finished we left. Well we thought everyone was finished, we got about 2 miles away then realized we lost Elizabeth, she handled it very well, I think Fernando was freaking out more then she was. He bought her a pastry to calm his nerves. 

Once we found Lizzie it was time to go to the Congress of Costa Rica, when we arrived they had to turn away some of us because we were not dressed properly. We were actually able to meet a potential president of Costa Rica in the future, he spoke with us about his party CAP and how they cooperate with the other parties. In Costa Rica at the moment they have a eight party political system. 

When we finished at the Congress, we went to lunch and took a tour of a souvenir shop/souvenir factory. The factory was really neat, we were able to see the employees at work and saw a laser engraving machine. After the souvenir factory we ventured to a bubblegum factory! All my childhood dreams/memories came true in a matter of seconds. We were able to watch the production from raw to finished product, at the end of our tour we actually received a free bag of what they produced. 

Finally at the end of our day, we received a lecture on medical tourism in Costa Rica. We compared the cost of living between the US and Costa Rica and explained how they are able to offer the same dental care and better service for almost half of the cost! Actually most insurance companies now in the US if asked will pay for you to do a Costa Rica medical visit with no deductible and they are happy to do it. How? Why? Because it all comes down to the Cost of living, in Costa Rica everyone involved in operation is actually doing the same job that someone in the US would but they are being payed less. Because the cost of living is less in Costa Rica the cost of doing business is also less.

To infinity and beyond.

   

A day in the life of Bocaj Sadanreb...

Today was the same as any other Tuesday in my life... I woke up to a beautiful view of the mountains, ate pineapple/rice and beans for breakfast, traveled to the clouds, and survived a car sickness epidemic... Yep just like any other Tuesday. Welp... almost any other Tuesday, I took a photo of a train. I have done this several times on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays... Just never a Tuesday. Once on a Wednesday I took one of a trolley, it was too close for comfort.

It was a beautiful day outside, why not go to a volcano crater? In theory this sounds like a great idea or does it? I believe there was something fishy going on, my proof you ask? I have none, but If you ask me, I don't think they have a volcano crater! I think Fernando owns the gift shop at the top of the hill!

After inhaling clouds, we trekked back down the car sick mountain to go to the central market in-downtown San Jose. It was the worst of times, it was the best of times... The epidemic starting to show signs of spreading,  it seemed to be by contact at first, but now I fear it has gone airborne. Once inside the market we experienced many different smells, sights, and tastes. Fernando showed us a bunch of different local fruits, and let us try them. Then we all broke up into to small groups and went to explore, I was lucky enough to go shoe shopping! 

Dog Food!

Lunchtime! I got steak, because I mean why wouldn't you? It was delicious! After the steak we got some fresh coffee, which was... you guessed it delicious! Danielle's signs are starting to grow stronger, she is pal, weak, and dizzy. I don't know how much longer she has till... Well... You know... She throws up. We learned about how coffee is           harvested, whom harvests most of it, and how much they would make. 

On the road again... I could have waited to be on the road again. Tried sleeping on the bus, but was too afraid of letting my guard down to the chance of the sickness being airborne. Danielle is already a goner and I am the only guardian my pups have. We dredged our way back through the city to the basilica church, we were able to walk around durning the service and take some photos and look around. We also got to purchase some of the holy water from the natural spring. Once finished, we headed back to the hotel to rest a little before the CDC quarantines us all... 

Update: I have unconfirmed sources telling me the epidemic has gotten much worse. If anyone is reading this its probably too latexfcgkgtfkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

¿¡No mas Azul margaritas!? ¿Yo dico America?

Today we blew the roof off of Tryp, we were on the third floor getting some knowledge. We had four guest speakers; CINDE, Sustainable tourism, Procomer, and Estado de la Region. Two of the speakers we had (CINDE, PROCOMER) actually assist businesses with certain situations, their business is to either help foreign companies come into Costa Rican markets or help locals export to foreign lands; also doing any research if necessary for entry into a certain market. The other two speakers (Sustainable Tourism, and Estado de la Region) came to talk to us about tourism and how each country differs; with some statistics and information. 

CINDE, the Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency is a company here in Costa Rica that helps promote Costa Rica to businesses, they have a attracted many companies here one in-particular is Intel. When a company looks to investment in Costa Rica, CINDE does everything they have to in order to get the boots on the ground moving some examples are: Locations, meetings, lawyers and so much more. They are really like a middle man. With making Costa Rica more attractive to companies such as Intel this helps improve the employment rate which could spiral off into better quality of living and etc...

PROCOMER, is a foreign trade corporation. This meaning they do a-lot of promotion and marketing for Costa Rican brands. The types of services they provide are making sure they meet all countries regulations on branding and promoting and also help with importing and exporting. It was mentioned that a-lot of companies even though they are all different somewhat work as one to cut down prices. Doing this helps them cut the costs, it can also help them reach certain goals they would have never thought possible due to not having a-lot of funds, and be able to go into more markets because they have a bigger backing.

The presentation on sustainable Tourism and how today it is a main part of the Economy in Costa Rica. Over  the years Costa Rica has become a more popular destination for people in other countries. One of the biggest tourists population comes from the Untied States. Costa Rica has many things such as beaches, rain-forests, medical tourism, and much more for tourists to keep themselves entertained while in the country. 

   Estado de la Region, talked about the central america countries and each one differs in many different ways from education, safety, tourism, economy, and governments. Some of the countries are hold the others back as a group due to unstable conditions or just poor conditions in general. Sometimes when the government can not provide the public with certain amenities  then the drug lords actually try to give them what they need. This can be a good thing, but nothing in life is free; there is always a cost down the line. This was the last lecture we received, they were all very informative and some more interesting then others. After all that was said and done my favorite one was on Procomer, I felt as if Mr. Beer really knew how to bring in the party.

After our lectures were done we all decided to eat a very low-key Non-WiFi having Mexican restaurant. I actually liked this place and Oscar our ambassador to food/drinks was great. He was very understanding and helpful, because I know damn well we probably were stressing him out. We all had a good time with our  cheap cervezas and Azul lacking Margaritas, and if you ask me the tacos even though they were original and delicious were kind of tiny... I felt like Jacob the Goliath. 

After too many Cervezas, Amazing blogger Bocaj took over from here...

Now let me get to the real fun, I am here with Austin dead shot Hebert and Kevin our non local amigo, who is studying to be a doctor if you want to know. Kevin is a very interesting silent individual. When he didn't have anything to say, he had said to much. 

At this point in the blog me and Austin aren't speaking either English nor Spanish. Frankly I don't know why Kevin has put up with us this long, maybe it's the free Cervazas or the mild attraction to Austin. I don't know, it's been a long night.

Señor no mas queso, lo siento...

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip, That started from this rocky port, aboard this tiny craft. The mate was a mighty raftin' man, the Kayaker brave and sure. Six passengers set sail that day for a three hour tour. A three hour tour.

The weather started getting wet, the tiny craft was tossed. If not for the courage of the fearless crew, then Danielle would've been lost. Then Danielle would've been lost...

Welp, tried writing my blog last night and fell asleep on my computer... Read what I wrote this morning and I deemed it unacceptable so I am rewriting it. No one tell Mrs. Lanier. 

Ok... here lets try this again. I woke up in the morning feeling like P-Diddy, got some food in my system now lets go Raft this city! 

 

 

        We called ourselves the Dream Team, When we started this rafting experience we were just six strangers that had no idea what we were getting into, but we found out pretty quickly that if we didn't work together as as the Dream Team the minnow would be lost. In front was our fearsome duo, Austin the ragin Raftin Hebert and Matt the bi-lingual adventurer. In the middle was myself with my swift strong strokes and lightening fast camera actions and beside me was my partner in crime Danielle courage the cowardly Lites. Pulling up the rear was Kailey just around the river-bend Hubbard and Danielle ninja grip Touchard.

The raft was a rocking and a rolling, and the rain just wouldn't give us break. We were being beat on all sides and hope was almost lost. If it wasn't for Matts encouraging speech we would have been fish bait, "Feel the Rhythm! Feel the Rhyme! Get on up its Rafting Time!". At that moment, it was as if time stood still. We all look at each other and knew... Dream Team! ASSEMBLE!

We kicked that rivers butt.

When we arrived back to base camp, we had this delicious new dish that I had never had before. Rice and beans?! this mysterious concoction was as if created by the gods. Once we finished eating we took a detour off into the butterfly garden, we probably should have told someone where we were going...

Fast-Forward, we arrived to a nature reserve and trekked through. Once we got to the end of our journey we received a lesson on how to make chocolate from start to end. It was the most delicious chocolate that has ever touched the sacred pallet of Jacob. Once he finished the process we received some coco beans to use a bartering tool for postcards, but I wasn't falling for that scam. He was asking for 10 beans / 1 postcard and I know damn well and good the current price is 8.5 beans/1 postcard. He may have pulled a fast one on Kelly, but I have a bean/postcard dealer in Lafayette.

 

We walked back to the headquarters of the nature reserve and received a lecture on Eco-Tourism. The talk focused around the different types of certifications businesses/residents could get if they followed certain standards laid out by various different organizations aimed at protecting wildlife, and the impact we have on nature.

On our trip back to tryp we were all exhausted from the days adventures and awaiting the much anticipated chowdown... 

Ahhhh Crep! What do you mean there is no more queso y crepas! What kind of pizzeria is this!

Refuel?! They didn't get it right the first time?!

 

My day started at 2:30am... Had to wake up early because it was recommended by Delta to arrive at the airport three hours early, for you to be checked in and ready to go before your international flight.

Now what Delta recommends is not necessarily what they believe in, I found out. We arrived at the airport at 3:00am because out flight was for 6:00am, they don't open till 4:30am.

 

So fast forward, on the plane from New Orleans to ATL taxiing to runway, Pilot, "Sorry folks we are going to have to turn back around to refuel"... One hour later...7:00am, "Prepare for takeoff".

 

Made it to ATL with only minutes to spare. Poor Danielle had to keep up with me, thought we were going to miss our flight.

Now, I should probably stop complaining. We got on the bus and met, Fernando. Fernando is a very knowledgeable, energetic, and proud tour guide. He talked to us about everything you really could within a twenty minute bus ride. I actually think Fernando loves Mc Donald's, but its a working theory... We will come back to that later.

 

On the bus ride to the hotel I saw many things, the Intel manufacturing plant, many fast food restaurants, SHADED COFFEE!, but the thing I really noticed was the street art; it was much more in-depth then back home. Arriving at the hotel was fun, Fernando told us that if we step over the yellow line we could experience the free healthcare (get hit by a car). After getting settled in the hotel, with our beautiful mountain view, we took a walk to get lunch.

 

The city was booming with activity, Zumba competitions, angry-bird vendors, music, and horny cars. It was a nice walk around, to get the feel of the city. I don't know about anyone else but I like to be aware of my surroundings. Once we arrived back to the hotel we had our orientation, and announced ourselves to everyone with a fun fact, did you know Austin is a Gemini? I didn't.

 

So as I finish up this post, I will let you know I am bringing my camera tomorrow so expect pictures. Now let me go, I need a drink.

1 hour 17mins...

That's right. It took me one hour and seventeen minutes to come up with the name "Cup of Rica"... I'm I proud of myself? No. Well... Kind of.

Let us begin... its 8:30 at night on Thursday and I have been procrastinating about writing this blog about my trip to Costa Rica. I feel like I haven't even started packing, but I mean come on... I am a guy. You grab an arm full of clothes out of one the many stacks in your room and throw it in a suitcase. Worry about the other stuff later.

I have been to Costa Rica once... it was in high school. It was a very interesting trip to say the least, I experienced my first and second run in with a glass door there. I also had my first lesson in the dance of the Tango (la camisa negra) at a very interesting club, it was one of those nights where you kiss the floor of your hotel when you finally arrive back safe. Made my first and last mistake of telling someone that I was from "America"... and had the best fried chicken of my life off a street vendor, it was a pollo muy fresco. 

My expectations for this trip? PINEAPPLE, Take a lot of photos!, make sure to save said photos (don't have the best of luck with hard-drives), and blend in with the culture. I am excited to visit so many different businesses too, and to learn how they were able to switch to renewable resources. See the volcanoes, visit the reservations, see the beaches, and maybe go to my first spa. I am just really glad I decided to join this class, you never know I might not pay the exit tax.