Well after broadening my horizons I felt the urge to get back to my roots. Fortunately the family reunion is in June every year; my mom, sister, and myself piled into the car with my grandpa at the wheel and my grandma as the co pilot-our bags of snacks and clothes crammed in the back. Following us close behind was my aunt and uncle with their middle daughter and her son, all excited for a twelve hour journey to Valdosta, Georgia. The ride there and back will forever be some of my fondest memories. We listened to my grandparents favorite artists, heard some stories, got lost, laughed a lot.
The smell of magnolia, stronger than anywhere in Louisiana filled my nose as soon as we steped onto the Georgia dirt road, every tree was coverd in spanish moss where we stayed,on the waters edge it was a breathtaking sight.
While in Valdosta for four days I was able to visit the house my Grandma grew up in and stay at the same place where my Grandpa had a platoon party 57 years ago-the vary same year he met my Grandma.
They told me about how they meet-my Grandma and her twin sister would go into town to the dime shops; My Grandpa and his twin brother stationed in Valdosta would go into town to trail for girls, they met and married shortly after. When I asked my Grandma she said "Well from when we met I knew he was mine."
My Grandpa is a man of few words and emotions but he laughed so hard this trip that he blew milk out of his nose! Hearing all the fun stories from family and sharing meals with them was very special to me.
Being in the happiest place on earth taught me many things but what I grasped so tightly and will hold onto for as long as I live is the Costa Rican way of life. I want to be as happy as a Tico and I plan to make changes in my life to get me there. I will no longer live to work; instead I will work to live. I will spend more time learning about anything and everything I can get my hands on. Finally I will spend more time with my family and friends. Life is about relationships the bonds you make and even the ones you must break. Success should not be measured in figures but in laughter. The memories from this trip will never fade; hopefully the new friendships will last as well. I refuse to lose the Pura Vida way of life, the pure life.
Costa Rica is rated one of the happiest places on earth according to United Kingdoms New Economic Foundation and World Data Base of Happiness. Being on this trip I founds out first hand that these ratings are true! The questions these researchers ask how happy are you on a scale 1-10? Would you like tomorrow to be like today? In a perfect life where would you rate your life? And are other people happier than you? These questions are asked all over the world to determine how happy a country is. But why are these people happy is an unanswered question.
How can an undeveloped low income country be one of the happiest in the world? That question was a burning one for our guest speaker Liza Fendt. Liza is an economist on the history of the economy of Costa Rica. Fendt researched this topic by surveying Costa Rican's with 36 questions according to 15 indicators of three variables.
1. Set range of positive emotion that we inherit aka your temperament
2. Circumstances we face throughout our life
3. Factors under our voluntary control
The results of the surveys showed that Costa Rican's are happy based on several aspects of Costa Rican culture. Costa Rican's tend to be higher educated which gives them an optimistic outlook that they will reach the goals they set leading them to go out into the work force and climb the social ladder. Having a positive work environment and the feeling that you are continuously improving. The main reason behind the happiness of Costa Rican's is their strong family ties and the safety and security of Costa Rica's state.
One of our other speaker talked about her non profit work with a poverty community in Costa Rica. I could feel the passion Mrs. Gayle Nystrom had for the work she does. I will try to sum up what Mrs. Gayle told us but my words will not do her commitment justice. If you ever have the chance to meet this amazing women DO NOT pass it up. http://www.crhf.org/
Poverty as a state or condition can mean that you can wake up with no water to drink, bath, or even wash your clothes. Poverty communities have no steady stream of water, these people have to face choices like weather to buy food to eat or shampoo. Making these sacrifices leads to more sacrifices- if you could not afford shoes because its half a weeks salary it is harder to move up in the employment field. Having these financial problems leads to emotional defeat. Step one of the Fundacio Humanitaria, a non profit organization working with the Nicaraguan immigrants living in the bigest slum in San Jose is to start with the children because it is easy to teach them and lead them. When you bond with the children your building a bond with the mother through educating her children. Step three find a core group of women and invest in their future give them support, therapy, teach them how to be a better mom. These women become role models, and teschers (not official), and business women. By default the men are forced to change their behavior because these women will no longer let them act out. La Carpio is healing, they shut down one of the kindergarten schools due to a population drop. The community never borrows money they will use what ever they have on hand to make a means for themselves, such as taking a chair and renting it for one colons a day making just enough to eat and maybe buy another chair to rent later. The Costa Rican government is now giving land title to this squatter community, La Carpio is becoming a condominium community, and their children are starting to graduate high school and will soon be allowed to vote. The work done by the Fundation Humanitaria is astounding and inspiring.
Today has enlightened me to two sides of Costa Rica-I would love to live in the Happiest place on Earth and volunteer in La Carpio.
This morning we took a leisurely stroll through central market in San Jose. The market only had a few stores open when we arrived around eight, which explains why the streets were covered in people. As we walked back the way we came several more market stores were opening, including three Sodas-meaning a small restaurant. One vendor was selling natural medicines; after telling what ails you, he gives you the plants and the recipes to make teas, ointments, and other home remedies. Stepping back out of the market, I could immediately tell the street crowd was thinning By no means were the streets clear but the activity seemed average for a large city's down town area.
Ms. Patrica was kind enough to buy all of us girls giant sunflowers! We carried them around all day-what a pretty group we made!
We made our way toward congress and some of us were allowed to go on a tour, lucky for me I was one of them. Their government works similar to ours, with three branches, checks and balances, the voting set up, the amount of congress representative each province receives is based on the population in that province as in the States. The major difference is that they are a multiparty government; instead of our two they have eight parties. The president of congress told us that he feels, yes it takes longer to come to agreements with a multiparty government but that the issues are being solved more accurately to what the citizens want.
Back on the bus and off to lunch! My hamburger and fries were too delicioso to not inhale! After lunch we were allowed to buy handmade wood crafts as souvenirs, but the best part was taking a tour through the factory where they made these crafts, the machinery reminded me of being in my metal shop class back home at ULL. All of their crafts are left with the natural color of the wood and unless the piece is too big they do not add any lacquer The natural oils from the wood shine and seal the artwork.
The last tour we went on for the day was to the bubble gum factory! We all dawned our lunch lady garb and entered the sweet scented building. The ingredients for the gum arrive at this factory ready to start the gum making fun!
Step one mix the gum
Step two stretch the gum
Step three cut the long cylinder gum into the shape needed
Step four heat the heck out of the gum
Step five refrigerate hot gum balls
Step six color the gumballs with approved dyes from buyers' country
Step seven package gumballs *add tattoos here if needed*
Step eight give all of us a sample bag of yummies!!!!
Up a winding narrow road there are farms of every kind onions, dairy, and coffee to name a few. After a long twisting and turning journey of roughly 11,260 feet we reached the top of Irazu Volcano and the national park. We walked out to see the crater just in time for a cloud to move in. The temperature dropped dramatically and the wind whipped the mist through the air like millions of tiny needles. Attempting to see the crater was a fail for me I could not see anything for the fact that my eyeballs were frozen!
I shortly retired to the gift shop where they were selling bamboo shirts-if you ever get a chance to buy something made with bamboo fabric do it! Bamboo makes some of the softest natural fiber cloth.
Going down seemed like much shorter journey. Walking through town, the site workers who were getting ready for the opening day of the train let us walk around the site and the tracks! In the market I found meat vendors, produce sellers, small restaurants, pet food stands, a ribbon booth, and even some apparel stores. Being able to taste some different fruits was hands down my favorite part!
~YUMMY~
A lunch of grilled chicken, juicy steak, and whole fishes was served at Casona del Cafetal a stunning quaint place on the side of a lake in the Orosi Valley.
After our fine meal we learned about the coffee farms that give work to Nicaraguans for roughly 5 months out if the year. Fernando then took a handful of us who braved the rain down a beautiful path lined with a variety of flowers to see the lake.
We visited Cartago Costa Rica's original capital as well today the Basilica was breath taking. Over two million people walk from all around Costa Rica to make a pilgrimage once every September. They pray for their countries patron saint to interceded for their ailments or the pain of loved ones. Buying medals in the shape of whatever you need healed is common; people take these medals and pray with them though the year and leave them at the Cathedral on their next pilgrimage. Every day at three o'clock prayers are said, some people will walk on their knees to the alter.
Today was a beautiful day as I suspect everyday is in Costa Rica.
Today I heard from four intelligent people Mrs. Vanessa Gibson, Director of After-Care from CINDE, Mr. Roberto Morales an authority in tourism of Costa Rica, Procomer, a promoter of investments of Costa Rica, and lastly Mr. Alberto Mora, Coordinator of the Sustainable Human Development Department of the State of the Region Program.
While all of the lectures were we extremely informative, my favorite topic of the day was the talk on tourism! I have naively loved the tourist industry for quite a while, when Mr. Morales introduced his topic my eyes lit up!
Ok so tourism effects the whole world directly and indirectly-$2 trillion world wide and 98 million jobs world wide are directly related to the industry of tourism. A lot of jobs you might say! Well just wait for it...there's more! Another $6.3 trillion and 260 million jobs world wide are indirectly related to tourism. To put in perspective rather than numbers, it is short just of the fuel industry, the chemical industry, and the automotive industry.
Lets forget about the rest of the world now-just for a minuet or two-and delve a little into some facts about Costa Rica's tourism. Costa Rica has 59 product lines in 20 main categories which are all under one umbrella...juussst one!
The umbrella of Sustainability! Probably the best umbrella ever! For you who may not know there are a few different types of tourism- leisure, education, business, health, sports, adventure, cultural, and ecological. My favorite is cultural-as I have previously stated I love learning about different cultures, their tradition, customs, activities, and of course their food!
To some up here is the definition of sustainability as defined by Costa Rica
Development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs!
Starting the day was a lengthy bus ride through the rain forest then a cloud forest and more rainforest. Of course I was mesmerized by the different foliage that surrounded us. Much to my excitement Gabby, Fernando, and Dr. Patricia joined me in a rousing game of name that tree. The umbrella ferns were straight out of Jurassic Park (which was partially filmed in Costa Rica) the elephant ears were Dumbo sized, but my favorite tree was like something out of Dr. Seuss, the cecropia tree. In Costa Rica it is called guarumo, this tree is where all the sloths go to hang out.
White water rafting was next on the list. The dream team had so much fun dodging walls of river rounded rocks. We not only rafted this river, but also swam in it and jumped off what I would call a small cliff (me with a little help). The water was briskly cold and wonderfully rejuvenating. It rained on us several times which made the experience surreally beautiful.
After a fabulous lunch of vegetables, steak, tilapia, rice, beans, spaghetti, coffee, and my favorite of the day flan, we trekked through the jungle to a coffee plantation. I found more of my trees while I walked along the never ending, ever swaying suspension bridge where I stopped to take in the view of the majestic river that we conquered. On the way to the plantation, when I wasn't dodging two inch long ants, I was able to witness two young monkeys...well monkeying around.
Learning the process to make chocolate from fruit to candy bar was yummy! Fresh cocoa beans cracked right out of the fruit have a sweet yet tangy flavor; the texture reminded me of a raw dough. I also tasted fresh ground cocoa with a small amount of brown sugar and cinnamon mixed in, this mixture was then made into a steamy frothy chocolate beverage by just adding hot water. I put black pepper into my drink which altered the flavor just enough to cut the richness of the 65% cocoa drink.
The last event of the day was an enlightening lecture on sustainable eco tourism. Instead of staying at a five star resort you might find yourself at a four leaf hotel. This is to say that the hotel is certified and is sustainable enough to gain four leaves. Leaves rank not only hotels but also theme parks, restaurants, and other businesses. Places of business use the leaves as a marketing tool just as stars are commonly used for marketing a business in the States. I like the idea of basing a businesses status on how environmentally conscious they are rather than on how high the thread count is.
Today was chalked full of activities and information and tomorrow should be the same.
