Toyota Costa Rica Trip . . . . Reflection

Well, I have been home for almost a month now. . . and I sure do miss it! Each and every visit makes me want to learn more and more about the place and its people! But more than that, it is an interesting contrast. . . they have so many wonderful resources and much appears to be done to try to recapture the rainforests and habitats for the wildlife and preserve the plant life. Yet the brown issues of waste and water continue to be a real issue that really needs to be addressed. The stark contrast of driving through San Jose and the surrounding areas is incredible. . .and sad!

Mar 5-7--Cano Negro--Caiman & Birds & Planting Trees & The End

Another early morning so we could make a lengthy bus trip to somewhere new! Today we went almost to Nicaragua---about 12 km away!

The neatest thing we saw on the way was at the Iguana House (not its official name . . . but what I think of it as). Years ago, a man set up a place as a refuge for iguanas (they have been harvested for food and their skin—think boots, purses). . . .and now there are hundreds there. As the bus was about eye level with the top of several trees by this place, there must have been 50 iguanas in that tree. . .of every age!! There was at least one sitting on every branch it seemed!! It was amazing!!

After a while we reached our destination . . the Cano Negro Wildlife Refuge! Another sanctuary for plant and animal life! One of the true strengths of Costa Rica is the amount of land set aside for preservation of its biodiversity!! This is a wetlands area (although since it is the dryer season, it was not as wet as it will be this summer!) so we took a ride up the river to watch for wildlife.

For the most part we saw two different things. . . birds and caiman! We saw LOTS of kinds of birds, some found only in that area. . . lots of cormorants, iningas (hmm… need to look up how to spell that. . . but also known as snake birds), various types of herons and egrets and kingfishers! And a variety of other birds as well. And we saw caiman. . .really large caiman (which are a smaller relative of the crocodile) . . .and lots and lots of them. We even saw one catch a meal of a baby. . . bird of some kind . . I forget which one it was!

The other memorable thing about this place was . . .it was hot!! This was by far the hottest day/location that we had been and although we were in a covered boat, I actually got a little sun today. . .the last real day of activity!

After the boat ride we ate lunch and then did a service project. We met up with some elementary children from a school here and Toyota donated 40 trees which our group and the children planted on the river bank to help prevent erosion. This was a really neat project and I am not sure who had more fun. . .the teachers or the kids! Once the tree planting was finished, a rock (or more like mud) skipping contest ensued between some of the kids and the teachers! A lot of fun! And just goes to show. . . kids are kids everywhere! A hot, but rewarding day!!

March 6—Toyota again

Just like we began at Toyota, we ended at Toyota. . . but a distributorship/service center in Costa Rica. It was really neat to hear how his company had grown and evolved and how they had developed a mission and objectives to guide their work! And not only did they create them, each employee is expected to carry them on a little card and to follow them in their job every day! Another neat thing was that all employees (including the president) wear a uniform. . . the same uniform . . . so they are all part of the team and they all have a common mission and if you don’t know them personally, you don’t know the president from the guy who is going to fix your tires! Overall, a pretty cool concept, I believe! And the fact that they actually work to fulfill their mission and objectives was pretty unique!

We did some final discussion and processing of our time in Costa Rica, had dinner, and off to the hotel.

Travel started early the next day for some and was long and drawn out for many due to weather and plane delays! But I think everyone made it home eventually with more than a suitcase of experiences, memories, ideas and newfound knowledge! I know I did!! I hope you have enjoyed reading about some of my experiences and viewing some of my pictures a fraction of how much I enjoyed it. I will try to finish posting pics as soon as possible.

PURA VIDA!!! (pure life! The Costa Rican motto!)

Mar 4---Volcan Arenal

Well, yesterday was an amazing day! How can we top that??? Read on and you shall see if we can!!

Today we headed for Hotel Kioro at the base of Volcan Arenal (Arenal volcano), one of the most active volcanoes in Costa Rica (they have more that are active—but this one still has nearly constant activity!) since 1968 when it had a MAJOR eruption that destroyed an entire town.

The volcano is very interesting because one side is still fairly lush with lots of plant life. However, the other side is a mountain of ash and lava. And those who took the volcano hike said it was amazing how it went from being lava to being forest rather suddenly!

Our hotel was incredible and had a fantastic view of the volcano. Even though the top was covered in clouds when we got there, it was still beautiful. And the clouds came and went during the two days that we were there so that we could see the entire thing. . . including the smoke and gases that were being emitted constantly! Very cool! The view from everywhere where in the place was awesome! From the restaurant. .excellent! From the rooms. . .outstanding! There wasn’t a bad view in the place, I don’t think!! They all faced the volcano!

We had a brief talk by a volcanologist about the volcanoes of Costa Rica and Arenal in particular. The hotel we were staying at is actually in the red zone, which means in the case of a major eruption we could have been archeological artifacts one day!!  But, luck was with us and it didn’t do anything surprising!

During the afternoon we had three choices of activities—a volcano hike, a hanging bridges hike, and the canopy tour---aka zip lining!!! Although they all sounded very interesting, I went for the thrill of zip lining (and after hanging bridges at La Selva and Tirimbina I was glad I hadn’t done that one—although they did get to see howler monkeys—which I had not seen!!). The zip lines were great although I really prefer the ones I have done before over this particular company. We just went back and forth over the canyon and are a HUGE rush!!! But, it was still good and it is always fun to be with people who have never done it before and see the thrill that they get!!

Then it was back to the hotel to enjoy the comforts. After such a busy week, it was definitely time for some relaxation! And one of the benefits of being near (or maybe on) a volcano, is that they produce heat. . .which in turn produces natural hot springs!!! The hotel had just recently built its own hot spring pools so we got to spend a little time soothing our tired and sore muscles in the natural thermal hot springs. Along with the beautiful landscaping, it was truly like being in paradise!

The only downside is that Arenal stayed clouded over much of the evening. It eventually cleared but no one saw any lava glowing until around 4 when one guy caught it! Lucky him!!

Toyota Costa Rica Trip--March 3--Snake Day

Can you find the hidden object???

What a day, what a day!!! Awesome, awesome!! So much to see and do! Gotta love it!! We are now at Tirimbina Wildlife Reserve. This reserve was actually started by a man from Wisconsin quite a long time ago. What foresight for someone from the states!! This is a quite large wildlife reserve with a small cacao (think chocolate) plantation within it.

Today started with one of my favorite things. . . . hiking in the rainforest! You just never know what you will see . . . and we have been fortunate to see a lot so far (many of the things on my mental list—toucans, monkeys, sloth, frogs). . .. but I have been wondering when we were going to see some snakes. . . . and today was the day!!!

As we went on our hike today we started snake day with seeing (barely) the hog-nosed pit viper! This made me a little happier, but it was in a den and all we could see was a small part of its back (and, yes, it is poisonous) as it was digesting food! The guide said that the previous day it had been lying on the path and you could actually see the bulge where it had eaten something! So, I was still hoping for more! We continued on our way and saw more bullet ants (black, about 1-1/2 inches long with a BAD bite—fortunately I didn’t find that out personally!!). They are some SCARY looking ants!

We continued on our way . . . . saw more insects, plants, a REALLY big tree on our way to the chocolate tour. At the chocolate tour we learned the history of chocolate (it was drunk for a LONG time before it became candy!) and saw the cacao tree that it came from and a demo of how it is made! It starts in a big pod (you can see these in the pictures) that grow directly on the tree (purple pods have a fungus. . . .bad, bad, bad!!).

The process goes something like this: You crack the pod and find the seeds inside with a white gooey stuff on them (again, more pics of this) which actually tastes pretty good—pretty sweet. The seeds are removed from the gooey stuff and left to ferment. . . yep, ferment! Sounds yummy, right??? When it gets fermented just right it is dried, then ground, and tastes pretty bitter. Then hot water can be added and mixed to dissolve the powder and make cocoa or less water, add some sugar. . and voila, you have chocolate candy! Good chocolate should have over 70% cacao (Hersheys and Nestle do not qualify!!)! Our guide also happens to be a chocolatier (he has trained to make specialty chocolates and is just beginning to sell to the public—good stuff!) so he was very excited about this part of our trip!

Although cacao has long been a product of Costa Rica, it is not really well suited for its humid climate. As a result a very bad fungus has attacked the cacao plantations and many are struggling or even no longer functioning! Many of the cacao pods that we saw had this fungus. After the demonstration (and tasting  at all phases of this process), we got to go see the trees. . . and along came snake #2! Well, actually it was just sitting on the side of the tree. . . .an eyelash viper (yep, this one is poisonous, too!!). Very green and with incredible camouflage. I had to really look to find it! Cool, cool, cool! But more to come!

After this we quickly hiked back for lunch and then had a presentation about the indigenous tribes of Costa Rica, quickly looked through a museum, heard from a Maleku (one of the indigenous tribes) father and daughter, and then participated in a couple of their crafts! First we carved a gourd with this small razorblade type tool. . . .this is NOT an easy task. . .especially for someone as non-artistic as me! The woman was incredible! She was outlining hummingbird designs for some folks in minutes! I did mine all by myself and considered it pretty good for me! It surely gave me a much better appreciation for their art work!

Then we were given a small piece of burlap (bookmark size) to decorate using naturally dyes as paint. . .. and we got to use our fingers!!! How cool is that!! However, we only had yellow, red, brown/black, and olive green to work with! This time my lack of artistic abilities was really evident and this did not turn out so well!

We also learned some things about their culture which were rather interesting. If a man wanted to marry someone, he asked his father to ask the girls’ father and offered a gift of sorts and the deal was made. However, the father of the girl really couldn’t say no! So, the women really had NO say in the matter whatsoever. However, he did say that later if they decided to part ways, it was no big deal! Interesting, indeed!

Well, if this isn’t enough of a full day. . . . I decided to join some of colleagues on an optional night hike! This was an INCREDIBLE experience! We started off really lucky! The first thing we really saw was a kinkachu (I really need to check the spelling of this and hopefully I will remember before I post it. . .). This is an incredibly cute little critter that kind of looks like a cross between a monkey and a teddy bear! Adorable it was!!! And we got to see it twice (and the 2nd time we saw 2) and up fairly close as it was on the railing of the hanging bridge. Oh yeah, speaking of hanging bridge, we went over some really long, somewhat scary hanging bridges (no more than 5 at a time please, and please stay 5-6 feet apart. . . sounds so encouraging, doesn’t it!!).

On we went looking at various spiders (yuk---one dropped down between me and another woman. I had to push her out of the way so it wouldn’t land on either of us! Ooohhh.) and other insects and a number of little frogs called dink frogs (yes, that is there name!). And we saw a vine snake on a log and watched for a while. We then came across a tarantula. . .. however, before I got to it, it had went back in its hole! But, having the wonderful guide that we did, he got a stick and tricked the big guy into coming back out of his hole so we could get a good luck at him! Oh my, , , he was huge, brown, hairy!!!!! It was incredible watching the guide lure him out! Oh, could this get any better. . . .

Yep, it could! Our guide found another frog to show us.. . right near a river. . . and then we saw a huge freshwater crab. . .pretty neat. . .and then just as we were ready to move on, I spotted something slithering in the water. . .. yep, another snake!!! It was a 4-5 feet long Feur de Lance. . .considered one of the most aggressive poisonous snakes in Costa Rica. Fortunately we were on a bridge and it was in the water and it swam right up to us and under our bridge. . . . it was definitely a snake day! Then as we continued on our way we saw another smaller one (the same) on the side of our path but he slithered off into the forest and didn’t bother us at all! 5 snakes in one day!! How incredible! Another thing off my list!

On our way out we had another kinkachu sighting (this time on the bridge) and we saw a porcupine up in the tree! Even the guides were impressed with our luck that night!

What a day!! I do LOVE this place!!!

March 2--Leaf Cutter Ants & a 3-Toed Sloth!!!

Hola! Como estas? Today we got to pretend to be a scientist at La Selva Biological Station! This is one of the premier field research stations in the world and scientists and students from all over the world come here to conduct various kinds of research! The reserve is very large and varies in elevation to 100- 3000 ft. (I think it was) above sea level, thus creating many different microclimates for plants and animals (do I sound all scientific there???).

We were researching three different things—leaf cutter ants, birds, and ferns. The bird group went to certain areas of the reserve to count birds. Their guide also called many birds (amazing!!!) and if the bird responded, they could count it as they knew that it was in that area. The fern group had to take a plot of land and identify how many different species of ferns they could find . .. .and they now never want to see a fern again! (I was glad I wasn’t in that group).

I was in the group that studied leaf-cutter ants---which are some pretty amazing creatures! These ants cut leaves into pieces (or pick up already cut leaves or other objects) and carry them back to their HUGE ant hill. You will see long lines of these ants carrying leaves and objects that are more than twice their size. We had to conduct several different experiments. We put a rock in their path to see how long (or if they even could) make a path to get around it, see if they would take bread or meat in addition to the leaves, see what would happen if we moved an ant from one colony to another, measured how many went in and out in a certain amount of time, measured the amount of time it took them to go a certain distance, and how long it took them to drop off their leaf in the oolony and return. It was interesting to see the results. We gathered this data for leaf cutters colonies in the primary rain forest and in the open area to compare the results.

All that was fun and interesting, but the highlight of this day was seeing a 3-toed sloth with a baby!!!! They are amazing animals. They just look like a blob n the tree mostly but occasionally it would move it’s arm to scratch its’ backside and then you could really see its paw and arm very distinctively! In our hikes that day we also saw an iguana sitting in a tree, a big, very cool looking owl, more blue jeans frogs, a bright red beetle, a lot of really colorful lizards, and a number of birds and insects (of course!).

Overall, another pretty good day!

March 1---EARTH University

Another awesome day! They seem to get better and better! The day started early with a morning bird watching trip that ended up being more of a monkey watching trip!! Which is WAY cool!! This time we saw white-faced capuchins. . . and again it was a pretty large troop so we watched them for about 15 minutes as they traveled through the treetops! They are really fun to watch!!

The next neatest thing we saw was 2 toucans (you know. . .the Fruit Loops bird ) that were actually sharing food! It was really neat to see them passing whatever they had to each other! And we also saw a gray parrot just perched in a tree for a long time. And we kind of saw a macaw flying away but I just got a glimpse of it, unfortunately! It would be really neat to see one in the wild!! We saw a number of other small birds---lots of types of tanagers and grackles.

After breakfast we toured some of EARTH university and heard a little about some of the projects being done there. We visited their pig area (and the piglets were soooo cute!) where they were trying to determine if a larger, natural pen resulted in happier (and heavier) pigs vs. a small concrete bottomed pen. We also sow how they are treating and recycling the waste from the pigs. And we also heard a little about the work being done with buffalo.

In addition to the farm, we also visited the banana plantation and learned a lot about them. For one, they are a plant (not a tree) and you can easily chop one down with a sharp machete (as the plantation manager demonstrated---oh my, that guy knew how to use a machete!!!). Look for pictures of this over the next couple of days!! But it was really interesting to see how the bananas grow and are processed. I was amazed that a plant only takes a year to grow and produce and how it grows new shoots to become the next banana plant. It was pretty amazing!

One of the really neat things that they do at EARTH is recycle nearly everything and work hard to be eco-friendly and make the best use of all their resources! After they transport the bananas from the plantation to the packing area on this really cool tram thing (again—you will see pictures in a couple of days, I hope), they take the stems and recycle them! Although we didn’t get to see this in action, we got to see the plant and processing area for making banana paper from the stems. They use the banana stalks combined with recycled paper from the university and the area to make the paper.

It is amazing how they can recycle so many different things! This place was really incredible. Much of the food came from the University itself. I only wish we could have learned more about the different research projects!

Toyota Costa Rica Trip--Feb 29. . . .Spider Monkeys!!!

This afternoon was the best yet!!! After the schools we had returned ot EARTH university for lunch! We had some free times so a few of us rented bikes (no cars are allowed on campus (even for students) and were checking out the place. We found the banana packing plant and watched the cool tram used for transporting the bananas from the plantation. We also wandered through the botanical garden with all of the medicinal plants. It was really neat to see as they were all labeled with what maladies they were used to treat in addition to their name!

Eventually we ran into this guy working on his project who was able to give us information about getting to the primary rainforest. . .. and then I think he thought we were going to get lost and he was going to feel guilty because just as we were stopping at the security place to get the directions (as he instructed us), he rode up on his bike and offered to show us the way! People here are SO friendly (people are always waving at the bus when we go by!)!!

So, anyway, we biked about 5 km through the banana plantation and finally found our destination—the primary rainforest and began our hike! It was sooooo awesome! Since their were only three of us, it was incredibly peaceful and beautiful! Initially we just enjoyed the ambience and the soothing rainforest noises! Shortly after I mentioned that I had yet to see a poison dart frog this trip and wondering if it was too dry right now (this is their less rainy season). . . .moments later we saw a “blue jeans frog”—a red frog with blue legs.

From then on we saw various things! We saw bullet ants that are over an inch long—with a major league painful bite was one thing. We saw a couple of spider monkeys and we heard and saw something on the ground moving but we could never see it well enough to identify it! Then, just as we were reading to leave, we saw a WHOLE TROOP of spider monkeys pass right over us! It was incredible!!!! Several of them were carrying babies on their backs as they swung through the trees! It was really neat to watch them! They made some incredible leaps from a higher branch down to this one palm and it was sooo funny! We just stood there in awe and laughed at them! We found out when we got back that it is very unusual to see a large group of spider monkeys as they are not as common so we felt REALLY lucky!!

But then we were afraid we were going to be late for dinner so we biked like crazy people (well, for me it was like a tired person who isn’t in that great of shape---but it was not the leisurely pace we took going in!) the 5 kilometers back to our rooms! An awesome, awesome day!!!

Feb 29---The Schools

Today was an INCREDIBLE day!! I do love this place!!!

We spent the morning visiting schools! And what a difference there is. . . not so much in the students. . . but in the schools themselves. First we went to a high school and spent some time visiting classrooms. Then they had a lunch/breakfast break where we got to mingle and speak with the students.

The students all wear the same uniforms—throughout the country!!! That way if a child moves to a different school they can still wear the same clothing. It also makes it easy to distinguish which school a child goes to—primary or secondary. Secondary students go five years (our equivalent to grades 7-11). Although Costa Rica has a 93% literacy rate and compulsory education, many students drop out before the end of 11th grade.

The classes I observed seemed a little unruly. Students were talking and making jokes, cell phones were visible on many desks and others said they actually saw students using them in class. Some students also had mp3 players and some that we talked to had Internet at home. We saw a couple of boys playing a guitar during the break . . . and we were pleasantly surprised to identify the music as an old song called “Dust in the Wind” by Kansas.

Resources were incredibly limited. Classrooms were very bare. Most had OLD green chalkboards, a few had whiteboards. I saw one math class using a digital projector with a laptop but there were not computers in any other room!! I later visited the computer lab and found out that they actually had 3 projectors that teachers could use, a laptop cart with around 20 laptops, and one lab equipped with a laptop, SMARTboard, and Internet access. I did see a number of students with flash drives in the computer lab. Students had no textbooks—just a notebook for notes. If they wanted textbooks, students had to purchase their own. And teachers and students had to pay for any copies that they wanted to make using the copier.

During our closing presentation with the principal, we were treated to a 15 minute concert by the guitar players! This was really neat! One student had taught the others during their lunch time.

Visiting the elementary school was a whole different experience----I felt like I was famous!! The school gathered all of their children and sang their national song for us and we sang the national anthem and did the pledge in return. It was pretty neat! Then we met with the principal for a question and answer session that was very interesting! They have even LESS technology than the high school. They only have ONE computer and that is in the principal’s office . . .and I am not even sure that it had Internet access! We visited classrooms and then it was recess time. But instead of playing, the children brought us their notebooks to sign autographs!!! I don’t believe I have written my name so many times in one day in my life!!! It was sssoooo sweet! A few also liked collecting business cards!!

That evening we had dinner with some of the teachers from the schools so that we could continue to discuss education. We also saw a traditional dance where a small band plays and several guys dress in gigantic costumes (like 8 ft tall!) and dance around! It was very funny! I don’t know how they do it---holding those costumes on and dancing around would take real talent!

Toyota Costa Rica Trip--Feb 28, Heading Out--Continued

When we finished our tour at Guayabo, we loaded up the bus and headed for The Hacienda Experience for lunch! Once we finished lunch, we learned about how sugar cane was transformed into sugar the “old way”. But first we got to taste fresh sugar cane! It was really neat! You don’t actually eat it, you just suck the sugar off the stock and then spit it out! And it truly tasted like sugar without any processing whatsoever.

And we actually got to see them create brown sugar blocks and they even made some candy (pure sugar—literally) for us! It was WAY too sweet for me! Anyway, the process to make sugar included feeding the cane into this wooden press that was turned by a team of cows to extract the juice from the cane into a container. The juice was then cooked over a constant temperature until it reached a certain consistency. The consistency has to be exactly right in order for it work correctly. So, as the sugar started to thicken, the guide would drop a bit of it into a bucket of cold water to see if it was ready. When it reach the correct consistency it was poured into a vat to cool down. When it had cooled sufficiently, then it was placed into molds. After it has cooled enough there, the blocks are removed and packaged for sale! The sugar was brown and was packaged in banana leaves, which was really neat!

We got to taste the concoction at a couple different stages of this process as well as they made a candy that the farmers used to make and give their children to keep them out of the way of the processing! Good plan, huh?

We then went on to EARTH university which is a really cool university devoted to the study of sustainable agriculture. All students who come here are studying agriculture. The university has a lot of different research projects going on. The students come from many different tropical countries and a good many of them do not pay ANY tuition. Top students from these countries are actually recruited by EARTH university. The goal is for them to learn sustainable agricultural techniques that they can use to improve their own home country upon their return. It is a beautiful campus with outstanding goals (too bad students from the U.S. can only do an semester or two visiting program!!

Toyota Costa Rica Trip--Feb 28, Heading Out

Today was a GREAT day . .. because we got to get outside in the rainforest!! Woohoo! This is what I have been waiting for! Well, not exactly this, but it beats lectures!

We left San Jose early this morning and headed to Guayabo National Park. This was an interesting drive as we watched the terrain change from BIG city to tropical and very mountainous with narrow VERY windy (long i) roads. Costa Rica (and Panama, I think) was the last isthmus of land to come up from the ocean as result of tectonic plate collisions. Thus Costa Rica has mountainous volcanic ranges (many of which are active!), some of which are over 3000 meters (think 10,000 feet) high!!

On the way, we stopped at a restaurant on the side of the mountain with an INCREDIBLE view!!! We also saw workers in fields on the sides of the mountain that I don’t know how they could work at that angle! Crazy! Also, the house right above the restaurant had an amazing yard with various brightly colored flowers! It was beautiful! The flowers here are SO bright and vivid! Then we went on to Guayabo.

Guayabo is a historical park about a “lost group” of native people who were actually believed to have disappeared before the arrival of the Spaniards. As I understand it, it is believed that their houses are the only “original” housing style in Costa Rica---all of the others are copies from other areas of the world—which consisted of cone shaped buildings. They also had a very sophisticated aqueduct system and wide stone roads in there area. Although this still is not exactly what I am waiting for, we got to walk around with a super guide and learn about this civilization, as well as learn a few things about the rainforest.

Toyota Costa Rica Trip--Feb 27, San Jose

Wednesday was an educational day (but not what I am really waiting for!). We went to the U.S. embassy and heard about what it takes for a Costa Rican to get a U.S. visa and about the many functions of an embassy! This was really interesting . . . as I was never really sure what they did! Some areas actually seemed quite interesting. One area spends a great deal of time handling visa applicants, which all have to be fingerprinted, interviewed, facial recognition scanned, name database comparison, etc. Other things they assist with is lost passports, helping tourists and citizens living here, security, finding “missing” persons (usually they are just having a real good time and don’t communicate with anyone and let them know that they are ok!), dealing with citizen deaths, and visiting U.S. citizens in prison. (sounds like fun, huh???)

We heard about some of the positive things that Costa Rica is doing in regards to ecotourism, but we also heard about challenges that Costa Rica faces, such as increasing property crime, and especially about their water contamination! Although Costa Rica is a strong developing country, in this area they are very lacking and many of their rivers and even some coastal areas are becoming contaminated! A very large hotel was recently shut down for skirting waste treatment of its water so the country does take the issue seriously. . . although do not seem to have a plan in place to rectify it---sort of anyway! Another issue of concern to many Costa Ricans is the adoption of CAFTA (Central American Free Trade Agreement). It was so controversial that it was recently put to a voter referendum, barely passed 52%, but other conditions have not been met for implementation so is still a serious issue for them.

We also learned a lot about the culture and environment. Costa Rican people (Ticos as they call themselves) are a very optimistic people. “Pura Vida” (pure life) is their motto! They have a high life expectancy and an excellent infant mortality rate (1 in 1000).

In the afternoon we heard from Dr. Pedro Leon, Coordinator for the Presidential Initiative for Peace with Nature. This is a national initiative to improve the environment, combat global warming, and become a C-Neutral (carbon neutral) nation by 2021. This is incredibly important to Costa Rica as even though it makes up only .01 of land mass in the world, it contains 4% of the world’s biodiversity. A pretty awesome feat for a country approximately the size of West Virginia.

Later that afternoon we went to the National museum and learned about some of the native people of Costa Rica, most of which have not survived or have very few members. About nine native groups were once part of Costa Rica before the Spanish influence (Christopher Columbus came here, too!) And then we got to go shopping in the market place! Very neat! Lots of local crafts and handiwork and t-shirts. Some of the unique items are paintings on feathers and wood pieces.

I have TONS of pictures but haven’t had a chance to download, compress, and upload so I am hoping to get to that tomorrow, along with the really cool stuff of being out in the rainforest!!! Too much cool stuff going on!

Toyota Costa Rica Trip--Feb 26, Arriving in Costa Rica

I forgot to mention the 2 coyotes we saw crossing the road while we were on the way to the Toyota plant (but they weren’t chasing a roadrunner . . . road runner country is farther west! J) on Monday. It was kind of neat though to just see them ambling along out in the middle of nowhere!

Tuesday, the 26th, was a travel day and not a whole lot else! I was up at 2:30 a.m. so we could leave for the airport at 3:30. We flew from San Antonio to Dallas and then hung out there for 3 hours or so until our flight to San Jose, Costa Rica. We finally arrived here at around 4, I think it was. Then it was off to the hotel---a beautiful hotel at that!

San Jose is like most big cities . . . so it really doesn’t give you what you are hoping for when you first arrive in Costa Rica! Rather than lush green jungles, you see a jungle of cars, not so nice buildings, lots of chain stores just like you would see in the US, and a LOT of people! It is pretty dirty and there appears to be a lot of poverty. However, there is a beautiful theatre, they have town squares that are a great meeting place for people, and some beautiful homes as well!!

Interestingly enough, there was an Iron Maiden concert in town that night that was a big newsmaker! I saw an article in a newspaper from a couple of weeks ago about the concern that this concert would bring in gang members from other countries or areas! And we saw a number of people with Iron Maiden concert T-shirts the following day! One of our guides had driven by the area of the concert and was amazed by the number of people—long-haired, dressed in black, etc. . . . sounds pretty much the same as there, huh?

Toyota Costa Rica Trip--San Antonio

A number of people that I mentioned this trip to asked why Toyota would sponsor something like this. We have spent the past 2 days learning just why Toyota is willing to invest in this program! And it has been very interesting to learn more about the Toyota company and its philosophy! And it has been exciting to get to know other teachers from all round the country! We are from around 25 states and teach all different subjects---art, history, science, math, leadership, economics, agriscience, English, Spanish, other foreign languages.

The reason Toyota does sponsor it is because they have a strong commitment to education and a strong commitment to the environment. Being from such a small, crowded company, they have long understood the importance for conservation and preservation! I knew that they have been leaders in producing hybrid cars, but I never realized how committed they are to being a green organization! In the complete creation of a car (or truck as we saw), they have almost NO waste!! All unused portions of sheet metal and other supplies are recycled. In addition, at their San Antonio Tundra plant they use nearly all recycled water and they have recycle bins everywhere.

The trip has been great so far. I arrived in San Antonio around 12:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb 24. We had a couple of hours before our first meeting as others were still arriving so I walked over to see the Alamo (which was just across the street from our hotel) and learned some things about Davy Crockett and the 200 or so others who fended off the Mexican army for 13 days while awaiting reinforcements. Very interesting and some really cool artifacts! I also got to spend a little time exploring the River Walk—a really neat restaurant/shopping area along the river later.

Sunday evening we heard some things about Toyota, its history, philosophy, commitment to education and the environment, and the program as well as heard from a couple of last year’s participants. It was very interesting and got us all even more excited! Although I was skeptical about Monday’s agenda, it was really great! We went to the new Toyota Tundra manufacturing facility in San Antonio—opened in 2006. We toured the plant and actually saw production in action! VERY impressive! It takes about 1 ½ hours to build a truck (yep, that’s it---from start to finish!!!). In addition, a really unique thing about this campus is that most of its suppliers are located on site. This allows them to easily maintain their “Just in Time” philosophy of manufacturing.

In addition, we participated in a couple of really cool activities to help us understand the Toyota philosophy. First we experimented with a “More is Better” mass production philosophy and then tried a “Just in Time” approach—which is what Toyota uses along with the Kai Zen philosophy. Kai Zen means constant improvement and all employees are in teams and all are encouraged to make suggestions for improvement and recognized for ideas that are implemented! We all found the team/Just in Time approach to be a much more relaxed and effective environment! We also did a really cool team building activity building lego race cars!

Finally, in preparation for departure to Costa Rica, we learned a lot about Costa Rica from the Consul General of Costa Rica. He had a great presentation and even provided a cd of important and/or popular Costa Rican music. Then it was dinner and making sure everything was ready to leave at 3:30 a.m. to catch our flight! We are on our way!!!

March IT News

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Toyota Costa Rica Trip

Wow! I can't believe that it is only 2 days until we leave for Costa Rica! I am so excited! We are going to be doing so many different things and I know I am going to learn a ton! This is going to be sooooo cool!

I would like to use this first post to thank Toyota for providing this opportunity for teachers! And I would also like to thank my principal, Anna, and the people at my county office, Robert and Joanne, for their support in applying for this program!

More to come SOON!!! Sunday it is off to San Antonio to meet up with the rest of the group and learn more about what we will be doing. . . .and then the adventure really begins on Tuesday!

February---What's News???

Hey Class,

This is where we are going to discuss what is "News" in Information Technology! Remember this is due within the first 3 class days of the month!

What to do:

Find a NEWS article about anything to do with computers and read it. Then complete a graphic organizer (from me) to help organize your thoughts. Then come here and post your article review! Remember that this review should include a paragraph summarizing the article, a paragraph highlighting the good, the bad, and the ugly about it, and a paragraph about how it will affect you personally AND society as a whole! If the article is online, link to it as well!

Then, within the first week, you need to make thoughtful comments to at least two other article reviews about something you found interesting or helpful. This response needs to be at least a paragraph of five sentences.