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!
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!
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