Banana #4- Six Most Popular Bananas

After traveling around Costa Rica and learning all about the different types of bananas and how they differ, I decided that I will be talking about the six most popular bananas today and some of their potential health benefits.  Just to give you some background information about what a banana contains, in a banana you will find three natural sugars: sucrose, fructose, and glucose.  You will also find that bananas are a good source of potassium, fiber, 6 vitamins, 11 minerals, and each only have around 110 calories.  The six different bananas that I will be talking about are: Manzano, Nino, Burro, Red, Plantain, and Cavendish.  

According to healthmad.com, the Manzona banana is a short and chubby that has a mild strawberry-apple flavor.  This particular banana's appearance is chunkier and heavier than the traditional banana, and you will most likely find this banana in Asia, South America, Mexico, Caribbean, and Africa.  The Nino banana is about three inches long, and when ripe they are bright yellow with a rich and sweet flavor to them.  In this banana you will find a very important vitamin that is good for the heart and that is B6. The Burro banana is round and has squared off ends that is smaller and stubbier than the Cavendish banana, which I will be talking about in a minute.  When the Burro banana is ripe it is yellow with black spot, and the flesh is creamy white.  The taste of this banana is a tangy and lemony flavor.  Next, the Red banana is usually sweeter than the traditional banana, and when ripe they have a purple skin that is almost black and the flesh is pinkish.  This banana contains beta carotene and vitamin C.  The fifth banana is the Plantain banana.  This banana has a high level of starch and contain a lower amount of sugar.  When eating the Plantain you should cook it, and you know when it is ripe when it is almost black.  Also, the flesh of this banana is creamy and yellowish or light pink.  Finally the sixth banana which is the Cavendish banana.  This banana is the most popular in the States, and this banana is also known as the Chiquita banana.  This banana is ripe with it is bright yellow.     

Coffee #4- How to make a great cup of Coffee

After research for the past three weeks about coffee I thought that I might try something new with my coffee blog. I am going to be describing how to make a perfect pot of coffee. This might seem like an easy process, but in order to make a good pot you need to take several things into consideratoin. You are going to first want to buy the coffee bean, and you might be thinking well of course you want to buy the beans because that is how you make coffee. You are not just buying a bean, you are going to buy a "good" bean. When I say "good" that could mean a millions of things, but no matter if you like a dark and heavy bean or a medium roasted bean; you should make sure that you are buying a quality bean from a reputable supplier. When you are in the store looking for that "good" bean you should make sure that the bean was kept airtight because as soon as beans are exposed to air they begin to lose their flavors. Since you know that little fact you should now know not to open the beans until you plan on using them. This next part of the process depends on the type of coffee maker you have because the next step is to grind the bean. I say it depends on what kind of coffee maker you have because each coffee maker has a certain courseness that will make the most enjoyable taste for you. Next, you should make sure that you are using good water because coffee is 98% of water so if you pollute that water then it will not taste as good as it would if it was not polluted. Some ways that you can make sure that you have good water is by filtering it or of course use bottled water to ensure that you have good water. After you have choosen the right bean, the right grind, and the right water you then just have to wait while the machine does its magic and that can take around five minutes for a good cup.

Ecotourism #3- La Selva

Well this is my second round for doing this blog because I just got kicked out of my last computer room, and I thought that it had saved but it didn't for some reason so I just lost the three paragraphs that I had been working on for the past forty minutes. Sorry to say that this introduction is not going to be as long as the last one because that happend. If you want me to be completely honest right now I really feel like not doing this because that happened, but I have to and I am not going to quit. Oh things that happen to me.

Anyway, last Thursday my classmates and I went to the La Selva Research Reserve and stayed there for the night, and to tell you the truth I did not know what to expect because by this point in time we had been to so many rainforest and I thought that I had already seen everything. When we first got to the reserve we of course unload and went to our room, and this time all twenty seven of us were staying in the same lodge. This was actually really nice because at night all of us just hung out and relax; which was really nice to because we really had not had much time to relax before this. After everyone was settled into their room and changed, we had to meet back at the main building so that we could go on our first walk of the day. I thought that we would just see the same old stuff that we had before, but to my pleasure I was wrong. We saw three spider monkeys, a poison dart frog, and boars. After we were done with the walk we had dinner waiting for us as we got back, and after dinner some of us decided to go back out for a night walk. There was about ten of us that went out, and with out failure I was in the front of the line. We had no idea where we were going at all and it was pitch black, but I think that is what added to the excitement of the walk. While we were out, we saw a ton of spiders and sometype of bird nesting at the base of a tree. We were on the walk for about an hour and a half, and when we got back we just stayed up until about 12 or so playing cards and talking. The next morning, we went on another walk and after the walk we had breakfast and left to go to our next destination. Enough about me talking about what we did while we were there. The reason that I am writing this is to tell you why I think that La Selva is a great example of ecotourism.

Since 1968 La Selva Biological Research Reserve has been one of the premier sites in the world for research on tropical rainforest. La Selva is not only a rainforest that has over 50 KM of trails, but it is also a place for learning and tourism. According to costa-rica-guide.com La Selva offers classes such as bird watching 101, nature photography, and scientist for a day. With all of these trails and human actions going on in the reserve you would think that there would not be a lot of old growth, but La Selva is actually covered with some of the most pristine old growth that can be found in Costa Rica. The guides at La Selva are working scientist that are research at La Selva, and have been for a long time. In short, I believe that La Selva does a wonderful job of keeping it a ecotourist environment for several reasons. Some of the reasons that I believe this is because they are able to comtinue to keep the wildlife around La Selva around at the same time as they can bring tourist in to help maintain the forest with the revenue made off of the tourism. Another reason I believe that La Selva does a great job of this is because even though there are thousands upon thousands of visiters a year they still make it environmental friendly by keeping certain areas that are blocked off from the tourist, so that the animals can miagrate easier and are not kept in one region. Overall, I believe that if La Selva continues to do what they are then other organizations will begin to follow La Selvas model of ecotourism.

Banana #3- Chiquita Bananas

Last week I had to privilage to visit one of the Chiquita Banana plantation and see how they ran their operation and see how they were trying to be more sustainable then their competitors. Chiquita is a certified Rainforest Alliance company and since 2000 the company has been a 100% Rainforest Alliance certified. When we visited the plantation we got to see a video on how Chiquita is trying to make a difference in the community around its plantations, walked through their reserve, walked through the banana plantation itself, saw a show about the history about Chiquita, and also got to see the packaging house for Chiquita bananas.

It was really interesting to see how Chiquita is trying to make a difference by being apart of the Rainforest Alliance. They are not only apart of that, but they are also trying to educate the community around them, employee them, and protect them through social and environmental responsibilities. Chiquita is giving the community an extra opportunity to make extra ncome by being part of the Nogua group which has workshops in theatre, tourism, basic administration and human relations. Chiquita is doing their part through the social responsibilit

ies by having a code of conduct which requires the Social Accountability 8000. The Social Accountability 8000 is a comprehensive labor rights standard based off of the United Nations and the Internations Labor Organization. Some requirements of this are no child labor, safe working conditions, no harsh or disrespectful treatment, working hours are a maximun of 48 hours a week, and 

compensation. They are not only are doing their part in the social respondsibilties but also in the environmental responsibilities. Some of the environmental actions that they are taking are minimal pesticide use, protection of wildlife, consercation of water and soil, environmental education, fair pay, and a zero tolerance for deforestation. The company has planted at least one million trees along the rivers, lakes, and roads.

Just to give you a quick history of the Chiquita company, I will talk about the past 100 years. In 1870 Captain Lorenzo Dow Baker imported the first bananas to the United States, and by 1871 Minor C. Keith planted bananas alongside the railroad that he was constructing in Costa Rica. Twenty-eight years later Baker's Boston Fruit Company and Keith's railroad companies merged to create the United Fruit Company in 1899. A way that you knew that the bananas were the United Fruit Companies is because also in 1899 they painted their ships white to reflect the tropical sun and became known as the Great White Fleet. 1903 was a huge year for the company because they had two very important things happen to them, and they were that they created their first refrigerated ships and the company was first listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In 1944 the name Chiquita came to be known and the Miss Chiquita character come into existance. In 1957 the first shipment of bananas were made in cardboard boxes instead of shipping them on the stems. Finally in 1966 one of the biggest events for Chiquita bananas occurred and that was the first shipment to Europe.

Just some fun facts that I learn about bananas while I was at the plantation are that bananas grow about 10 degrees above and below the equator and get an average of 78-98 inches of rain a year with an average temperature of 80 degrees F. Also, Chitquita owns about 15,000 hectares or about 37,000 acres of banana farms in Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, and Guatemala. Two very impressive facts about the Chiquita company is that in 2004 they shipped 136 million boxes of bananas to the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, and now they employee more then 25,000.

As I mentioned earlier we were able to go see the packaging house whie we were visiting the plantation. While being there I got to see the process in which they packed the bananas.  The workers would first bring the banana stems into the house by trivias, which is a cable system that carries the bananas in from the fields.  Next they would count and weigh the banana stems, and about ten percent of the stem would be randomly inspected to ensure that the grade met Chiquita standards.  After the bananas are inspect, they are then put into an area called the dehanding area where they are cut from the stem and placed into water tanks to be cleaned.  The bananas are cut into clusters of 4 to 10 bananas, and they are washed for approximately ten minutes to make sure that the latex layer does not stain the banana.  After the bananas have been washed they then are put on to a tray for packing where the workers will label the banana and have a final wash to ensure that the cut is sealed and to prevent the crown to rot.  Finally, the bananas are put into the box where they are stanped with a code and the date so that they can be traceable if needed.  Of the bananas that are not accepted by Chiquita standards they are either sold as another label or sent to a processing plant for puree.

Shipping for Chiquita is a whole other challenage for the company.  The process of Chiquita shipping their bananas is not just putting them on a ship and shipping them to their destination, but rather is a long and carefully thought out process.  They first transport the bananas to the ports within usually 24 hours of harvesting the bananas; where they will be shipped to the United States and Europe on the famous Great White Fleet.  While traveling on the Great White Fleet the bananas are help in low temperatured refrigerated containers so the ripening process is slowed down.  It could take the bananas up to 11 days to arrive at their destination, but when they arrive there they are carefully inspected by Chiquita officials.  They will check the weight, size, quality, and any damage that might have occurred during the trip. After this inspection they are then sent to their final destination which is the market.

I was only at the Chiquita plantation for an afternoon, and I learned this much.  Just imagen what I could have learned if I had stayed there longer, and was able to ask more questions.  Overall, my experience at the Chiquita plantation was very enjoyable, and I felt like I learned a lot about the banana industry.  

Coffee #3- Latin American Coffee

Today, I am going to be discussing the different types of coffee in the Latin American region.  More specifically I will be talking about Costa Rican, Honduran, and Guatemalan coffee.  All of these coffees differ in some way, which make them unique in their own way. 

Coffee in Costa Rica for example “has set the standard for fine wet-processed coffee for the rest of Central and South America” quoted by coffeeresearch.org.  Also, coffee in Costa Rica are usually characterized as a “full bodied coffee” and can be found in several regions around Costa Rica such as the Tarrazu, Tres Rios, Heredia, and Alajuela regions.  Not only are the most famous coffee beans found in these regions, but also the best coffee beans in Costa Rica are grown above 3,900 feet, these coffee beans are known as the “strictly hard bean.”   Just to give you an idea on how diverse these regions are I will tell you where two of the different regions are found in Costa Rica and how they differ in my opinion.  The first region that I will be describing is the Tres Rios region, which is found near the pacific coast.  This region is known for growing a mild, sweet, and bright bean.  The second region that I will describe to you is the Tarrazu region, which is located in the interior mountains of Costa Rica.  This region is known for producing a heavier coffee compared to the Tres Rios.  The two regions differ obviously because of the location in Costa Rica, but after visiting both areas I can personally see how they differ.  When I was out on the pacific coast, there was a cool breeze the whole time with some rain and what seemed to be not as fertile land because of the sand that was everywhere you went.  On the other hand, when I was driving through the Tarrazu region is was very easy to see the difference between the two.  The Tarrazu region is very foggy, rainy, and a lot more moist then the pacific coast. 

Honduran coffee is usually not seen in the United States, but some say that this will change in the future.  According to sweetmarias.com “Honduran coffee has been absent from the top ranks of the Specialty market, but that is all changing.”  Due to this there is not much to be found about Honduran coffee, but I can quote coffeeresearch.org and say that the coffee is “wet processed, typically unremarkable in quality, and is a good base for blending.” 

Unlike Honduran coffee there is a lot of information on Guatemalan coffee.  Even though Guatemala is a small country, its diverse regions allow for a very prosperous growth in coffee.  With its soil, rainfall, temperature, and altitude Guatemala is able to grow several distinct different types of coffees in its seven different regions.  The seven different regions that you can find in Guatemala are as followed: Antigua, Fraiganes Plateau, Rainforest Coban, Highland Huehuetenango, Atitlan, Volcan San Marcos, and Oriente.  Each different region is the breeding ground for several different types of coffee.  In the Antigua region you are mostly to find coffee that is described as “having a full and velvety body, a rich and lively aroma, and a fine acidity.”  The three most common coffee beans that you will find in this region are Bourbon, Caturra, and Catuai.  In the Fraijanes Plateau, you are going to find the highest-ranking coffee bean in Guatemala and that is the “strictly hard Guatemala coffee bean.” These beans can be described as having a full body, weak aroma, and an obvious acidity.  The third region that you will find coffee growing in is the Rainforest Coban.  As you can imagine the coffee grown here differs a lot from the past two regions that I have described.  This is due to the “microclimate” because of the Atlantic Ocean.  The coffee that is found here is a medium body, light acidity, and fruit like flavors, and the different types of beans that you will find here are the Bourbon, Maragogype, Catuai, Caturra, and Pache beans, which are harvested from December to March.  The fourth type of region in Guatemala is the Highland Huehuetenango.  The climate that is found in this region is a subtropical and humid one that allows for the coffee beans to have a beautiful appearance and uniformed maturation.  The different types of coffee beans that will be found in this region are the Huehue, Bourbon, Caturra, and Catuai.  The next region that you will find in Guatemala is the Atitlan region.  This region is known for its high altitude (4,000-5,900 feet), and the affects that are caused by this.  Some affects that this causes is that there are very few pests and diseases, humidity is around 70-80%, and the drying is almost completely done by the sun.  The Atitlan region gives the beans a profound acidity and a full body.  The beans that you will find here are mainly Bourbon, but you will also find Typica, Caturra, and Catuai.  The second to last region that you will find in Guatemala is the Volcan San Marcos.  This region is the warmest and also has the highest rainfall, with around 4,000-5,000 mm of rain a year.  Due to its “microclimate” from the Pacific Ocean, you will find beans such as the Bourbon, Caturra, and Catuai coffee beans.  Finally, the last region that you will find coffee beans growing in is the Oriente region.  This region is a lot like the Coban region with little rainfall and with its rock and clay foundation.  The beans here are aromatic, acidity, and have a good body.  Like most of the other regions you will find Bourbon, Catuai, Caturra, and Pache coffee beans.

I hope that by reading this you are able to see the several different types of coffee beans that are produced in Latin America and what type of climate they are grown in. 

       

Personal #3-Its been awhile

Oh where do I begin, it has been awhile since I have blogged about my personal experience here in Costa Rica.  I think it has been around two weeks, and in those two weeks I have experience more then the usual person would in a year I feel like.  About a week and a half ago, my group and myself started off our travels by going white water rafting on Saturday May 3.  We woke up at 5:30 and headed for the river.  It took us about three hours to get there, and as soon as we got there they had breakfast waiting for us.  After breakfast, which was really really good, we had to take about another hour bus ride to the entrance of the river.  In my raft there were six people including myself and one guide.  We traveled down 18 miles of the river through class 3 and 4 rapids.  In total it took us about six or seven hours to raft the whole trip.  I can't count the number of people that fell out, but I can count the number of people that fell out of my raft because I was the only person to fall out.  I don't really remember how I fell out, but all I remember was that the raft somehow turn sideways and I fell out after trying to hold on for a good ten seconds.  Now thinking back on it, I really wish that I had have held on tighter because where I fell out at was in the middle of probably one of the rougher rapids of the day, and it was not that much fun at all to have to swim down it.  I remembered the position that you were suppose to take if you fell out, and I took it but the water kept pulling me under and my butt would hit all of the high rocks and one rock hit my thigh and bruised it.  I really do not bruise easily and believe me when I say that it hurt when I hit that rock.  I remember water kept flowing over my head and it was hard to catch my breath.  This might sound like it took me ten minutes to go through this rapid, but it really only took about thirty seconds if that.  Other then that one incident while rafting I had a great time.  Lunch was great, the rapids were awesome, and the views were amazing.  I really wish that I had a water proof camera, so that I could have taken pictures to post on this blog.  We got back from the rafting trip around six at night and for the rest of the night I just went back home to relax because the next morning we were going to be leaving for the Osa at 6:00 am. 

 

Sunday morning I woke up at 5:30 again to leave for the Osa.  They had told us before that it was going to be a long ride there, but I really didn't know how long they really meant.  It took us 11 hours to get there.  I think that might be one of the longest times I have spent traveling on the road.  Just as a side comment right now, that is one thing that I thought about while traveling and that is about the road conditions that the majority of the roads are in.  I thought about how much would it really cost Costa Rica 

to repair all of their roads.  Not even paving all the roads, but just fix the pot holes and just 

evening them out.  Speaking of fixing the roads...haha.  One part of our trip we all had to get out of the bus and let me bus cross probably one of the most unstable brides, I don't think you can really call it a bridge, I have ever seen because there was a huge hole in the main road that we could not get around.  It was somewhat entertaining to watch this because where the bridge was located there was a bar right beside it, and there was an interesting character that came out to try and help us who was unbelievably drunk.  When he tried to talk he didn't speak English or even Spanish, it was more like gibberish talk.  Of the 11 hours of traveling, around an hour and a half or so was spent on a boat which was a lot of fun.  We road through some water trails that looked like we were in the Amazon instead of Costa Rica, but that is one really cool thing about Costa Rica and that is that there are so many different types of environments.  Finally, we got to the beach were we had to unpack the boats and head to the place where we were going to be staying for the next three days.  

When arriving at the place that we were going to be staying, I found that we would be staying in tents with three beds in them that overlooked a beautiful view of the coast line.  I am not 

complaining at all that we had to stay there because it was actually really nice for where we were.  We were the first people to stay at this newly opened "resort", and I am sure that the staff enjoyed having us as the first guest.  There was a main building that actually was really nice which was about a hundred yards away from where I slept.  The building had the bar, dinner tables, reading area, TV area, and just an unbelievable view of the coast line.  The first day that we were there we just got to relax which was just what I needed after a full day of traveling.  The next day, which was Monday June 2, we went to the Osa National Park for the full day where we walked through the forest, swam in the ocean, and got to hike up to the base of a waterfall.  While walking through the forest we saw the usual birds, lizards, and insects. The real cool part about that day though was being able to swim at the mouth of a river and the ocean and hiking up to the base of a waterfall.  Without failure though I had to hurt myself while swimming by jumping off a rock and cutting my little toe wide open and then jumping into the salt water.  Believe me it felt great.  The waterfall, I think was a lot better then the swimming though, because there was only about six or seven of us that made it up to the base of the waterfall.  We actually got to hike up the waterfall and feel the force of it.  At one point I almost lost my swimsuit because of the force of the water coming down.  For the rest of the day we went back to the "resort" and relaxed for the rest of the night.  

The next day, we all went snorkeling off the coast of one of the islands there in the Osa.  I don't really have that much to say about the snorkeling except that I saw a lot of different fish and that we saw dolphins swimming along side of our boat.  The reason I say this is because I scuba-dive and you really cannot compare the two.  If that had been my first time snorkeling without scuba-diving before I probably would have thought that it was a really good experience.  That night though was a very very interesting night because of the night life we had there.  The group that I am with went to the main building and had dinner like usual and then went to the bar, but this night differed from other nights because of a couple of guys that showed up.  There was a guy that came there from Miami, FL who had moved down here a couple of years back and heard that we were in town and decided that he would come over with some friends.  All I am going to say is that I was somewhat afraid for my life, and I think that I am speaking on the behalf of about half the group.  These guys tried to sell us everything, I mean everything.  

The next morning we got up and headed back for San Jose.  Overall, the weekend trip and white water rafting was a blast.  I definitely learned a lot about how blessed we all are back in the States.  

Ecotourism #2- Traveling All Over

After being in Costa Rica for two weeks, I have realized exactly how much they depend on tourism as a source of income. I also understand the need for tourism in Costa Rica, but because of the amount of tourism I can also see problems that might evolue from it at the same time. Some problems that I could see coming from tourism are serious damages to the local environment and culture of Costa Rica. If tourism continues to grow like it shows it will in Costa Rica then, the country could experience an problem with mass tourism which would lead to several problems. Some of these problems could include; damage to coral reefs, polluted beaches, destruction of wildlife habitats, loss of rainforest, strain on water resources, just to name a few.

Another problem that could be seen with tourism is the possiblity of tourism effecting the overall culture of Costa Rica. In part, the culture is one of the main reasons that people come to Costa Rica in the first place. If tourism grew to the point where massive corporations wanted to invest in buildings and land, then Costa Rica would loss its traditional feel for the land.

Coffee #2- Facts about Coffee

Today, I am going to open up by telling you about my experience with coffee, and then eventually turn my attention to some facts about the different types of coffee. If you were to ask me two years ago if I liked coffee, I would have looked at you with a face of disgust. As a little kid, I would probably visit my dad at his office around two or three times a week, and his secretary would make me a cup of coffee for some really weird reason that I still do not know to this day. Anyway, every time she would make me a cup of coffee I would without a doubt pour about ten oz. of sugar in it to try and cancel out the taste, but it never completely worked. Since then I would never try coffee, and thought that I would never try it again. What I did not know though was that I would be pulling all nights at college, and the only way that I could still function would be to drink coffee. I will definitely say that coffee is an acquired taste, and it took me about a month or so not to cringe after I took a sip. Now every time that I have coffee I know exactly how I like it. I like dark roasted beans with about three or four things of sugar and just a touch of milk.

I think that after being in Costa Rica for a month it will spoil my taste of coffee, so when I return to the states no coffee will be the same. When I was on my way down to Costa Rica on the plain, I had to try the last cup of "American" coffee so I could compare. I will admit that the coffee down here is usually a lot better then the coffee in the states. One thing that I learn about coffee last week while at Cafe Britt was that good coffee taste the same whether it is cold or warm, and that sometimes people will make coffee so hot so you cannot really taste the coffee. I can agree with that because every morning my host mom makes me a cup of coffee, and sometimes I will admit I am moving a little slower than normal and my coffee gets cold. Even though my coffee gets cold because I am moving slow, it still taste the same as it would if it was warm or hot. I don't really know what kind of coffee it is, but whatever it is it is good. I will find out before I leave Costa Rica and make sure that I take some of it home with me even though I have already sent four bags worth of coffee home.

Another thing that I have learned while I have been down here in Costa Rica is that there are all kinds of coffee whether it be organic, dark, light, or whatever other differences there are. Two main species of coffee beans are Arabica and Robusta. According to anothercoffee.co.uk robusta beans are grown in lower altitudes and have a high caffeine content, and also robusta beans account for about 30% of the worlds production in coffee beans. Robusta beans have a stronger flavour and have a woody aftertaste. Arabica beans according to anothercoffee.co.uk are grown in higher altitudes, 1000 to 2000 metres, but they consist of a lower caffeine content. Since Robusta beans account for 30% of the worlds production of coffee beans this means that Arabica beans account for about 70% of the worlds productions of coffee beans.

Moral of the story is don't always turn away from something because you do not like it at first. Give it another chance, and who knows you might like it.

Bananas #2- "Growing bananas socially sustainable, ethically, environmentally and sometimes even organically"

Since the demand for organic bananas have increased over 50% per year in the US and Europe in the past couple of years Costa Rica is having to figure out how to grow more and more organic bananas a year.  According to newfarm.org, "Black Sigatoka fungus disease, Mycosphaerella fijiensis, and the toppling nematode, Radopholus similis, are the biggest organic banana production problems."  Organic bananas are often grown in areas that have not had bananas grown in them before.  One way that a banana producer can fight against Black Sigatoka is by cutting away dying leaves, covering the racemes with bags to speed growth and prevent damage from birds, keeping the topsoil clean, and removing the flowers from the bunches.  

A program known as the Rainforest Alliance Better Banana Program is a movement to help conventionally grow bananas for environmental and social sustainability.  The certification process for the RABBP is an intense process that involves practices that protect water quality, worker health and safety, and wildlife habitat.  There are nine principles that the RABBP take into consideration when deciding whether or not the farms are certified or not, and they are "ecosystem conservation, wildlife conservation, fair treatment and good conditions for workers, good community relations, strictly managed use of agrichemicals, integrated management of waste, conservation of water resources, soil conservation, and environmental planning and monitoring" according to socialfunds.com.  Also, according to socialfunds.com these companies have a win-win-win model: "a win for the environment, a win for workers, and a win for corporations."  One large corporation that is partnered with RABBP is Chiquita.   

The RABBP are mostly used by corporate banana such as Chiquita.  The US is two thirds of Chiquita's bananas sold, which all of the plantations that they come from are certified under the RABBP.  This means that all 127 of Chiquita's farms in Latin America are certified under the nine principles of RABBP.     

   

Personal #2-Monteverde Weekend

Well today is the first day back at the university since last Friday, and I am exhausted. The past weekend we took our first trip of the month and visited Arenal volcano, Baldi hot springs, and Monteverde. It took us about four hours to get to our hotel Friday night. While on the bus all of us slept, listened to music, and played Mafia. Mafia is a card game where you have the same number of cards as people playing, and you have an ace, king, queen, and the rest of the cards are numbered cards. The ace is the Mafia, the king is the cop, the queen is the doctor, and the rest of the cards are citizens. During the game, everyone goes to sleep and then the Mafia wakes up and kills someone, then the cop wakes up after the Mafia goes back to sleep and chooses someone that he or she thinks is the Mafia, and then the queen gets up after the cop went back to sleep and tries to guess who got killed so he or she can save that person. After all of this, everyone wakes and and tries to figure out who the Mafia, and convince each other who it is. I think that we probably played that game for a good two hours of so on the bus ride.

When we got to the hotel we got our room assignments, and then changed to go to the hot springs and enjoy the rest of the night there. The hot springs was probably one of the favorite things that we have done so far. It was located at the base of the Arenal volcano, so the water was naturally heated by the heat from the volcano. There were I believe six or seven different levels, and the further you went up the hotter the water got. The hottest that the water got was 152 degrees. You wanna talk about hot. It took me a while to build up to get into the 152 degree hot spring. The worst part about that one was actually getting your legs all the way in. After you had your waist under it was not that bad; as long as you didn´t move so much. It helped me to rub my legs to get some of the pain and heat off of them. We were probably in the hot springs for a good two or so hours, and I am pretty sure everyone loved it. After being in the springs for that long we had dinner there. The dinner was probably the best I have had yet. I don´t know if it was because I was tired from the springs or what, but it was amazing. The fish was the best part about it. After that, we all went back to the hotel where some of us went to sleep, and the rest of everyone else hung out in one of the rooms watching TV and playing games.

The next day we had to wake up at 6:45, so that we could make it to breakfast by 7:00 and leave by 8:00. The first site that we went to was the ICE hydro-powered water plant. It was pretty interesting to see how one of those worked. It was amazing that we were able to just drive right up to the gate, and get into the plant that easily because I know back in the states you would not even begin to get close to do that. We also went to the damn that supplies the water for the plant, which was about three miles away I would guess. It was amazing to see that because the night before there was three feet of water that was overflowing the dam. I asked the engineer how long it took to fill up the lake behind the dam, and he told us that it only took two days. That just made me realize exactly how much water they get down here because that was a very large lake.

After the power plant, we went back into town and went horse back riding to La Fortuna waterfalls. It took us about half an hour or so to ride up to the enterance of the waterfalls, but the ride there was awesome. My horse took awhile to break in, but after I broke him in he began to run and gallup a lot more. Once we were actually at the waterfall enterance we then had to hike down (supposedly) ten flights worth of stairs. We were at the waterfall for about twenty or thirty minutes until we had to hike back up the stairs; where I found out that I really needed to get back into shape. We then proceeded to go back to the hotel and pack our bags to head out to Monteverde.

While at Monteverde, we went zip lining through the canapies, went on a night and morning walk through the rain forest, played cards games all through the night, and had PIZZA. The zip lining was amazing. I have gone zip lining before in Jamaica and that was nothing compared to this. The views from the zip line was unforgettable. There were 14 different lines that we did, and there were also two or three walking bridges which was very interesting to try and get across because once there were about three or four of us on it we would start jumping on the bridge or swinging it. Two lines that we did were the free fall line and the George of the Jungle swing. The George of the Jungle swing was literally a huge swing where we jumped off a plattform. The plattform was about three stories high, and for some reason I decided to go off backwards. The feeling of free fall is a very scary thing esp when you are not looking down at the ground; not knowing when the swing is going to finally catch you and take you flying through the air. After the zip lining we went back to the lodge where we were staying and then went to dinner. Oh dinner, it was an amazing thing because by this time I had not really had any "American" food, and we had pizza for dinner. Even though pizza is really Italian food, I have it back in the states so. At dinner I sat with Steve, Paul, Stephanie, and Morell. It was probably the funniest dinner I have had here yet, and I dont know why because everything we were laughing at really wasn't that funny. I think we were through seven or so pizzas all together, and at dinner I made a new best friend. This new friend was a mixed dog that looked like he had a little of yellow lab and I dont really know what else. We then returned to the lodge where we went on the night walk; which was pretty cool because we got to see bats and all kinds of other little bugs even though it was raining really really hard. For the rest of the night we just played Mafia and Sniper. I explained what Mafia was earlier, but Sniper is another card game. The point of the game is for the sniper to wink at everyone in the game without getting caught. The way that the sniper is choosen is by having one or two Aces in the cards, and whoever chooses those are the snipers. It is alot harder then it sounds because you will be sitting in a circle while everything is looking at you or someone else.

We started off the next day by waking up at 5:45 to go on our morning hike at 6:00. While on the hike we saw hummingbirds but most importantly we saw the female and male Quetzal. The female Quetzal is seen more frequently then the male, but that particular morning we saw two females and a couple of males. The female is a darker bird that is not as pretty as the male, but the male is a beautiful bird that can around three feet long with its tail. The male is a mixture of green, white, red, and a blueish color. After the morning hike, we had breakfast at the lodge and then headed back to San Jose.

Overall, I would say that the weekend was a great weekend, and I feel like everyone had a great time and got to know each other even better. I really can't complain about one thing while on the trip, but I can say that I just think that things are going to get better.

Ecotourism

Costa Rica was the birthplace for Ecotourism. There are at least six different types of environments in Costa Rica: cloud forest, tropical rain forest, dry tropical forest, montane oak forest, mountainous paramo, and mangrove and other wetlands. Between all of these environments tourist are able to find a varied of activities to do while visiting Costa Rica.

Some will argue that the first place to start off your visit to Costa Rica is with one of the country's well-trained natural history guides; that is if you are going to be traveling through of the the many rain forests or national parks. All of these guides are experts at identifying birds, frogs, monkeys, bats, snakes, and other wildlife that will be surrounding you during your tour. As once quote by naturalist Amos Bien, "Being in a rainforest without a guide is like being in a library without knowing how to read." Not only will the guides help you through the jungle and also by pointing species out, but they can also help you by getting in contact with travel agencies. Even though Costa Rica is filled with beautiful landscapes, there are several other things to do while traveling in Costa Rica. Some of these activities include: canopy zip lines, golfing, volcano visits, enjoying the beautiful beachs, kayaking, white water rafting, and several other entertaining activities.  Finally, the benefits and costs of Ecotourism to the economy are as followed.  The benefits of it is that it provides benefits to industries, transfer of income, and diversifaction.  The costs to the economy are leakage, exploitation of local work force, and instability.  

Bananas

Here in Costa Rica bananas make up 7% of exports, and according to dictionary.com a banana is defined as "A tropical plant of the genus Musa, certain species of which are cultiveated for their nutritious fruit." Also, according to ro.unctad.org "The banana is not a tree but a high herb that con attain up to 15 metres of height, and grow in tropical regions where the aberage temperature is 80 degrees F and the yearly rainfall is 78-98 inches." Production of a banana is a long and hard process because the time it takes between planting a banana plant and then harvesting it could last anywhere from 9 to 12 months.
Banana production system can differ between the different types of the producing areas. Plantations are mostly found in Latin America, and they not only take time and hard work to run but also huge investments in infrastructure and technology. Banana growing is very labour intensive because of several important factors in growing the banana. A banana plant requires intensive and individual care to obtain the required quality fruit; some individual cares are claering away of the jungle growth, propping to counter bending from the weight of the growing fruit, and probably the most important is irrigation during the dry season. After this long and intensive process of caring for the banana the harvesting season comes.
Bananas are havested when they are green and hard. In order to harvest the bananas there are two types of workers that are required to do this, and they are the ¨cutter¨ and the ¨backer¨. The cutter cuts down the plant; while the backer waits for the cut stem to land on a cushion on his shoulder. After the cutter and backer have done their job the bananas are then transported to packing shad where the bananas are removed by hand and are then washed. The final stage for processing them is that the bananas then go through quality control before they are packaged.

Fair Trade Coffee in Costa Rica

"Fair Trade coffee is a socially and environmentally responsible way to conduct trade between developed and developing countries", quoted by GlobalExchange.org. An advantage to this Fair Trade is that we now have the power to revolutionize the global economy, and demonstrate that the world can evenutally work together to provide everyone his or her need. As of November 14, 2007 coffee in Costa Rica accounted for 11% of exprt revenue and employed 5% of the nations labor force. Costa Rica Coffee also accounts for 2.6% of the worlds production of coffee. In Costa Rica there are 72,942 coffee growers. Costa Rica claims that as a country they are focused on the small farmers. A small farmer would grow his or her coffee on less then 5 hectares, which makes up around 44% of the total coffee produced. Medium size farmers will probably own up to as much as 20 hectares of land which will account for approximately 21% of the nations coffee. While the larger coffee produces, which is only 2% of the farmers, have more then 20 hectares and will produce 35% of the nations coffee.

Now in Costa Rica the COOCAFE is the only Fair Trade coffee cooperatives. They make up 3500 small coffee producers, and they are located in nine independent cooperatives through out the country. Their mission is ,"To promote social and economic development and environmentally sustainable coffee production that meets the quality demands of our customers and serves the needs of our cooperatives and their member." COOCAFE was founded in 1988, and since then it has grown and now has established the International organization known as the FairTrade Labelling Organization, FLO. FLO`s main desire is to work with third world producers and give them better opportunities, treatment, and guarantees quality products for the consumer. FLO consists of 416 different licensed importers, industries, supermarkets and stores, and more than 800,000 producers. FLO works with sells in Europe, North America, and Japan. The fair trade associated with COOCAFE and FLO is comprised of three different groups of participants. First is the producers, second is the licensees, and thirdly is the national iinitiatives and campaigns. In conclusion the COOCAFE and FLO are commited to giving better opportunities that benefit producers around the world.

Daisy Rodriguez- Del Cafe...Tal

Today, May 21, 2008, we traveled to Daisy Rodriguez´s coffee plantation to learn how a small owned plantation is run, and what it takes to also maintain the planation. She started her interest in owning her own coffee plantation ten years ago, and since then has been both an organic and traditional coffee producer. She changed from being an organic coffee producer three years ago because she went from producing 800 baskets to 30 baskets a year. Now she has the number one coffee in Costa Rica, and they would have it that they are the best in the world. The plantation is located in the Alajuela province, where 1.2 million of the population lives. Daisy gave us some background information about coffee, and said that about 30 years ago a coffee producer would receive 30% of the value. Daisy has her own brand which is Del Cafe...Tal. She sells to Japan, Europe, and the United States. Her company is vertically intergated, doing all of the planting, picking, drying, shipping, selling, and etc. She also employees six people year around, and during the picking season she employees 70 people. The process after the coffee bean has been picked takes 7-8 days. She now produces around 80,000 pounds of coffee a year, and since she just receive the award of having the number one coffee in Costa Rica she can sell 100 pounds for 1500 dollars.

Personal Blog

So today is my thrid day here in Costa Rica and so far so good. I really cant complain about anything that has happened yet except for maybe the lack of sleep, but then again it has been fun going out with everyone and getting to know them. Last night a group of us went to the Monday night bar, and I ended up having a little to much for having to get up at 6:15 this morning. It was definatetly different then any bar that I have been to in the states; which was a good thing. There was actual live music that was enjoyable, people actually dancing, and the people were friendly (except one guy that didn't like me trying to push through to get to my friend, but hey you cant be friends with everyone) After awhile of hanging out with everyone my host brother ended up showing up to the bar, and him and I decided it would be smart to buy drinks back and forth (which was the downfall of the night for me).
Yesterday, we went to Cinde, which is a private non-profitable organization that helps bring in new businesses to Costa Rica. That is one thing that I am kinda confused about, and that is that during the presentation the lady said that Costa Rica wanted to be an export powered economy, but if you are wanting to bring in companies from outside like she also sad wouldn't that just defeat the purpose of wanting to be an export powered economy?? During the presentation we heard about how Costa Rica got rid of their military again.....I guess this is one thing that they are very proud of. Also during the presentation we learned something that I thought was very interesting and that is that coffee only makes up for 3% of Costa Ricas export compared to when it use to be 53% of their exports back in the 1980's. Another thing that I found amazing was that 98.3% of Costa Ricans have health-care, and that it is the 2nd most globalized country in Latin America.
Tomorrow we are going to go visit a coffee plantation, and I am interested to see what it is like. I dont know what to except really. I dont know if we are going to be getting down and working a little or if we are just going to be touring the plantation and seeing how it is run. Tonight, I think that I am just going to go home and finish my readings for the classes tomorrow, and then have dinner and then just get back in bed and lay there all night and watch TV and go to sleep.
So far everything has gone well, but I did meet some people that got held a gun point last night. So, I really guess I do need to pay attention to my surroundings and becareful. Also, I talked to Allison today and she is really enjoying Lux and seems to be doing well. It will be good seeing her when we get back and she comes down for the 4th of July.

First Day in Costa Rica

Yesterday started by getting up around 6:30, to where I found a table full of fruit, Gayo Pintos (spelling???), bread, juices, and coffee.  My housemate Peter and I sat at the table discussing how much better we felt about understanding our house mom that morning than we did the night before, the movies that were on the night before, and what we thought we would be doing that day.  After breakfast, we got ready to walk to school and meet the rest of the group where we found out that we had to walk three girls to school.  One being from Colorado, and the other two being from Montana.  Arriving at the school we saw the rest of our group, and I starting asking people how their night was and if their host family spoke any english.  After that we all got our picture taken and finally departed for the tour of the city.  

During the tour we saw the presidents house, which was a lot different then the White House.  The first difference that I noticed was that the house was just like every other house in the neighborhood, and the second thing that I noticed was that there was really no security besides a couple of cameras and a security guard watching them......well I am going to have to finish this later because I have to go to class.

Help

I just got from spring break and I need to go back soon.