Finally it was time for the long awaited Canopy tour. After a good breakfast of gallo pinto at the hotel we headed out to the Volcan Arenal National Park where the zip-lining would take place in the middle of the rain forest. We had to wait for quite some time before it was out turn. People spent the time either worrying about the height and what’s going to be waiting for them, doing a little game playing or bird-watching. Our tour guide Fico spotted a tucan on a nearby tree, so the binoculars were set up in a minute and time flew by while watching the bird and enjoying the nature around us. Finally when given the introduction to what was awaiting us and received the equipment necessary for the rides we got on the tram to go up on the mountain. By the time we got up, the rain had stopped and another sunny day was waiting for us. Two short rides for trying out the equipment and making sure whether we really want to do this and then the fun began.

The first official ride was over 470m long and the moment you left the deck there was no way back. You were flying over, sometimes trough the rain forest at a speed of 60-80km/h. The group went zigzagging from one deck to another and this was accompanied by screams of sacredness to someone thinking he could be the Tarzan of the new era. After a total of 8 rides everyone arrived back in the base happily and adrenaline pumped. We got a chance to return once more to La Fortuna where we had spent the night in order to walk around the town a bit and do some shopping in case interested. Then back on the bus on arriving back in San Jose for a new activity packed week. Pura Vida!

by Madli Merila

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This day just started out like the perfect day, great sunshine, clear sky and a perfect view of the surrounding green mountains (which are usually covered in clouds). It was the most beautiful morning here in Costa Rica so far, so my spirits were high and I was looking forward to our visit to ICE.

The Instituto Costaricense de Electricidad (ICE) is the (almost monopolistic) Costa Rican provider of electricity and (used to own) the monopoly for telecommunications. We heard an interesting presentation followed by a Q&S session. We encountered various aspects that were really interesting for me and made me think. Costa Rica generates 95% of its energy demand from renewable energy sources, mainly hydropower – which is extremely low on carbon emissions. The global impact of course is close to zero, but it is still a good example of how even less developed countries can be environmentally conscious. We also went into some discussion about the pros and cons of a monopoly. Many us coming from a business background were very skeptical at the beginning. Jorge Mario Montero (a civil engineer from ICE) brought up some arguments though, which made me challenge my previous knowledge. ICE apparently engages a lot in community and environmental work, which they can afford by being state owned. Furthermore they can think in long term investments, where the first returns will only come in 20-25 years. At the end it seem as if ICE is the best company in the world, which goes a bit too far for me, but I guess they are doing quite good.

For lunch we decided on some almost typical local food – Chinese with chopsticks. ;-) It was delicious, even though it didn´t contain any “gallo pinto”.

After the usual rain shower, I spent the rest of the afternoon (after Spanish class and homework) with Daniel, me hermano nuevo, exploring the neighborhood, where we discovered great green places and a vivid street life. The city reveals us more and more great things with time as we learn to see them. Me gusta!  :-)

by Fanny Artner

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The weekend at the Caribbean Coast was awesome! We spent three days in paradise and now I can understand what Prof. Clarke meant when he  spoke about the “paradise syndrome”. Therefore it was quite hard to return to normal life. Everybody seemed to be a bit tired, but no wonder; after the intensive days, and yes also nights, in Puerto Viejo one would expect us to be exhausted. As I opened the schedule I could not believe my eyes: “Week three already began!”.

So it was halftime and it was also the last course day with Prof. Clarke. I certainly think that he could just keep talking for another two weeks, especially if he didn’t have Mr. Clock, his nickname for me, to stop him. I already miss his interesting stories. He concluded his course with an outlook about possible links for a better future.

In the second part of the day our new class with Prof. Viroslav began. The point of view he is offering is very different and therefore very interesting. I am also looking forward to the planned field trips (wind farm and tree nursery). After Spanish class it was getting hot again. Salsa, Merengue y Cumbia estan no problema para nosotros. Salimos por la noche!

by Daniel Zadra

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Once again it was time to wake up. The familiar sound of my alarm clock was calling me back to “this world” and as usual, I tried to ignore it for a while. I felt perfectly happy in my bed and didn´t want to get up for another couple of hours. Then I realized that would miss my breakfast if I stayed in bed. This idea finally got me moving and while being still half asleep, I tried to pack everything I needed for going to the beach and went to the hotel restaurant for a breakfast. I enjoyed having my favorite fried plantains, American style pancakes, gallo pinto and tropical fruits with two glasses of orange juice for breakfast. At that time I hadn´t known my plans for that morning were about to change soon.

During the time I was waiting for others to go swimming, I met Daniel who told me he was going to a sloth sanctuary. I decided to join him and a few others. Oscar, our driver, and Fico, our guide, took us to a place not far away from our hotel and we had a beautiful time watching these cute and funny creatures called sloths. There were more than fifteen of them, both babies and adults. You could notice that the baby sloth was much more curious about us than an adult one. The guide let us feed and pet one of the adult sloths which seemed to enjoy it a lot. Time went by fast and we realized we had to go back to our hotel and check out. When I arrived at my room, I found out I still have to pack all my stuff because I didn´t manage to do it during my sleepy morning. I did it as fast as possible but I still came last to our bus. We left for Puerto Viejo de Talamanca ten minutes after.

I have to say that town looked differently in daylight (we were here two days before at nighttime, dining and dancing) but still beautifully when we arrived. After agreeing to meet again at 4 pm we went to look for a nice place for lunch there and we soon found one. As it was my last day in this Caribbean “paradise” I decided to have an extraordinary lunch and ordered shrimps in coconut sauce and fresh pineapple juice. Wow, what a lovely lunch!

I was ready to go to a beach and I did so. Believe me, I have never seen a more beautiful beach in my life. Time passed by quickly and we didn´t want to leave that charming place. And we weren´t alone. When we got to our bus we learned we can stay one more hour. Great! I spent my last hour in paradise sitting on a beach, having Piňa Colada, listening to Latin music and watching people dancing salsa. Suddenly I realized how perfect this actually is and that I want to spend days like this, I wanted to STAY. I felt perfect happiness. And then came the time to say goodbye (probably forever) to Puerto Viejo. For the first time in Costa Rica I felt very sad because I had to leave that place and I really didn´t want to leave. Knowing I don’t have any other option, I got on the bus back to San Jose and let it take me somewhere I didn´t want to go. I felt disappointed and resigned. Few hours later we arrived at Parque de Tibas and I took a taxi “home”. I fell asleep quickly that night and dreamt about Puerto Viejo.       

by Daniela Bartakova

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The alarm went off way too early again – but I guess the excitement and anticipation for the Caribbean Coast made up for that. We left San José at 7 in the morning (plus tico time) and headed off to paradise. On our way we drove through the national park of “Braulio Carillo”, where I was again amazed by the endless different shades of green, and the only tunnel in Costa Rich, which (according to our guide) used to be the real attraction for Costa Ricans.  

At one point we of course had to make a “gallo pinto” stop at a gas station to fuel up with energy. As much as this rice-and-beans breakfast seemed weird at the beginning, apparently we can’t have a day without it anymore. Feeling alive again we were ready to reach the banana plantation. At the plantation, which some observed as Banana Disneyland, we got introduced to the magical number 3 – since everything there consisted of 3 parts, had 3 problems, 3 solutions and 3 reasons. Our guide there was definitely an interesting character, that’s for sure. He took us through the history, the harvesting and the packing of the banana plants; talked about different certification they have, like ISO, SA 8000 and the Rainforest Alliance (3 again) and felt a bit annoyed by our paparazzi at the beginning.  

 Although we got to taste some bananas, we still felt hungry and therefore drove to Puerto Viejo. I personally felt enchanted by that small place with its sandy streets, it’s beaches with palm trees and little boats, the music and the rasta hairstyle. Plus I also  learned some (maybe) valuable things – how to kill and cook a langosta and what it means to be relaxed – “0 3= cero (es)tres” – I love it!

We left Puerto Viejo for a bit to drive to our hotel and check in, but we returned for dinner – where we met a perezoso (sloth) and its baby, which totally made my night. Later on we celebrated Harriet’s and Daniel’s graduation at a great place with local music next to the beach. Felt like dreaming … hmmm … maybe it won’t stop. :-)

by Fanny Artner

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A couple of days ago, I heard that a storm might be passing through which would lead massive rains in Costa Rica. I assume that it has arrived because today it started raining as we were on our way to ULACIT.  But I shouldn´t be complaining about rain as this has been a day of good news. And by good news I mean that the due date of our take-home exam has been put back  until coming Friday, something that of course deserves to be celebrated tonight. ;)

Milton Clarke´s lecture was very interesting as usual. He discussed the situations you face when working with international organizations, and he drew on his own experience in advising us. He kicked off with a communication exercise designed to show how much confusion can take place as information is passed on, resulting in facts getting distorted. To demonstrate how easily confusion could be created he sent five individuals out of class, without telling them why. They were then given the task of retelling each other a story, one by one, which resulted in fact distortion. To show us that this result was not always a necessary result, he used the remainder of the lecture to tell us about more successful episodes, and how to accomplish positive results.

After lectures Philipp had decided to do a small expectation session, just like we had the first day at ULACIT. The initial expectations for the course mostly concerned the Costa Rican culture, sustainable development, the people on the course, and the Spanish language. This session gave us an opportunity to give our comments on each of the topics, indicating whether they had been accomplished or not, and to reflect on our hopes for the rest of the trip, as we are moving close to our second week here.

All in all another great day, let us just hope the rain comes to an end so that we can enjoy our weekend in Puerto Viejo. Pura Vida!

by Susanne Gjonnes

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The day started like every other day in Costa Rica, a hauntingly beautiful place I will call “home” for 4 weeks: getting up early, having a typical Costa Rican breakfast (gallo pinto with scrumbled eggs), getting ready for school and taking the bus to the university campus.

Mr Milton started his lesson early, and he talked about electricity in Costa Rica, where only one provider has a monopoly on this extremely important source of energy and has - naturally – no intentions to change this situation any time soon. Mr Milton explained to us that electricity in Costa Rica is like „a free tiger fighting against a tied donkey“ (whereas the first was meant to be ICE, the later being other companies). After that discussion we watched “the story of stuff“, a film meant to sensibilize people about issues of consumption! It was very good explanation of the usual chain of production to the end of consumption.

After a short lunch break we went to visit Robert Artavia Loria, the chairman of the Fundacion Latinoamerica Posible in Panama and Costa Rica, Board Member, visiting professor and former long-time Rector of INCAE Business School. On our way to the meeting, we were surprised – like so many times before – by heavy tropical rain. Once arrived Roberto Artavia gave us an overview of the Costa Rican economic problems and solutions. Among other facts he told us that Costa Rica isn’t competitive about labor costs but that the real amount of resources isn’t known yet! After some critical questions from our side (How can we really bring about change?), his answer was not to be too idealistic… but to stick to the Pareto principle and focus on the issues that offer the greatest leverage (such as betterments in transportation).

My day ended in the kitchen of my host family, where we talked about what happened during the day over typical Costa Rician dinner.

by Anne-Marie Lambert

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When envisioning the environmental context of Costa Rica, images of lush green rainforests, breathtaking waterfalls & gorgeous beaches may come to mind. The built world constituting Costa Rica’s cities and towns is generally overlooked and given little more than a passing glance. I wouldn’t blame anybody for this though as even the inhabitants of Costa Rica’s largest city, San Jose, admit that the city is in a state of disrepair or to put it in layman terms, “ugly.” The natural world here is so beautiful and at first impression, the cities tend to end up on the opposite end of the spectrum. Granted, if one simply strolls through San Jose, they are likely to rattle off a long list of maladies before ever arriving at a single compliment. Perhaps it’s the shear captivation of the world around the Ticos that lead them to disregard the roads and sidewalks that often serve only to transport people from one view of the surrounding mountain range to another.

Yet, there is a level of beauty hidden under the dirt, grim and rubble of San Jose that lays dormant, waiting for someone to discover it. Coincidentally, the reason for the utterly unloved state of most of the streets, sidewalks and buildings was revealed to me by Senor Roberto Artavia to be a product of the Costa Rican government investing heavily in human capital while viewing infrastructure as something to be attended to later. But for all the havoc this stance has caused the streetscapes, there still exists some charm in the historical and cultural progression evident in San Jose’s buildings. The centers of many of the cities seem as if European architecture has been imported here long ago and left to weather in the tropical climate. It’s not far from the truth; the colonial occupation by Spain lives on through a handful of aged classical edifices.

I came upon some of these buildings in San Jose with a group of the other students in the INEX group after classes on Monday and was caught off guard at first. It’s not so much the fact that these buildings exist here, but rather their abrupt existence alongside such a variety of other architectural styles from across time. Rusting corrugated metal roofing buts up next to a 70’s brutalist concrete fortress, which is planted beside a contemporary commercial bank clad in zinc plating with strips of backlit plexi-glass signage. The ordered mentality of European cities’ architectural groupings seems to have fallen on deaf ears hear. It’s much more closely tied to the capitalist notions of free-market expansion, which if not closely regulated tends to foster an amalgamation of buildings to sprout up wherever they wish.However, I have to confess my admiration for the central market in San Jose. It’s far from being an architectural marvel; in fact it’s housed inside a sort of warehouse. Regardless, I was enamored with the maze of narrow passageways with a variety of wares displayed on every square inch. I felt like I was in a bizarre from a sci-fi show! Where else can I find a pile of machetes right next to petite pink dresses!? Of course all that windowshopping and getting all turned around within the maze of alleyways makes a fellow build up a healthy appetite, but oh wait, they’ve got that covered as well. So it was that we ended our excursion into the belly of San Jose with a meal served on a plastic tablecloth under fluorescent lights with various catholic statuettes and such adorning the walls. Mmmmm, I simply love to gobble up deliciously different culture, even if it may seem a little rough around the edges.

by Daniel Nowell

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The day started early and again with a new experience. We met at the Park of Tibás at 6:00 a.m. –  therefore Fanny and I were the first people leaving the house. We tried to be as quiete as possible but when we wanted to leave the house we were confronted with an insuperable obstacle. The front door was locked with an extra lock and we had to wake up our host mum. Once we were sitting in our tourbus, a man passed by and handed us a drinking bottle filled with unusual guests – a small snake accompanied by a big cockroach. After freeing our new friends we started our amazing trip.

While heading to Rio Pacuare we passed by beautiful rainforests, the nice city of Cartago (known for its beautiful cathedral) and the active Vulcano Irazú. After splitting up into different boats, we traversed 18 miles of remote waters. The route was divided into rapids up to the strength of 4 and sections of slow waters. The flora and fauna was stunning, we were able to see butterflies of every color, dragonflies and birds, like the well-known tucan. We could also discover that many eco-resorts were established next to the river. What came into my mind was that it is a great way of sensitizing to the nature – but it is also somehow a bitter pill to swallow (tourism in such an untouched nature).

The trip, in every respect, was stunning. Just one thing to complain about: as we arrived at the lodge I had to witness how Spain won the Worldcup. It still hurts a bit.

by Daniel Zadra

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Friday, the day after Fanny’s birthday. I can’t believe that the first week is already over. And still, there are so many things that are pretty common among los ticos which I haven’t experienced yet. For example, today was the first time I had gallo pinto (rice and beans) for breakfast. And it is delicious! As usual I met Daniel on the way to the bus station – but this time he was accompanied by David, who had just arrived and, therefore, joined our group a couple of days later. In class, Dr. Milton Clarke continued the discussion about forestry that we had the day before. He also talked about different levels of responsibility regarding sustainability, meaning that it concerns not only nations but also groups and individuals. We learned about the Bill of Rights for Minors, the WHO master plan entitled “Health for All by the Year 2000” and the Montreal Protocol.

After a very sunny coffee break, we had an interesting exercise for which we were split into four groups and discussed different aspects and policies of gender and sustainable development. In the afternoon, the advanced Spanish class learned about the real story of Count Dracula and, in addition, how to use the past tenses indefinido and imperfecto. Later I had a funny afternoon at home talking with my host mum before David and Daniel stopped by. With the latter I spent the evening working on our paper for Dr. Clarke’s class. As I was really looking forward to go to volcán Poás the next day I didn’t mind going to bed a little earlier than the day before to get a good night’s rest. іBuenas noches a todos!

by Katharina Reithofer

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