Here, we got to learn this intricate art style in a workshop with one of the few artisans in Sarchi that still paints this style. It was amazing to see the patience and attention to detail that it takes to create this art. Obviously oxcart painting is a practice that dates back for generations in Costa Rica, passed down from artisan to artisan. While oxcarts used to serve as a means of transport for coffee beans from the mountains and the central valley areas to the coastal areas of Costa Rica, they are now used to preserve history, artisanship, and culture.
We drove through Belen on the way to one of our field visits, and it was interesting to see this unique part of Costa Rica. The main economic activity in Belen is based on technological and medical industry and commerce. Costa Rica's biggest export is actually medical and technological devices, so it was cool to see the area that is fueling Costa Rica's economy. Our tour guide Stanley mentioned that only a generation or two back the average worker in Costa Rica would have been in the agricultural field, but now much of the workforce exists in industry.
San Jose is the capital of Costa Rica and is the largest city in the country. It is almost in the direct center of the country, located in the mid-west of the central valley. It was founded in 1736 and grew during the 18th century due to its fertile location for coffee farming. Additionally, San Jose has a lot of south american immigrants who stop there on their way to the United States.
We got the chance to visit the Mono Congo Loco store in Guaitil and learn the Chorotega pottery technique.
La Carpio is a town that has many Nicaraguan immigrants. This town only has one road in and out, and was long thought to be a dangerous neighborhood due to xenophobia against Nicaraguans. Many of its citizens are entrepreneurs or work in services. Many more are security guards as a sizable population were in the Nicaraguan army.
We visited Las Catalinas on our free day after Vini took us to the beach. We all agreed that it was very a very strange and unsettling area. It was almost like a little resort bubble, but it was also sort of a small town with shops and a few restaurants. It was super quiet and also totally dead. Everything was very expensive as well. It felt like a rich ghost town, but the beach was really beautiful.
We hiked to this beautiful waterfall and learned a lot about the ecology of the area. We saw bats, ate termites, and smelled some citronella. It was amazing to see the rich biodiversity of Costa Rica.
Sarchí is located on the slope of Costa Rica’s Central Mountain Range at the eastern edge of the Central Valley. It is widely known as an artisan town with its fine woodworking and ox cart shops. There are countless artisan stores, most of them being family-owned and run by several generations of Costa Rican artisans. Since the early 1800s, Sarchí served as the place where people would purchase their ox carts, the most important mean of transporting goods during this time. It was not until the late 1800s that this town began crafting furniture like beds or dressers to sell.
One out of 50 campuses EF hosts, the Playa Tamarindo location is truly amazing. Its location is only a 10 minute walk from downtown Tamarindo and its stunning beaches. Including a cafeteria, student lounge, pool, and library, this learning space also doubles as a fun event location. Students here are tested into what level of Spanish they feel most comfortable in and then progress throughout the program, learning new vocabulary and valuable information on Costa Rican culture.
The Pan-American Highway is a system of roads connecting North and South America. It was originally built in 1923 as a singular road and then quickly grew into other participating countries. It extends from Alaska and Canada to Chile, Brazil, and the southern tip of Argentina, totaling 19,000 miles. Except for the Darien Gap, a break between the border of Colombia and Panama, the highway is continuous along the coast of both American continents.
Lifting Hands in a nonprofit organization that works with the local community to provide social aid (education, fund raising, workshops) to those in need. The biggest challenges the local community of Bajo De Los Anonos includes drug trafficking, prostitution, and sicarios (hitmen). Their mission is to divert vulnerable youth who may be headed down these dangerous roads. They provide education, psychology, heath care, community development to provide these kids with different skills for a better life.
This museum is located in the only underground building in Costa Rica. The museum has nine thematic units which start at beginning of indigenous civilization in costa rica and the goes on to explain the process of making these old artifacts as well as its meanings. The collection includes many indigenous artifacts depicting animals such as birds, alligators, frogs, and jaguars. To the indigenous Costa Ricans, gold was seen as a sign of authority and these animals were depicted as signs of power, as well.
Tamarindo was once not the bustling town it was. Now boasting 90% foreign-born residents, Tamarindo was once a little-known fishing village. In 1994, the town was popularized by the surfing movie Endless Summer II. Soon, it was inundated by surfers and other tourists alike wishing to catch a wave.
The national park was established in 1972 when the neighboring community of Quepos sought conservation to prohibit destruction of the natural environment. It is the most popular natural park out of Costa Rica’s list of 30. The park has multiple beaches as well as trails throughout the forest for animal-watching. Visitors can see sloths, monkeys, iguanas, toucans, crabs, and occasionally dolphins.
The Art Museum is located inside of San Jose’s old airport facilities. They constantly have rotating and permanent collections within the building as well as a sculpture garden outside. Its most famed exhibit is the Gold Room, a mural constructed in 1939-1940 by Louis Féron, a French sculptor who lived in Costa Rica for more than ten years. The mural was made to depict Costa Rica’s history from the arrival of the Spanish up to 1940.
Located near the most polluted river of Central America (Tarcoles), MareBlu is an environmental conservation organization partnered with the Ocean Aliance Project. They started in 2018 as “vacations with a purpose” and soon grew into a a bigger volunteer project. They soon gained interest from companies who wanted to fulfill their sustainable Bandera Azul certification. MareBlu is the ONLY corporation in Costa Rica that processes 100% of the plastics they collect. They also employ the local community as well as plant trees and build artificial reefs in the surrounding areas.
Hacienda Doka is a renowned coffee plantation not just for its stunning products, but sustainable practices as well. Hacienda Doka, as well as every other coffee plantation in Costa Rica, is forbidden by law to produce coffee other than the Arabica strand. They have 150 total acres of land and grow over 20 forms of arabica seeds. The plantation does not waste anything in the process of harvesting and peeling coffee seeds: all peels go into compost, and their operation is certified by the Rainforest Alliance. They are also an ethical company as they provide housing and daycare services for their workers.
At the Monteverde Institute, we had the chance to participate in a service project were we filled plastic bags with soil which will later have seeds planted in them to grow trees. One of the main things that Monteverde focuses on is community based conservation. There are more species of trees in Monteverde than there are in the United States, and the Monteverde Institute is trying to restore a lot of the forest that has been lost over the past 50 years. The Monteverde Institute gives away free trees throughout rainy season to the local community. They collect seeds from the forest and germinate them at the institute.
This beach is truly set apart from the other ones in Costa Rica. This is not a white or blank sand beach. Instead, the shore is made up of countless seashells, many still intact.
Nestled in the artisan town of Sarchí, this place is the only hydraulic powered ox cart factory in costa rica. Founded in 1923, these ox carts were originally made without fancy decorations and only created to move produce from the central valley to puntarenas. Now, it takes 120 days to decorate one ox cart, and 5 years to train as an ox cart artist. This shop alone has employed 2,600 families in Sarchí
Quiticol, a chemical/cleaning supplies producer, owns the Chemist’s Store and works with a brand called Klean Tab. This brand, which creates detergent, hand soap, and floor cleaners, used to import chemicals from Germany. Worried about their environmental impact, they asked Quiticol if they could produce the products locally. By creating compact soap tabs, they believe that they care cutting back on tremendous waste from consumers who may use too much liquid soap. Additionally, the bag that the soap tabs come in is completely compostable and Klean Tab is a company certified by the International Standard Certification
In Monteverde, we had the chance to attend Independence Day festivities on the 14th and 15th. It was so cool to see the kids with creative homemade faroles or lanterns and hear the Costa Rican national anthem. On the 15th we enjoyed the parade with the bands and dancers from local schools. It was amazing to see them showing off their talents and celebrating Costa Rican Heritage and culture.
From theory to practice; experimental learning in sustainable development and circular economy in Costa Rica
Bodhi is a Sanskrit word that means enlightening, awakening, and consciousness. This is exactly what Pilar and Travis of Bodhi Surf + Yoga strive to achieve. As a “tourist company”, it was always part of their intention to create awareness and connection with nature and community for their clients in Costa Rica. They are Bandera Azul certified which shows through their, rain water collection system, compost management, wood infrastructure, solar panels, and absence of AC units. They are also very engaged in their local area as they partner with local, family run businesses to support their surrounding community.
This location is the only federal compost in country. However, their main purpose is to serve as a transfer station so trucks won’t have to drive all around the country to landfills and instead can be collected more efficiently. The compost rarely is sold and instead is given away to organizations and schools who need rich soil. It also seems as though this service doesn’t cost more for citizens and is efficient through using bacteria to break down organic materials. However, they are hampered in a lot of ways due to lack of money. They would have a better machine to separate organics and plastics if they had the money to buy a new machine. Waste management is seen as an after effect which is given little attention.
This “hill” stretches across the Talamanca Mountain Range and is the highest point along the Pan-American Highway. It gets its name from historical times in which travelers crossing the mountain range by foot were unprepared for the high altitude and cold weather conditions they met on top of the hill.
Costa Rica Coral Restoration was sparked by a catastrophic 85% bleaching event in the nearby coral reefs of Parque Nacional Marino Ballena. They are SINAC and MINAE certified as the only coral lab in Costa Rica. They recently have gotten funding from the EU in which 65% of the money went directly to female empowerment in the community and indigenous tribes. In a lab, they fragment pieces of coral and study their growth rate, gluing them back together to create a a coral 5x bigger than what they originally found.
Originally a dairy farm, LombriTec has grown into far more than that. One of the first issues they wanted to tackle in order to be more sustainable was the disposal of manure. Before, it was thrown into the river and washed away with large amounts of water. Now, all the water that is used for cleaning is filtered back into tanks which they use to process the manure into compost. The manure is turned into compost after separating solids and water through aerobic fermentation. LombriTec then have diners give them their food waste to put into the compost, decreasing the possible release of methane. Now, they sell this compost to consumers instead of simply washing away the manure.
EBI Technology Park is a landfill, meaning they compact waste into the ground by making a “lasagna” with layers of trash, then dirt, then trash and so on. They also have a water treatment plant that takes the liquids from the waste, cleans it using microorganisms, then safely returns it to the river. They collect and burn the methane released from the garbage and collect rainwater to wash garbage trucks. On a brighter side, they reforest around the landfill and give away trees.
La Fortuna was not always the tourist town it is now. Originally, it was a small agricultural town, until the Arsenal Volcano, located nearby, erupted in 1968. In the next 12 years, scientists, researchers, and tourists flocked to the town, amazed by the volcano and the hot springs which it had created due to the magma. Now, it is one of the most important tourist town in Costa Rica.
Near the volcano of the same name, in 1979 Lago Arenal was enlarged to be three times its original size. This was done by I.C.E (Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad) to create a hydroelectric dam that would provide energy to the whole country. Now, it produces 12% of the entire country’s energy. The lake is also a popular place to fish, boat, and windsurf.
This is the biggest recycling plant in Costa Rica and is one of four that exports materials in the country. They are a US based company. They process plastic and cardboards for any contaminants before compressing them into bales. This is part of the linear system as recycling is the best thing that can happen within this system. Everything in this plant is exported across the world, for example to China to make shirts or Peru to be made into bottles. The plastics that can’t be recycled are shipped and sold as fuel to be incinerated.
Rancho Margot is a self-sufficient ranch and lodge. They get all of their energy from a nearby river. Instead of discarding animal waste and food waste, they turn this into compost to put into their gardens. They also have a permaculture, protecting the diversity and health of plants such as cocoa and bananas. They tailor their vegetation to be suitable for the rainforest climate they are situated in. Additionally, they use no hormones in any of their animals and have “living roofs” above their pens. All of the soap is made on the property, from vegetable oil that is discarded after cooking.