Arrival: Dia Uno

Hola!

Safely arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica! The flights were pretty good considering how nervous I was about getting on the plane. We arrived just in time for the rain today and the temperature feels wonderful. Sorta humid but there is a nice breeze. Getting to know my fellow classmates on the trip is very fun and we all seem to have common interests. I am going to try to speak as much Spanish as I can and really experience the culture here. Time here is about 2 hours behind eastern and it should be an easy adjustment.

Our hotel, Villa Tournon is very nice and our tour guide Javier picked us up and dropped us off at here. We have lecture tonight from 6-8 and then we are going to get dinner. Restaurants close around the same times as normal US restaurants. I am very excited and eager to experience the culture here!

Chao Chicos!

Kristen

costa rica reader

Answers to my questions: These are questions from my book and questions I answered myself throughout the trip

1. Myths about Costa Rica's origin - a. Small indigenous population when Spanish arrived.
b. That it was a peaceful conquest.
c. There were no divisions between classes.
There were actually about 400,000 indigenous people in 1502.
The conquest was not peaceful and lasted about 50 years.
The population was divided up into chieftomships.

2. Costa Rica Became independent in 1821.
3. The major money maker for Costa Rica as far as exports is the coffee. They export all the good coffee beans and keep the not so good beans for themselves. Before coffee was popular they grew crops such as garlic, coriander, plantains, and most important corn. Only the wealthier class could afford to grow grain and have bread on their tables.

4. A major problem land owners and farmer had were that they were losing the titles to their property and had to buy it back.