Urbanization, Packing, and Four Long Hours

Orientation has come and gone, and now tomorrow brings the "unofficial" start to the program. We leave in the morning for our first 2-week long field trip to the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. We will travel down to the southern part of the country and spend a few days at a national park there. We will be snorkeling, boating, hiking, and so much more over these next few weeks that I can't help but wonder if I'm ready for this. I've never been hiking. I've done the barn work so I know I can walk the distance, but at the same time I worry about the silly things, like packing, for one. But I am excited to get out of the city - too much concrete for my taste. But I must say, this last day in the city has been quite a roller coaster.

This morning was the start to our third class, Humans in the Tropics. We learned about urbanization, consumption, and development in developing countries around the world. It was very interesting, though quite sad at the same time, to learn just how screwed the human race is. We consume more than we can produce in developed countries, while developing countries don't even have enough food to feed their people. We talked about he amount of space on earth we would need if everyone on the planet lived like we do. This began the discussion about ecological footprints, which led into our second trip downtown. We were given two tasks: (1) to find the prices of common household goods, such as groceries, beer, electronics, and clothes, and compare them to prices in the United States, and (2) interview two Costa Ricans regarding their energy consumption. The latter task was probably the most interesting. We had a survey to give the person we interviewed, which asked questions such as how they get around the city, how many people live in their home, how large their home is, what types of things they do to conserve energy, etc. This data was then used on myfootprint.com to fill out the quiz to determine their ecological footprint. Their footprint (given in units of number of earths we would need if everyone lived like that person) was compared with our own. The differences were astounding. My footprint was 2.85 earths, which I thought was quite high. This, however was nearly half that of the United States average, which is 5 earths. This means that if everyone in the world lived the way we do in the US, we would need 5 earths to support the world population in that manner. Crazy, right!? But what I thought was the most interesting was my value compared to that of a Tico. My value, remember, was 2.85 earths. The Tico I interviewed had a value of 0.44 earths. Such a large difference! And one of the biggest reasons for this difference is energy sources. In New England, we use more energy because in the summer we have to cool our homes which requires a lot of energy, and in the frigid winters (like the one they're experiencing now) we have to heat our homes which also requires a large amount of energy. In Costa Rica, they do not have to worry about the constant heating and cooling of homes. They also have a greater abundance of renewable energy (averaging 57%), which reduces their carbon footprint tremendously.

After class this afternoon, we had a few hours to begin packing for the next two weeks. I spent almost all of it packing, the other part doing some homework. Around 6:30 we headed out to dinner at a little bar maybe 6 minutes from the hotel. It was a typical Costa Rican bar - loud music, cramped table space, but nonetheless an awesome environment to enjoy spending time talking with other students in the program. But, talking only goes so far. Unfortunately, it took the bar nearly four hours to bring us our food. Yes, you heard right. FOUR HOURS. So needless to say none of us were really in the mood for eating by the time our food actually came. We were tired from a long day in the city, and stressed about the thought of beginning to pack for the following day. Getting back to the hotel at 10:45 was not exactly an ideal time, but hey, when in Rome, right?  Here, everyone is on Tico Time, so we just have to roll with it. The packing did get (mostly) done, and now its off on a two week adventure.

ANYWAY, here are some pictures from today's adventures downtown:

Daniel and Daniel pointing with Daniel

Found something in the trees perhaps. 

In a park

In a different park

In yet a different park

This was once a school building. Couldn't tell you what it is now, except kinda pretty-looking.