5 June, 2011

With today being the first day to really relax and enjoy the city on our own, it was a great day.  We were finally able to get ourselves something to remember this remarkable trip by.  I was not expecting to learn much on this day since we had so much free time to just shop, however; I definitely learned about how locals from San Jose interact with tourists.  I also experienced an area designated more towards shopping for Costa Rican people.  The open air market we went to was amazing.  It had so many different hand-made artifacts; I could have spent all day there.  You could tell that these items were what people spent their time making and were their main source of income.  We didn't get to learn too much about the normal life in San Jose so spending more time in the city to see it was exciting.

After shopping in the market, Kristen, Taylor and I went into the city to walk around and spend some time in the heart of the city.  We found this artistic market which was really cool with local paintings as well as more expensive tourist gifts. The people there did not seem to need our money as much as the ones at the local market, and were more kind.  We also went into a local sports store just because we love to look at athletic clothes and it was interesting to note that there were about 10-15 teenage guys working at the store and only one girl.  They said this was very common for sports stores, so I hope that overtime, Costa Rica will integrate more.  Overall it was not only a fun experience but an educational one.

That night we had our last lecture wrapping up our discussion of sustainable development within Costa Rica.  Mauricio showed us several photographs of how although there are laws to prevent the cutting down of trees and how the land is used in certain areas, people are finding ways around them.  When the government simply claims the land as theirs, it is hard for people to stop using their land the way they are used to.  Developing the national park system and maintaining the trust in the government will be very important for Cost Rica in the future.  All that is left to do before leaving the hotel at 4 am is to eat a good dinner and pack up.  Hasta Luego Costa Rica.