DAY 1

"THE PLANE HAS LANDED"

"La paz es un proceso que nunca termina ... No se puede ignorar o pasar por alto las diferencias de nuestros intereses comunes. Requiere que trabajamos y vivimos juntos." 
                                                                                   --Oscar Arias Sanchez 

Costa Rica Airport

Today has been an EXTREMELY long day! I have been up since 3 a.m. and I have been moving non-stop ever since. My day began at the Lafayette Regional Airport where I had gotten there at 4 a.m., not realizing that the airport didn't even open until 4:30 a.m.(OVERACHIEVER SYNDROME)! Since this was my first time flying and being out of the country I had a lot of adjusting to do. When I first got onto the plane leaving from Lafayette, flight 5479 to Atlanta, I was beginning to feel a bit queasy. However, by being somewhat medicated prior to boarding the airplane, I managed not to throw up this morning's breakfast. Interestingly, the flight from Lafayette to Atlanta was not too shabby and I can even say we made perfect timing. Once we all arrived in "HOTLANTA" the airport was definitely bigger than the one that was in Lafayette. There were several retail stores, restaurants and electronic stores all over the facility. The airport was so big that we all had to take a subway to get to the other side, YIKES! After settling down at the Atlanta airport some of us decided that we wanted to get something to eat before boarding our next flight to Cost Rica. With that being said, we ate and then we waited a little while and we were on our next flight here to San Jose, Costa Rica. While I was on-flight here to Costa Rica we did have a little bit of turbulence that lead to me obtaining a minor headache but once again, it wasn't too shabby. Once we landed in Costa Rica we had to wait in this long line extending from Costa Rica to Kilimanjaro, (KIDDING), but it did feel like I was in line FOREVER.

Tour Bus

Once we all got through customs and exchanged our U.S. currency for the Costa Rican currency, the colons, we all met our tour guide and the director of Costa Rica tourism. Our tour guide, Mr. Fernando, told us a brief history about the country and what elements of sustainability are truly ideal out here. He discussed how important coffee is to Costa Rica and how growing the coffee bean is very important as it is the main component of the country's GDP. Mr. Fernando also mentioned that by having an eco-friendly environment, Costa Rica can produce more organic items such as fruits and vegetables for individuals living in and out of the country. When the lecture was over from our tour guide, we all got acquainted to our hotel, the TRYP SABANA and when to go settle in for a few minutes. After we settled in, Mr. Fernando took us around the block and showed us historical buildings and even brought us to an authentic restaurant called Soda Tapia. After our escapade around the community, we all went into a convenient store to buy a few snacks for our room and that concluded our evening. So tune in tomorrow for my next blog titled, DAY 2: "LET THE GAMES BEGIN..." where I will be talking about what we have learned in regards to maintaining a sustainable business process and how it relates to...

Ate lunch at SODA TAPIA! Muy Bueno!

Senor Fernando giving us in-site on the  community