Assignments 

Expectation for myself/Peers/ instructor

            While adventuring out to Costa Rica for the Honors study abroad trip, I personally expect to be immersed in another culture where instead being cultivated from a first would country but rather a third world country where life can be seen differently. I want to learn about native costa Ricans and how they live life daily. I also expect to dive deeper and broaden my knowledge on the UN Sustainable Development Goals, where I can then apply them to my previous knowledge of the environment, learned in a previous honors credit course in my last semester of schooling. For my peers I expect that we can keep each other accountable and create a safe and judge free learning travel experience. While some of us have had experience with travel and others haven’t, I hope we can help and guide each other as we all learn among our new environment. Whether this be by helping each other communicate with locals or simply just being a friend to teach new skills to each other. For my instructor I expect a peer mentor who is organized and patient with the many questions and concerns that may arise as travel maybe new to some of us. 

Personal Goals

            Some of my personal goals for this trip begin with being able to relate the UN Sustainable Development Goals to my 13 Page paper I wrote over ocean acidification for my last semester honors credit to build a better understanding of how we are affecting the ecosystems around us. My second goal that I have is to build my communication skills through another language, specifically going from an elementary Spanish speaker to an intermediate Spanish speaker. My third goal is to try new foods related to the Costa Rican culture as well as adventure out and try activates not commonly seen in the U.S. Another general goal is to be open minded and be patient with myself as I understand plans change and my goals may change as well. 

The Ticos Summary  
        This book, “The Ticos”, by Mavis Hiltuned Biesanz, Richard Biesanz, and Karen Zubris Biesanz, was to inform as an educational piece for others to learn about the history behind Costa Rica and its culture from a first-person and second-person perspective. The book was written in a chronological way based on time points in history and broken into subcategories as described: education, economy, government, and daily living along with religious views. These subcategories that are intertwined to each other showing the rises and falls throughout history and represent the fluctuation that the Costa Rican culture faces. Biesanz’s first dives into Costa Rican Culture by talking about those who make up the culture, commonly known as the ticos. 
        The Ticos, a Costa Rican name describing the majority of the population in Costa Rican culture. The Ticos are peace makers, who never want to start any arguments, or make promises. They often live life by the saying “quedar bien”, meaning “to get along and make a good impression in an encounter, to appear amiable” (8). They live by peace so much so that they were the first in the mainland Americas to get rid of all types of militaries. 
        Though they live by peace, there are many difficulties when it comes to being a Ticos. It starts with education. In the beginning of Costa Rican history, education was on the priority list and was known to give the outcome of a reliable job however, as time and the government changed, many could not afford to pursue higher education, let alone a standard education. This segregated many of the Ticos by social classes and standards, “each school reflects not only a community’s degree of wealth but also cooperation among its adults” (211). Due to the fluctuation of their economy many school boards made of the parents stated that the schools could not keep their facilities running with day-to-day use of lights, phones or simple utilities (212). 
        A huge factor that contributed to this was the economy rising between the years of 1960s and 1970s, which lead to the signing of several structural adjustment pacts (PACs) which was thought to improve the economy and bring more tourists and investors, but instead dragged the economy to a low with taxes, and higher prices for food and resources. It essentially made the rich richer and the poor poorer, because this affected the work force. It created more business for the ticos to work at, however those that were farmers also had to compete with the high taxes on exports and imports as well as, needed more peones (workers) to tend the fields. This type of work was more common in the beginning of the Costa Rican history. Costa Ricans are not only described as peacekeepers, but describe themselves as workers, many farmers hired peons to tend the fields that were harvesting coffee, Costa Ricans first major export that made the country the most money. After the government structure changed through, presidents and viewpoints the economy fluctuated and banana plantation became the next big economy export, this also affected many community farmers and running them out of business.
        Costa Ricans are not only seen as peacekeepers, or workers but also are seen as a democracy.  They vote for who will be the president and lead them to a better economy status. This all ties in to how their daily lives, education, work system, tourism, religion, health care and community are built and work with never ending fluctuations. The PACs and never-ending fluctuations did not only affect their work systems, tourism, education, but also the way each ticos interacted with one another. Before business were booming and taking over, many ticos were neighborly and often held catholic religious rituals together, had get togethers and new each other like family, however as time went on and urbanization occurred many no longer have those get together and are not as close as they once were, and struggle to be faithful to their catholic religion. 
        “The Ticos” was written to give the back story of the culture prevalently found in Costa Rica. It’s a book made for those who are interested in visiting or are looking for a general and more specific cultural background. This background includes understanding their social normality’s, the common day-to-day living of ticos, and why certain aspects of the community are set up the way they are.

Critical Evaluation 
        When looking at the cover of the ticos I expected to be learning simple phrases, the structure of a single tico, and mostly about the land/ geography of Costa Rica. However, As I turned the first page of “The Ticos Cultural and Social Change in Costa Rica”, by the Biesanz, I felt as though I was traveling to another life and experiencing what It was like to be a tico, with no prior experience or knowledge of the culture itself. I felt that it had excelled in the fact assuming the reader had no prior knowledge on costa rica, by describing some of the common terminology among the ticos for instance like “quedar bien” meaning “to get along and make a good impression in an encounter, to appear amiable” (8). The book describes the government structure as if one were truly living there and experienced the wrongful doings of the leaders, by giving statements from first perspectives like, “a government is like the head of a family. If it does poorly, everyone suffers. We have become very developed but only by going deeply into debt” (88).  To even putting one directly in the homes commonly found in Costa Rica, by in depth descriptions of the floors walls commonly found within certain areas. After going through the pages of the ticos, I feel like my expectations were beyond met more in the framework of the people themselves, however not so much on the land and geography portion. Another factor that affected my likening of the book was during my reading, I found myself becoming frustrated with the structure of the book and struggling to want to read more pages because of my frustration. Overall, I feel that the book got the educational information out like the author wanted but could have been done in a much simpler way. However, I personally felt like the book was decent, but not my favorite.

The Agreements
        The part of the book that really made me enjoy immersing myself with the book and ticos culture, was the fact that as the authors were writing the information, they assumed that the reader didn’t have any background information prior to reading. So, they started off with common terminology, geography and the basis of how the culture and land was set up. Because of the way that they assumed that the reader needed simple explanations I felt that this book could be useful for a novice level or even an expertise level, because it does go in depth on government and not commonly known knowledge. The authors also did an amazing job on not being biased when it came to writing about specific topics, for instance, on pages 60 and 61 it talks about how money laundering became easier because the government relaxed on currency regulation however made many employers feel as though they are machinery, because the businesses were making so much money and they were receiving very little of the profits. This then brought in the first-person perspective of why many don’t speak up for themselves and go against business and what normally happens if they do. Which also showed how they had a great balance between first- and second-person perspective.  The organization of this writing made it seem fluid and tied into each other and was easy to tell both the positives and negatives of the culture. 

The Disagreements 
        Though the book had an amazing balance of perspectives and information of the overall culture and land, the organization at which it was written made it frustrating to read, and at times made me want to put the book down. What I mean by this is how the book was written chronologically based on year. Since with many environments or cultures life fluctuates with positives and negatives, however when reading the book, it got confusing on what was currently going on in the late 1900’s early 2000’s. For instance, when it comes to talking about education, the book has remarks like, “we have the highest literacy rate in Central America – Costa Ricans, it would appear, still regard education as a high priority.” (199), and this statement/ remark appears to be straight forward and clear. However further reading into the chapter it begins to make more remarks like, “Back then, there were many teachers without title; now there are many titles without competent teachers, and consequently many illiterate graduates” (206). Comparing the two remarks, seem extremely contradicting to me personally, making it a somewhat difficult and frustrating book to read. This started to become a pattern throughout the entire book.

Present vs. Past
        Another conflict that the book may seem to propose, is when reading, it’s important to keep in mind that it was published in the year 1999, almost 25 years ago, and much has changed since then. For instance, the book states that in 1999, Costa Rica’s “GDP of $9 billion and only a fifth of its labor force still employed” (39), but when we look at today’s it has grown exponentially in about the last 25 years. Looking at the newest numbers, according to Macro Trends, Cost Rica has had a gross domestic product of $64.28 billion as of 2021 which is still behind two years but is an enormous change of about $55.28 billion. Another major difference in the economy is how in the book only a fifth (about 1,600,000 people) was accounted for in the GDP to 2022 being around 2,400,000 people according to Trading Economics. 
        The reasoning behind this large increase was due to how the workforce went from mainly being about farming coffee and working at banana plantations to more of a “foreign investment” which created more jobs and brought in money according to the World Bank. And because of this, according to the world bank, “Costa Rica has reached its lowest poverty rates in Latin America.” Looking into only one major topic discussed in the book shows how over time one change can impact many areas in life.
        Throughout the book, it was important to remember the year in which the book was written, making it a little frustrating at times, and redundant. However, I feel that it was important to understand how quickly one’s environment around them can change. Though the main topic covered in this research portion of diving into the culture from the past and to the present was only about economics here, it ties in with the other chapters from within the book and relates directly how the ticos live their day to day lives. 

Conclusion
        After reading the entirety of “The Ticos” I feel that this book though a little contradicting and frustrating is a decent book to get the general and some complex understanding of the Costa Rican culture. However, though it is not up to date and about 24 years behind, you can understand the basics of how life is lived when it comes to economy, government, education, religion, and even daily life of a ticos and the many fluctuations each category of life goes through time. With the information being given one would be able to travel with a small understanding of how the ticos think live and be able to respect their ways as a culture. Having this knowledge could benefit many that want to simply travel or learn about a new culture with an open mind, wither way the book is a decent source of knowledge that I would recommend to someone if they needed or wanted to immerse themselves into a new culture. 
 
References

Biesanz, Mavis Hiltunen, et al. The Ticos: Culture and Social Change in Costa Rica.Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1999. 

“Costa Rica GDP 1960-2023. MacroTrends, https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/CRI/costa-rica/gdp-gross-domestic product#:~:text=Costa%20Rica%20gdp%20for%202020%20was%20%2462.16B%2C%20a,2018%20was%20%2462.42B%2C%20a%203.15%25%20increase%20from%202017.

“Costa Rica - Labor Force, TOTAL2023 Data 2024 Forecast 1990-2021 Historical.”        Costa Rica - Labor Force, Total - 2023 Data 2024 Forecast 1990-2021 Historical, https://tradingeconomics.com/costa-rica/labor-force-total-wb-data.html. 

“Overview.” World Bank,                                                                                                                  https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/costarica/overview. 

Pre-departure 

       Stomach tossing and turning and the guilt rising up into my throat, the feeling of home sick and I haven’t even left Indiana let alone the United States. I get to the air port and the nervousness has dissipated and the excitement has climbed to an all new high. The confusion on where to go to get the boarding pass and finally finding the honors college group all in a line and treated with smiles and quietness of my peers, all nervous for the adventure we were about to go on together. After rushing to the line for bag check we all start to talk about nerves and connect. We eventually boarded the plane and casually talked to the strangers that became short term friends on the way to the half way point, Denver. We landed and rushed to get to the next flight already boarding to take off to San Jose, Costa Rica. 

Landing 

       Overwhelming shock takes over as we are landing the plane in a new country. The houses from above were smooshed together no land between them. Red metal roofs cover the land, nothing like the traditional black roof normally seen in the United States. The airport completely different planes in line waiting for very few terminals, unlike America with overwhelming amounts of gates/terminals. We step foot off the plane and immediately the hot humid air hits my skin and its a breath of fresh air unlike America. People from all over the world speaking different languages, my shyness creeps up and I became nervous to try and communicate with others around me afraid I’ll mess up my sentences. The bus arrived and we meet Tara out tour guid is so nice and ready to answer questions, as well as gyovani and Gravenie the drivers of the trip. Out first stop was a hotel 5 minutes away from the air port and I was shocked with how nice and modern it was. Im my head I had pictured something like a shack or a small area with concrete and a mattress that everyone would be sleeping on, but instead they were homie rooms with individual beds and running water, with a pool and restaurant. Previously coming to Costa Rica the book Ticos described the native people of Costa Rica as hard working, pleasing, and truthful and after spending two days here I completely see what the book meant. During a community walk with a guy named Wayne locals would say hello and ask how we were doing, and alway smiled. Something completely different than the United States is pedestrians have the ride away when walking and cars pass each other constantly and the driving is a bit more free for all. Another difference is how the signs on the roads give way less warning when driving for instance there is a sign the says ceda El Paso essentially meaning lane ending, but it ends immediately almost and cop drive with their lights on 24/7. The animals here roam around freely like dogs and cats and we even met a dog that followed us for a night that we named Drago. Also during the community walk we got to learn so much about plant life and how they defend themselves. We also got to meet locals that made the amazing homemade ice cream, which led us to this bean that was call the magic bean. The magic bean made sour foods like lemons taste sweet. This bean we also found out was commonly used for sweetener and candies for those who had sugar problems like diabetes. With the magic bean we also learned that many Costa Ricans tend to go into each others yards and are okay to share so long as one is not taking advantage of what they have, and because  of this we were also able to meet these nice boating tour guides who were friends of Wayne that let us try star fruit.  Being surrounded by everyone all the time and native Spanish speakers I was also able to practice my Spanish and build on those skills I even order my entire lunch in Spanish from the plate to the food with no words in English which made me feel like I was truly learning. This allowed me to learn new words like spoon and spaghetti in Spanish. While also in the first and second hotels I tried new food such as plantains and fish, as well as all of the many varieties of homemade juices. We also near the end of the second day were able to be taught by a wonderful chef named Maria who taught is how to make empanadas, coconut milk, coconut water, a ginger drink and much more. After landing in Costa Rica everyone was more conscious about the environment and loving and caring towards it as if it were family who needed love, and I felt that this was very unique and an amazing part of the culture here in Costa Rica. 

Animals 

Just something fun I wanted to add to the end of this assignment  was about all of the animals I got to experience, such as iguanas and a bird called mcaow (a colorful bird that I don’t know how to spell) as well as a toucan and a sloth. I also saw lizards on the roof during the power outages.

A poster over the sustainable development goals within Costa Rica, was created in order to present in the Honors College showcase. 

    One issue that we learned about while being on the study abroad trip Uvita, Costa Rica was taught by Wayne and Tara, which was that many tourists and locals tend to not care about life on land such as trees and species and will deforest and clear land for their own personal use. What has been found is that for this to occur is that people don’t recognize the impacts of deforestation and clearing of the land. When deforestation reoccurs this can affect both the land and the waters which will bring us to the SDG number 14 and 15. In order to prevent deforestation and showing the importance of the land itself and the species among us, we created signs out of wood and water safe paint to write information about specific trees such as the mango tree and Guanacaste  tree as well as the leaf cutter ants and their importance. These signs will help inform those around the community as well as short time tourists. If deforestation  continues, then it will create more run off and soil and litter/ pollutants to run off into the water. This will affect the oceans among us and start to add stresses to the coral reefs, which will also later on make other fish species become endangered.  

    Another project that we talked about was micro plastics, and although this is a huge problem that as an individual in a huge population can not stop by themselves, we must work together in order to save our oceans that we have today. We can do this by using recyclable materials and stay away from using plastics and picking up after each other if we see litter around us. By going through and learning about both of these topics, we will in hope be able make our beaches, trees species and land animal species live longer.  

To Be Continued....

    Traveling to Costa Rica, I was hit immediately with cultural shock. It started with the placements of buildings and how they looked. There were no skyscrapers, no glass buildings and even though I read about it, I didn’t believe it. My mind thought of way worse, not an in between. When we arrived to the first community hotel, the shock was starting to increase with how generous and nice everyone was even when you couldn’t fully communicate with them. Many of the ticos and ticas here in Costa Rica are extremely patient, giving and not controlling of what belongs to them. For instance when we traveled to Uvita, Costa Rica and went on a tour guide of the community, Wayne the guid walked straight into someone yard and took someone’s fruit off of their tree and they didn’t have an issue with it because thats the way of the culture is giving so long as you don’t overindulge. Another difference when traveling across the different culture is the way they communicate when driving and also the way they drive. When riding in the tour bus, I noticed that cars pass each other no matter the street lines and instead of getting angry or not letting others over they honk to say thank you and they also use honking to stop traffic and let them know they are turning into the road and to stop. The cars in Costa Rica are also mostly stick shift and older, however there is an occasional newer cars. 

    While being in Costa Rica I noticed the stores and the daily meals that Costa Ricans have. These meals consists of rice and beans with almost every meal, and a homemade juice, which is made by throwing  all fruit into a blender. Around Uvita Costa Rica, the only restaurant that can be found are those that are family owned and homemade food essentially. When I first came to Costa Rica this really took me by surprise because in America you turn the coroner and there are about 20 different restaurants. 

    The culture its self as neighbors to each other are very carrying and generous to the environment. As we went through our community walk and talked to more local people as we went through I found that many care about the environment. The locals are actively trying to prevent the spread of plastic micro and macro. Others are actively planting tree and plants to prevent deforestation and help the air quality and allow their forests to continue to be diverse.  Another option that many are taking is re growing the coral that live among our oceans. The loss of coral has affected many species within the waters and to prevent the death of more coral plants have also been placed down to stop land slides. Compared to America we have contributed more to carbon emissions and we don’t talk about the issues at hand like Costa Ricans do. Encountering this on the trip has been eye opening and I’ve realized that these topics need to be talked about more. This is made me want to advocate for the SDG’s even more and my passion for this subject has increased immensely and I feel if we all come together we can truly make an impact on all of this.