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Facts, what learned, and my advice on Costa Rica

The name of my host country is Costa Rica. It is located in Central America. The countries that borders is Nicaragua in the North and Panama in the Southwest. The bodies of water that borders Costa Rica is the Pacific Costa in the West and the Caribbean Sea in the East. Costa Rica is culturally influence by the Span because they were colonize by them. Therefore, the official language of Costa Rica is Spanish. Majority of the people there speak Spanish, but the native indigenous people have their own language. The indigenous The pre- Colombian languages that are from Indian tribes in Costa Rica. Theses tribes speak Boruca, Bribri, Cabecar, Chibchan, and Maleku. These languages derived from sections of the Central America language and a small percent of the population speak the native language. Also, Nicaraguan and Honduras are close to the Costa Rica culturally because the countries united to gain their independence from William Walker. Costa Rica is culturally close with the Unites States. Costa Rica has been influenced by America. The United States government has put a lot money into Costa Rica in standards and America companies have open up stores in the country. The Capital of Costa Rica is San Jose. The major cities there is San Jose, Limon, San Franciso, and Liberia. San Jose is the capital this where majority the government congregate to for politics. Costa Rica government is a democracy. It is similar to the United States government. The Constitution of Costa Rica was approved in 1949. So the country government is relatively new and only exist for over a little half of a decade. Then in 1950 they establish their currency which is colon. The colon has also exist for over a little of a decade too. But, they established three branches in the government the  executive, legislation, and the judicial branch. They also have a president that the citizens directly voted in office for four year term. The current president that is in office right now is Carlos Andres Alvarado and, he was elected in May 8th 2018. He has two vice presidents one male and one female. Also, the church and government maintain a close relationship with the church in Costa Rica. Even though a survey was taken among the people and 47 percent would rather live a secular state. But, the dominant religion in Costa Rica is the Christianity. Most of the citizens identify with the Roman Catholics, about 70 percent of the people follow behind the church beliefs. About 44 percent of the people that is practicing Catholic and the other 25 percent is non-practicing Catholics. Then, the rest of the people follow behind the Protestant beliefs which is 16 percent. The other 14 percent follow other religions beliefs or have no religions preference.

The social class of Costa Rica. The middle class is group of people that are between the upper and lower class of people that have median skill jobs such as professional and business workers. The middle class makes up 50 percent of the population. The class earns about 45 percent of the country’s income. I did not know that Costa Rica middle class made up the majority of the country’s income. In Costa Rica society the people admire citizens that are hardworking. The lower class makes up 25 percent and they only earn 7 percent of the country’s income. While the upper class makes up 2 percent of the population and they earn 20 percent of the nation’s income. Some of their wealth can be traced back to the first colonists. The distribution of wealth is very unequal with the upper class earning one third percent of the nation’s income while the lower class only earn roughly 10 percent of the country’s income. The class system is open. There is social mobility and everyone shares the value of hard work in Costa Rica. They have a strong belief in “The American Dream” where an individual puts in effort and works hard in school. Therefore, they will succeed in life.

The gender roles in Costa Rica are traditional. This country has a typical gender role the men are supposed to go out and work hard for the family. While the women stay at home and take care of the children. However, the roles are starting to change in country. The women of Costa Rica staring to convert from traditional roles to more modern roles. This started when women’s education was promote in the 20th century. Then, in 2010 Costa Rica had their first women president, Laura Chinchilla. Even though women work in the work force and have government jobs they still have responsible of housewife. Some families can hired a maid to take on the responsibilities of the wife, but economically lower income families cannot afford it. Also, women have made long strives to change their roles, but still have disadvantages. The women of Costa Rica are still fighting to change the role of women in their country.

Costa Rica has many media outlets. The main Costa Rica media for newspapers are the La Gaceta Government Official Newspaper, La Nacion, La Republic, Al Dia, and LA Prensa. These are just a few of the main newspapers in Costa Rica. If you looking for a newspaper that is in English I would recommend The Costa Rica. This newspaper is in English.  Some of the television news are Telenoticias, Noticias Repretel, and the Extra Noticias. When I was in Costa Rica and I tried to watch t.v. the shows look like typical American shows, but they were in Spanish. My roommate and I found a couple of t.v. channels that were in English. The radio stations that I found in Costa Rica were named RadioU and Beatz106. These radio stations were up tempo and Latin America music. I like the beat of the music even though I did not know the lyrics. In the film industry a lot of American made movies are film in Costa Rica. Jurassic Park, Spy Kids 2, and Suicide Squad are major films that were shot in Costa Rica. There are many more films that American made in Costa Rica. I did not know that Costa Rica is a good place to film movies. But the country is so beautiful I can see why people would wanted to shot movies there. Also, most of the America films that are film in Costa Rica are action movies. While I was in the country I saw several America made films that were advised around the city and on billboards. The only difference was that the title of the movie were written in Spanish.

Most of the food in Costa Rica is delicious. The second day I was in Costa Rica I went to restaurant in San Jose. The meal was excellent. They first serve us salad that had tomatoes in it. The dressing they gave us was olive oil and vinegar which interesting. You have to find the perfect balance for yourself. I also added salt to dressing to balance out the taste. The drinks they serve us was called casa. I really enjoy. It had a unique flavor and taste like lime juice. How the restaurant serve the main course was different. The serves brought us the meat that we ask for and then serve us a variety of options with our meal. You could either have vegetables, baked potatoes, and French fries. I know our waiter was probably thinking that my table ate a lot of food because we kept asking for a refill on the options that they gave us. It was a really unique and cool way to eat dinner. I would recommend that a traveler go to a restaurant like that in Costa Rica to get a different experience. One of the deserts that was popular in Costa Rica is plantain. This dessert is fried banana and this is a sweet dessert. I would try it before leaving the country.  But, the main dish that people eat in Costa Rica is rice, black beans and it served with eggs and sour cream this dish is called gallo pinto. At the hotel, I ate the rice and beans that they had out at breakfast. I like it, but I don’t know if I could eat rice and beans every day. In Costa Rica the people eat in the morning with the dish I talked about gallo pinto and then have a big lunch in the late afternoon normally with some type of meat rice and beans. Finally, for dinner they have a light dinner that is easy to digest. The people of Costa Rica typical eat with their family and friends. Also, Costa Ricans have probably eaten all there dinners at dinner since the have 12 hours of dark and light since they are so close the equator. I would strongly recommend taking a trip to Costa Rica. The people there friendly. I would normally greet them by smiling and saying hola. But, the country is beautiful.  Before I took this trip I have never been out of the country. I had an open mind of Costa Rica and, I am happy I did that. I truly enjoy my trip and recommend anyone to explore this beautiful and wonderful country.  

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Health and Safety Tips

So today I found some articles that give advice about the health and safe tips when traveling to Costa Rica that deals with is the water safe to drink out of tap and the new restriction rule that deals with powder substances in the Costa Rica airport.

While in Coats Rica it is better to drink water out of a seal water bottle. I would not drink beverages that contain ice. The ice could have bacteria in it that would make you sick. Instead just drink beverages that have water in them that have to boil first such as coffee, tea, and other hot beverages. Here is the article link below that informs you about the water situation in Costa Rica:

https://thecostaricanews.com/costa-rica-drinkable-water-everywhere/

The next article that I have found talks about the new restriction on powder substances in carry ons. There is a new restriction that people are not allow to carry powder substance in their carry ons. Instead they need to put the powder substance in their regular bag. The only way they can carry the powder substance is if they have a new born child and they need it for formula or if it is medicine that has a doctor prescription that is verified. Another way to carry powder substance in a carry on is if you get a  special bag that has the security seal on the bag that you can get in the airport in Costa Rica. Here is the article link below that deals with the new restrictive carry on rule:

https://thecostaricanews.com/know-the-new-restrictions-for-traveling-from-costa-rica-to-the-united-states-with-hand-luggage/

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So I first collected travel blogs about Costa Rica. I found a blog called This American Girl the blog talks about how magical Costa Rica is. The blog is very insightful. The women in this blog truly opens my eyes and gives me a different view to look at my trip now. She truly gives you vivid pictures of the country and also adds in pictures of the country. The blog also gives really good tips about traveling the country. She informs the readers to take in the nature’s beauty of the country, and go along with the unexpected turns of the trip. She also gives advice that I need to bring what I need to have a successful trip, but also be comfort on the trip. Do not try to make a fashion statement and be uncomfortable during the trip. She definitely open my eyes up about the food poisoning that I might possibly get from my body not use to consuming the different bacteria. She also gives me tips about remedies that can help me not get sick by drinking coconut water and eating papaya seeds. Another tip that she gave was to overestimate my budget which will help me when I go to Costa Rica. Here is the link to this blog: https://www.thisamericangirl.com/2015/07/21/magical-trip-to-costa-rica/

The next blog I chose was Javi the Frog’s Travel Blog. This blog has several different topics of Costa Rica. This blog really informed me about the different historical sites of Costa Rica. This will helped me with trip. I forgot the country does have a rich culture from the past. Tree Frog also gives advice where is the best places to buy souvenirs which is very helpful for the trip. The blogger also gives tips where can I go find coffee in the country which is helpful for the days that I am extremely tired and need something to get me through the day. Here is the link to this blog: https://www.govisitcostarica.com/blog/

The last blog that I collected is called the Mytanfeet. This blog was actually pretty cool. It took the most commonly asked questions from first time visitors and answer them. Some of the questions are actually pretty good that help me with my sojourn.  You can also learn extra information about the country. For example if you want to learn about the capital of the country you can learn extra information about the capital. Here is the link for the blog: https://mytanfeet.com/blog/

I chose three news articles. The first article that I selected was that Costa Rica is banning fossil fuels and become the first society to do this. This article inspired me. I thought that this was pretty cool that the country decide to do this. The only problem that the country will face with this is that the citizens will need a improve way of transportation for the people to move around the country without cars that do not take fossil fuels. Here is the article link: https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/costa-rica-fossil-fuels-ban-president-carlos-alvarado-climate-change-global-warming-a8344541.html

The next article that I picked is that Costa Rica is updating their airport and that project is taking more time than expected. This is important to know since I will be traveling. The airport is taking more to complete and therefore the airport lines are longer. The people in charge of the international airport in Costa Rica are trying to make solution until the airport is completed. Unfortunately, when I take my trip to Costa Rica I might experience this problem because the airport will not be finished before I take my visited in August. Here is the link to the article: https://news.co.cr/10-3-million-dollar-expansion-of-liberia-airport-in-costa-rica-finally-concluded/74640/

The last article I chose is that Costa Rica will be taking in Nicaraguan migrants that are fleeing their country because of the county’s political violent crisis. The article stated that 5,000 people are trying to get through immigration process to go to Costa Rica. I thought this pretty cool that Costa Rica would be a beacon of light for the Nicaraguan people while they are going through this rough time. This will help me with my sojourn because now I can look for the Nicaraguan influence from the migrants coming in the country. Here is the link to the article: http://www.ticotimes.net/2018/07/20/costa-rica-installs-shelters-for-nicaraguan-migrants

I selected four short videos. The first video I selected was a 30 second video that showed a highlight of someone trip. This gave me a quick glimpse of what I could experience on my trip. This gave me inspiration for my trip. Here is the link of the video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XpWzn9CjUA

The next video that I selected was short video that gave the top ten things to do in Costa Rica.  This video gave me knowledge about Costa Rica. I did not know that Costa Rica was a leading country of Eco- Tourism. It also helped prepare me for my trip. I’m going to be looking for some of the activities that they talked about in their video to see if I can participate in it. Here is the link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC8t0xDArfM

The last video is really amazing it is a video of the nature in Costa Rica that was shot by Andre Brandt. This is really inspiring and I cannot wait to see Costa Rica for myself. Here is the link to the video: https://www.instagram.com/farbrorandre/?utm_source=ig_embed

I picked four sample songs. A lot of sample songs that are on here I have heard before on the radio. I did not know that Costa Ricans listen to similar music. I looked up there top chart music and knew a hand full of songs that were ranked high on their top chart. But the music I did not know I listen to it, and I did like the songs that were Latin. I feel like it prepared me for the music that I will hear in Costa Rica. Here is the link to the music samples: https://www.shazam.com/track/412072803/one-kiss

https://www.shazam.com/track/429772054/in-my-feelings

https://www.shazam.com/track/412961240/i-like-it

https://www.shazam.com/track/406844118/la-player-bandolera

I collected ten pictures of Costa Rica. The pictures are truly inspiring and I can wait to visit this beautiful country. All the pictures I collected here are the pictures that you would find in this lovely country. Here are pictures that I collected: ( in the picture gallery above)

Some things that are missing from my collection are probably more pictures of the people in the country. Also, in the music samples there could have been more Latin music. My collection is missing the wide range of food that is in Costa Rica. My plan to continue building my collection is to keep searching for Costa Rica traditions and the culture of the country since I feel like my collection was lacking that.  

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San Jose, Costa Rica

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8M: Costa Rica. Ante el fundamentalismo religioso, ¡organización feminista!

Nos unimos para denunciar la violencia machista ejercida sobre nuestras vidas y denunciamos desde nuestro contexto nacional la amenaza fundamentalista religiosa que vulnera y discrimina a las mujeres y la población LGTB+.

8 de Marzo, 2018

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Short video to give you some ideas to do in Costa Rica 

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Securing room for the Nicaraguan people that need shelter from the country’s political violent 

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Costa Rica is working on there airport to make flights go smoother 

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One Kiss by Calvin Harris 

I did not know that Calvin Harris is popular in Costa Rica. He is on the top chart in Costa Rica listed as number 18. 

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In My Feelings by Drake 

Also, like Drake too!! On the top charts as number 26. 

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I Like It by Cardi B 

People in Costa Rica also like Cardi B. It’s number 13 on their top charts 

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Here is a blog that takes questions and answers them for people that are visitors to Costa Rica for the first time  

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Blog about Costa Rica and has all the ins and outs of the country 

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Found this cool blog that has advice about traveling in Costa Rica