Day 2 in Costa Rica

Written by Robert Murphy, student
Edited by Mr.Moreland

Today was day 2 in Costa Rica. We woke up early around 6:30, and for breakfast we had rice, beans, 3 balls of skinned potatoes and eggs and toast. It was all quite good.

Then we headed off to Dos Pinos, which is a dairy cooperative (owned by 1400 owners like stockholders in the U.S. but they actually get a say in what the company does). We went on a tour of one of the buildings where they make some of their products such as butter, milk, yogurt and ice cream to name a few. We interviewed a Dos Pinos representative who is trying to expand their business outside of the Costa Rica. Then after the interview they gave us free ice cream in a cone that they make at their plant. They also let us try a new product that they are trying to get sold in stores in Costa Rica. It was like Dibs ice cream but with more ice cream in them and more of a dark chocolate on the outside (they were a bit frozen so had to let them melt a little before being able to eat them all the way).

After Dos Pinos we went to exchange money and the rate for exchanging money is $1 u.s. dollar equals 498 colones (named after Columbus). Then we went to lunch where I had a casado de pollo(chicken platter) consisting of a small salad, breaded chicken, white rice, black beans and a dried cole slaw. Very good food for lunch, good portion too. For a drink I had a watermelon fruit drink that was really good and tasted like watermelon and was fresh.(I would definitely get another one if I have the chance).

After lunch we went to the Costa Rican high school where we met foreign students that were taking english classes in the last year of high school. This was one of more difficult things for me so far in my trip experience because their was a language barrier separating me from talking to the other students fluently. The Tico students and I had some things in common like playing soccer, hanging out with friends and working in the community. The one thing that I think the foreign students liked was receiving the american candy (Pop Rocks) I handed out to them.

After visiting the school we headed back to our hotel via the public bus system where we had a brief group meeting and then had dinner that consisted of noodles and ground meat and a small salad. This dinner was interesting as I thought all of the meals were going to come with rice but this meal didn't.

Tonight we are going out to learn to Salsa dance to prepare for our party friday night with our new student friends from Costa Rica.