Today was a busy day. We were up and on the bus by 7:30 to head to the local market. We got to walk around and see all kinds of little shops selling everything from fruit and vegetables to clothes and shoes. We left the market and walked down the street to do a little bit of sight seeing. Costa Rican buildings are definitely different. It reminds me of New Orleans because one building or house can be very pretty, and the next looks like the home of a drug dealer.
We got to go to Congress and see the buildings where they hold debates and meetings. I learned that Costa Rican government is similar to the United States. They only have one chamber though. There use to be senators but they got rid of that because of financial and political problems. There are 7 political provinces in Costa Rica. There are 57 members of Congress, and they cannot be reelected for two consecutive terms. They have to sit out a term, and then run. The 3 requirements for Congressman are that you have to be older than 21, born in Costa Rica or been naturalized for longer than 10 years, and no criminal record. San Jose has the most congressmen out of the provinces with 21. Twenty-two of the 57 Congress members are women. In 1969, Congress passed a law that no president can be reelected. This prevents them from becoming too powerful. One term for president is 4 years.
After Congress, we left and grabbed lunch at a cute little restaurant. We had a delicious bacon cheeseburger with French fries. Dessert was some heavenly thing that consisted of ice cream, figs, and sopapillas drizzled with sugar can syrup. Heaven. In. My. Mouth. Right next to the restaurant is a souvenir shop. There was so much cute stuff. Like 95% of the stuff in there was made of wood. Come to find out, there is a little shop on the side of the souvenir store where workers cut, carve, shape, and assemble the wooden souvenirs. They had jewelry, kitchenware like utensils, bowls, and plates, shot glasses, wine bottle holders, and lots of other knick knacks.
We were rushed out of the souvenir store because we had a tour at a bubble gum factory lined up. It was so freakin' cool. We saw how the dough for the gum is made and "churned". Then it's passed through this beastly machine to be shaped into the balls. Once shaped, they have to be chilled in a no humidity environment. After that the dough balls are put in these circle things and spun around in the different colored dyes. The balls are sorted and sent to another machine to be packaged in the individual plastic wrappers. Then they're passed through another machine and bagged and packed in boxes to be shipped to the different countries. 90% of the gum made is shipped outside of Costa Rica. Venezuela is their top buyer.
After the bubble gum tour, we headed back to the hotel for a little break before our guest speaker at 5:30. Peyton and I got ready and changed clothes then headed to the AM/PM store to get some alcohol for our super cute flasks. We made it back just in time for our guest speaker, Robert Hall. He works in the medical tourism industry in dentistry. He said that in 2012, 1.6 million people left the US for medical tourism. It's so much cheaper for people to have surgeries and procedures done outside of the US. A lot of Americans think that Costa Rica is a sketchy place to get surgery but it's really not. Costa Ricans are very smart and well educated. A lot of Costa Ricans have 3 more years of school than American doctors. There are 2 JCI accredited hospitals in Costa Rica. JCI accreditation is a program through the US. The main medical tourists for Costa Rica are from Canada, California, New York, and Florida. 46% is dental surgery, 18% is plastic and cosmetic surgery, 18% is Rx, rehab and therapy, and 18% is medical treatments (cancer, dermatology). The average patient profile is 45 years or older, middle or high income, insured and uninsured, and have international travel experience. People choose Costa Rica because of the strategic location, reduced cost, and quality among other things.
After the lecture, we were rushed to the bus to go to our supper at the top of a mountain. It was absolutely amazing. We had the most awesome view of San Jose. All you could see were the lights shining from the city down below. The dinner was buffet style that included 2 complimentary drinks and local Costa Rican food. The first drink was a shot of some local concoction that was pretty tasty. The second drink was a drink of our choice and didn't have to have alcohol. Of course, I got alcohol. After supper, we watched a show with salsa dancers. It was so neat to see a traditional salsa dance. After the show, we drank and hung out at the restaurant. There were some cute guys from a college in Michigan so we had some eye candy to look at. ;) There was also this lady at the restaurant selling handmade jewelry, and I bought a really pretty necklace.
We left the restaurant around 10:30 with some people being a little drunk. Well, we got a brilliant idea on the bus to go the strip club. That ended up being a fail, and everyone went to bed. And that pretty much sums up my day.
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