Day 12 – Market Research in San Jose

Today, we broke up into our groups and went to different parts of the city to conduct market research on the coffee industry locally. Since most of the tours focused on gourmet coffee that mostly gets exported to wealthier nations, we wanted to see what kind of coffee the locals drink. My group in particular was assigned to a relatively residential section of the city that was not particularly welcoming to gringos. Our group of four split up into two subgroups so that we could talk to more people, so I explored the neighborhood with Allison Bonetti. First, we went to a small bakery that sold various pastries and cakes, along with Montaña brand coffee. We talked to the server about her coffee drinking habits, and it was kind of awkward because you could tell she was not in the mood to talk to tourists speaking Spanglish. Then, we moved on to a local convenience store chain called Super Mini. It was just as awkward here because as soon as we walked in, the three workers (who were the only people in the store at the time) all gave us dirty looks. Again, we talked to them about their coffee drinking habits, but they weren’t nearly as helpful, partly because they didn’t drink that much coffee. I was not expecting the locals to be so rude at times because The Ticos described Costa Ricans as always wanting to “quedarse bien,” and never wanting to end a conversation leaving a bad impression of themselves. However at the same time, I knew of the “gringo” reputation Americans have in Latin American countries from past Spanish classes coming into the trip, so I wasn’t really that surprised.