Day 2: Monday, June 16 - San Jose

We had our first breakfast at the hotel, and it was wonderful. There were lots of choices and something for everyone. Best of all, it was in a beautiful garden, filled with lush, tropical foliage and a pair of red squirrels.

Afterward, many of us walked to a bank to change dollars into colones and then continued on to the Mercado de Artisans. On the way, we had a wonderful surprise. While cutting through the Parque Nacional, we came upon a beautiful painted "cow." And then another. And another. Each one had a unique and often clever theme. A few of these cows can be seen in our photo album.

A few blocks outside of the park, we passed a beautiful building - Costa Rica's parliament, complete with political graffiti nearby.

Onward to the market. After visiting with some old "friends" of mine - I had purchased things from them on two previous occassions - we spent time with a fascinating man a couple of stalls down who was selling magnificent molas made by the Kuna tribe in Panama. This man was much more than a merchant, as he had a wealth of knowledge about the molas, as well as his own collection that was on display, but not for sale.

We split up on the way back, with some of the students opting to take a taxi back to the hotel and the rest of us traveling on foot. By the time we got back, it was time to get ready for the main event of the day, a visit to Universidad Creativa. This is a small, private university focusing on architecture, interior design, graphic design, animation, and, the reason that we had made contact in the first place, fashion design. Hmmm. Does that remind you of some other university that we all know and love? The only thing keeping this university from being a great university is its near total lack of economics courses!

The founder of the university met with us and told us about the history of the university and why she founded it. Her background is as a psychologist and she believes that creative people are born that way and that creativity cannot be taught. She also believes that creative people do not learn in the same way as "normal" people and therefore founded this university to accomodate their unique learning style.

Next, the Director of Fashion Design, Paula Barrionuevo, spoke about the fashion program. She is also our main contact in CR and the one who made the arrangements for our field trips to the various garment manufacturers that we will be visiting next week.

I think that it is safe to say that all of us were very impressed with this university and we will bring home a number of exciting (and beautiful) ideas. Best of all, they are very interested in exploring ways to partner with Woodbury.

Following these two presentations, we were joined by some of their students for a social hour. By the time we finished, it was time to head back for supper. Tomorrow we go back to the university for more formal lectures about the garment and textile industries in beautiful Costa Rica.