Costa Rica Strike – August 2005

The trip to our home just outside San Jose from the gorgeous ‘Playa Grande’ beach is normally about four hours and after some challenging surfing I was rather hoping to return in time to see my favorite chiropractor…

Unfortunately, the bad news is that my children and I had to endure a strike (‘una huelga‘) here in Costa Rica where disgruntled tractor trailer drivers had tried to block off the entire San Jose area… Instead of taking four hours to drive home, it took over twelve hours because we were sitting in our car blocked in by tractor trailers for exactly eight of those hours… Phew!

We were not happy with this but having been at the beach, we had music, books and other items to keep us occupied while we sat in the car in a very small town ‘somewhere’ in Alajuela. Beside us on the street was an agricultural store which sold tools, fertilizers and pesticides, a restaurant, a bar, a church and a bicycle shop. What more could you want? 🙂

The majority of ‘Ticos’ (Costa Ricans) seem to take this kind of thing in their stride... They are certainly more accustomed than I am to waiting around and many had locked their cars, left them in line and popped into the bar, the restaurant or just stood around chatting and laughing for hours with strangers who had fast become their new found friends.

We could find no ‘news’ about the strike on the car radio, so after a short while I was chatting to the locals in my Spanglish asking if they knew anything more about the strikers (‘huelgistas’) and everyone tried hard to help. After our initial chat, if they heard anything more, they would come rushing back to our car with their big Costa Rica smiles and proudly give me their update.

The ‘man in the fertilizer’ store came to see me and said that if the children or I needed to go to the bathroom, he was more than happy to allow us to use his well maintained facilities… During the eight hours we sat there, we gratefully accepted his offer on more than one occasion.

I quietly wondered to myself, had this happened in Guatemala how many of the truck drivers would have been shot dead or, how many lawuits would have been filed had this happened in the US… But here in Costa Rica? I did not hear one single angry comment and the Ticos did their best to enjoy life knowing that it would all be over when it’s over!

The good news? I still smile at the thought because believe it or not, by 6pm we had received kind offers from no less than four Costa Ricans (including ‘man in the fertilizer’ store) who were obviously complete strangers to us so that if we wanted to stay with them in their own homes as their guests for the night we could… Just another reason why I feel at home in Costa Rica.

So tell me! Would you offer a perfect stranger a bed in your home for the night? Five years ago I would not but today, sure! Why on earth not?

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Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.