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This whole issue is exhausting and my heart goes out to the people who were born there, live there (expats & nationals) and those who love CR from afar for various reasons. I have to believe that in the end, Ticos/as will find a way to make the best of it. As for myself, I have a tremendous urge to fly in, hug my family & friends and then head out to Manzanillo were the exuberance of its mountains, sea and animals along with convergence of some of CR’s cultures can fill my heart with hope again. What I would give to share the ocean with dolphins and hear some howler monkeys right about now….
Doug – you are joking of course? It’s one thing to critize the manner of a popular vote and the nature of a treaty but something else to say you prefer an oppressive regime like that of Venezuela.
This guy will run the country into the ground just like all other state control freaks; just look at Che Guevara! That genius destroyed all the sugar cane production and just about everything else he touched leaving the people queuing for handouts.
I am going to go out on a limb here and guess no one on the board has actually read the entire agreement? But one “free trade” agreement is not going to bring Costa Rica crashing down or turn it into a mini US. And since NAFTA has been in place it’s not like Mexico has dryed up and fallen off the planet. Also as much as I disagree with a lot of the current administrations policies, the US is a big place and there are plenty of wonderful states. I was just up in North Truro in Massachusetts, Ski and hike in a lot of New England, overall there really is a lot of natural beauty here, I could go on forever. You just have to get out of the burbs and the cities! By some of these posts you would think there was a strip mall and a burger king on every corner of every city and town in every state.
If you think that security issues are becoming a problem in CR, take a stroll in Chacaito (neighborhood in Caracas) and let me know what you find. Venezuela has had and continues to have very difficult social, political and economic issues to handle. By that, I don’t diminish any of the good that the general population has been afforded by some of the current reforms. Oh, and about real estate, if you really mean Hugo Chavez, just remember that he’s continuously stating that Fidel is his idol. Consequently, when the people begin to greet him saying, “Please come in, this is your home too.” Trust me, he will take it quite literally–just like his idol! I wish I could laugh about it, but frankly he scares me a bit more than Fidel…It saddens me that the place that Simon Bolivar called home & loved so much and that place I was born in hasn’t been able to come up with a better solution. Between the Cuba-Venezuela situation, it’s no wonder I feel at home in Costa Rica and I don’t wish to see CR as part of a trifecta!
I don’t know about others, but I live in an almost rural and beautiful area of NJ. There are horse farms & small mountains in the distance. Nature is beautiful and full of energy everywhere! Nonetheless, for me, it’s in Costa Rica that I feel it most. It’s not just nature it’s also the people and a synergistic effect with my very soul. This is not meant to diminish any part of the US, its people or anywhere else on this planet…That wonderful country and its people have meant “Pura Vida” for me for more than 24 years which is why I love it so…
“By some of these posts you would think there was a strip mall and a burger king on every corner of every city and town in every state.”
Have you driven cross country lately? It pretty much IS a strip mall from coast to coast with all the same anchor stores in every single one of them. It’s horrible, all those Burger Kings, Wendy’s and McDonald’s side by side in way too many towns. Then there are the Wal-Mart malls, surrounded by more junk food. It was one of the reasons I had to get out of the country — I just couldn’t stand the homogenization of America but the average person loves it — they can go anywhere and find all their favorite stuff clumped together. Except in the boondocks, it all looks the same wherever you go.
There are some elements Rebeca, that will not be satisfied with a recount or any other investigation. They will try to overturn CAFTA given any opportunity. I understand the right to investigate fraud, and it certainly has to be looked into. It would seem if all turns out to be on the up and up, everyone should begin to work together to make this a working agreement. Whether this will happen is anyone’s guess.
Companies that were going to flee Costa Rica if the agreement did not pass, have every right to do so. It may not be morally correct, but still it is their choice. It may or may not have been a strong-arm tactic. Remember also, pressure was brought to bear by extreme leftist groups and countries to get out the “NO” vote.
Every side has its own agenda and wanted their side to win. For now, the “Si” vote has carried the day. Costa Rica will have to move forward and do what it said it would. I don’t think they will have any problem doing just that.
I just couldn’t stand the homogenization of America but the average person loves it
Maravilla, are we suggesting any of us are above average? What’s wrong with average anyway? I don’t mean to pick on you, but we can’t be elitists. All of us, rich, poor, educated or just plain average, have the same inalienable rights. I may want to leave here for some of the same reasons you do. There are a lot of things wrong with the US. Still there are somethings that are good. If CR goes the same way as the USA, will you pack up and move again? If that’s the case, you may have to leave a bag packed in the closet.
Life is never perfect. We have to respect the rights of others, whether or not it fits into OUR plans. I have a hard time with this on occasion, but I’m beginning to mellow in my older years.
Alfred, Of course some elements will not be satisfied, it was almost half of the voters that said NO! They need to process this and investigate anything that seems off to them. It’s easy for you to express a sentiment of just get on with it, but everyone has a right to THEIR own process without it being labeled anything else. In the end they will work for the good of their country because Ticos/as really do love their country.
As for the leftist pressure, that actually served to scare the … out of some people to vote SI. Costa Rica has had a fairly strong communist party before, that doesn’t scare them because the majority of Ticos/as are a lot more moderate than that, but the thought of Mr. Chavez is another issue. You’re correct in saying that there were a lot of things that were not morally correct even if economically acceptable to some. Now, that is the rule of the day and it may be just what Mr. Chavez needed to find an open door to get in. Economic disparities are exactly what has opened the door to extreme leftist ideology everywhere, I pray that will not occur in Cost Rica and I believe Ticos/as will work hard to make sure it doesn’t–CAFTA or no CAFTA…
I agree with you Alfred that you can’t just run to a better life, because what you are running from wil eventually follow you. M I have driven across the country many many times(I was in a band) and travel extensively around the north east. There is a lot of beauty here, I can drive an hour North of NYC and be in a beautiful Catskill mountain town, fly fishing on a clean mountain river. Yes there are strip malls and big box places around, although I have been in a walmart once or twice(we usually hit target 2-3 times a year) I don’t hate them. What you call the boondocks is what I prefer, the beauty of the Grand canyon, the Rockies in your state, Bozeman, Montana; Yellowstone, Adirondack park, Grand Teton park, the Cape Cod national seashore, SOOO much of the beautiful South! This country is filled with an array of natural beauty and wonders equal to that of Costa Rica. Of course I agree there are also so many aweful subdivisions with no trees built on some old farm…I steer clear of this. But it’s amazing some people actually love it?! Even here if I wanted to commute I could live in Western New Jersey along the Delaware and live in a charming small town. Well luckily we still have some sort of Democratic system here and I hope we are able to elect someone sometime soon that can bring some integrity back to the US…hey you never know?
There’s no reason to think that there isn’t natural beauty anywhere else, including the US. You know, there are a lot of good looking/wonderful people out there, but most of us choose one person at a time to fall in love with even if we can still see the beauty and the attraction in many others. This is even true of cultures that allow for more than one mate at a time….Choosing CR or our mate is not a statement of how unappealing another place might be, just that our hearts found a home in a particular place or a persons eyes…I’m sure some people can’t find any good in the US or its people and that’s unfortunate for them because they will certainly miss out, but the US beauty is its own and Costa Rica’s beauty is also autoctonous–its the beauty that sets the standard for me and that I (along with many, many others) choose to be in love with….
Lotus, I hope you’re right and we get (even if just a little bit) of integrity back in our own government–frankly, it won’t happen unless “we the people” call them on it. That’s why I would never begrudge Costa Ricans their right to demand that their process be transparent. I wish we would do the same….
I was wondering if anyone knows if Ticos have made up any jokes about this whole mess? They’re famous for creating the craziest jokes about the thorniest issues. Please share them, I could use a good laugh and I couldn’t find any on the Internet version of La Nacion…
Here’s my beef about homogenization: Take the town I live in as an example. Population 25,000 — we have a SUPER Wal-Mart, three McDonald’s, Home Depot, Q-Doba Grill, Burger King, Wendy’s, and THREE Starbucks. It wasn’t enough that we had a Safeway and a King Sooper, but then Albertson’s moved in too. These megamonsters have put out of business every little homegrown hardware and mom-and-pop store we had, and some had been in my town since the early 1900s! Those little shops were one of the reasons I moved here — the old hardware store had ONE room just for nails and screws, and some old geezer who had worked there for 50 years, who knew everything about everything in the store. Gone are most of the little restaurants and coffee shops — the few that are left are struggling and whisper about closing soon. We thought our community was immune to the invasion of this type of development. Don’t get me wrong, where I live is one of the most beautiful places on earth, as long as I stay in my end of the valley, but when I get out to the main part of town, it looks like any other suburb/small town that I’ve seen driving from Florida to Washington State. One, it’s ugly, and two, it has had a disastrous effect on local businesses. That is what I fear will happen when these multinationals get a good toe-hold in Costa Rica. Wal-Mart has already bought up all the grocery chains with the exception of one or two, Maxi-Bodega has sprung up in San Ramon, so how long will it take for rural Costa Rica to look like rural America?
These companies don’t put mom-and-pops out of business, the customers do when they decide to patronize the big box, instead. I support my local businesses because I feel it is my duty. However, I realize that not everyone feels that way. The loss of the old charm makes me sad, but everything changes… Although it doesn’t always seem so, this is called progress.
I had never been into a Wal-Mart until just a couple of years ago — I always patronized my local businesses, until I needed something that I could no longer get in town and HAD to go to Wal-Mart or else drive 30 miles to Denver and try to find that item in a smaller store. that “average” person has been brainwashed to shop at those big box stores because of the convenience so they DO think it’s progress. I see it as the “end.” I’ve stopped shopping at any grocery chain that Wal-MArt owns in Costa Rica. If I can’t get it at the feria or the one store that is independent in San Ramon, I do without.
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