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[quote=”kevin.smith”]….and yet the entire country is still safer than Houston TX. Nowhere is perfect.[/quote]
I live in Houston and have a house in Palo Seco…I don’t have to pay someone to guard my house 24hrs a day in Houston. I do in Palo Seco….Theft is like a national sport in CR.
Sorry, couldn’t resist 🙂
Scott: You always seem to find a way to try and bash the USA…Why is that?
david, when you have done 13 years of research into pharmaceutical-related (specifically antidepressants) events, written about them, and participated in pharmaceutical litigation to force the purveyors of these drugs to label them with homicide and suicide warnings, then and only then will you be able to scoff at the claims that there has yet to be a school, church, or office shooting that did not involve them. we even had such an event here in costa rica — guy goes into banco, shoots a few people, shoots himself, and lo and behold he was on psycho meds.
as for the number of people returning to the U.S.after x amount of time, if i used just my own community as an example, it is easily 40%, and that doesn’t count all the other dozen people i have met who have already fled.
i do believe the idea that crime has made costa rica completely unsafe is overblown. we have neighbors here who were gone for months at a time and never had someone staying in their house, or had a guard patrolling the property 24/7. obviously, some areas are worse than others — just the people who signed the crime petition who were victims seems to indicate that beach areas are less safe than the campo, although we had burglaries here as well, but not a single incident of anything in 20 months now. i accidentally left a rear door open to my house for maybe several months and nothing happened, so there are not marauding gangs of thugs searching for an easy entry point. now, the two suspected serial murderers who have fled panama and may be in costa rica is another story. i thought i had left all of that behind in the States, but i guess not.
Scott: You always seem to find a way to try and bash the USA…Why is that?
Where am I trashing and bashing the USA?
[quote=”tomstew1″][quote=”kevin.smith”]….and yet the entire country is still safer than Houston TX. Nowhere is perfect.[/quote]
I live in Houston and have a house in Palo Seco…I don’t have to pay someone to guard my house 24hrs a day in Houston. I do in Palo Seco….Theft is like a national sport in CR.
Sorry, couldn’t resist 🙂
Scott: You always seem to find a way to try and bash the USA…Why is that?[/quote]So,then does your HOA require an alarm system inside this gated community?:lol:
Sorry,couldn’t resist. As far as being safer CR beats Houston hands down.tomstewart, I think you miss an important point. You are, in fact, paying someone to guard your house in Houston — the Houston Police Department. You’re just not paying them directly. And as for your guard in Palo Seco, the question remains whether this is actually necessary or not. Plenty of houses go unguarded and nothing bad happens. Remember, it’s difficult to prove something didn’t happen.
maravilla, don’t overlook all the multiple homicides in human history that took place long before the advent of psychotropic medications. If psych meds are at fault for all the mass killings, what happened before? Or did all the non-medication-induced killings end the day the psych meds hit the market? (Gee, maybe they’re actually a good thing!)
Dear Mr Mcmurray,
I am facinated by your expertise in psychotropic medications.
Myself being a layperson would these drugs have anything to do with lsd? or some mind altering drugs. The reason i ask is you are making me think of the movie full metal jacket and the expat in that movie [sorry bad with names] who lived in the jungle in vietnam and was kind of like a psychodellic leader of these people in his own world and ways. Naaaa what am I thinking, is there any relation to excentric thinking of people who have been in this jungle like place for many years?
Only a question in geneal no specific person in mind.I don’t presume to know the chemical nature of either the legitimate psychotropic medications nor of LSD. What I can tell you is that they have exactly opposite effects on people who take them. Psychotropic medications suppress hallucinations both visual and auditory. As such, they enable many psychotic patients to live a more or less normal life.
Administered and monitored competently, psychotropics have been a godsend for psychotics who were commonly confined in institutions (often literally in padded cells) with no hope of a better life.
Like insulin for diabetics, antibiotics for those with infections, and other medications, psychotropic medications can be misprescribed and misused sometimes with undesireable outcomes.
David C. Murray
Stats are difficult sometimes to really understand…..Serious crime is probably reported in CR (murders etc.) accurately so it definately appears Costa Rica is safer but petty crime is probably not reported here and I have not seen any stats on that, but I bet CR would be significantly higher then the states and most other countries. I can’t speak about Panama, I have never been there but surely CR does have a problem with petty crime, Just take a walk in any part of the country and look at the bars on the windows, I have been told this is a cultural thing, No I don’t believe it, they are there IMHO to prevent crimes. There is also private security guards in just about every major store, Bank, etc. and I’m not talking about the normal complement expected as in the states, they wouldn’t be paying these folks for security if there wasn’t a crime issue. Every country has its pluses and minuses. Costa Rica has many, many pluses but on my list petty crime is a big minus (the biggest). I don’t think many people move from the states to CR because they feel safer. I would think most of us living in CR would pay a little extra tax if it would make the country safer from such petty crime. I personally don’t like locking up the house and turning the alarm on every time I leave. But you sure can’t beat the nature here and they can’t steal that from you.
genizou(sp?), I’m not sure your take on the crime statistics is quite right. The criminologists will tell you that crimes of all types go unreported when the victims are skeptical of a good outcome. That is, if the cops won’t successfully pursue the perps, why report the crime in the first place? This phenomenon likely plays out the same in the U.S, in Costa Rica, and everywhere else.
So while petty crime may be frequent in Costa Rica, the reported incidence is likely lower than the actual incidence because the population is generally skeptical that the police will do anything. But precisely the same mechanism is operating in the U.S. and most other places. If you live in many inner city neighborhoods in the U.S., the only way to get the police to respond at all is to call 911 and report a man with a gun. Petty crimes go unreported and the apparent incidence is lower than the actual incidence there too.
As for the obsession with security in Costa Rica, I do think that all the ironwork on many houses is largely a cultural thing (referred to by some as the “lace” on the house). What’s interesting to me is to note two houses standing side-by-side. One has three layers of fences and gates, etc.; the other one has none. And neither is being burglarized. How can we explain that?
Oh, and HSBC Bank in Grecia has no armed guard and no locked door, and every indication is that it’s as secure as Banco Nacional down the street with its armed guards (plural) and recently installed “vapor lock” entry and exit obstacles. In my five years in Greia, neither bank has been assaulted.
[quote=”PauldThomas”]We were just wondering why you moved to Costa Rica instead of Panama? What were your main reasons for moving to Costa Rica?
What does Costa Rica have that Panama doesn’t?
Thanks,
DT[/quote]
well i didn’t actually move to costa rica.we just go once or twice or thrice a year. a friend’s mother in law from cr visited me here in states on way to niagara falls because i speak spanish i suppose. after the second visit she invited us to come down so we did and i fell in love with a little place in Tortugero on the San Juan river which was not for sale but after that she called me to tell me about a similar place which became the place we’re talking about which she helped me get. Besides, i don’t know anyone in Panama.There is a LOT of petty crime in CR and that statistic does not come from printed sources but from my wifes family.
7 brothers and sisters then add husbands and wifes, their children (some married) I would say about 50+ all Nationals, I am the only Gringo.
They all have experienced petty crimes or roberies in one form or another. Do they call the police? NO they do not. It is a way of life in CR to accept some minimal discomforts.
They just use common sense, avoid certain areas, walk with someone else while going downtown, don’t wear expensive jewelry, a WHOLE lot of metal bars in the windows, form a community watch group where you live (your neighbors are your best police)
Outside of San Jose the story is different but in some areas where the wealth is concentrated (beach, with minimal watch) they are target’s of opportunity.
Take this advice wherever you go or travel, be that in San Jose, CR or Miami FL.
warren
PS: just two weeks ago in a Pulperia where my wife’s cousin was a man walks in and robs it. It just so happens it belongs to the mother of a BIG wig from the OIJ. In 1 hour he was caught. This happened in Desamparados right next to the Parque de la Paz.
The secret word in all the above is ‘petty’. in my near 20 yrs on a beach in CR we’ve had break-ins, things disappear from year to year.have never called the police but just talked with neighbors and most times find out who is the culprit and just keep a distance. if i had gold jewelry i wouldn’t wear it, i think that is a stupid thing for anyone to do although i see it a lot in whatever country i’ve traveled/lived in. been broken into here in new york state too so you are right it isn’t just cr or central america as some people think, But this serial murder case really knocked the wind out of my trusting sails! Whatever could have happened/or not happened to these two peoples’ psyches? There’s so much being written and talked about in studies of the workings of our brains i hope someone sees to it that these two brains are prime subjects for study.Plus the fact that they found each other. holy smokes! y
We have been robbed multiple times and have called the police every time.
They did respond, and one time the ‘culprits’ did return [i]everything to the police station…[/i].[quote=”yvette”][quote=”PauldThomas”]We were just wondering why you moved to Costa Rica instead of Panama? What were your main reasons for moving to Costa Rica?
What does Costa Rica have that Panama doesn’t?
Thanks,
DT[/quote]
well i didn’t actually move to costa rica.we just go once or twice or thrice a year. a friend’s mother in law from cr visited me here in states on way to niagara falls because i speak spanish i suppose. after the second visit she invited us to come down so we did and i fell in love with a little place in Tortugero on the San Juan river which was not for sale but after that she called me to tell me about a similar place which became the place we’re talking about which she helped me get. Besides, i don’t know anyone in Panama.[/quote]OK let me weigh in on this as I have experience with both..
I… until quite recently had a lot of business in both panama and Costa Rica. SO I have had times when I was living in Costa Rice and times when I was living in Panama…
You must understand that BOTH places and different from the US (of course), but also from each other. It largely matters what YOU are looking for. If you are looking for the cosmopolitian life I suppose an arguement can be made for Paname (hell there are more banks in Panama city than in New York City. However if you are looking to retire in a quasi-rural quiet surrounding. with a demographic slice of people that are conspicously / visibly happly.. then it Costa Rica for ME personally…
Additionally I need to point out (as Scott has to others so many times.. you MUST INVEST YOURSELF IN THE CULTURE, if you are going to have a happy time and a good experience. You first must get spanish under you belt, you need to attend public gatherings (festivals mostly etc. ) so you feel as ‘part of the community’. IF you TRY… and if you have trouble in their society.. there are those who will help you.
BOTTOM LINE OR YOUR WAISTIN YOUR TIME: YOU MUST ASSIMILATE IN THE CULTURE
If you don’t… you WILL eventually give up and leave…. and report to others what an awful experience it was.
AND FOR GRINGOs to succeed …
this means a bit a work…After years of thinking about it and weighing all the options and my goals and… being honest with myself (which is harder than most expect it t o be)
I chose to buy some property and build in the mountains of Costa Rica.
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