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It basically says that the Tico “Indian Summer”, as we call it, is a few days break in the rainy season around June 24th, especially in Guanacaste and the Central Valley.
I don’t mean to be mean to Scott B. Nobody spells everything right all the time, myself included. I also don’t wish to besmirch Scott’s intelligence based on his poor spelling. After all, I know plenty of smart people who have a poor education, and visa versa.
I only mean to suggest that Scott use a spell checker because it would help him learn how to spell better, just as it helps me, enable him to get across his arguments more effectively because readers won’t focus on the frequent miss-spellings, and demonstrate to this very interesting online community that he respects us enough to “wash up” a bit before coming to the party.
Guilty before being proven innocent, eh? Not everyone has an extra $60k collecting dust you know. That doesn’t make them a criminal.
Edited on May 24, 2007 16:08
Oh come on Maravilla. Saying hi to a nice looking female stick figure is only considered stalking by man-hating Gringa feminist zealots. Once the poor slob was filleted, impaled and shot through the temple he backed off. Now if he had continued coming on to her after that, well then you’d have a valid point…
How did you know that I was overweight, unhealthy and a bad dresser anyway? You’re scaring me! Lotus looks pretty good…you think he’s really a closet Canadian?
Seriously though, regardless of what you think of the video, many Gringas are as verbally abusive toward men who approach them as the video suggests, sans the machete, sword and 44 magnum. I have experienced this myself, back when I was single, thin and healthy (probably still dressed bad though).
On the other hand, I can’t imagine a Tica responding in such a manner, even given the machista Ticos who whistle and say all sorts of crude things to a woman passing by. Such comments are known there as “piropos” – which literally means “compliments”, and they are regarded as such by most Ticas as well.
Maybe Diego’s right – our acceptance of American feminism only seems to make us look like whimps in the eyes of those Gringas who seek out the bad boys.
Oh my God, did I just agree with Diego on his issue??? Now look what you’ve done!
Whew! Never mind – I just found my tongue. It was firmly implanted in my cheek.
By the way, what was this original post responding to anyway?
Edited on May 25, 2007 07:01
Absolutely. ICE (of which RACSA is a subsidiary) has the sole constitutional authority to provide any and all electronic communications services in Costa Rica. This has always applied to telephones and cell phones, and has been extended by the courts to internet connections as well. Any private companies involved in this industry in CR are either subcontractors of ICE or RACSA, or are operating illegally.
Of course, there are always ways around this, and attempts are made from time-to-time by individuals and companies to circumvent the law. High profile methods are perennially shut down by ICE, but I’d be surprised if they suspected a Pringles can!
Oh no! mysticmaiden got busted by the local Perpetual Tourist cop!
I’m sorry Scott B., but I just don’t get it.
1. Tourism is the lifeblood of Costa Rica. The longer they spend there, the more they spend there. Why would anyone wish to put limitations on this?
2. CR law states that a tourist can enter the country for 90 days, renewable for another 90, after which a 72 hour departure from national soil makes you eligible to begin anew. I can find no law or administrative rule that states anything to the contrary. While some people have reported “crack downs” on perpetual tourists, it has not yet been proven to me that people who abide by these rules are denied re-entry. My suspicion is that such reports have to do with those who have overstayed their visas, or are found to be working illegally (although it stretches the bounds of my imagination that any border guard would have access to such information). In the past, overstaying your visa only resulted in very minimal fines. I suspect that this is still the case, and that any “crack downs” are temporary. A sustained campaign to limit tourists simply makes no sense for a tourism-based economy.
Foreigners working illegally in Costa Rica is something I cannot defend, of course, (even though I was guilty of this back in the 80’s as an English Teacher), so I don’t fault you for this. But it seems to me that there are much more important things for you to continually rag on than the hateful scourge of the villainous perpetual tourists.
You’re not the only one married to a Tica, but you seem to be the only one barking like a rabid dog at any other foreigner without our exemption for spending a lot of time there.
Give it up man!
Just one more thing while I have your attention- you’d be doing yourself a big favor by running your posts through a spell checker. As a US military man, like it or not you are an ambassador for the rest of us Gringos. It would be nice if you could at least spell correctly.
Check out this article (in Spanish) from a CR meteorologist regarding “Las Pintas”, the “Veranillo de San Juan”, and other Tico climactic periods.
For those of you unfamiliar, “Las Pintas” is kind of like the Farmer’s Almanac. The first 12 days of the year supposedly tells you what the weather will be like for the next 12 months. I haven’t been able to find it, but after those 12 days there are further and more detailed indications about the coming weather in this colorful folklore. There’s gotta be a book about it somewhere – perhaps at Universal or La Lehman bookstores.
While it’s always been debatable whether this is myth or science, everyone agrees that global warming has further reduced its reliability, as CR’s climate has changed radically over the last 15 years or so.
Here’s what the author says about the veranillos:
“El veranillo de San Juan es una merma de las lluvias en las cercanías del día de San Juan, el 24 de junio. Los “veranillos” son periodos secos de pocos días que se presentan durante la estación lluviosa, especialmente en Guanacaste y el Valle Central. Además, están asociados con lluvias en la vertiente del Caribe. La primera y la segunda canícula, al igual que el veranillo de San Juan, son veranillos que se observan respectivamente a fines de julio y principios de agosto.”
In Costa Rica you can legally get internet service from anyone you want, as long as it’s RACSA. Welcome to the Tico state communications monopoly.
If you don’t like it, pray for passage of CAFTA, as well as a finding from the CR Supreme Court that it’s constitutional (it’s not).
Many people in CR have been waiting for over a decade just for a phone line.
For those of you who would like to know more about this new school, check out the Center for International Policy’s site on it:
http://www.ciponline.org/facts/soa.htm
I tried to go right to the US Army’s official site (https://www.infantry.army.mil/WHINSEC/), but my virus protection software tells me that “There is a problem with this website’s security certificate”. How ironic is that? Or maybe Big Brother just wants to keep track of who’s visiting?
Then look at the University of Peace’s website:
Check out their Annual Report to see how much money the US contributed to them in 2005 – NOTHING!
Maybe the Costa Ricans should be the ones training foreign police forces, including ours! Waco & Rodney King come to mind.
While I would like to think that Scott B is right that the school has “evolved”, given our apparently softened stance on torture and due process, I truly wonder.
Furthermore, let’s be frank. Just as the true political goal of the “School of the Americas” was to counter the spread of communism during the Cold War, the void left by the fall of the USSR was hastily filled by the “War on Drugs”, which in my opinion is simply a perpetual and unwinnable war on human nature. It was inevitable – too much peace means presidents have to think about pressing and politically difficult domestic issues – what a drag!
This new war has done nothing but make drug lords more powerful and profitable than whole governments, undermined democracy, enriched street gangs, overwhelmed court systems, corrupted police forces, swollen prison populations, and offered large revenue streams to terrorist organizations. Many countries are now hostages to their drug mafias, and our own national and neighborhood security is threatened as well.
You can bet that the emphasis of our new and improved school is all about drug interdiction.
Oh, but I’m soooo out of date! I totally forgot our newest venture – the “War on Terror” – another perpetual and unwinnable war which is further destroying freedom and democracy around the world. I say unwinnable, because military might is the wrong way to fight a political/religious movement. Just as our War on Drugs has strengthened the drug lords, our War on Terror has strengthened the terrorists. What kind of lame president can possibly make us look worse in the world court of public opinion than cold-blooded baby killers?!
One definition of war is a failure of politics, and I’m afraid George Bush has helped Bin Laden achieve his dreams. Never before has the Arab world been so strongly aligned against the U.S. Never before has the rest of the world turned against us so as they have now. Never before have we helped foment an all out religious war against “western values”, whatever that is.
Now we have a “War Czar”. Tell me, when will we have a “Peace Czar”?????
And where is the “University of Peace”? In Ciudad Colón, Costa Rica, of course!!!!
Our world is upside down.
Don’t listen to all those armchair accountants Lotus. They’re just jealous. Especially that MACMurrey guy – always giving bad advise and mouthing off! Probably still green with envy as a result of your GQ pic posting. Maybe you would have been better served with a less flattering representation.
Seriously though, I’ll give you gratis that for which I paid big bucks to a crack Real Estate Tax Consultant.
Each property you purchase should be placed in its own LLC with you as a sole owner. This limits liability, provides a layer of anonymity (the agent can be the management company), offers the option of selling either the real estate or the LLC, allows you to truthfully tell a Tenant that you personally are not the owner (he’s a real $&@#!), and enables you, as a broker, to take a commission on the purchase or sale. You can also transfer personal ownership to one of your sole proprietor LLCs without having to pay sales tax again.
A brokerage firm is also best created as an LLC.
A management company is best created as an S-Corp.
You’ll still need to consult with a professional in NY, as State Law may differ. Furthermore, IRS rules and administrative procedures can change from one day to the next, and these professionals are the only ones that really have a handle on it.
That would be Dramamine – same as in the U.S. Another alternative is a wrist band which fights motion sickness. My sister swears by it, and it doesn’t put you to sleep.
Deb,
Houses are much harder to sell when they’re leased. Also, Costa Rican laws are HEAVILY in favor of the tenant. Evictions are MUCH more difficult and lengthy than in the U.S. Many Tico renters know this, and these same type of renters also know that many Gringos in CR are very naive, or at the very least ignorant of landlord/tenant law.
It pains me to say it, but I’d have much greater confidence if the renter were a foreigner. I imagine you’re eager to move, but my advice is to stay where you are until you sell, unless you can afford two mortgages, or you find a qualified expat to sign a long term lease. If you leave it furnished, you’d probably have a good shot at renting it.
Remember, there’s no credit bureau in CR. However, you could ask that a perspective expat renter provide you with one.
For the record, I am a property manager in the US, and I owned and leased property in CR as well.
The fact is that ICE still has a constitutional monopoly on the ENTIRE telecommunications market, including internet connections and VoIP. Hell, they’d probably tear down a string between two tin cans if they found it in the street.
While there have been many “work arounds”, they have all been short lived, as ICE puts the kybosh on them as soon as they can. Until this monopoly ends, businesses are forced to rely solely on ICE for ongoing service. Not being able to call your mom on Mother’s Day because the lines are saturated is merely inconvenient. Not being able to consummate a million dollar business deal because of it is something else entirely.
Scott is right. ICE has done a terrific job providing phone service to the entire country at a reasonable cost. However, there comes a time when a different model is needed to keep pace with an ever-changing world. Let’s face it, how can we expect a plodding hulk of a government monopoly, with all its associated red tape, union egos, committees, indirect taxes, and political considerations, to efficiently deliver state-of-the-art services in what has become the most rapidly developing industry on the planet – telecommunications? Nimble private companies can hardly keep up! In the meantime, businesses that rely on 24/7/365 service are forced to compete at a strategic disadvantage.
No disrespect intended, but are these same people who complain about limited telecommunication services also against CAFTA? If so, they’re talking out of both sides of their mouth.
Well said Diego. It just goes to show that there are many conflicting truths out there. Those who defend only one of them lack objectivity, and add to a climate of polarization, thus stagnating the debate.
However, the only way I can reconcile my agreement with these two polar “truths” is to say that I don’t believe your proposal will work, as much as I would like it to. The reason is that the CR economy is very diverse, and many sectors depend on economic integration to thrive.
It is intriguing to consider the opportunity though – an entire country that remains purposefully and steadfastly in the past. If the whole economy of CR were to revolve around tourism, it might be a brilliant concept. Alas, it doesn’t.
It comes down to choosing between two evils. A society which becomes more and more economically depressed because they refuse to change with the times, or one which finds advantage as an active participant in a world economy, and as a result experiences an erosion of their culture and values.
My feeling is that what little power Costa Rica has to influence the rest of the world will be best leveraged through engagement, and squandered though isolationism. Who knows? Maybe the Ticos will show us all how to better balance financial success with family values, personal integrity, living in the “now”, and the true meaning of life?
