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I am a WASP. But I speak fluent Spanish with a Cuban accent. I am married for 32 years to a Puerto Rican woman and I have lived within and among the Hispanic culture here in Miami for over three decades.
Depite a concerted effort and natural tendency to try to blend in to the Latin culture, I will always be seen as a gringo. I will stand out physically as a gringo and so I will be treated initially, always as a gringo.
No matter how I behave or how familiar I am with Costa Rica and its people, no matter how successfully I assimilate the accent, I will always be seen as a non native. It is always a bit unsettling standing out in a crowd. I never quite get used to it.
David,
When you use the word “security” what do you mean? Is this security for the safety of your person or for security of property….or for both? Is one a more important consideration than the other?
I have never, in the Costa Rican countryside, felt my person to be in danger…ever. Property, of course, is always under threat of theft no matter where you live.
So I assume it is fear of assault and a general mistrust of the culture. The police are not much of a presence, I know.
From what I have observed, the cost of absolute safety (a dubious concept) is always too high.
Too much is given up for too little in return.
Most Americans have trouble with this concept and give up freedoms and isolate themselves from the world for nothing or for very little since their fears are usually exaggerated or exaggerated for them.
If you feel threatened or fear loss of property in the area where you live, then I suppose choosing to live with less privacy may sound like a price worth paying.
But look around you. Most people in Costa Rica appear to live without as much fear as Americans do.
Ticos make very little concession to fear.. Bars on windows and guard dogs are ubiquitous, but so are solitary houses in the countryside.
I have seen Ticos floating down crocodile infested rivers in inner tubes while line fishing.
I watched Tico children play in snake filled fields or by rushing river waters.
Our cultures balance the value of security and safety to the value living a free life differently. You have found your balance.
I prefer to risk property loss rather than taking on the inevitable sense of isolation that comes with living behind gated walls.
[quote=”elindermuller”]Living in a golden cage called gated community has nothing to do with luxury or elite. Luxury for me means Space and Privacy, not staring at other peoples roofs and into their back yards. Just my opinion, others may feel the opposite way.
[/quote]
Live in the country and you will have plenty of privacy.
David, you are wrong about there always being a thieving segment in societies. Theft is rare in societies where members have all they need for living contented lives. It is only in societies with an economic system of designed scarcity and the resulting economic stratification where such aberrant thieving behavior is made common.
I have all I need and so I am not a thief. Would you take property from another? Don’t make the egocentric error of believing you have superior morals to some others because you are not a thief. There is not as much difference between us all as you may have been led to believe.
Gated communities are a sign of societal sickness. They are the result of economic stratification, the most destructive force in any human community. They are much more than just a wall between two neighbors. They are a declaration of absolute mistrust between entire groups of people within what is supposed to be one community.
Is it protection of property from petite theft or is it personal safety that drives North Americans and some Ticos into these protected zones?
Over the last 7 years, I have visited Costa Rica dozens of times and have spent long periods in the Central Valley. There are too many memorable incidents to relate here where I have had the priveledge to be the recipient of the kind and gentle Tico national character. It is a closely knit small society and most of us come from societies which are quite different.
Over the last 7 years, I have visited Costa Rica dozens of times and have spent long periods in the Central Valley. There are too many memorable incidents to relate here where I have had the priveledge to be the recipient of the kind and gentle Tico national character. It is a closely knit small society and most of us come from societies which are quite different.
English is the language for business
Spanish is the language for prayer
French is the language for love making
and German is the language for giving ordersRight now, the criminals in Washington DC can ship just about anything they want to any destination they want, legal or otherwise. Israel and the CIA asset, AL Qaida, are armed to the teeth by Washington. Petroleum, minerals and other commodities can also be halted at will by these criminals to support any war adventure or false flag attack they decide upon.
Now comes a competing mafia-like organization, China,into the isthmus to open its own shipping lane between the oceans. It does not take a great deal of imagination to understand why one gang of bastards might oppose another gang moving in on what it considers its territory.
[quote=”sweikert925″]It’s a bit far-fetched to suggest that the US can restrict passage through the Panama canal since we don’t own (or even lease) it any more.
Chinese ships traverse the Panama Canal routinely, including its naval ships. I can’t recall a single occasion when passage through the canal was denied for poltical reasons, but maybe someone out there can enlighten if that was indeed ever the case.
But it still begs the question: Why would a second canal be a threat to the US? The only threat I can see is to Panama which would no longer have a monopoly on transoceanic shipping transit traffic.[/quote]
A Chinese built canal in Nicaragua would be under the immediate control (inspections, etc) of Nicaragua and to some degree, China …just as the Panama canal is under the control of Panama and the US. Who inspects cargo in the Panama canal?
[quote=”sweikert925″][quote=”Scott”]I can’t image our Gringo friends to the North allowing this to be completed.[/quote]
Well, I still don’t think this canal is likely to be built but if it the construction of a canal DOES get underway, precisely how would the “Gringo friends to the North” prevent it?
[quote=”Scott”]… but they would certainly consider it a threat to “our interests” dontcha’ think?[/quote]
How would having 2 canals for trans-ocean shipping to pass through be a threat?[/quote]
If the Chinese have their own route through the Isthmus, the U.S. would not be able to restrict passage, would they?
The U.S. has always considered itself owner of the entire hemisphere and recently, has been aiming for more control of the rest of the world.At 3000 feet altitude and above in the Central Valley, you will not require air conditioning at all. But at or near sea level, I can’t see how any North American can have a comfortable life style without air conditioning. Screw living at the coast! I will visit whenever I feel the urge but I won’t live there.
[quote=”sweikert925″][quote=”sprite”]
US News media has an agenda. [/quote]Of course they do – their agenda is to make as much money as possible. Do you really think Rupert Murdoch is bowing to the demands of the US or any other government?
If the US media are lackeys of the federal government then why are they so quick to pounce on stories such as the NSA monitoring case?[/quote]
Silly boy! The US media did not pounce on the NSA story. They were forced to report it by one reporter and this is old news for most of us anyway. It only seems like news to naive people like you who swallow some or all the lies that the government and the lackey media spew out.
[quote=”sweikert925″][quote=”Scott”]
Surely these topics are infinitely more important to both gay people and straight people, no?[/quote]Newspapers and TV stations don’t publish what they think is important, they publish what people want to read or view. If they only published what was important they would soon go out of business. The National Enquirer outsells Time Magazine. Is that because what the Enquirer prints is more important?
And I hate to break it to you but potato chips outsells spinach too.[/quote]
US News media has an agenda. They are selling advertising and they are selling government propaganda. The government. Doesn’t want you focusing on issues of importance.
[quote=”pharg”
…..such as noticias, ayuda y consejo concerning Costa Rica
[/quote]I am confused as to how gay union issues are of any consequence to straight people who are moving to, or who are living in Costa Rica when there are so many other more pressing issues. If you do not agree with gay union rights, or with gay lifestyles, then avoid forming a civil union with a gay. Problem solved, no issue.
