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This topic will always elicit a big response. It is good to talk about these things as long as a realistic perspective can be kept. That may be difficult to do. Statistics and anecdotal stories are all interesting but probably cannot be used alone to establish what the reality is. I had a conversation with a well educated Tico about this matter last year. His thought on the subject was that crime may well have increased recently, but the reporting of crime by the media and by word of mouth perhaps exaggerates the significance.
It’s sort of like the same mentality that makes so many people buy lottery tickets. One winner out of many millions of players somehow gives people the hope, however unlikely, that one of them might be the next winner. Victims of crime are a tiny fraction of the whole population yet a few stories of murder automatically have most of us believing we could be the next one. Do you really think you might be one of the dozen or so people people murdered during the year out of one million people living in San Jose next time you are in town?Edited on Sep 28, 2007 16:04
I have also read such stories. I am a strong believer in “YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR” and sometimes you don;t even get THAT. I haven;t yet tried Spirit but my next trip will probably be with them out of Ft Lauderdale, My fingers will be crossed. The rates are so competitive that one just HAS to try it out.
which speaks to the REAL cause… relative poverty. And it must be RELATIVE poverty. Costa Ricans were always poor by OUR standards and did not experience crime like this until foreign money poured into the country. Juxtaposed american wealth next to Costa Rican living standards was bound to have this result.
By the way, expat involvement in Costa Rican politics is NOT welcome by Costa Ricans from what I see in their laws. Pay your taxes, follow the laws and help where and when you can but organizing in matters where politics deal with crime should be a big NO NO. We are permanent guests in this country as residents, not activist citizenry. That part of life is left back on the shores of the United States where it can still be exercised, if you are still so inclined to pound sand.
Lotus, your post sounds reasonable and is close to my take on this matter. The security I intend to build into my house and living habits is not a prison from my perspective. It is a realistic reaction to a reality and still preferable to staying in the States. There are many homes in Escazu and Santa Ana which have 8 foot walls with concertina wire and dogs and cameras. I will NOT be in those places but those extra secuiriy measures are not that extreme in my opinion. We have to make our own arrangements and not whine about lack of police and enforcement. Those negatives are all part of the whole Costa Rica package, which still has many more good points than bad for me.
Full disclosure here: I have been saying that I feel confident that once I have settled in CR and grown used to my area, that I would feel as safe as I do in Miami. However, I neglected to mention that I intend to build an 8 foot high wall around my house topped with concertina wire. Additionally, I will keep several dogs on the property, probably pincers and whenever I need to leave for more than a day, I will have the caretaker/gardner spend the time in house. This will cost me some money but it is less than what it costs me to pay my fair share for police protection in Miami. (Some of those high Miami property taxes are earmarked for police)
As I said, it all boils down to economics. Wealth, or lack thereof, is the cause for crime and it is also the cure. Come to CR for low property taxes and make your dollars go farther? You get what you pay for. You get an inferior infrastructure, little or no police and fire rescue and a country full of people who have far less than you do. And I am talking about plain, normal people. Costa Ricans are not worse in this aspect than people anywhere else, I suspect. In fact, they may be a bit superior overall. The point is, security costs you money…whether it is security provided for by the state or security provided for by your own efforts.
Familiarity can breed contempt….and also complacency. Who knows for sure where it is safer when talking about entire countries? These things are extremely localized. I live in the U.S. for now and I have grown tired of this place overall and am looking forward to a challenging change of pace in CR. There are good and bad things about both places. Take your pick as to which things are relevant to you but I still feel that I will feel safer in CR once I am settled in and have grown familiar with my neighborhood there. I feel quite safe where I am in Miami, as long as I don’t go where I don;t belong.
After so many years of living in “the great monster of the north” as Cuban poet, Jose Marti called the United States, I don’t have much faith left in what the common citizen can do to change things for the better beyond keeping integrity in his personal behavior.
Wealth disparity is what moves things like increases in crime. I suspect all the neighborhood watch organizations and increases in police that can be mustered won’t do as much as you think to curb this crime trend. It will take a macro economic boom in the country to diminish crime enough to satisfy most of us.It has to be all about where you are, what you appear like to others, and the time of day or night you are there. It has to be all about probabilities, not possibilities. I have lived the last 25 years in crime ridden Miami and have never been personally assaulted. I don’t frequent places where such things happen. Period.(I have had my home, in a very good area, broken into once.)
When I am in Costa Rica, I am uncomfortably aware that petty theft crimes are supposed to be rampant and I am uncomfortably vigilant all the time I am at the airport. Once I get to San Ramon, I maintain a lower level of vigilance. I have lowered the probablity of a personal experience to crime. It definitely puts an edge on things for me. But so far, I have only read about crime rates and incidents. I hope I can keep it that way by not straying into an area where these things happen.
I am sure someone is going to tell me these things can happen anywhere and anytime, but that is a POSSIBILITY. I am more concerned with PROBABILITY. Nobody can do anything to avoid possibilities, but we CAN manipulate our exposure to probabilities with some common sense. Now, if I could just detach myself from this crazy, american attachment to things, I might be able to relax more.
We are talking about degree here. I live in Miami and we have seen some direct and near direct hits. Let me emphasize that there is a huge difference between the effects of a hurricane which hits directly and one which hits many miles away. If you are stating that some hurricanes will and have had an effect on Costa Rica, I am sure that is the case, but any effect caused would not be classified as hurricane damage. A heavy rain is just that, a heavy rain. Whether it is a spin off of a named atmospheric disturbances a hundred miles away or whether it is caused by an unnamed local rainstorm, it is still just a rain storm.
You can blame a lot of damage on a named storm whose force can directly and indirectly influence the atmosphere many hundreds of miles away. Where do you draw the line, though, since every aspect of the planet’s weather systems are connected? So far as I can see from the tracking maps, hurricanes do not effect Costa Rica to any serious degree. Picking knit here, i guess.OK. I guess I see your point. I am certainly not moving to CR in order to seek out other americans. I don’t even do that in Miami. I have lived the last 25 years in Miami and we have friends from all over the Caribbean and Central and South America and not a single gringo among them. I enjoy the variety of cultures here since no single culture really dominates. I think it should be very easy to avoid making american friends in CR if that is what you wish. There are far fewer there than here.
In fact, Costa Rica so far strikes me as very mono cultural. There are not that many foreigners there compared to Miami and it may take a while for me to lose the feeling of sticking out like a sore thumb. It sounds to me like foreign nationals in CR are more xenophobic that the Ticos are in there own country.Although I am not particularly proud of my country, especially lately, I recognize that I am an american. As with all cultures, there is good and bad and our culture certainly has its share of both. On the whole, though, I try not to generalize. The occasional “ugly” American will always be present in other countries and people there will many times generalize and put us all in the same grouping. It may not be fair but it happens everywhere. We all do it. I wonder what bad experiences you have had with Gringos that would make you want to avoid them.
Exactly what I was thinking…same thing happens with new cars…but it still feels like there is actually more interest now than even a year ago. Places get discovered, forgotten about and then rediscovered for all kinds of reasons but the fact that CR might be rediscovered at this precise point in time could be significant. The first of the Boomers are coming into their retirement next year. The numbers will increase dramatically in the ensuing 5 to 10 years and the economic effects should be huge and be felt everywhere from the stock market to the real estate market by that point. Does it seem like there are more speculators in CR these days than just 5 years ago?
I don’t like crowds and that was one of the many reasons to move to CR. I still don’t see that many americans in the San Ramon area. Last visit, I came across a half dozen either gringos or Canadians at a few restaurants and at the hotel. Out in the sticks where I have my build site, there is not a single gringo to be seen or heard…except for me. I think they are still clustering together in gated communities. Makes me wonder why they come here if all they really want is to stay with each other.
