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I agree that the San Ramon area has gone up in value by three to four times what it was worth just three years ago and this is, amazingly, happening in a very bad economic downturn. However, like the stock market, price tells you everything you need to know. There are reasons for the higher values around San Jose and other larger cities. One important obvious reason is the nearness of amenities and essential services. If you are able to do without such things, which the vast majority of expats are NOT, I am sure there are a lot of parcels of extraordinarily beautiful land to be had for much less money. I assume you are a young, healthy and adventerous person perhaps without the need to find good schools for children or fast, reliable internet or hospital emergency services.
I am curious as to what price per square meter you are looking at and in what region.
Scott, GW should be tried for treason along with his entire cabinet. And while we’re at it, why not presecute those congressional people on the commitees which signed off on torture?
Of course, this won’t happen. Vested interests are the ones in power who make decisions on whether or not to prosecute, not the people. Anyone here who still believes the US is a free and just democracy is just plain delusional or completely ignorant of the facts.
It is perfectly correct to blame many of the ills in latin america on the US.
Colonial powers are rarely concerned with the welfare of their colonies and the US has been an economical colonial power in latin america and the caribbean for over a century. I applaud nations like Cuba and Venezuela who managed to wiggle free from the US and more countries are following suit.
It is unfortunate that some leaders, like Honduras’ president, believe it is necessary to take extraordinary measures to ensure their survival in the face of US opposition. Jose Marti, Cuba’s 19th century national hero, once called the US “El Monstro del Norte”monster of the north. It took a lot of blood and decades of suffering to throw the US out of Cuba. Fortunately, that task might be a lot easier now that the US is weakened and distracted elsewhere.Edited on Jul 08, 2009 08:41
The bottom line is that the Hondurans selected a president who has begun to trample their constitution. This means that he has lost the title of representative of the people. The military is NOT a representative of the people either. By the way, we had a similar kind of president with GW except that our military is run by coporate interests. Any way, The solution is being addressed properly by the Costa Ricans. Arias is now in talks with both parties.
I love Costa Rica for more than just the scenery and life style. Arias has his own political agenda but it fits so nicely with sane politics. Costa Rica is a refuge for those of us wanting to escape the insanity of the US. The problem is that insanity is contagious and now very close to the Costa Rican border.
Edited on Jul 08, 2009 07:37
Biased news broadcasters come from all directions and persuasions. There has been constant US government funded right wing TV broadcasting propaganda into Cuba from Key West for decades.
What concerns me is that such preposterous stories about a hidden army in Nicaragua are obviously spread around in order to stir up a hornets nest and offer a possible excuse for the illegitimate Honduran junta to invite US troops into their country.
Is it such a stretch to imagine that this whole affair has been engineered in order to create another US mlitary base in an area which is moving quickly to the left?Of course the US is behind all the mischief in latin america. But many americans just either don’t know about this, don’t believe it or fully and selfishly support the imperialst expansion. The statement is for them.
There is a hard core 20 to 25% of the american adult population which are far to the right and consistantly support US aggression and corporate autocratic agendas in Central America and elsewhere. I have no idea what portion of that 25% hold those beliefs out of igonrance, fear or malevolent intent to further enrich themselves but they have proven to be a definite danger to the rest of the world. We never really defeated or eliminated fasism last century. Instead, e imported it for domestic consumption.Edited on Jul 06, 2009 10:41
Human evolution has given us brains that function on emotion rather than on reason and probabilistic thinking. I suppose there is a good reason why selectivity chose that path but conditions do change so who knows?
Emotion is what makes the equity and futures markets move. Emotion is what determines price of everything from food to real estate. The combined greed and fear of masses of buyers and sellers set the prices. Profit is made by putting reason up against emotion. If you can kick in your logic and keep it in gear, you can avoid losing money and have a great chance of making money.Good point, sumasal.
Real esate agents tell me, though, that they ARE doing business in my area and selling property like mine for as much as $18 per square meter. How much business they are doing is unkown to me.Just curious…It was so easy to make money in real estate in Costa Rica. Why go the shady route when making an honest effort could have easily paid off more than just pulling up their tents and stealing off into the night? My own property has increased in value about 3 and a half times what I paid for it three years ago. I know a few people who seem to have done quite well for themselves in that business.
It’s hard to believe that people would perfer to be dishonest even if it means making less money. I suppose it is possible also that the people in these operations were just very poor business people with a lousy buisness plan.
i am still wondering what could be the motive for seeking such a clarification of a widely used term like latino. As far as I know, and I have been immersed most of my life in various Spanish speaking cultures, nobody takes offense to the term latino.
It is attempt to be all inclusive of SPanish speaking cultures and a generalization to be sure but I don’t think it is a limitation of qualities or a lumpting together of defective characteristics…so where is the offense or inaccuracy?
As far as pretending to be something other than what one is for the purpose of engratiating oneself into a social setting, I still don’t see any harm. That would be sort of like taking the “when in Rome” attitude as far as possible.
Hispanics, latinos, Ticos, Cubiches, portorros..etc…there is an abundance of names and labels and unless they are used to damage others, I see no problem with a liberal use of all of them.One way might be to ask a stranger to guess at your designated cultural heritage.
I have been told by many latinos that I speak Spanish as if I were born and raised in Cuba but I am 100% North American (English/Scottish/Irish)and only began speaking Spanish in my late teens. I have spent most of my adult life associating with latinos and am completely immersed in some of those cultures. (my wife is Puerto Rican). Yet I would never be mistaken for a latino. On the other hand, I know many people who were born into latin cultures and have the physiocal appearance to match but do not speak Spanish and do not hold any cultural aspects of their origins. They would be called latino by a stranger.
In the States, your cultural designation seems to matter. Does it matter in Costa Rica,I wonder?I am also very egalitarian in my attitude towards others. WhenI was younger and visited Cuba often as a fluent Spanish speaker, I noted that the Cubans always presented me as “una persona sencilla”..a simple person. That means something entirely different in Spanish than it does in English. It means a modest person who has no guile or an overblown sense importance about him.
Latin culture engenders respect for superiors and they have a different definition of what superiors means. They respect older people. We do not so much. They respect the sanctity of family much more than we do as well.
But they carry this too far for my tastes when they assign a superior rank to some one with much wealth. Add to that the perception that economic class is fixed and permanent and you have an unbalanced amount of respect shown to people who are wealthy. In the States, we also define a persons value by wealth but we have the illusion that anyone can become wealthy, hence we don;t exaggerate respect for the rich as they are basically just like us…only richer.
Imxploring, I think it may be a difference between latin and anglo cultures. Latins tend to maintain more of a separation between economic classes. This may explain why latin cultures have looked to socialized labor laws as a remedy.
One might think that a big danger with socialized labor laws in a latin country is that they might create a confrontational atmosphere between employer and employee. On the other hand, look at the United States which has the opposite of socialized labor laws. There has always been a strong confrontational atmosphere between unions and management. How did the US resolve that problem? It eliminated unions.
The Costa Ricans may or may not succeed in their efforts to create a fair and comfortable environment for citizens with socialized medicine and worker protection laws. I hope they do. There is no alternative anywhere else. The US is certainly no model to emulate.
“While I have no problem with work rules that protect folks from being abused… that’s never been my way. I look at many of the people that have worked for me as friends and in some case family”…….
I am not making any accustations here, just noting an amusing comparison to the attitude reported to have been that of slave holders in the US. Those people used to say that their slaves were almost like family and were treated fairly. There was no meed for changing things as everyone was happy and the poor negroes couldn’t care for themselves anyway. What would they do without masters to give them work?
I get suspiscous of anyone who wants to curb workers’ rights in the name of helping the workers. If there is unfairness in how laws are applied, addtess that issue rather than atack a fair worker law.
Edited on Jun 08, 2009 08:50
I am also concerned that the local farmers and farm workers do not understand the consequences of using pesticides and herbicides. The several I know use this stuff quite a bit. For them it is a no brainer..they measure how much work is involved clearing out weeds and grasses for an area to be cultivated with a machete and compare that work to the minimal effort involved in walking around with a sprayer in hand to do the same task. It seems that the back pack pesticide containers are as ubiquitous as machetes and rubber mud boots in farm workers’ homes.
