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Oh god Scott this really does show how dumb you are! Don’t think that behind every coup there is a big bad ugly Gringo behind it!!!!
Spirte, I guess what I am trying to get at is that what North Americans think that Latinos are is not what the rest of Central and South America thinks.
It is like the hot sauce commercial when the cowboys are sitting around the campfire and find out the sauce is made in New York city! hahaha.
I had a prime example when we had someone that came down from the states, he said he was colombian. He forgot to tell people that he only spent a two week vacation when he was 11 years old. He spoke spanish, he talked the talk and walked the walk. Exept when he finally met a Colombian and the person asked him at a State department function where in Colombia he was from, the American said I was born and raised in New York. His parents were from Colombia! That made him look really bad! He was trying to be somthing that he was not.
This is also how many so called Latinos in the U.S. are today. They live in large or small communities, they walk the walk and talk the talk but no matter what they say they are they will always be Gringos! they were born on U.S. soil going to U.S. schools and form their opinions from the experiances they have in the U.S. Many of them never have stepped foot in a latin country!
Is this a bad thing? No because they are what they are, people trying to be somthing that they are not… they want to be Ticos or Paraguayans but they are really Gringos.
These are very interesting replys! How ever these are all the politically correct answers not the true Latino answers.
If you talk to a Tico… or a Paraguayan or a Panamainian or any other Cental and South American you will find that if you were raised in a culture such as in the U.S. (or territory) or other than what is from South of the U.S. you would not be considerd a Latino… or maybe I should say a person from latin origens..
For example I have seen too many people come from the states and say they are latino… and say they are from here or there but have never lived there (maybe vacation for a week, to get back to their family roots….hahah), maybe their grand parents or parents lived there. When they come down range and figure out that this is the real life of Central or South America they wish they were back in Miami and can’t understand why the world is the way it is. If you ask a person that is born and raised in Cental or South America they will tell you that New York and Miami is not considered Latin America. Infact they would say that the people that come from the states and think they are Latinos are fooling themselfs. This is embarasing when we have people that come down and say they are from Colombia or Ecuador and come to find out they are really from New York. This is important when they are meeting high ranking officials in goverment and can only speak a high school level spanish or less.
Personally I can’t say that I am Noreigan even though my grandfather is from Norway, I can speak some swedish, I took two years in high school but I can’t say i know anything about being Noreigan because I have never lived there and really know what the normal life is. (yes I love Leffsa, but that doesnt make me Noregian)
Here in South America you would not be able to tell by skin color if someone is Paraguayan or German, there are many blonde and blue eyed Paraguayans!
Does it matter in Costa Rica? Yes and no, if you are trying to be someone that you are not you will look foolish and lose the trust of most people. Like I ask, if you grew up with a suicide shower or had to pray every night that your house would not catch on fire (because it was made out of wood and bail wire)or had dirt floors and was south of texas…. then you probebly are a latino!
Last night I had seen a podcast from a NBC and they talked about how the new imigrants from the Americas are adapting the same mentality as my grandfather did… they wanted to be U.S. Americans first! They wanted to change their life style to be Americans, and that is what is happening now. Latinos are giving their kids gringo names.. they are makeing them learn english first.. and understanding that living in America and being American is a good thing! In twenty years when generations are born in the U.S. are their grandchildren Latinos????? How far does that go??
Now Personally I do introduce myself as a gringo and I find that people respect that, infact I have more people come to me and despertly try to pratice their english while I pratice my spanglish. I do love living in Latin America and I do respect the lifestyle.. I do have to suffer waiting in long lines, familys on the streets and all of the other crazy stuff that make up the Latino life!!!
Just on a side note:
“The term “Latino” is a versatile one that includes people from both these shores and abroad. It is used with relative acceptance and pervasiveness in Philadelphia, along the East Coast, and among scholars, and has political implications as a label of self-determination. However, the term is not without its critics or problems.” hahaha… I guess they forgot to ask the people from Central and South America about that question…..
Edited on Jun 15, 2009 18:57
Edited on Jun 15, 2009 19:00
I like to be called cracker! How ever I do present myself as gringo or Minnesotan and also American.
Edited on Jun 14, 2009 16:04
Hmmm examples?
Well it is easy to spew numbers but really Scott is that acurate? How many countries in the world has the population and the amount of large cities such as LA, Chicago, Detroit, New York, Dallas, Houston, Miami ect…. I could try to name all of the large cities that the U.S. has but I am sure that you could see that no other country alone has what the U.S. has. Then put the police forces, DEA, FBI and other large departments that the United States has, then Yes the U.S. is a example. If you look at how all of the agencies work together compared to other countries with that mount of people and cities than it is what other countries want to learn from.
I don’t think the U.K. could keep up with the U.S. compared to size and city population than put the boarder issues and drugs in the mix and they would have been crying for help from the U.S.
Don’t laugh to loud Scott other wise you would be eating your words. I have a little bit of insite that I can not say to much about, but it is true that for the last five years Costa Rica has been able to stop alot of problems of drug trafficing and it is only because of the U.S. Money and training!
Where do you think the Ticos got the money for the boats, helicopters, ect for their goverment to catch the Kilos of drugs that show up in the papers and TV????? I can tell you that it was not from the U.K. !
Also you have to understand it is not the U.S. primarly asking to give the money or support it is mainly the countries such as Costa Rica and Paraguay that is asking for the support. They know that they cannot afford to go it alone and need the training and finacial support.
Question where do you think that the Costa Ricans can go for training of their police force to combat drug trafficing?
Edited on Jun 13, 2009 09:30Edited on Jun 13, 2009 09:38
Edited on Jun 13, 2009 09:39
Paraguay, yes scott, I am in Paraguay for another year. I am working in the U.S. Embassy and will be for another year before we move back to Costa Rica.
And IICA is a offshoot, you must know this because IICA is very big in Costa Rica and when you ask about 90% of the Ticos they know where it is and what it means to their country.
Normal Stuff, well I have seen many organizations in the Central and South America that are like IICA such as USAID, Germany, UK, Spain, Brazil and many other countries have simular goverment run programs that all give information to help with Economic, Health, Agreculture and social programs (normal stuff). With out these organiztions many countries such as Costa Rica and Paraguay would be lost be strugeling worse than they are.
For example: Costa Rica! Where do you think that they get the experiance, money, knowledge and training from to control boarders and drug trafficing problems? I can tel you it is not Costa Rica!!!
Here in Paraguay they have the experiance from a goverment run German organziation that is simular to the USAID conducting water studies to improve their water quality for drinking water. I can tell you that Paraguay like most of Central America does not have the money to spend on water treatment plants like in every city in the U.S or UK!
Now do I personally think that any of this will change the culture of Costa Rica or Paraguay (god I hope not!!!) I think Costa Rica has bigger problems such as the loss of their land to foriegners and the impact that it will have on their medical sytem and social service. However Costa Rica knows that to survive they will have to have outside support in many areas to over come problems and they are always willing to recive money for it.
Scott Benson
ParaguayThank you Brian for giving a crap for the poor farm workers of Costa Rica, but I belive that most people can’t look beyond their nose and figure that the rest of the world is poor. You will never be able to stop my wife’s cousins from being poor because everyone has a different perseption of poor. I am sure that Miss Hilton would think you and I are very poor. I also know that that my wifes cousins would think that the Paraguayans on the streets are poor compared to their style of living.
I think that if you really want to do somthing about it you should be ready to open your walets up at starbucks and pay another two dollars or more for that cup of coffe. Even that will not stop but what the heck maybe it will make more people feel good.
Again this is realty Brian, I don’t mean to give you a downer but that is the realty in Central and South America.
The main reason why farmers find it hard to go organic is they have to stop farming a parcel of land for some years to get the soil ready for organic.
Well since IICA is a offshoot of World Org and OAS they do the normal stuff but it is the goverment and the culture of Costa Rica that has to change. My wife’s aunts and uncles work in the plantations. I think they have first hand on what the working poor is. I would like to ask people here though would you pay about 8 or 9 dollars more a pound for your coffe at starbucks or maybe 2 dollars more per cup? Maybe instead of paying more at the coffe stores you would like to just give the money? I can get you in contact with some poor workers!
By the way, Since people are willing to help out the Costa Ricans here in Paraguay we have a lot of poor workers here as well, ——
My wife and I are dying laughing at you guys! You really don’t know the history of Costa Rica!! Do a search on Dole or Chiqita banana and Costa Rica, you will find some surprising stuff that happened in the 80s.
Also my wife worked for IICA in Costa Rica for many years as a Economist creating relations with ISO and organic farming in Costa Rica. She would suggest you don’t drink the coffee that is for local consumption. If you do than drink Coffee Brit or Coffee Rea.
