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[quote=”oreo”]Do you really think that if there is a crash the costa ricans are not going to take back what the foreigners have in their country. They take what they want already, gringos would be the first to be targeted. How much firepower can you have?[/quote]
Possibly you have reason to fear if what you have was obtained unfairly. I don’t know what you are refering to by “they take what they want already”. If I had to live in fear like that I wouldn’t live here.
I have had nothing but friendship and cooperation from the Ticos and don’t expect that to change. They have nothing as it is. What difference do you think a recession is going to make?
We raise a few chickens for their eggs, grow a garden and are adding more fruit trees to our property. They share what they have and we do the same.
We didn’t come here tyo lock ourselves away behind a concrete wall or to feel that we had to have “firepower” for protection from [b]”THE OTHERS”[/b].
What we have found here is a sense of community that I knew growing up and is now lost in much of the US.
If we felt the fear that you apparently feel we would feel that we don’t belong here.
[quote=”maravilla”]as sad as it is that Ticos are lagging behind in education, despite their claims of a high literacy rate, [b]let’s not forget that the US lags[/b] behind most industrialized nations when it comes to math and science. a few years ago Albania outranked the US in nearly all categories. [/quote]
I have always carried a mental picture of the book we used when we started learning world geography [b]in the 3rd grade[/b] in a 2 room country school in Colorado.What happened to our educational system? I have always credited my father, not the schools, for teaching me how to think but our youth are being poorly served by the educational system in the States. Kids learn best from teachers who make a class interesting. Is that where we are losing it? I see the same thing happening here.
This gets into a whole other topic that I don’t know whether Scott wants to see initiated on this site.
[quote=”Scott”]And let’s be honest, most North Americans and Brits don’t speak enough Spanish to complain anyway do they?[/quote]
I think this speaks to the fact that most expats dont come here for the benefit of Costa Rica but rather to take financial advantage of a poor nation.They are no different than the politicos, from the president on down, and other types who pocket millions at the expense of the country.
CAJA is the one good thing that I see here despite the complaints of expats.
The educational system is light years behind the States. We have seven Tico kids in house that by the time they are ready for colegio dont even have a clue as to their place in Costa Rica or Costa Ricas place in the world. They know very little of the history of Costa Rica and nothing of world history. They can read and write and that is about it. [b]They are not taught how to think.[/b]
Although we cannot vote each of us has opportunities to make changes in infinitesimal ways by providing assistance in the lives of the people we do touch.
[quote=”maravilla”]i don’t have bars on my windows or razor wire on my garden wall.
costa rica is one of the top spots for sexual tourism. i hate that about costa rica, because for that to be a way of life, women and children have to be exploited.[/quote]Maravilla, #1 – I would bet that you have Tico friends who have been helpful to you and been happy to do so. In spite of those who try to charge expats three times what they would charge a Tico, many other Ticos have been very helpful to us.
#2 – Regarding sexual exploitation: I happen to agree with you but I have met many women who have children by Ticos who would desert them at the drop of a hat or a pair of panties and never look back or care about the children that they sired.
The women are primarily under educated and have few resources in a macho society. They take advantage where they can and it is usually on their backs with expat men. They know where the money is. Expats can and do pay as much as half a months wages for a Tico to spend a night with a pretty girl.It is cultural and one day the Ticos will wake up to the women saying “No more, I am your equal.” I hope we live to see that day.
[quote=”garland”] we live in the 945xx zipcode and love it. {/quote]
then why do you rant on this forum?
[quote=”garland”] my friends in CR speak of a completely different experience. my friends, who live in CR, are extremely concerned about security. [/quote]
Your friends are probably the very ones of whom I speak. They didn’t come here to enjoy the country and the people. I dont believe the crime rate in Costa Rica is any higher than in the U.S. The chances of an armed invasion of your home ios certainly less.
[quote=”garland”] it is good that you are not so concern for it truly makes life much less stressful. [/quote]
[quote=”garland”] basically an issue with the CR gov’t *and* culture, not the men that come to partake. [/quote] Do we deduce, then, that in your mind it is right to take advantage of people who are poor?
[quote=”garland”] for american men, what fat is there to live off in CR?[/quote]
Obviously you are not familiar with the price of land in the areas that Americans have bought for a song and jacked up the price beyond what the locals can afford. It is not only Americans. The Europeans and Americans are just as guilty of destroying vast tracts of forest for the wood products and to plant bananas and pineapple.
[quote=”Versatile”]
“my theory is that the more you secure a place, the more the thieves think you have something worth stealing.”[/quote]We live in a Tico neighborhood and consider our neighbors our friends. We have no porton, no fence, no window bars and no steel doors. We have not been robbed in the year and a half we have lived here.
[quote=”garland”] well, people in the country side of america can and do still leave the door unlocked at night. try that in CR especially considering all your neighbors know you are american. try leaving without locking the door to go to the grocery store. the situation in CR is worse in the sense that it is actually your neighbors who are robbing you while you are away….as you drive down the street, the entire neighborhood knows who robbed you, but would anyone tell you?.[/quote]
We do have all those things that typical Americans possess but we have no bars on my windows, no steel portals and no iron gates or fences on my property and have never been robbed. Our neighbors are our friends who ask if there is anything they can do to help and they know they can ask our help when needed.
Those who have isolated themselves in gated American Ghettos may have a problem but they didn’t come here to enjoy Costa Rica or its people. The men came here mainly for plunder and sex or to live off the fat of Costa Rica.
We are not the only expats who are enjoying living among the Ticos.
[quote=”garland”]you move from a country where you can speak with your vote, you can get involved at any level to help change what you don’t like to a country where you can’t do anything about the policies so you still engage in US political banter as if you were here. WOW! you are looking BACKWARD, not forward!
[quote]It is impossible to leave the U.S. out of any conversation when whatever happens in the U.S. affects every nation in the world.
GWB not only put the screws to the U.S. we are no less affected by the idiot choices made by politicos in the U.S. Looking backward is supporting those policies of lassez faire.
Remember that the mortgage crisis in the States brought major financial problems for the entire planet.
We are not immune here and we know it hence we argue our points of view.
Those of us who are here are enjoying a life not possible for those who are holed up in the U.S.
[quote=”sueandchris”]Also the rate per KWH would be helpful and if the charges based on a tiered system. In California we are on a progressive rate scale, starting at 11 cents a Kwh and graduating up to 45 cents a Kwh. The more you use the higher the rate you pay.[/quote]
I just got my factura for November.
Usage: 802 KWH
Energy charge: 65,475 colones
Public Lighting: 2,485 colones
Taxes: 3,285 colones
Total: 71,515 colones or $125.38
Per KWH: 15.63 cents
Current exchange rate is 570.40[quote=”costaricafinca”][b]waggoner41[/b] we have lived in Costa Rica for 9 years and understand how a ‘Tico face’ can lower the price. The problem is not the price but finding a gas dryer. And we have many Tico friends who we trust.[/quote]
Query your friends for a place more local than San Jose. We bought refrigerator Na Stove at a pawn shop. New items but that is where thay were in San Jose.
[quote=”waggoner41″][quote=”costaricafinca”][b]waggoner41[/b] did you bring your gas dryer with you or did you purchase it here. If here, can you please post where one can be purchased.
Or anyone else, if you have the information.[/quote]Are you located near San Jose?[/quote]
I see you are in Guanacaste. The largest city there, and your best bet, is Liberia. We have a Tico family living with us that provides us with information and they are our face in Costa Rica. They save us from paying “pricios Americano”.
Our experuiences are a story in itself but if you can find a Tico you can trust implicitly he/she will be worth their weight in gold.
[quote=”costaricafinca”][b]waggoner41[/b] did you bring your gas dryer with you or did you purchase it here. If here, can you please post where one can be purchased.
Or anyone else, if you have the information.[/quote]Are you located near San Jose?
[quote=”costaricafinca”][b]waggoner41[/b] did you bring your gas dryer with you or did you purchase it here. If here, can you please post where one can be purchased.
Or anyone else, if you have the information.[/quote]We brought our gas dryer from the States.
However, a Tico friend with a huge knowledge of San Jose can probably tell you where to purchase one. He is due back here in about two hours. I will get the information for you then.
[quote=”DavidCMurray”]interesting OpEd piece[/quote]
Thank you David.
“politics is the art of the possible” – Krugman
quote=”Imxploring”] Folks better wake up to what’s going on… [/quote]
Speaking here is like keeping your voice under the basket, so to speak. Most of us, and I assume you, live in Costa Rica. We have “escaped?” from watching these things unfold directly.
This means that our discussion here is to a limited number of mostly like minded individuals no matter that the ideas we expound may differ.
All of the ideas that I present here are also presented to another limited group who remains in the States. Many are family but I have a following that has found me on Facebook and MySpace.
If you find ideas that you think are worthwhile here, carry them to other locations on the internet as I do. Our audiences will be limited but word spreads by “word of mouth” on the internet. I have asked “How did you find me?” and the response has been that they received a link by email from a friend. One responded to an email blast that I sent to all recipients of a virulent email denunciating immigrants. Most don’t respond but the idea is to get others to think, about solutions and about their decisions rather than just wailing and complaining about how bad things are getting
I don’t know every solution or even pretend to. I ask for criticism of my ideas, I ask for better ideas, I ask for argument that is well thought out. If I hear of anything better I incorporate it into my thinking.
Much of what I read here is laced with fear and anger neither of which promotes rational thinking.
I realize that the ideas that I have presented here would require a majority to stand up and say I’m not going to take it any more. To some I am a madman, to others a blithering idiot but if someone doesn’t start the ball rolling it will never start by itself.
