I need to find or ask about
an equivalent word for “OK.” It doesn’t seem to work the same here (i.e. my host mom is insistent that I eat huge dinners and always have a "refresco" when I get back from school)…
While in Costa Rica, I have eaten:
Salad with fried plantains
and rice, and lots of fruits (pineapple, papaya, strawberries, and
watermelon)
Spaghetti with thin tomato sauce
(thinner than in the U.S., but it spread out the flavor more) and salad
Gallo pinto (rice with
black beans) and pineapples and mangos
Cheese burrito (that’s what
my house mom called it, hehe) and a salad with lettuce, tomatoes, and avocado!
Manicotti with white cheese
and a salad with super-sour lemon juice
My host mom makes such an awesome mix of food!
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We went to the Poas Volcano
today and I left the house at six. We waited for a student who was running on Tico Time (same thing as Asian Time, or CMU Time--i.e., late), so we ended up setting
out for the volcano at 7. The fog cloud cover at the top of the
volcano gets heavy pretty fast, so we had to get there as early as posible. Our tour guide talked about random things in Costa Rica, but he
really surprised me with the problematic and strongly expressed opinions that he
said (not only because Costa Ricans are famous for not being confrontational,
according to Los Ticos: Culture and Social Change in Costa Rica).
I want to address the most
salient issues, and I’ll let my photos do the talking about the trip itself.
1. 1. Ninety percent
of Costa Rica’s electricity is generated by hydropower plants, with some
“experiments” in wind power, geothermal, solar panels, etc.
I did a project on the
integration of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) in Central America,
specifically projects in Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Nicaragua (hence one
can see how I formulated my class projects in preparation for this summer). The CDM oversees green energy or conservation projects in developing countries, and partners the "developing" countries (non-Annex I) with developed (Annex I) countries. I believe the division into the categories is based somewhat on level of industrialization, but China is a non-Annex I country, so the delineation seems a little strange. Bringing it back to Costa Rica, it is true that 99.2% of the electricity in Costa Rica comes from renewable
sources, but if 90% really comes from hydropower, then the Guanacaste Wind Farm CDM has had almost no effect, despite what it seemed to promise or currently be doing. It’s
posible that the general population doesn’t know about the existence of the CDM, especially
because many of my classmates and I didn’t know about the CDM before we talked
about it in Energy & Climate. I wanted to ask the guide more about what
happens with electricity during the “summer” in Costa Rica (the hotter, dry
season), because the Guanacaste CDM was supposed to combat the drop in
electricity generation when there’s less available wáter. However, the things
he said disturbed me too much, and I still have to get used to using people’s
names to get their attention.
2. Nicaraguans are
“illegal immigrants”in Costa Rica, they cause many social problems (like theft
and threats to security), and they have babies here to get citizenship for them
and get Access to benefits like medical assistance, education, etc.
Some news articles in Costa
Rica that have mentioned Nicaraguan immigrants are hugely reminiscent of the
insults, denunciations,and just plain shit that people in the United States say
against Mexican immigrants. There’s news about the police capturing a truck
that was carrying Nicaraguans across the border, and the need to strengthen the
border. There are news that say Costa Rica is full of too many immigrants and
that they cause social problems. The tour guide confirmed the presence of this
attitude among some Costa Ricans: he said that “Costa Rica has a problema with
security (you can see this because a lot of houses have iron gates), and this
is because of immigrants. They increase many social problems, especially theft,
because they don’t have money because their country is very poor.”
There was so much
superiority in his attitude toward Nicaraguans: “We [Costa Ricans] are not
rich, but we are less poor than the Nicaraguans.” And he said in his English
translation that, “There are many ‘illegals’ in Costa Rica who come and work
for mínimum-wage jobs.” It is so sad that the rhetoric here is identical to
what we suffer from in the U.S. There isn’t a solidarity among Central
Americans (though the guide did say that “Everything is America, not just the
United States” and so, he might not believe in a unity among Latin Americans
versus the U.S.). People here have come to use the same dirty word for
undocumented immigrants; BUT, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS AN “ILLEGAL” PERSON.
Listen to the words of Jorge Ramos! http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2107507,00.html
The guide said that the
Nicaraguan immigrants work in mínimum-wage jobs (USD2 per hour) in agricultura
or housework, and that Costa Ricans “look for jobs that pay more than the
mínimum.” The similarity in descriptions—or the echoes in the wording—of
immigrants’ circumstances in the U.S. and in Costa Rica are terrible and
frightening.
3. That the
justice system is “contaminated” by a philosophy
that says that the criminal is a victim of society (not an individual acting
with his own behavior and given the correlating consequences)
He said these words
verbatim: “Our system of justice is contaminated by the
philosophy that the criminal is a victim of society.” He said that many
judiciaries in the world suffer from this… and that the criminal is treated
better than the victim.I wonder what he would say about victims of rape and
sexual assault, having grown up in such a machisto culture and
being indoctrinated so much. The tour guide blamed many people as if they
didn’t suffer from social injustices or obstacles placed before them by society,
all much bigger than one person being a criminal because of a personal failing.
The only redemptive thing was when he said that there are Ticos who hire
Nicaraguan immigrants illegaly and exploit them: “It’s a shame when humans are
exploiting other humans.” I want him to see the situation of all immigrants in
the same light, instead of kicking back and denouncing “the illegals” as an
evil other that threatens his beautiful way of life.
4. The new soccer
stadium was a “poisoned” gift from the Chinese
Costa Rica had to cut off relations with Taiwan and couldn’t allow the Dalai
Lama to visit
There is a
Taiwanese church (“from Formosa”) near my house, and someone told me that Costa
Rica has many Asians. I’ve seen more Chinese and Japanese restaurants here than
I expected, especially the “hibachi” restaurant near the university. I wonder
how extensive the limitations on economic (and possibly immigration) relations
with Taiwan were. I haven’t heard about local perspectives on Asians yet. But,
we did meet a Canadian ping-pong champion who was Chinese or Taiwanese.
Update: One of
the program directors said today that there’s a sizeable Chinese population in
Costa Rica, and that there was a wave of immigration in which many people
settled in the coastal towns. Sweet. I shall learn more soon.
