Trouble
In Paradise
In Costa Rica ~ by Kevin
Barker
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| September
2005
My countrymen
seem to be saying Costa Rica isn't what it used to be. One could extend
that to include all of Central America…well hell, let's just say the whole
world isn't what it used to be either, ok? Ticos are grumbling too. Prices
have pole vaulted over wages to such an extent that the middle class is
in apparent danger of extinction. All I can say is what a pity if that
actually happened. Costa Rica has the best public education, health insurance,
and middle class among all the countries in the Center of the Americas.
If that is in fact being eroded, then it bodes ill for the huddled masses
in neighbouring countries who are yearning to be free - of poverty, for
a start.
I say 'apparent'
because reliable statistical evidence is hard to find. However, I have
it on very good authority (a government economist who prefers to remain
anonymous) that the official rate of inflation here in 2003 was a fraction
of what it really was (30% he reports; not hyper inflation, but definitely
getting up there). That number seemed more evident from the second half
of 2005, with people cutting back on such essentials as automobiles and
cell phones. Both are dearly loved staples of middle class life. Moreover,
the cost of living which is measured as a basket, or 'canasta', of household
goods does not include essential commodities such as oil and gas which
we all know has become wildly expensive. |
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Is it coincidence
then that the popularity of outgoing president Abel Pacheco, a psychiatrist-turned-politician
and part-time (albeit published) poet, has ebbed to an all time low? Not
according to him. Sr. Pacheco blames the high cost of crude for putting
him in the doghouse. I for one beg to differ: Asked recently to comment
on a tragic but potentially avoidable hospital fire that claimed 19 lives
(including a heroic nurse who died trying to help her charges escape),
Pacheco - who should really know better - said merely that Costa Rica is
'a poor country'. Not only did that fail to alleviate or allay any pain
and suffering or fear, it insulted everyone in Costa Rica who doesn't think
of their country as 'poor' - which is just about everybody.
Enough politics
already! The point is that the normally happy go lucky folks who inhabit
this charming land are a little long-faced of late. This is quite atypical,
as social criticism in Costa Rica has always seemed to me a rather sanguine
affair. Unlike the Nicaraguans and Salvadorenos (who foment), or the Nicaraguans
and Guatemalans (who militarize), the swallowing of society's bitter little
pills is done here in the style of Will Rogers rather than Clifford Odets.
Social justice is arbitrated by the cab drivers, the columnists, and the
commissars of the arts rather than the mob. Ordinary folks just don’t bother
with it. Of course there are exceptions to this laconic style: One community
newspaper published in the tiny community of Santo Domingo north of San
Jose is engaged in publishing a series of virulent, rabid, hysterical rants
against a local police 'cover-up' of what it claims is a drug problem among
the youth. There is no evidence of this, on the streets or else where,
and the whole thing would be deemed in very bad taste (by North American
standards) if it were not for the fact that Santo Domingo is in Latin America,
where people are allowed to behave emotionally, however inappropriate or
bad that behaviour may turn out to be.
Lately however
the ordinary folks have been extremely 'bothered with it', as it were.
That North American style chronic unhappiness you and I know so well -
vandalism, road rage, the vague feeling that you’re not living right -
seems to be growing. Some among us have taken that as a cue to head for
the exits. Living anywhere else in Central America is unthinkable to all
but the most rugged of retirement aged folks. So where else do we have
to go? Well, there is Argentina. Far away, yes, but the expat press has
been lauding it lately. Writes a friend and colleague who has lived and
worked there for two years, ‘things are cheaper after the devaluation of
the currency three years ago – everything had to be downsized to sell at
the new Argentine Peso value’.
How cheap is
‘cheaper’?. Says Brian: 'I bought three new full-size, turbo diesel 4X4
crew cabs in the past year: A Toyota 3.0 litre with all the bells and whistles
for US$28,000; a Dodge 2500 (5.3 litre) for US$42,000; and a Ford 100 (5.0
litre) for US$34,000. He adds that certain items and services are inexpensive
all over Argentina. Labour, including skilled labor is very inexpensive;
transportation is inexpensive; food and wine – eaten in or out -
is very inexpensive; lodging is inexpensive. Legal and accounting services
in the bigger cities are expensive, but a lot less than North America.
These same services outside of the big cities are very reasonable. 'You
will be impressed with Buenos Aires and Argentina in general,' he says
in closing.
Discounted
return airfare from San Jose, Costa Rica is approximately US$730, which
I have decided to invest in an exploratory visit this fall. Watch this
space next month for my first impressions of Buenos Aires and environs.
The following
is the previous article Kevin wrote for the magazine:
 The
Working Geezer's Guide To Nicaragua ~ In
Ometepe
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Kevin
Barker is the Independent Times Americas Editor. He may be reached
at kweditor@telus.net.
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