Profile
Photos
Comments
So far on this voyage, we have been to Acapulco, Hautulco, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Costa Rica. You can keep them all except for Costa Rica. In Acapulco, everybody in our crew came down with Montezuma’s Revenge, and a few of us are still suffering the last vestiges of it. Hautulco, Nicaragua and Guatemala are all crowded and dirty. Begging children are everywhere.
Costa Rica is a totally different story. Breath-taking views and extremely friendly folks here.
There are over 300 species of birds here. Over 50 species of hummingbirds.
There are deer, raccoons, squirrels, jaguars, monkeys and oscelots.
There is teak and bamboo.
There are pineapples, coffee, papaya, mangoes, mangas, watermelons, bananas and cashews.
Some facts about Costa Rica:
It was “discovered†by Christopher Colombus in 1502. Friendly Indians, who, obviously, had “discovered†the place prior to Chris’s arrival, greeted Colombus on the beach, and gave him a handful of gold. Colombus was so impressed with the place that he named the place Costa Rica – “Coast of Richesâ€.
In 1821, Costa Rica gained it’s independence from Spain, and has been a democracy ever since.
It’s biggest exports are coffee and fruits, particularly bananas.
Costa Rica has no army. The government is dedicated to peace, protection of the environment, and service to its citizens.
Costa Rica is known as the Latin American Switzerland because of its lack of an army and its dedication to peace. One native told me that the only difference between Switzerland and Costa Rica is that Switzerland has holes in its cheese, and Costa Rica has holes in its roads.
The government funds that used to go to the army are now divided between education and social security.
No construction can take place within fifty meters of any ocean beach. No wild animal, bird, fish or mammal, can be caged. Conservation laws are strict and penalties for violations are substantial.
One quarter of the land in Costa Rica is protected as nature preserves.
A house on a 500-meter square parcel of land inland costs between $30,000 and $50,000 U.S. dollars. The same house oceanfront costs $125,000 to $150,000.
There are no welfare programs. If you want to eat, you have to work.
The medicine is socialized, and everybody I talked to about the service seems very happy with it.
There are 52,000 teachers in the country, and they are paid very well and have a great, federal pension plan. Parents, by law, have to make sure that their kids go to school until they are at least 16 years old.
62% of all Costa Rican kids go on to college.
It seems to me that the United States could learn so much from these people and their government. After seeing a government that is truly “by the people, of the people and for the peopleâ€, it is clearly evident that the concept put forth by Abraham Lincoln not only works, but works well when given the chance to do so. It is also painfully obvious, when you compare and contrast the two countries, that the concept is not in operation in the U.S. today.
