I thought I’d let you know that the prices of postage stamps just went up about 15 days ago. Now sending mail within Costa Rica costs 115 colones for the first ounce and 155 colones from Costa Rica to the US. This reflects an increase of 35 colones (about 7 US cents) for the international stamp. I found out the hard way yesterday when I took some mail in to the post office. I had already placed my stamps on the letters. So when they told me that the prices went up, I asked for the "make up" stamp rate to add postage to my letters. I was informed there is no such thing as a stamp with a value of less than 115 colones here in Costa Rica.

How crazy is that? At first I was a bit perterbed. But then I realized that there is probably nobody except me who actually buys postage ahead of time in this country. Costa Ricans are nuts for standing in lines no matter where they go. I just don’t understand it. I suppose it comes from a long history of not having enough money. Perhaps the mindset is that they would rather not spend 30 cents on a stamp they are not using now, so they can use that 30 cents for something else.

And just as I thought they were crazy, they thought I was pretty crazy too when I stuck the new stamp on top of the old one that was no good. But what did they expect me to do? I can’t use the darn thing!

I’ve really been thinking this over for the last 24 hours" Is it better to buy things in advance to help us save time from standing in lines? Or is it better to adopt an attitude of "live for the moment?" Where do we draw the line between American over-consumtion and smart investment of our time and money?