In: Current Affairs
Gay Costa Rica
October 19, 2006I heard an interesting statistic this week from a friend who has a contact in OIJ (Costa Rica’s version of the FBI). Supposedly there is an internal document that reports the percentage of gay men in Costa Rica is 46%, of which 25% are men who are married, many of whom have kids. When I’ve mentioned this to people I know here, they don’t seem at all surprised. I guess their experiences support these numbers.
Read MorePolice Issues Part II
September 21, 2006Back again with more police talk. Today it’s about the way they take things into their own hands. I’ll give you two examples:
First. In Puerto Viejo de Talamanca there was a bar on the beach owned by a husband and wife who were known to be heavily involved in the sale of illegal drugs. The police were finally able to get the husband thrown in jail, but the wife remained in control of the bar and allegedly continued selling drugs.
Police Issues Part I
September 19, 2006I’ve been wanting to create a post for a long time about the police here in Costa Rica. To begin with, I do understand, or have some idea, of how difficult it must be for them to do their jobs here. They have had the exact same amount of police officers for the last 20 years. That means there are the same amount of officers trying to serve the needs of over 2 million more people!
Read MoreSex Education
August 18, 2006As you already know, there is no separation of Church and State in Costa Rica. The Catholic Church has a lot of say in what happens in this country. This is from the level of school children having to pray in school and being surrounded by religious icons and statues to the hand the Church plays in approving what is taught in schools.
Read MoreAirline Crap
August 10, 2006I remember my first couple of flights. Rules and security were lax – if not non-existent. Even on my last flight before 9/11 (on 9/10), everyone was up-and-about in first class and having a good time. Much has changed, of course since then and I just hate the crap I have to go through at the airport. The worst of it being that I have to arrive so darn early just to ensure I’ll get through the mile-long security lines.
Read MoreTheft Update
July 27, 2006Just a quick update. Not much to say. I have been in such an awful mood since Saturday when the thieves killed our dogs and stole our stuff. Kind of like a zombie walking around. I’ve been trying to get the millions of things done that I’m supposed to do, but it’s tough keeping it all together.
Read MoreBad Day
July 23, 2006I don’t even know where to begin with this entry. Words cannot describe the feelings and emotions I’m going through. As we all know, crime is a way of life here in Costa Rica. It’s one thing to be surrounded by it and hear about it all the time – and obviously another thing to experience it.
Read MoreThe “Happiest Places” Study
July 15, 2006I received an email the other day from a friend of mine, Andrew, about a study revealing the happiest countries on Earth. The study was released recently by the British think-tank New Economics Foundation (NEF). The tiny South Pacific Ocean archipelago of Vanuatu came out on top as the happiest country on Earth, with Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica and Panama completing the top five…
Read MoreResidency Update
June 29, 2006Good news for expats! The implementation of the new immigration law that was to take effect in August has officially been…
Read MoreResidency Update
June 20, 2006President Arias is planning on sending a bill to the Legislative Assembly that would prevent the new Immigration Law from taking effect in August.
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