More Mental Meanderings
2/21/07
As I fly out of the San Jose airport, headed for the States again for another visit to Mom, I find myself in those rare and exciting moments sitting in my row on my flight as the passengers are getting on board. Its a full flight, or nearly so, and I’m sitting in a row, window seat, with no one sitting next to me. I’ve got the whole row to myself! People are still loading, and so I’m just not sure if maybe, just maybe, I am going to get the whole row to myself. But then… they come along and there goes that.
I think sometimes about the dread travel experience that is so characterized in movies and how it is when the guy (or gal) that gets assigned the seat next to you turns out to be a horrible bore, or they just want to talk talk the whole way and all you wanted to do was get some uncommitted quiet time on the plane. I think that I have narrowly missed a couple such encounters but was saved by a movie or iPod or some other thing that I could use as a distraction. Sometimes I get to thinking though that maybe I’m one of those people. It can happen on occasion that do I get to talking a bit. I know, for those of you that know me that is hard to believe. But, it’s true, it can happen.
Usually the conversations that I have in this particular setting have to do with making “the move”. “What did you have in mind when you moved to Costa Rica?” Was there something about the States that you didn’t like?”
“Nope” is my standard answer. I loved our life in the States. Our life there was good. We lived up in the Aspen valley of Colorado and had a beautiful circle of friends, nice home, great job. I can say though that one of the things that concerned us, as parents, when we were up there was the effect of living in affluent America on our young ones. What we observed was a lack of appreciation and an attitude towards feeling like life simply “provided”. A credit card was expected and all things were get-able. This temperament didn’t seem healthy. The human psyche seems to do better under other not so abundant conditions. But, to go there is to really reach inside and try and remember where we were at when we did the big move. It wasn’t so much about leaving something, but about moving on to something different, something new. It didn’t even need to be better per se. New culture, new language, life enrichment.
“Been there, done that” is where we were at about that life, now we were for something different. Costa Rica didn’t disappoint.
We belong to what is, if not “the” dominant society/culture on the planet, it is surely one of the most influential on the planet. The effect of the U.S. is everywhere. The clothing, the free market, the music, the food. The influence is palpable and is having near-revolutionary affects on the culture here in Costa Rica.
We used to stand out. As a family, we would walk through town and the bustling main streets of San Isidro de el General would seem to go quiet as people got a good look at the North Americans. This doesn’t happen anymore. All in eight short years. Being gringo here is not so unusual. Aside from the fact that there are more of us here so everyone here has had a good chance to give us a looking over, we simply don’t look so different, we aren’t so notably different in our manner of dress and body language.
“Why wouldn’t anyone be interested in the Central American Free Trade Agreement?” This is another one of those questions. Its a lot like, “do you want to see the road between Dominical and Quepos paved?” Hmmmm both questions would seem to have an obvious answer: “of course I would love to see commerce stimulated between the countries.” or “of course I would love to not ruin my car driving to Quepos and have it take thirty minutes instead of an hour and a half.” But the reality isn’t so obvious.
When we first moved here, the society was largely pedestrian. The neighborhoods where we lived were, for the most part, inhabited by people that didn’t have cars. They walked and used the bus system. Consequently, most things could be acquired right there on the street where one lived. Nearly every street had its “pulperia”. Pulperias are like little general stores that have everything in them. Groceries, medications, newspapers. It was also the seat of local gossip and a great way to find out what was going on in the area. It served as your address, people could send stuff to your barrio, or neighborhood, and it would get to the pulperia where you would be notified of it next time you went there, which would no doubt be quite soon. If you had a medical emergency you would likely run over to the pulperia and let them know about it so that help would show up. And on it goes.
Pulperias are disappearing. I can’t imagine what all those people that still don’t have cars do. Granted, there are a lot more cars here now. So maybe its a non-issue and everyone can get to where they want to get what they need. But the repercussions of the North American lifestye are clear. Its like watching history on crack, its happening at warp speed. Bring in the large International corporations and I suspect that what is left of the old pedestrian culture will be mopped up and we’ll simply be into another outlet for the big names that we see in many places around the earth.
Its funny how us dominant ones can find a place that we like so much, and then work towards making it like the place where we came from. We found it refreshingly different, but certainly inconvenient. I guess its this emphasis on “convenience” that drives the change. We like a good consistent electrical supply to our homes. We like a fast internet connection. We like to be able to drive, but not just drive, drive smoothly to our homes and to our markets.
And no, I don’t really want to see the road between Dominical and Quepos paved.
