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Nicas in Ticolandia
Submitted by fyl on Fri, 2004/01/30 - 08:08.
There are a lot of Nicaraguans in Costa Rica. After talking to people (including some Nicaraguans) about this, I would like to share this information. It will help you understand the Nicaragua/Costa Rica dynamic.
I grew up in southern California. Between San Diego and Los Angeles there was, and still is, an inspection stop on what is now a freeway. It is there to catch illegals which essentially means people who have illegally crossed the border from Mexico into the U.S. With little understanding of what was happening and ultra-conservative parents, I was lead to belive these wetbacks as my parents liked to call them were a bunch of drug dealers and worse.
Eventually, I figured out that most of these people were just ordinary poor people looking for work. Further, I realized that agricultural production in California, Oregon and Washington depended heavily on these migrant workers. For many, moving with the weather and picking fruit was a summer job for a whole family making it possible to return to Mexico and live for the rest of the year. Others stayed in the U.S. and sent money home to their families.
Well, the Nicaragua/Costa Rica dynamic is very similar. Wages are much higher in Costa Rica (common wisdom says 5-10 times higher). Where I am living, there is a huge influx of Nicas in December and January to pick coffee. There are also other Nicas that come to work as maids, gardeners and such in the tourism industry.
Just like the illegals in the western U.S., these people come to Costa Rica to make enough money to either return to Nicaragua or to send money home to their family. This rather artificial wage difference creates the influx. It is not because of a repressive government, crime or anything like that. It is just economics.
www.la-esperanza-granada.org
www.la-esperanza-granada.org www.tropicalrealestate-nicaragua.com I also lived in Southern California and you are quite right aboout all in your post. I would however go a bit further.Having lived for a few years in Costa Rica I had gret trepidation to visit Nicalandia.Seems as if all crime in Costa Rica is caused by Nicas,remember tv saying that a band of Nicas assulted a bank.Absoultly nonsense.Finally came to Nicalandia and found just the opposite of Costa Rica propoganda. Not bashing Costa Rica but what you see as a tourist is not what you get.What you see in newspapers and media is not what is really happening.Seems as if Costa Rica spends lots on a public relations campaign that gives a rosy impression and no warts at all.While no where is perfect having lived in both countries I can tell you first hand that Nicalandia is a country of artists,writers and of course poets.Impression of Costa Rica is that it is culturally Bankrupt. Before the Sandinistas this was the breadbasket of Central America,Ticos worked here.Now it is economic dislocation but changing daily. Like a Phoenix Nica is rising from the ashes. Crime in Costa Rica is off the scales.Crime here is really low. Higher in Managua but less than San Jose. I live in Granada and estimate the crime rate here at aboout one in twenty thoousand,would rate San Jose at one in Five. Horror stories daily from travellers coming from there. While living in Granada is elegant surrounding poverty is appaling,but owing your soul to the Bank of America and having two microwave ovens does not make people happy.Partly it may be that ignorance is bliss but I see happy ,satisified people here.Smiles and not much malnutrition. We support several pueblos giving them a hand up not a hand oout.This year we have about five hundred kids we sponsor in school. Education I think is the key to making this a better world,not materialism. Bill
bill and nicaragua
dearest bill, let me say that i believe what you say, (with such eloquence), about the poverty and bliss in the streets you toss your cigarette butts. my serendipitis meeting with you in granada, and having sincere regards for a friendship that i appreciciate, everytime i am able to enjoy a good listen to your immence knowledge of which you write. although i wish i could do more to help your 500+ children, your kindness never goes un-noticed. you are a bellwether in any language, and i look forward to sharing a shady side of the calle with you, someone i consider a good friend and person! sincerely, dangerous don
Costa Rica and Nica.
There are between 600,000-800,000 Nicas at any time legally and illegaly in Costa Rica due to the the factor of unemployment and endemic poverty at home and the difficulty of entering the US either legally or illegally. The Nicas in Costa Rica are generally despised by the Ticos but tolerated, as in the US, as they do the "dirty work" that the Ticos are not willing to do. As well, Costa Rica is traditionally a nation of small farmers that was more fortunate than its neighbors to have had a democratic system since 1948, with many social benefits for it's citizens, however many Ticos unfortunately consider themselves "superior" to their less fortunate neighbors "muy creidos" en español, and is the only nation in Central America with "Indian Reservations" (basically to show the "tourists")Most of the indingenous population was murdered off some 250-300 years ago and much of Costa Rican "culture" is U.S. style "cafeteria culture". When I travel to CR from El Salvador (Maya-Pipil) and Guatemala (Maya-Quiche)I simply tell strangers I am visiting from the U.S. to avoid controversy, in 1999 we brought a Costan Rican associate here to El Salvador for business and all he did was constantly criticize our country..constructive criticism is one thing...but when I am "In Rome" I try to "do as the Romans do" and keep critical opinions to myself. Especially when they say "The only good "Indian" is a dead "Indian"! In Mexico City exists the "Monumento de La Raza" and the Mexicans are proud of "La Raza". Have anice stay in Costa Rica, lovely place to visit.....
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