Committed to a life in Costa Rica / Previous Letters / Letters to the Editor / Opinion / Costa Rica Newspaper, The Tico Times

Committed to a life in Costa Rica

Posted: Thursday, February 16, 2012 - By Jim Dopp

Dear Tico Times:

I read the letter “Gringo, Go Home” with a sadness of heart. The generalizations, the labeling and the misinformation reminded me of similar letters I had seen in the United States written by people attacking Hispanic immigrants for being in the U.S.

I am married to a beautiful Costa Rican who came to me with her three sons – our sons. It has been my privilege to raise them with my wife. In so doing, we have been able to provide them with improved circumstances to plan and live their lives.

Many of my Gringo friends are in similar circumstances, and their parenting adds opportunity for many young Costa Ricans, a not-so-insignificant contribution to the future of the country.

My oldest son had the good fortune this last holiday season to be given seasonal employment at Gollo, a good Costa Rican company, and we are grateful for the opportunity. He worked hard, learned a lot from his supervisors and was paid a fair wage typical for a beginner at an unskilled job. I mention this because a number of my Gringo friends have businesses here and employ hundreds of Ticos. They typically start their new employees at a wage fully 50 percent higher than that paid to our son. This does not seem to me to be underpaying workers.

Many of my Gringo friends give an extraordinary number of hours of their time helping others who are struggling in their lives. I do not exaggerate when I say their mentoring saves lives, many of them Tico lives. And a number of my friends regularly and anonymously donate money to organizations such as the foundation run by Gayle Nystrom, the one positive mention in that letter.

As I write this, I more fully understand that a large part of my sadness is for the writer of that letter for he apparently has had a sad experience living here. And this makes me ever so much more grateful for the wonderful experiences I have been having here.

I guess we find what we seek. Thank you to all my Tico and Gringo friends.

Comments

Robert Holloway

Saturday March 03 2012

Already, the magic of Costa Rica is beginning to wear thin internationally. New "retirement" havens for settling in one's older years are beginning to be discovered and developed in other wonderful areas...like Colombia, and even Nicaragua, not to short Panama. There are more areas that know the value and the money that comes from pensioners as well as the lifestyles they bring with them. And that is only in the Americas....places like Santiago, Chile are drawing foreigners like Costa Rica used to. Medellin, Colombia with its eternal Spring and 40% less cost than living in the USA is drawing it share of the retirees as well. Costa Rica has changed the rules for retirees and does not welcome them with the open arms once realized...now they are criticized, ostracized, over taxed, and increasingly find it more and more difficult to cope with having a new business enterprise due to the government corruption and paperwork plus requirements that seem to have an endless and meaningless trail of necessary hands out for pay offs and approvals. Even the government projects take forever to complete here, so why should the common pensioner expect that they have any privileges for providing this economy with more liquid cash, providing the jobs for construction workers and various support businesses that are required to support a growing international population. But we continue to hear "Gringos go home." Well maybe we should all do just that, or find another haven where we are welcomed and valued for what we bring to the table. So Costa Rica then could return to the good old days....high unemployment and the return to a true third world economy once again. Boy, those rice and beans are good!

John Newton

Saturday March 03 2012

Hi Jim, I like your post and fully agree with what you are saying.. "but", I have a feeling that some day the crap will hit the fan in Costa Rica, and there will be an uprising which will drive most Gringos out of the country. Those with huge real estate investments will lose their shirts. I know it won't be for a few decades, but I am convinced that it will some day happen, just ask the United Fruit Company what resulted from trying to pay peanuts to harvest bananas. Although that operation was wealthy enough to move on, the average Gringo who owns a home in Costa Rica won't leave without suffering a loss, even us Canadians who do not classify ourselves as being Gringos will suffer financial losses. The big headed attitudes, the flaunting of wealth, and paying peanuts to Tico employees is all going to back fire some day, I am sure of that. Costa Rica is the only place in Central America where Americans can live in some degree of safety, only because the Tico people have been tolerant up until this time. Costa Rica's young educated people of the future won't tolerate being exploited, they will demand livable wages, especially from Gringos.

Doug Ward

Monday February 20 2012

If it weren't for foriegners unemployment would be at 40% plus and they'd still mostly be without windows and cars, the good old days ! If the "govt" keeps up their nonsense that dream very well may come true !

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