Costa Jill

Letter to the Editor

Sarasota Herald Tribune

By Jill Green

Re: Backpacker’s Guide to Costa Rica printed Sunday 8/16/2009

Letter to the Editor  in reply to an article “A Backpacker’s Guide to Costa Rica” in the Sun. Aug 16, 2009 edition

In her quest to find friends to party with, Anna Salinas lost sight of her original dual purpose of teaching English to Costa Ricans and learning something about the culture of this friendly Latin American country

If she wanted “the perfect untouristy spot” why did she pick the three most visited tourist destinations in the country, Monteverde Cloudforest, Manuel Antonio and Arenal Volcano? There are many other less visited attractions including miles of totally isolated beaches, mountains and rainforests.

At odds? One the one hand she’s wanting a non-touristy, see the country and culture vacation. On the other she wants to hang in the bars with her young backpacker friends. Guess which side wins. I appreciate youth, wanting to bond with peers, and party down. Maybe if she had traveled to small villages and met some of the wonderful warmhearted families, she would have experienced some of the simple pleasures and friendly culture of the country whose motto is “Pura Vida”.

True, I am biased after having lived in Costa Rica on and off for fifteen years. Yes, there are isolationist expats living locked in gated communities, thieves, and slums just as there are in the United States and every country in the world. But Costa Rica is still the gem of Central America with its working system of national health care, no army and a literacy rate higher than the U.S.

My niece Lara said: “You’d better come to my wedding. It’ll probably be the last family celebration before the funerals begin.” So we did. What a heart-warming and unique experience it was, held outdoors at the annual Oregon Country Fair. There was one major glitch (don’t all weddings have one?) – a torrential downpour. It could have ruined the spirits of the sturdiest of souls, but Lara and Marc took it all in stride.

My brother Terry was the first to post photos of the event. Lara and Mark are smiling radiantly under the giant umbrella of a well canopied tree. The rest of us look pretty wet and bedraggled.  I see my sister Judi, Lara’s mom. Oh my God, how old she looks. Well she’s lost a lot of weight and let her hair go gray. Then skinny Terry with his thin wet hair matted to his head. And finally me. Oh shit why’d he leave that photo in. My hair is no longer fluffy, (Sebas says he calls me Fufi because my hair is fluffy.) and I look like a face-drooping old lady..

Then it dawns on me. We’ve finally passed over – from middle age to old age. What a scary revelation!  But none of us were smiling. And there’s the key. I look back at the smiling photos and they subtract about 10 years. I vow to never let a camera point my way again without a big shit-eating grin on my face.

Reading the newspaper (yeah I know it’s not current, but it’s what I do with my coffee.) I see that congress is going to vote more money to the Cash for Clunkers program – photo of car being smashed flat. Why am I paying for consumers and dealers to buy and sell new cars (albeit gas savers) while all that good metal and other material is disposed of and/or recycled. Neither is better than fixing up the old including retooling the engine so it’s more fuel efficient. This is like tearing down a perfectly serviceable historic building and putting a new sucky one in its place (example: Old Sarasota train station), or putting nothing in its place because the big rich developer went bankrupt or ran out of money (example: Sarasota Quay).