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GOLDEN GRINGO CHRONICLES |
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"Doing Latin America, Mostly by Luck"
Episode 17- January 2010 |
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California and its San Andreas Fault have nothing on Costa Rica. Here in the rich coast, we have the dubious honor of being as geologically unstable as the best of them. The isthmus that makes up Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama is a mountain chain that rests on the Pacific Rim and was originally formed by the eruption of numerous volcanoes. Many of the mountains run out laterally from the North/South spine to the seas, both Atlantic and Pacific, providing a panorama of lush green terminating in jungle and edged by glistening beaches of black, brown and white sands. The Central Valley of Costa Rica, where about 60% of Costa Ricans live, is a plain that that was formed before Our Hero arrived here, i.e., some 300,000 years ago. In the center of this valley are San José and Alejuela, the two most populous cities in the country. The flat valley was formed by a “pyroclastic flow”, a mixture of lava, rocks, mud and ash flowing down from the volcanoes. There are literally hundreds of earthquakes every year here, some noticeable to the layman, some not, from over 100 volcanoes (see seismic map below for 2009 - each black dot represents a recorded earthquake between 1984 and 1991). Every one of those dots shown on the map registered on the University of Costa rica’s seismograph. If you draw a straight line on this map from Cinchona in the central highlands to Golfito in the southwest, the point at which the line comes closest to the coast is not far Quepos/Manuel Antonio where GG lives.
"The Costa Ricans were not around for the last big one," said Gans. "But it's inevitable (that there will be) another pyroclastic flow like the last big one in Costa Rica, (and it) will make the Mount St. Helens eruption look like nothing. We don't know if we will get a similar warning for a very large eruption like the ones that have occurred prehistorically in the Central Valley of Costa Rica," said Gans. Living on the rim and on the edge, amigos, and loving it.
Spanglish is not universally a non-Spanish speaker’s idiom. As I struggle with the vagaries of learning, absorbing and retaining a new language at my age, I am perversely encouraged by people on the other side of the idiomatic wall. This is because, sometimes, they have as much trouble converting their mother tongue into English as I have transforming my English thoughts into Spanish. A koool example follows. As a result of collaborating with the local Chamber of Commerce (Cámara Comercio, Industria y Turismo de Aguirre) on a business workshop a few months back I was put on their mailing list for notices. I received the following email recently; a police notice that warns of some counterfeiters operating in the area. The first section is the original Spanish followed by the English translation (not sure whether the translation was done by the police department or the Cámara).
“ALERTA 017-ARG-A/INF-2009 VEHICULO SOSPECHOSO Estimados compañeros favor tomar nota de la siguiente información: En nuestra oficina se tramita información policial relacionada con la participación de un vehículo tipo automóvil marca Mercedes Benz, estilo 300D, color azul oscuro, año 1982, vidrios polarizados, cuatro puertas y con placas particulares 100640, de acuerdo a la información en dicho vehículo viajan tres sujetos (masculinos), entre estos un extranjero (posible estaunidense); los mismos portan al parecer dólares de los Estados Unidos, falsos, de acuerdo a investigaciones previas los sujetos han intentado cambiar dicha divisa en distintos comercios de Guápiles, sin embargo al momento se desconoce la cantidad de posibles afectados reales. Por disposición operativa, se dispuso intentar localizar el vehículo y realizar su detención para identificación de personas y localización de moneda falsa. Se recomienda tomar las medidas de información necesarias para intentar poner en conocimiento de los comerciantes de la zona, de la información supra citada. Tel: 2777-1511 / 2777-0511. Sin otro particular se suscribe atentamente; Jorge Campos VillegasAnalista Criminal ____________________________________________________
ALERTA 017-ARG-A/INF-2009, SUSPICIOUS VEHICLE Dear colleagues. Please note the following information: In our office we are handling police intelligence relating to a vehicle - a Mercedes Benz car, style 300D, dark blue, 1982, tinted windows, four doors and a number plate 100640, according to information, the vehicle is traveling with three subjects (male), between them a foreigner (possibly americans) apparently carrying false U.S. dollars, according to previous research subjects have tried to change the currency in different places in Guápiles, however at the moment we do not know the actual number of places possibly affected. For operational readiness, be prepared to try to locate the vehicle and so we may perform the arrest for these identified people and determine the location of counterfeit currency. It is necessary to share this information to try inform businesses in the area of the information cited above. Phone 27771511 or 27770511. Sincerely, Jorge Campos Villegas Criminal Analyst "Gracias” And gracias to you too amigo, for making me feel more comfortable with my Spanglish and good luck on the hunt for the counterfeiters. Costa Rican Constitution Recently, on a whim, and stimulated by a vigorous discussion on the boob tube between U.S. Constitution “scholars” concerning said venerable tome, GG decided to scan the Costa Rican constitution and make a quick comparison to the U.S. document. What follows is a brief synopsis designed to be informative, not political: Size
Differences Some of the intriguing differences in the Costa Rican Constitution, adopted in 1949 and its U.S. brother, established in 1787, are: Title I – The Republic, Article 12: “The Army as a permanent institution is abolished. There shall be the necessary police forces for surveillance and the preservation of the public order.” Does this mean we can have a temporary Army? Sign me up. There are many levels of Police in Costa Rica. Title VI - Religion, Article 75: “The Roman Catholic and Apostolic Religion is the religion of the State, which contributes to its maintenance, without preventing the free exercise in the Republic of other forms of worship that are not opposed to universal morality or good customs.” My experience so far is that there is a great tolerance here for other religions. Quepos alone has several fundamentalist churches that seem to be prospering, including a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses. There also is a codicil (Article 131) that states an assembly member must be a layman or laywoman, so a cleric has to resign his ministry before running for office and cannot hold both a position in the Church and the Government at the same time. Title VII – Education and Culture, Article 76: “Spanish is the official language of the nation.” While business signs are often in English to cater to tourists and gringos, “official” signs and documents are in Spanish only. Applying for a residency permit requires having most documents translated into Spanish. Title IX – The Legislative Branch, Article 107: “Representatives shall hold office for four years and may not be reelected to a succeeding term.” Title X – The Executive Branch, Article 132: “The following may not be elected President or Vice President: 1) The President who has served as such during any period, or a Vice President or whoever has replaced him, serving during most of the constitutional term.” Dude, term limits for both the President and the assembly. A former office holder can, however, run again after waiting out one term. Title X - Article 135: “There shall be two Vice Presidents of the Republic, who shall replace the President during his permanent absence, in the order of their nomination. During his temporary absence, the President may call upon either Vice President to replace him.”
Title XIII – Public Finances, Article 176: “The ordinary budget of the Republic encompasses all probable revenues and all authorized expenditures of the public administration during the fiscal year. In no case may the amount of budgetary expenditures exceed that of probable revenues.” It sure reads like a balanced budget codicil but it doesn’t mean those clever little politicians can’t find the money outside the budget. The current public debt to GDP ratio is reported for Costa Rica (probably IMF, Chinese and other borrowings) to be about 40% versus about 80% for the U.S.; the latter (U.S.) is forecast to rise to +100% in the next few years. For anyone who would like to make their own comparison, here are a couple of good links: U.S. Constitution: http://www.usconstitution.net/ Costa Rica Constitution: http://www.costaricalaw.com/legalnet/constitutional_law/constitenglish.html
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Drink 'em if you got 'em (From an article in the A.M. Costa Rica Newsletter)
Roberto de Quepos,
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