Costa Rica

For most Americans, Costa Rica is all about beaches, rain forests, retirement properties, canopy tours, white water rafting, and one dollar Imperials. It is one of America's biggest playgrounds where tree-hugging eco-tourists happily co-exist with silver-haired golfers. But for me, the natural marvels of Costa Rica were merely backdrop for an extensive family reunion. Actually, I should probably call it a family union because the “re-“ prefix implies we've actually met before.

The casual tourist rarely learns much of substance about my mother’s motherland. For example, did you know Costa Rica has existed peacefully without an army for sixty years? Its true. And with all that lack of belligerent saber rattling, the absence of a wasteful and corrupt military-industrial complex, and the inexistence of a spiraling proliferation of heavy artillery to threaten regional stability, the poor girls there have no buff and tattooed recruits to flirt with. The closest thing to dashing, death-defying leading men are Colombian drug traffickers that have set up shop on the beaches the past few years. For the most part, it is a country full of men with dangerously normal levels of testosterone.

Costa Rica’s growing prominence could very well have broader effects on American society. For example, just a generation ago, when the patriarch of my organization was a lad in school he learned there were seven continents on the planet: Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Antarctica, South America, and North America. South America was defined as the land mass you imagine when you read the words “South America” and North America was an exclusive old boys club for only Canada and the United States (plus their valet, Mexico). That left poor, unimportant Central America as unclaimed as it was in the days before Columbus. After all, who would want to share their continent with Sandinistas and dengue fever?

Perhaps not surprisingly, Costa Ricans and their Central American neighbors believe they actually do reside on a continent: the continent of America, which stretches from the Arctic Circle to Tierra del Fuego. Apparently they see a oneness in all of us, a common thread which binds Gringos and Latinos together. They hold a utopian image of people from all the Americas building a great society based on shared sensibility, intelligence and values. Of course, given what they’ve learned about Alaska during the U.S. presidential election, they may vote it off the island.

Inspired by the Costa Rican example of unity, I will set off tomorrow on a road trip to discover America - the real America. After two months of living in the terrorist America (Washington D.C.) it should be a pleasant respite.

Un beso,
Lainey