My 2 Least Favorite Things About Costa Rica

As you know, I hate to complain. But a coupla things are ticking me off lately. Like...

1. Gringo Pricing. While ticas and I are the same height, all resemblance stops there. Ticos see me coming. Like going into the local pulperia [mom and pop grocery] for eggs last week. A flat of eggs in Auto Mercado is 2,800 colones. (Eggs are sold by weight, but this is average price.) Well, Juan charged me 4,000 colones and these were not heavy eggs. Nor were they fresh.

Like at Spoon yesterday in Alajuela's International Mall, I ordered a Capuccino and got out my rojo [red, slang for a 1,000 colon note which is red]. When the girl told me it would be un mil setecientos cincuenta [1,750 colones], I almost choked. $3.22 for a coffee in Costa Rica? Me being a quick thinker and all, I said, "Tengo solo un mil." [I only have a rojo.] As I turned to walk away, she - also a quick thinker - said, "Un mil esta bien." She snatched my rojo and pushed the coffee at me. Ok, I can live with that. Since prices weren't posted for coffee, I didn't know the true price. At home online, I see the price is 1,075 colones. (And, no, I did not misunderstand her. I made her say it twice and even repeated it back to her. Grumble, grumble.)

Most of the time, I don't notice, I take it in stride and try to prevent the more outrageous takings. Lately, I notice. Maybe it's more obvious, maybe I'm just homesick for Key West. But if prices aren't posted, gringos, ask cuantos before you order, or shop elsewhere. At the feria [farmer's market], I only buy from stalls that post prices. I hate feeling like I got taken. Which happens if you aren't mindful.

Petty Dishonesty (P.D.) is rampant in Central America. I don't think it's considered "bad" here. It's simply an opportunity to earn a quick few colones. And it's not really stealing (unless you are all hung up on the 10 Commandments). If a tico thief is caught with less than $400 worth of stuff, judges let them go. There are practical reasons: Costa Rica doesn't have jail space to hold every petty thief, one of my most favorite things about Costa Rica. But it's a fact everyone knows which probably leads to continued relaxation about P.D.

If I'm going to insist on firing every maid who takes a bag of oatmeal, a battery or a can of tuna fish, I'm likely not going to have a maid. Almost everyone tells me this, I didn't figure it out on my own. As my last maid told me, "I never took books or money." There was no shame for her in being a thief. There was dismay for getting caught and losing a good job. The rationale is that I have so much, she has so little, so it's not stealing. She's helping me share. Gringo pricing taken to the next level.

And it's not just gringo to tico where P.D. exists, it's tico to tico, too. It's why, if one is involved in an accident, one waits for a cop without moving the cars involved. Even if those cars are in the middle of the road blocking traffic. Why? Because ticos don't trust each other to tell the truth about what happened. Fabrication for fun. Exaggeration is sport in Costa Rica. There's not even animosity about it.

Are gringos more honest than ticos? At the petty level, what I'd call "cash register" honesty, I'd say yes. But only then. We have cash register honesty drilled into us from birth (except for politicians. They'll steal anything not nailed down.)

Gringos certainly own their share of thieves, just not so much the petty everyday thievery. We prefer Bernie Madoff-styled heists. And maybe foreigners in the U.S. have to constantly count their change. But, at this moment, I'm sick of it.

2. You can't always get what you need. Or even what you want. Like real whole wheat flour. Like most vitamins. And no mega-dose vitamins at all here. Like real salt. Or just plain salt with nothing added. Even though it's mined here, they add iodine and fluoride to all salt, even sea salt. Argh. Like a host of gadgets: a dehydrator, for instance. You can't get these items here at all, not to be found even for a price.

The vitamin situation is ridiculous. You can't even pay duty and get vitamins shipped here - customs takes them. Last fall, they took my eight bottles of Omega3 vitamins, which cost $150 for the vitamins and $50 for shipping. Eight bottles for a family of four is not that much. For a family of one, it's not that much. But the sharp tacks at aduanas insisted I apply for an import license for vitamins. For 8 bottles. So I did. They denied it, of course.

So, they had the vitamins, they weren't going to give them to me for any amount of money or permission. What was the point of that exercise? And did they sell them? Take them? I'll bet they are still sitting there, rancid by now, of course. The entire point seems to be simply to show who's boss. Like me telling Morgan he can't do something "because I said so." Stupid.

Whole wheat flour does not exist here. What is labeled whole wheat in the store is not. For one thing, it's Betty Crocker-style ww: everything removed, the life bleached out of it, then some fiber, iron and "nutritional stuff" added back in. We guess it's better than white, but we yearn for the real thing.

We do have a few pounds of whole wheat berries and would grind those if we could. But, unless you buy a Vitamix here (for twice the price in the U.S.), you can't buy a good grain grinder in Costa Rica. We've finally given up buying expensive small electronics and equipment here. I have long suspected that manufacturers send their "seconds" to third world countries, because, no matter the brand, every small appliance we've bought in Costa Rica has failed in short order. We are on our fourth coffeepot in four years. The current one broke yesterday.

For everything you can order in - including books, now - you pay anywhere from 50% to 100% duty on it plus exorbitant shipping fees from your mailing service. If you can get the gadget here, it's double the price it is in the states. If you are moving here - and there are still more things I love about Costa Rica than not - bring everything.

Here's my question: who does all that duty benefit? It supports the customs industry, but anyone else? Does the government use this money (if they see anything over and above what it costs to run customs) to benefit ticos? It clearly does not. In fact, it only makes it impossible for the average tico to afford any cool gadgets. And if a tico can't get a visa to visit the U.S. (who can these days?), you can't even go there and buy one at Best Buys.

Some days, I yearn to walk into a big health food store and buy a couple of bags of whole wheat flour. To have that coveted dehydrator shipped to my door. Easy vitamins. Ryan to be able to get all the books he wants. In Key West, we'd buy at least five to ten books a month. Not now.

Perhaps it's the old 'merican "I want what I want when I want it. Which is now." But I can't help it: I do. In the big picture, it's a small price to pay. Right at this moment, I'm annoyed. OH, wait, I hear the girls:

Comments

[Erin]

I can't help with everything, but:

1) The little grocery store in my town sells uniodized sea salt, so it's available at least in a few places!

2) My friend takes wheat berries and corn to the central market and gets it ground there -- for cheap!

3) I'd try a chorreador or French press instead of a coffee maker. I know it makes smaller batches, but they never break! (And the chorreador can make a huge pot of coffee.)

4) Have you considered buying a Kindle? All the books you want, no import duties!

[Saratica]

Hey, Erin, thanks! What's the brand of salt? Maybe I can find it here. And where is the grinder? In the Mercado Central in San José? Any tips on location would be good... that's where I bought my chickens, I sorta know my way around there.

We've decided no more coffeemakers and have been pouring boiling water over the grounds in the holder... I have a French press and love that but for four people, that gets tiresome. Next big chorreador I see, I'm buying!

I did not consider a Kindle because you know - there's nothing like a book in your hand. But maybe I'll get one for Ryan. And I now remember reading that Amazon will download Kindle books to your computer... I'll look into that.

OK. All better!!!

[Roblynn]

Boy I just had one of those "tired of searching" days and can sooo relate, gotta get together. In fact come on over and grind your wheat. I have a grinder. I was buying wheat from the organic people, but it is dang expensive.
Anyway anytime you are over in this neck you are welcome to come grind :)

[Ronald Ross]

Goodness, I've lived in Costa Rica for 45 years (and in Mexico for three before that) and had no idea there were so many problems here! I've raised and educated three kids who are "tingos" (half tico half gringo)and it's just seemed like home to us. After graduating from the UCR I went back to the University of Colorado for a Ph.D. and came right back down as soon as I finished. And I've had a pleasant and challenging career teaching at the UCR for 36 years. There are now three generations of us! I'd listen to Erin. She's got the right attitude. I'd like to know what you do like about the country!

Ron

[Saratica]

Thanks, Robbie. Maybe Sunday.... I'll call you and bring my wheat for a grind.

You must be new around this blog, Ron. So all this is news to you? C'mon.

[robin]

Come on down here and we'll clear some woods for you. Get a yurt or something and you'll be all set. Lay as low as you want & you can even use my dehydrator. You'll get used to the snow and cold. I promise. ;)
We even have a large Hispanic population here for you to keep up on your Spanish. lol

I think I finally found goat's milk for kefir! Yay! It's pasturized {until spring} but... :)

The Kindle ap works well on the computer - I have it too since I'm too cheap to buy a Kindle or Nook. There are a ton of free books avail. for the Kindle too.
Happy browsing!

[Saratica]

For all those I've already offended, please note the clarification in the P.D. section:

"Are gringos more honest than ticos? At the petty level, what I'd call "cash register" honesty, I'd say yes. But only then. We have cash register honesty drilled into us from birth (except for politicians. They'll steal anything not nailed down.)

Gringos certainly own their share of thieves, just not so much the petty everyday thievery. We prefer Bernie Madoff-styled heists. And maybe foreigners in the U.S. have to constantly count their change."

I don't think gringos have anything on ticos. We are very much alike in very many ways. In this case, I'm the victim of the P.D. and it's damned annoying.

[Saratica]

Thanks, Robin. Yeah, like I'm sure I'd get used to that snow. I'll let you know when that's close to happening. Any day now. Getting the Kindle app... can't wait now!!!

[Saratica]

What kind of dehydrator do you have? Do you use it? Have you made a youtube video yet? Can you really store food for years? I'm fascinated by this topic.

[Erin]

Next time I'm at the store, I'll check on the sea salt brand. (I always buy it, dump it into an airtight container and throw away the bag.) Remind me by email if I forget!

As for the Kindle, I really think the book-in-hand attachment is surmountable, ESPECIALLY for Morgan/Ryan's generation. Give Ryan six months with one, and I bet he'll like it more than a real book. (Gasp!)

My friend gets her stuff ground at Heredia's central market, but I assume you can get it done at San Jose's too. Just take it in, and start asking around -- point to your wheat and ask "para moler?" and they should point you in the right direction!

Lastly, you can buy any chorreador; just make sure it's tall enough to accommodate a large carafe or pitcher underneath it. Or just stick one of your four coffee pots, sans top, under the filter and you're golden!

[robin]

Dehydrator: I have a 4 thingy Excalibur. Look on my neglected blog live-whole-food.blogspot.com and you'll find a Raw Food World link; they have all sorts of goodies. Right now I've made kale chips w/ tahini & that's addicting, and I've done tomatoes which I put in the left over olive oil from store bought sun dried toms. Yum. Oh, I've done apple chips for Kayleigh too. I need to branch out and use it more for sure tho'. There are a lot of uses for it on goneraw.com
What are your thoughts for using one?
Oh, and come on down today was like 50*. :) Heatwave! lol {Jer has a parka you could have}
Tell Hal & the boys hello.

[james]

I have been told that sometimes, after awhile, it becomes the little things that start to bother expats. Whether or not you let those insignificances evolve into annoyances big enough to make your life miserable is up to you.
I can only think of two reasons how this could happen:
1. High Expectations. If you maintain unrealistic expectations, you are bound to be disappointed, right? I doubt this is the reason because you know where you live. You have known for a while now and you have written about this. The things you point out here are not new to this blog. And you seem to be making an effort to accept these minor annoyances.
2. As you point out, the deeper, underlying issue of missing Key West may be causing you to accentuate the minor shortcomings of life in CR. Maybe you are trying to justify a decision to go back to Key West?

[deb]

omg, this is saratica's blogsite, at times blogging is a way to let off steam and bitch to the choir..of which I am a member. I was bitching for 2 weeks about the gringo pricing on a bavaria dark beer at a tico soda in the campo outside Barranca, no pricing in the menu, we were charged 1500 colones per beer. I would bet un mil colones, that the ticos at the next table didn't pay that. Recently paid 1200 colones at a bar on Playa Hermosa beach in gringolandia de guanacaste, expected this pricing considering the locale. But the dive soda in a non gringo/tourist area, nonsense...bottom line-it feels crummy to be wronged. better to talk about it than fester a tumor. I have a million examples but will stop with this one.

[Saratica]

Robin, thanks for the blog link, going there. The Excalibur is the one I want. I want to dry food for the meltdown, of course!!! I know Jer is secretly storing away supplies... heheheh.

[Saratica]

Hi James, I think you are right on both counts. And I feel so much better today... I'll just start carrying around an extra 400 colones in my pocket. If I make it home with 'em at the end of the day, I'll feel like I got a bonus!

Yep, Deb, just gotta get it out and move on. Pura vida!

[rebekah inestroza]

I know exactly what you mean about gringo pricing. I pride myself on being a pretty laid back gringa and the fact that I don't look gringa helps BUT as soon as I speak it's all over with. Just last week I went to the pulperia and got majorly screwed even though I asked all the prices first, and I use this place all the time. Yesterday a gringo guy came to look at my washer and dryer and his taxi driver took every long way he possible could even though my husband was telling him what way to go. This taxi driver would hang up on him and then call back when he was on the other side of town.
I think that you need days like these where you can just vent because it just gets so damn tiring to be on your guard, counting change, arguing and in the end feeling pissed off because once again you got ripped off!

[Anna Colton]

I know what you mean - I've lived in Europe (I'm British - but lived in Spain) and Asia (Singapore, Malaysia) and I have to say that I find here more frustrating than any other place (and more expensive). Things *are* more expensive, choice is *very* limited, and the day to day food isn't a patch on europe or asia (it's fine, but I wouldn't cross an ocean for it). Foreigner prices are everywhere, and I just take it as an extra tax these days, it's actually the government taxes that annoy me - nearly 30% for clothes! It's like they don't want people to have nice things here (native or immigrant). Compare this to Malaysia (also a developing country) where they *want* business, they *want* their population to have nice things, and they have an attitude to make it happen (despite huge levels of corruption.. I guess being parked next to Singapore is guilting them into it)

[Saratica]

"It's like they don't want people to have nice things here (native or immigrant)."

Yeah, that's what I think. It's a power play and it only keeps ticos from living anywhere but inside a government-defined box. What if every tico had a computer?

[Abby]

Just found your site and am hooked. You had me at "salt." My mom just visited from the States, and sea salt from Whole Foods was on my list -- as was all of my vitamins! Look forward to reading more!

[Saratica]

Welcome Jungle Princess! I look forward to reading your blog, too - love the title - seeing what brought you here. It's a wild thing, changing your life! Pura vida.

[Laurie]

In Honduras, I usually enlist a Honduran for big purchases so I don't get the Gringa price. Sad but true. I am coming to your country for the week before Santa Semana. I love Costa Rica, and if I didn't feel so strongly about my work in Honduras, I'd move there in a heartbeat.

[Mike]

Hola Saratica,

Have enjoyed reading your posts for a few years now & am glad you take the time and energy to post every few days or so. I haven't been back to Costa Rica since 2006 but i do like to keep informed from the expat perspective. Coincidentally, i just posted a reply in the "San Jose is My Home" blog wondering if that blog is still viable, and then found Erin's comment to this post so I know she is still in CR, and apparently blogging elsewhere. So hi Erin as well. It seems to me that James and Ron must not read your blog on a regular basis or they would know that you often comment positively on the differences between CR & the USA. And frankly i thought their comments were advocating a PC (politically correct) approach to blogging. Let freedom ring!!

[Saratica]

Hey, Laurie, I love your blog. You have your work cut out for you there in Honduras! Do you read La Gringa? Surely you must! Enjoy your visit to Costa Rica. Much to love.

Hi Mike, Erin is writing at Costarica.com now, more writing than blogging but she's around! "PC"???? Heaven forfend. I don't think I could do it if I tried...!

[Trish]

I'll never forget, preparing for the birth of my baby here, how I could not find witch hazel anywhere. None of the pharmacies, even in the big mall in Escazu, had any idea what it was. All those little specialty items that I've grown used to in the US are just not available here most of the time. Sometimes it just feels really annoying.

[Saratica]

The most annoying thing is that there's no reason everyone shouldn't be able to get what they want when they want it. It's just make-work for customs. It gives the U.S. and China strings to pull to make Costa Rica do what they want. Politicians can go to hell. That's why I'm all involved in http://www.Liberty-Candidates.org. Never re-elect anyone, don't elect any career politicians (like Laura) (although are there any politicians in Costa Rica who are not career?) The bunch in the U.S. are all criminals. Except Ron Paul and maybe one or two others.

Ok, don't get me started.

[Donald Lee]

I have resided for over 24 years in Central America, mainly in El Salvador and Guatemala (Yes, where I was tour guide & oral interpreter for several years, during and after the civil 'conflicts') Rough edges. No problem. Escaped New Yorker. tough as nails. Do like this bloq, would vote for Ron Paul, few if any of the others!

I could travel to Costa Rica and get just about anything I required there. I did work briefly in Costa Rica twice, once on a project with La Nacion Periodico and once as a Central American stringer for a multi lingual tourist Newspaper, pre Internet days folks. I first visited Central America in 1970-1971, had a relative living and working here, relocated in 1986. Still here. Hard knocks, good bad and ugly days. Life in the Tropics. Now living frugally on fixed income from US, Rent on small Apartment, Cable TV, 2 Cell Phones, land line cost me less than $200 USD a month total. Once had a PC but use Cybercafes, 50 cents an hour US at National Univ. area San Salvador..I live blocks away..sold my vehicle a few years ago. Anyone coming up our way, El Salvador and Guatemala (We don't bite)gimme a holler. I have a big Central American Travel and Relocation Info. Bloq, so send me your e mail if you wish it. Don't own neither sell Real estate, don't make promises I cannot keep.
Tropicalguide Ex Pat & Survivor.
saludos.

[Saratica]

Hey, Donald, you sound like the guy to know when traveling around these parts! Thanks for introducing yourself. I'll be in touch when we come your way. saratica @ costaricaswag . com

[Donald Lee]

Estimada Saratica, I am an 'older generation' of Ex Pat, returned to settle in Central America in 1986, later that year got my residency, went to States, drove my car down USA to Guatemala, got national plates, became a guide-interpreter, drove all over Guatemala, Honduras and after 1990 El Salvador, escorted some bus tours as far as Nicaragua, only drove once (in a friends rental car) in CR, did not like driving there...I have a couple old time Ex Pat friends left in CR, in the 90s when I was working in SJ we used to hang around the 'Nashville South' Bar near to the Holiday Inn Centro SJ, lot of laughs, I think one 'old salt' I knew has drank himself to death, if not, hope he has quit!!! Knew lots of your Conch Republic KW citizens, good, bad and ugly, out of the Rio Dulce (Marinas, Sailing, Carib. Side)in Guatemala in the old days. As Jimmy Buffet once wrote: "The (US) Puritanism never went as far south as Key West". Will e mail you part of my Central America travel bloq...keep in touch. Tropical Guide
Ex Pat & Survivor
Not an Ex (has been) Spert (short piss)!