Guest Post from Italy: Crazy for Calabria Italy

Calabria on the Map

For those that enjoy our blog with all the information you need on Costa Rica we wanted to mix things up a little bit. With all the expats living in Costa Rica we just wanted to remind everyone to make sure you know the date you arrived to Costa Rica it might be part of your family history someday. Our blog is made up of expert advice from local Costa Rican Tour guides who work in tourism but myself (Tom Ranieri) and my father (Ralph Ranieri) are incharge of putting it all on the web for you to see.

Our Family name is Ranieri and this December 1st we are celebrating 100 years since our grandparents made the "Adventure Trip" to start their new lives in the USA. They made the trip from Calabria Italy. I (Tom Ranieri) arrived to Costa Rica on January 5th 2001. Take a look at an amazing guest post we have on our blog from a professional writer, Cherrye Moore, an ex-pat, who describes the five things to love about the boot of Italy, Calabria, from where our family started their adventure and which part of it has lead to Costa Rica.

City View of Calabria

 Five Things to Love in the Toe of the Boot

Possibly the least-trekked region in Italy, Calabria boasts majestic landscapes of rugged mountain terrain and never-ending baby blue skies. Surrounded on three sides by the Ionian and Tyrrhenian Seas, the Calabrian peninsula stretches to form the toe of the boot and at its narrowest point is only 3.2 kilometers from the island of Sicily.

Yet, with all of this natural beauty, Calabria is still off of the radar for many Italy-bound travelers and is even more untouched by English-speaking expats.

But that is part of her charm. In addition to that rare authenticity, here are five things I love about living in Calabria.



1. Beaches

Beaches compete w/ Costa Rica, WOW!

I grew up in southeast Texas-far from the Padre Island of many a drunken coed’s dreams-and to be honest, was never much of a beach-going girl. However, after my first trip to Calabria in 2003, I was hooked. The region has more than 800 kilometers of coastline and hundreds of beaches that are essentially untouched by international tourists. This means a day at the beach-depending on when and where you go, is either a serene, solitary experience or a family-fun day, filled with generations of locals gathering for a day out with their closest friends.

2. Mountains

Remember the southeast Texas I told you about? Well, in addition to being far from sea-blue beaches it is also F-L-A-T. Nope, no mountains in Texas, so maybe that’s why I am addicted to spending afternoons-and weekends, when I get a chance-in the mountains.



Calabria is home to three national parks, the Aspromonte, with its waterfalls and summits, Pollino, one of Italy’s newest and largest national parks that is home to Europe’s deepest gorge and my personal favorite … La Sila, with its evergreen forest and snow-filled Alpine villages.



3. Medieval Villages



Calabria Flag



Over the years Calabria has been conquered by the Greeks, Romans, Normans, Byzantines, Arabs, French, Spanish … need I go on … and each of these groups left their mark on the area. Many of Calabria’s villages still proudly boast their Medieval beginnings and strolling through an ancient village with narrow alleys and panoramic views epitomizes the Calabrian experience. Some of the best preserved Medieval villages in Calabria are Gerace and Stilo in the province of Reggio Calabria, Altomonte in the province of Cosenza and Badolato and Squillace in the province of Catanzaro.

4. Food and Culture

Technically I’m cheating here by squeezing food and culture under one heading, but here in Calabria the two are undeniably linked.



I often tell people I feel like I’m living in my grandmother’s America … we still hang our clothes out to dry, store close in the middle of the day and generations of families meet for leisurely lunches … even during the week. Oh yes, here in Calabria, authentic southern Italian culture is alive and well … and the fiery red chili peppers, homemade pasta and robust local wine don’t hurt.

5. People



Nicoya Peninsula Costa Rica? Nope, CALABRIA ITALY!!



Travelers who visit our bed and breakfast in Catanzaro-Calabria’s capital city-often tell us that Calabrians are the most helpful, generous Italians they’ve met on their trip. Just this week American guests from Seattle told us about the owners of a local wine bar, who upon hearing they were Americans, dashed across the street to introduce them to their English-speaking neighbor (who then gave them her phone number in case they needed help). Last month, guests from Las Vegas returned to our B&B with bags full of fresh fruit and vegetables, straight from someone’s garden they met on a day trip.

After living in bella Calabria for more than four years, I have grown to love the region, not just for the five points I listed above, but for the fact that it is unchartered … for the fact that I don’t run into expats on every corner and hear English on the streets and in the markets. I love Calabria for the history … the traditions … the way of life. And while that might not always be perfect, it is always perfectly Calabrian.

Cherrye Moore is a Calabria tour planner and travel writer living in southern Italy. She writes about expat life for AffordableCallingCards.net, a site that sells-you guessed it-affordable calling cards to Italy. You can read about expat life on their site or more about traveling in southern Italy on her site, My Bella Vita.

What is a Flagship Species?

Image by Digital Story via FlickrA flagship species is a term used by conservationist in the industry of tourism to bring awareness to an eco-system as a whole of the importance of protecting it. It is an interesting concept. The conservationist pair up with the tourism of an area, pick a popular endangered species, and then promote that species. The idea is to help the species but the real goal behind it is to protect the larger picture which would be the whole eco-system in which the specie lives which would involve many more plants and animals.

The term flagship species is given to animals that "Tourist" find interesting. In most cases "cute" or just large and impressive. Some of the flagship species you might be familiar with around the world are the Koala Bear, Bengal Tiger, and the Panda. We have all heard of these species and the importance of protecting them and that they might be endangered. I think its a great idea to take from the eco-system it's most prized (in the eyes of a tourist) most endangered species and promote it to raise awareness for the problem.

Costa Rica's Flagship Species

Costa Rica has it's own flagship species which is the Bairds Tapir. This is a beautiful animal that has been called the Rhino of Central America. There have been great efforts made to protect this species and along with protected it has come many many acres of protected land in Costa Rica. The Hacienda Baru and the Rafiki Lodge are two areas that have used the Tapir as a Flagship species and have made a difference in not only protecting the Tapir but also protecting the eco-system in which it lives.

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Costa Rica Eco-tourism

All of the traditional vacations have you staying in nice fancy hotels. Which I have to say we agree in and have no problem setting that up. But if you are coming to for a Costa Rica vacation of 8 - 10 days maybe you would want to do the option of one or two nights in our homestay program we have set up in a village in the mountains very close to the famous Pacuare River.

This is a program that is not for everyone but I can honestly say we have had 100% success rate. Basically what we do is we do a family vacation including all the normal hotels and activities. For one or two nights we stop into a village where live the local life for a day or so. We get a chance to eat their food, hang out with the locals, and even watch as they perform local song and dance for us. It is a very humble setting and part of the beauty of being in the area is to see how simple the families live but how they are full of smiles.

Costa Rica Family Vacation

If your are looking that your kids to learn something on a Costa Rican family vacation then we can take them and talk for hours to them about all parts of the rainforest. If you really want them to be aware of how families live in and around the rainforest then this is a once and a lifetime opportunity with so little to be said and so much to learn.

If you think you might be interested in including in this idea remember that this is a large economic boost to the families of the village and all profits stay in the village as part of this project. So for your next Costa Rica vacation you just might want to take a deeper look into Costa Rica and you can check it out with

Filmfest: Amazing Video Relates to Costa Rican Fresh Fruit Market

A huge thanks to Jheudy for the idea to write about Costa Rica's fresh food market. These days you can drive down the streets of Costa Rica and see more and more supermarkets and fast food chains. I want to push the fact that we need not forget the farmers worker there tails off that still put on quite the show on weekends to sell some of the best fruits and vegtables you can find in most town squares from Friday to Sunday. Watch the video Jheudy sent me from a filmfest this weekend and tell me it doesnt make you feel bad if you dont get up and go get your fruits and veggies from your local farmer this weekend. It is Friday so now would be the time (if your in Costa Rica).

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Costa Rica Surf Classes

I have done some extensive research and after reviewing it I have discovered that the sun should be back. In fact this morning I think I see it cracking out of the clouds a bit. That is why for your viewing pleasure this morning you get to watch a surf video from Costa Rica Vacations. I want you to remember the river rafting and ziplining are not the only fun adventures around. I often see that surfing keeps the kids very occupied during the their Costa Rica Family Vacation. Its interesting because they get guide and recieve lessons but they are on their own and many kids if they are into it will spend ours trying to master the skill. Remember if the sun doesnt come back out we can always go to the new planet:

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Amphibians, Species Extinction, or Just hop to a New Planet

Image via WikipediaLast night Im sitting at the dinner table flipping through my Costa Rican wildlife book trying to figure out what interesting topic about amphibians I could share with you about this morning on the blog. After reading you get to notice that amphibians is a delicate topic, literally. It seems that in our lifetime we all know of one that has gone extint if not more, most famously here in Costa Rica the Golden Toad which has not been seen since 1988 in MonteVerde.

I got up this morning and I was all ready to write about the Red-Eyed Tree Frog. I wanted to talk about its "startle coloration" which is when it blends in perfectly to the leaf it sleeps on during the day but if you wake it up it has enormous bright red eyes almost half the size of a penny. This is a defense method used to scare away its predator or atleast startle  them in what is called "startle coloration". The frog then takes one giant leap out of harms way.

Well that is in a nutshell what I had inmind to write about this morning and then I opened up my Yahoo homepage and it sent the mind for a little galaxy spin. The article on the Yahoo homepage was about a planet that has just been found that is perfectly suitable for life (just like Earth). The article was about how excited scientist are to have found this planet and how they really believe that "we now might not be alone" or atleast if there is not life on this planet now in a few million years there might be the conditions for life to develop because it has living conditions. The name of the planet is Gliese 581g and if you are around for another couple billion years you might want to put this on your list for a family vacation. As of now they say it will only take a few generations to get there.


 I think it was because I was reading all the troubles amphibians have to survive on Earth and the drastic changes our climate will have to make (which our human race will probably not make the sacrifices in their daily lives to save a bunch of frogs and salimanders) to save this species that made me really relate to the ending of this article.

The scientist who discovered this planet are quoted by saying "The low-energy dwarf star will live on for billions of years, much longer than our sun, they say. And that just increases the likelihood of life developing on the planet, the discoverers said." After reading this I could not help but think maybe the Golden Toad is not extinct it is just taking a few billion years off.

They are then quoted by saying about the new planet that "It is pretty hard to stop life once you give it the right conditions."

Well that is my random blog post for the week. Would love to hear what you think? 

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Frog Reproduction in the Tropics

Image via WikipediaI did mention last week that I was going to make this blog about Costa Rican history this week but I guess we will save that for next week. Today I have an interesting topic for you. When you think of rainforest and Costa Rica one of the things that comes to your mind is Toucans, Volcanoes, Jaguars, Waterfalls, & FROGS!!!

Todays topic I wanted to talk a little bit about the frogs of Costa Rica and most importantly about the difference in the reproduction habits of the Leaf frog and the poisonous dart frog.

In Costa Rica we think of the Leaf Frogs which are the frogs that come out at night and are not poisonous. When it is time for these frogs to reproduce they go through a process that is called amplexus which is actually done through the armpits (look at the picture above that is two leaf frogs in in the process of amplexus which is fertilizing the eggs through the armpits) which is quite interesting.

The poisonous dart frog is completely absent of the amplexus process meaning that there is no physical contact during the fertilization of the eggs. For the poisonous dart frog it can be considered quite the boring process of reproduction. He has to go find the eggs that are floating around in water somewhere and then fertilize them without any physical contact while he then gets to here his Leaf Frog buddy talk about how fun his night was.

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World Tourism Day 2010

World Tourism Day is celebrated everyday on Sept 27th by the United Nations and is to bring awareness of the importance and positive affect tourism can have on countries around the world. This year the theme is "Tourism and Biodiversity".

You cant pick a much better theme for Costa Rica to celebrate since the Tourism part seems to be picking up next year after a slow season and Biodiversity is Costa Rica's claim to fame. China will be hosting this years World Tourism Day.

Although for tourism in Costa Rica this is our slow season I do feel it is something that should be brought to the atttention and celebrated. It is an important day in the industry and many important things can be learned in advances in the industry in moving towards a more green economy and setting better Standards for Green Travel. Enjoy your Tourism & BioDiversity Day!!!

 

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Why No Hurricanes in Costa Rica?

Image via Wikipedia I remember Alma in May of 2008 I was in San Isidro with some clients and there were some 70 landslides on Cerro de la Muerte. Almost all tourist ask about natural disasters such as Earthquakes, Tsunami's, and Hurricanes. With the climate change of today I will answer the question for today but it might be completely different to what the future might hold.

It turns out that 88% of hurricanes develope between 30 degrees and 10 degrees of the Equator and from the point they develop it is mostly of to tradewinds to where they end up which almost always is north of Central America.  Costa Rica is located at 9.55 degrees above the equator which happens to be the perfect spot to escape the path of hurricanes. Why?

Hurricanes need warm water around 80 degrees and humid air to develope so around the equator during fall months makes for the perfect time. Also a hurricane is made up of monstor winds. Well it turns out between 10 and 30 degrees of the equator is where you find the strongest Coriolis Forces. These Coriolis Forces do exist below 10 degrees of the equator but they are very weak. This means that at 9.55 degrees from the equator where Costa Rica is located it has very weak Coriolis Force (winds) to maintain a hurricane. Along with the tradewinds that move hurricanes north it looks as of now Costa Rica still has very low chances of getting slammed by a hurricane and as you can see it is right on the border because Nicaragua and Hondurous have both had their share of big hurricanes.

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Pacific Ring of Fire

Image via WikipediaIn closing of Volcano Week since I decided I was going to give you a three day weekend I decided to give you a little information on the source of all the volcanoes of Costa Rica. Today we will talk a little bit about the Pacific Ring of Fire.

The Pacific Ring of Fire I will actually start out by saying is not a ring it is more of a horseshoe shape. The ring is opened from Australia to South America but who cares they call it a ring and that is that. Just imagine basically a ring of fire running along the coast of the Pacific ocean all 25,000 miles of it and there you have your Pacific Ring of Fire. This is volcanic trenches, plate movements, and lots of activity. It is home to 452 of the worlds volconoes. Which is a grand total of 75% of the worlds dormant and active volcanoes so you can see why the Ring of Fire is so important to celebrating our Volcano Appreciation Week. Because of all the activity here at "The Ring" 90% of the Earth's earthquakes happen here.

Costa Rica is the result of the Coco plate being subducted beneath the Caribbean plate which is actually how Costa Rica was formed with the friction of the two plates heating up and shooting volcanoes to the ocean floor through time and rising and rising of volcanic material connecting the southern part of Nicaragua and the Northern Part of Panama. Also through this subduction mountains were raised from under the sea floor along with the volcanoes and this is why in some of Costa Rica's highest points you can find sea fossils. Hope you enjoyed Volcano Week and stay tuned for Next week is Costa Rican History Week!!!!

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20,000 Colones Bill Good or Bad Idea?

Image via WikipediaIt looks as if the 20,000 colones bill will be coming out shortly. It was scheduled to come out but was sent back for a small error found on the bill. I am no economics major but I two doubts in my mind why this might be a bad idea. Read and let me know what you think?

Yesterday I saw Laura Chinchilla plead to the United Nations for help with the invasion of the drug-trade in Costa Rica. I think everyone can agree there is more drugs and crime than before and nobody wants what is happening to Mexico to happen to Costa Rica. As far as I know Narcos deal mostly in cash and yes they probably deal a lot with dollars but Im sure the Colone makes for an easy transfer at times to not have so many cash dollars floating around. Would now be the time for the release of the larger Colone bill with the arrival of a Narco cash run business knocking at the doors of Costa Rica.

My second thought is I often hear Costa Ricans say that there is cash in the streets but nobody wants to spend. If you put larger bills in peoples wallets it just means they will spend less. A larger bills is like having a savings account in your wallet. It almost hurts to break the bill and get all the small change. How often to you find yourself saying "I only got a $50 and I dont want to break it".

With this said I really dont know if either of them make sense since my Economics backround is level with my PHD in nuclear physics (neither really exist). If you have thoughts on the release of the new bill I would love to hear?

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Magma, Lava, & Tephra

Image via WikipediaSince it is still Happy Volcano week I thought I would describe the different between three terms you might here during your visit to Costa Rica. First of all one that people always ask is what is the different between Magma and Lava?

They are both motlen rock but Magma is located in magma chambers below the Earth's surface and lava is molten rock that has reached the Earth's surface. The tempature of mamga is between 1300F - 2400F and lava is 1300F 2300F very similar. Lava probably comes from the Latin word "Labes" which means to fall or slide which best describes its action when it reaches the Earth's surface.

Now a third fragment you might not be too familiar with but you should know when visiting Costa Rica is Tephra. Tephra relates very much to magm and lava. Lets look at it like this. Lava is to magma in an extusive form what Tephra is to magma in an explosive form. What this means is that Tephra is fragment material produced by volcanos which becomes airborne. This is very common in history in Costa Rica. We always here have coffee crops were destroyed from acid rain and the present Turrialba volcano activity. Ash can travel for miles into the stratosphere and large amounts of Tephra can reflect light and heat from the sun and tempatures on the Earth can drop just from the eruption of a volcano. Now thinking for the last post I wrote at the start of volcano week the Tephra material is a result of what kind of eruption that is very common in Costa Rica? Pyroclastic Eruptions! Very good I can see your learning.  The picture in this blog is not of Costa Rica but I liked it so much I thought I would share...

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Next Vacation: A Cruise or Costa Rica Eco-Tourism?

Image via WikipediaBefore my days of working in eco-tourism I went on cruises and I have to say I enjoyed them when I was a kid but now from what Ive learned Im going to lay this one out there nice and simple. A cruise ship is a large floating piece of junk. One cruise ship generates EACH DAY:

• 25,000 gallons of sewage from toilets each day
• 143,000 gallons of sewage from sinks, galleys, and showers
• 7 tons of garbage and solid waste
• 15 gallons of toxic chemicals
• 7,000 gallons of oily bildgewater

Not to mention the amount of over-eating, glutnous fest, artery clogging, health-care bill rising cost, (should I go on...?).

 Just go with Eco-Tourism its a No-Brainer

 Design Your Own Eco-Tourism Adventure

Source: NatGeo: GreenGuide

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Turrialba Volcano Might Re-Open?

Image by Costa Rican Resource via FlickrI personally declared it volcano week since it seems to be the topic of this blog for the last couple of days it seems the local newspaper is lending itself to help me out. La Nacion the main news paper in Costa Rica which I consider the most formal and proffesional came out with the most unproffesional and informal article I could imagine. It was about the idea of re-opening the Turrialbal Volcano, you can read the article in Spanish here.

If it is time to reopen the Turrialba volcano than fine lets do it but if its not than lets wait. I find it interesting that the only way to get to the crater in the rainy season would be for the US not to send warships down but to send some tanks down. The roads are horrible and with these rains I can imagine not much better. The roads in the article were not so much an issue in the article in arriving but during an emergency evacuation. The article then talks about how the volcano is letting out a lot of gas and that it could be dangerous to the tourist, uh? Does this mean like going to Poas and you should only stay at the crater for 30 minutes because of the gases being released or does this mean dangerous from the moment you arrive.

The suggestion from La Nacion is that you would have to hire a tourism proffesional company to take you to the top of the crater to be safe. I've got news for you I run a tourism proffesional company and I dont have a clue when the Turrialba volcano is safe or when it is not safe I just go by what the experts tell me. Well I hope they dont open the park today but if it is open for the next high season I will be looking forward to it it would be quite the plus to any costa rican family vacation with the activity it is displaying and quite the free back massage with the road to get there.

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Stratovolcano: Arenal Volcano Costa Rica

Image via WikipediaArenal Volcano is the youngest volcano in all of Costa Rica. It also happens to be one of the top 10 most active volcanos on the planet. This is also a place of extreme natural beauties that tourist from all over the world come and want to see and do some of the adventures in the area. For those of them who decide not to get a guide and if they get the chance to read this tweet from their Spa while looking at the volcano then I hope you find it useful and if not I hope there are some Science classes out there that will:

ARENAL VOLCANO COSTA RICA STRATOVOLCANO

• Stratovolcanos are common in subduction zones - a subduction zone is part of plate tectonics where oceanic crust is drawn under continental crust
• Arenal is considered an Andesitic Stratovolcano which is given the name after the Ande mountains and describes the composition of minerals that are released from the Arenal Volcano
• The tourist come to see the Pyroclastic flows which is solid to semi-solid fragments and hot, expanding gases that flows down the flank of the volcano make for a spectacular show. 
• Arenal is a result of the Subduction of the Coco & Carib Tectonic plates.
• The Pacific Ring of Fire is the most common place for Stratovolcano.
• Stratovolcano make for some of the best booms on the planet and not just tourist booms...

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New National Stadium Smoke Free

During the Asian Games in China people are fined $7's for smoking. They are also fined for smoking in public places such as elevators, office buildings, and other non-smoking areas. The least we do is not smoke in the stadium they built for us (although we did buy $120 million dollars worth of Chinese traffic STUFF for our cars when this project began). Can you imgine trying to charge "La Ultra" and "La Doce" Dos Rojos y Medio (these are two soccer team groups that rarely have the money to enter games and often smoking and drinking outside the stadium) for each cigarrete they smoked.

 This has been quite the week to celebrate no smoking. I have a close friend that said he was got into a fender bender in my car and he did not have the funds to pay for it because he licensed had expired the day before. I really felt bad for him but told him if he quit smoking (after 30 years) I would clear his debt with me. It has been two weeks and he is going great. Its obviously hard as hell but this is a close friend that has overcome everyother addiction there is so he has all the tools he needs to do this so I told him to just do it.

I just read in the front page of the Nacional Newspaper that the new National Stadium dontaed by China will be smoke free. I think this is funny considering the day before the Costa Rica national football team just signed a very large contract with a Mexican coach that smokes during games. I thought to myself what is this guy going to do. It wont work the bribe trick that I am doing with my friend because they already signed the contract and the money is on its way. It will be interesting to see.

But anyways I think its a great gesture to a beautiful new place Costa Ricans can call home to there national events seating over 35,000 in a smoke free environment. It's an excellent move for the younger generations also to see this. The construction is 90% complete and almost ready for a "rumble in the jungle" although  I dont think Ali is.

SHOULD COSTA RICA LABOR HAVE BEEN USED TO BUILD THE STADIUM?

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Excellent Education Books for All ages from one of the Most Bio-Diverse Places on the Planet

Image via WikipediaThere is so much information we can find on line. But if your in the jungle and it happens to be in the rainforest there just might be a good reason to still have your book of tree species or bird species handy (until apple comes out with the waterproof touch). But until then there are some great sources to look into. The Institute National of Bio-Diversity where I did some of my studies in Costa Rica has quite the collection of books that all go to a great cause. If your interested in these books they all come in English and Spanish and you can click here to take a look at the many different books they have.

Again these are amazing books from studies done in the field and proceeds going back into the field of study. I feel these would be great class room books and they have different books for all ages. If you are ever visiting Costa Rica Inbio Park is also a park worth visiting with a class. It is a small park in the town of Heredia and nothing like getting out into the jungles of Costa Rica but again if you have the time its money going to a good cause.

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Costa Rica on List of Top 20 Countries for Drug Trafficking

Image by Defence Images via FlickrWhen you first read this headline you get alarmed. Dont let it scare you from taking a Costa Rica Vacation. For most of you that are reading this you probably are living in  one of top consuming drug countries on the Planet and that is the USA. What would you rather have a few boats and trucks entering and leaving or drugs, staying in your country, people consuming, and every problem that follows with addictions. This is just to not scare the tourist off and let you know that you are still welcome into a beautiful eco-adventure but to also let you know that our blog is all about the truth of Costa Rica and we try to inform from all angles.

Costa Rica is becoming a victim of some more than usually passing by of these drugs because they are a country with no army. What better place to try and pass by your load of cocaine knowing there is no army to stop you. Also the position Costa Rica is in surrounded by countries like Mexico, Venezuela, and Colombia. The time to take measures is now.

This info came up at an interest time because these last couple of months many Costa Rican's have been upset at the fact with the idea of the US sending their Navy ships down to the Coast of Costa Rica. I will be the first to admitt I was against the idea of all these ships in the start of these talks.  Ive heard so many stories to why they are being sent down. It turns out one boat showed up with some medical supplies for the port of Limon which was probably a good idea to calm some of the nerves of the local people.

The Costa Rican's are proud to not have an army and they should be (I am proud to live in a country that does not have an army). When it comes to small home invasions in Costa Rica I feel my 2 rotweillers will do me just fine. But when you start looking at the past history of Colombia and present history of Guatemala and Mexica you begin to ask yourself I will have to invest in a whole lot of rotweilers if I want to take on these cartels.

I know the US military has gone through some rough times lately but if just a presence might make a difference on where cartels make their next set up we all know Costa Rica for the last 50 years is underfunded in security to take on these guys and just having 50 US ships sitting out in your oceans might not be what you had in mind while sitting in third grade sitting your national anthem. But I have to ask you do you really think Don Pepe would risk giving up everything this beautiful country has to be taken over by a bunch of animal like cartels and go through the same tragedy as Columbia and Mexico. So my opinion would be to work with the US. There are still good people in the US military many that are not so good (thats why you always see people getting fired) and others that are trying to get things working correctly. Try and figure out a plan so that Costa Rica pays practicially nothing. This is very beneficial for the US to have Costa Rica not be affected by the Cartels.

Lets hope it works together and that there are people complaining for a system that works and not complaing for a system to not even try. The idea that US could not help Mexico or Colombia is ridiculous because they were two countries well advance in the drug trade. They were also two countries much larger in size (they also did help quite a bit in Colombia).

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Costa Rica: Two Independence Days?

Every since Ive moved to Central America my first years being in Belize and Guatemala and the rest of my years being in Costa Rica I have found it very interesting the stories on independence. I happen to like the one on Costa Rica because I feel it relates best to Latin  Time. Yesterday Costa Rica celebrated its 189th Independence day from Spain. Take a look at what happened and see if I have maybe proven an extra day off for the Ticos to enjoy your beautiful country. If not we will just stay with Sept. 15th.

Image by Costa Rican Resource via FlickrWell as most of us know a bunch of leaders in Guantemala got together and said "Lets give Cental America their Independence from Spain" (This happened on Sept. 15, 1821). The leaders signed the documents and sent them out to each Central American Country. Well it turns out that Costa Rica must have got the slow donkey mailing service because the document did not arrive until October 13th 1821. Now we all know how documents are in Costa Rica they usually just sit under other documents for awhile.

Take a look at the picture you can see the document was not opened and stamped in this building which we found in the old Capital City of Cartago until October 29 1821 (The picture says: "In this place was signed and stamped the act of our Independence").  This building can be found directly on the corner infront of a building of the ruins of Cartago. I always found this interesting because I have shown this to a number of National & foreign tourist and many of them had never seen it. It was a Costa Rican of course who showed it to me but if you have the time and you are in the area it is worth taking a look at.

Who knows maybe October 29th can be a second Independece day in Costa Rica. We spent our day with the some of the staff members of Hospital Catolica in the Pacuare River and I know they would love a second day on the river. Hope everyone enjoyed their Independence day!

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