Let’s Get Back
To Costa Rica:
Tropical
By John Holtz
“Yes,”
the green season
or rainy season
as the rest of
the world might
know it is close
at hand. I say
you’ve got to
love it! A tan
and green at the
same time.
After 4 months
of dryness the
fields are
brown, the hills
are brown the
dirt is hard and
shaving is tough
on the skin not
to mention water
bills second to
none. It was a
nice break, but
let’s get back
to Costa Rica:
Tropical.
Last night, in
my living room,
I saw my first
abejon (Beetle)
of the season
who must be a
scout for the
next 1,000 that
will come every
night in May
followed by
tropical rains.
By June they
will be
gone…dead I
think.
Having the
sliding doors
and windows open
in the evening
is a Costa Rica
pleasure. But in
May that is
another 100
pesos. At times
it becomes
difficult to
even watch
television as
they flit around
the room with
nothing terribly
important to do
except bang into
walls head first
and die. And,
then in the
morning….dead,
all dead and all
over the floor
(I realize this
is a lot of
hyperbole, but
you get the
picture.)
They make me
feel sad because
their mission in
life is to die
in front of my
television? It
is difficult to
watch Dancing
With the Stars
while seeing
these beetles
bounce off the
screen and
walls.
I love the green
season that we
call “winter”
which is
actually warmer
than the dry
season that we
call “summer.”
I do not have an
explanation for
that except
maybe, “summer”
in “winter”
sounds more
attractive and
brings more
tourists to
Costa Rica when
there is no
rain. In London
they hear a lot,
“I spent the
winter in their
summer and got a
great tan. How
was the winter
here? You look
so, so pale and
me you ask? I’m
tan, I’m fit,
and I’m a sex
symbol!”
Being located
only 11 degrees
or so above the
equator the sun
will fry your
brains out even
on a cloudy day.
That Brit might
be a sex symbol
now, but only
until the skin
cancer kicks in.
The tropical
rains of green
season can be
devastating at
times but always
they bring
amazing fauna,
flowers, new
trees, wildlife
and also they
bring rushing
rivers to the
seas and with
that rushing
toilet water,
plastic bottles,
tin cans, old
tires and about
anything else
you can list.
According to
government
figures, 72%,
think of it, 72%
of ALL Costa
Rica waste water
goes straight to
the rivers and
eventually down
to either the
Pacific or
Atlantic Ocean.
(This includes
those multi star
hotels of which
more than one
has been shut
down for this
specific
reason.)
The sign inside
the bus says
“keep it clean,”
referring to the
interior. We do.
We toss the
trash out the
windows. (Same
thing with our
cars.) We think
like the feline,
“If I cannot see
it, it does not
see me.” (But it
smells!)
We have two
rivers both
called “White”
not because of
their crystal
clear water but
because these
rivers, when it
rains they are
well known for
carrying
downstream
household
appliances,
usually painted
white, tossed
into them like
stoves,
refrigerators,
toasters and
even microwaves.
But there is
another side to
all this, a
powerful side.
No matter where
you are nothing
seems brighter,
more lush, and
more fresh than
the green season
of Lady Costa
Rica.
A good time to
be here.
Lady Costa Rica
signed on to the
Kyoto Agreement
in April 27,
1998 with the
lofty goal of
being carbon
neutral by 2021.
That might sound
like mumbo –
jumbo, but it is
not.
The country has
so much wildlife
and forests that
man, trying at
his best, has
not been able to
destroy it
although he has
made a lot of
effort to do so
with outrageous
condos, big time
resorts, potable
water
contamination,
insecticides and
illegally
cutting trees to
build roads into
our protected
national parks
to construct
mind, body
spirit yoga
retreats or
eco-camps and
even gold mines.
Injured and
damaged, on her
knees, Lady
Costa Rica, with
her best friend
Mother Nature,
does fight back
by growing
things like
trees, forests
and jungle that
collectively
invite the
wildlife to come
live in balance
and humans to
either adopt
that balance or
leave.
Make no mistake,
Lady Costa Rica
is tough. She
swears like a
sailor, refuses
to give in to
special interest
groups and
instead
continually
fosters the
willows, the
palms, the
multicolor lapa
birds, the wind,
the fish and the
low hanging
clouds who act
like mammoth
body guards
protecting
us….from us.
Developers might
have a sure fire
plan to exploit
the countryside,
but Lady Costa
Rica will stop
the rape. She
has yet to be
defeated. Even
the Great
Recession has
managed to put
the ecology back
into Costa Rica
because
construction and
out-of-control
real estate
developments
have stopped
thereby giving
the country a
rest, a chance
to breathe a
little and
perhaps find her
way again.
Certainly we do
have home grown
issues like too
much traffic,
smoky diesel
engines, roads
to nowhere, pot
holes the size a
small swimming
pool, trash in
the streets….but
those are to be
expected in a
developing
nation or the
third world, and
those are issues
endemic to any
place with a 20%
poverty rate.
Lady Costa Rica
does not want
grotesque signs
at every turn
announcing
luxury, hundreds
of no down
payment condos
and time shares
on the beach
that too
frequently get
abandoned,
decayed, block
ocean access or
are simply ugly
monuments
attesting to the
power of greed.
(Did you know,
no matter what
is advertised,
there is no such
thing as a
private beach
here?)
She wants good
taste; she wants
all of us to see
her beauty as it
is, without
make-up and not
like a celebrity
as seen on some
“red carpet”
television
awards show who
is be-jeweled,
decked out in a
super expensive
borrowed dress,
coming from a
tan booth and 6
hours of
cosmetics.
Lady Costa Rica
wants to be
natural, be real
but it is hard
for her to do it
alone so we are
called upon to
help out.
Sadly, many of
our foreign
visitors who are
enticed here by
this
eco-friendly,
beer friendly,
ocean friendly,
jungle friendly,
mountain
friendly and
romance friendly
Costa Rica tend
to also be heavy
duty polluters
leaving behind a
legacy of
ugliness that
clearly
demonstrates a
lack of respect
for the
environment and
for those of who
us call this
country home.
As my Costa Rica
cousin, Ana
Elena once said
to me, “Gringos
come to Jaco
Beach to do here
what they are
not allowed to
do in the United
States.” A harsh
commentary, but
it does have
merit.
And Costa Rica
the Lady just
sheds one more
tear for a
sustainable and
healthy
environment
while getting
ready for the
next struggle.
For a good
primer on Costa
Rica as well as
ecology, pay a
day visit to
Parque InBio. It
is a few miles
outside of San
Jose and it is
entertaining.
Park Inbio will
prepare you for
your trip to the
rest of the
country. It is
an excellent
organization and
super park at a
reasonable
price.
www.inbioparque.com
One other
comment:
If you decide to
go to a
destination
resort that
rents parrots
and monkeys for
you to see and
maybe touch, you
do not know and
have not been to
Costa Rica. You
have been to a
destination
resort and
nothing else. It
caters to your
wishes which
might be just
the thing for
your taste.
Still, please
pick up your own
trash okay?
However, when
you visit our
country, stand
up and give us a
hand to keep the
green season,
really green and
the dry season
(summer) really
clean.
A clean and
friendly Lady
Costa Rica is
just good
business for
all!
John Holtz is the Executive Director of
theCenter for
the Studies of
Modern
Management
www.modernmanagement.org and can
be reached at:
jrh@modernmanaement.org.
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