Monday, July 18, 2005
Something nice….
I have to say, that coming home everyday from hell to this family is a blessing. I can leave the visions of the ghetto behind and be in a quiet, safe (due to the bars and gates everywhere), clean place where the food is awesome and there is lots of laughter. Laura, the 36 year old daughter, has one of those wonderful, infectious laughs that lights up a room. It is fun everyday to get her going on something. For everything that I can’t say in Spanish, I act out, and she and her mom seem to enjoy those stories the most. If only they were alcoholics like me, then this would be the party house.
Today, Sunday, it has rained all day. It stops every now and then for about ten minutes, but then starts up again. I’m sitting in the formal living area at the front of the house with the door open and enjoying the breeze and the sounds. Currently the Catholic church up the rode is ringing its bells like crazy, I guess reminding all of the sinners to hurry up and get to mass. A guy on horseback went down the street an hour ago, which made Jerry, the little mutt dog next door, go ape-shit. Of course, Jerry tends to go ape-shit at everything that goes by, but this was especially exciting. He’s like a cat, as he scales up the three foot concrete wall that surrounds the yard and weaves in and out of the bars that go around the rest of the place. It was a shock the first time he did this to me, as he was there so fast, barking like crazy. Now he never comes out and barks at me. I guess I’m on the “good” list finally.
Okay, nice stuff is over. I don’t know how much of this made the news in the US, but there was a major fire at a hospital here in San Jose this past Tuesday. I got an English Tico Times, and the story is awful. Yet, after being here for two weeks, no surprise. Nineteen people died, and it was all due to negligence. The fourth floor where it happened was full of patients that were incapacitated for whatever reason, couldn’t walk, and that floor had no escape besides the stairs. Plus, there were no fire hoses, or fire alarms, no smoke detectors, etc. AND, there were warnings in the past about the problems with this building related to fire hazards and nothing was ever fixed. The whole city is a fire trap, if you ask me. You can read the story at www.ticotimes.com.
Also in the current edition, but unfortunately not online, is a HUGE article about the horrific problem this country has with trash. Sixty percent of the country’s trash is not properly disposed of. It goes into streams, rivers, water on the coast, or never gets picked up. The government has passed the buck to the municipal bodies, and they only receive half of the money “asked for” from the people, and therefore there’s never enough money to fund proper pick-up, and therefore nothing happens. They don’t have the power, for whatever reason, to add a trash bill to the water or electric bill, and therefore there’s never any money. There was a strike last week in the northern part of San Jose because the workers kept asking for brooms and brushes to help them clean up sidewalks, and they’ve never gotten them. The article also went into detail about how Costa Rica boasts as a culture that they’re so environmentally friendly here, and how that’s a total deception. That tourists who come here to vacation and see a pretty country are deceived. The weekly political cartoon showed a tour guide with two depressed Americans and he was saying, “And over beyond that pile of trash we have a rain forest.” Even in the questionable parts of New York that I’ve been in, I don’t remember seeing piles of trash in front of every business, on every residential street, all the time. And that is what I see here every day. It’s sad that the people don’t have more power to help themselves. Everyone passes the buck on to someone else.
Devon, the other American in my house, is back today. She’s super cool, too. Her boyfriend was here visiting for three days so they had a fun, frolicking time at a nice hotel. Bitch. She speaks perfect Spanish, so among the four of us, a lot more gets said.
The sun is out. Amazing. Back to studying Spanish. Oh, the rain is back again. Wow, that was fast. Nevermind.
V
Today, Sunday, it has rained all day. It stops every now and then for about ten minutes, but then starts up again. I’m sitting in the formal living area at the front of the house with the door open and enjoying the breeze and the sounds. Currently the Catholic church up the rode is ringing its bells like crazy, I guess reminding all of the sinners to hurry up and get to mass. A guy on horseback went down the street an hour ago, which made Jerry, the little mutt dog next door, go ape-shit. Of course, Jerry tends to go ape-shit at everything that goes by, but this was especially exciting. He’s like a cat, as he scales up the three foot concrete wall that surrounds the yard and weaves in and out of the bars that go around the rest of the place. It was a shock the first time he did this to me, as he was there so fast, barking like crazy. Now he never comes out and barks at me. I guess I’m on the “good” list finally.
Okay, nice stuff is over. I don’t know how much of this made the news in the US, but there was a major fire at a hospital here in San Jose this past Tuesday. I got an English Tico Times, and the story is awful. Yet, after being here for two weeks, no surprise. Nineteen people died, and it was all due to negligence. The fourth floor where it happened was full of patients that were incapacitated for whatever reason, couldn’t walk, and that floor had no escape besides the stairs. Plus, there were no fire hoses, or fire alarms, no smoke detectors, etc. AND, there were warnings in the past about the problems with this building related to fire hazards and nothing was ever fixed. The whole city is a fire trap, if you ask me. You can read the story at www.ticotimes.com.
Also in the current edition, but unfortunately not online, is a HUGE article about the horrific problem this country has with trash. Sixty percent of the country’s trash is not properly disposed of. It goes into streams, rivers, water on the coast, or never gets picked up. The government has passed the buck to the municipal bodies, and they only receive half of the money “asked for” from the people, and therefore there’s never enough money to fund proper pick-up, and therefore nothing happens. They don’t have the power, for whatever reason, to add a trash bill to the water or electric bill, and therefore there’s never any money. There was a strike last week in the northern part of San Jose because the workers kept asking for brooms and brushes to help them clean up sidewalks, and they’ve never gotten them. The article also went into detail about how Costa Rica boasts as a culture that they’re so environmentally friendly here, and how that’s a total deception. That tourists who come here to vacation and see a pretty country are deceived. The weekly political cartoon showed a tour guide with two depressed Americans and he was saying, “And over beyond that pile of trash we have a rain forest.” Even in the questionable parts of New York that I’ve been in, I don’t remember seeing piles of trash in front of every business, on every residential street, all the time. And that is what I see here every day. It’s sad that the people don’t have more power to help themselves. Everyone passes the buck on to someone else.
Devon, the other American in my house, is back today. She’s super cool, too. Her boyfriend was here visiting for three days so they had a fun, frolicking time at a nice hotel. Bitch. She speaks perfect Spanish, so among the four of us, a lot more gets said.
The sun is out. Amazing. Back to studying Spanish. Oh, the rain is back again. Wow, that was fast. Nevermind.
V
