Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
It’s all so stupid — the legal drugs that are rampant in this country, the ability to buy assault weapons. . . all of it, it’s just plain stupid, and look what we get as a result? Pair psychiatric drugs with weapons and this is what you get, and this is what we’ve been getting since 1966 when Charles Whitman shot 14 people from the clock tower of the U of Texas (he was on Ritalin, Dexedrine and an antidepressant.) UGH!
I’m dividing my time between Colorado and Costa Rica right now, but hopefully our house in Colorado will sell this summer and then I’m outta here . . . for good. This place is just too violent and unsafe for me.
Of course he was on mind-altering drugs — who else would have done this? Now it’s just a question of which one. I have my bets on Paxil or Effexor. Now all the brouhaha is about gun control. What about outlawing these stupid drugs that are the cause of all these massacres here in the US? Here’s a link to the latest report. Bet those Pharma crash teams are hard at work trying to suppress the name of the medication he was taking. It had to be an SSRI — they all come with suicide and homicide warnings now. This is one of the reasons I want out of the States. It’s a looney bin without walls.
http://www.dailymail.com/story/News/2007041636/His-creative-writing-
raised-alarm-he-was-on-medication-and-he-left-a-note/
His creative writing raised alarm, he was on medication and he left a
note
by The Associated Press
Charleston Daily Mail
Tuesday April 17, 2007
BLACKSBURG, Va. — The gunman suspected of carrying out the Virginia
Tech massacre that left 33 people dead was identified today as an
English major whose creative writing was so disturbing that he was
referred to the school’s counseling service.News reports also said that he may have been taking medication for
depression, that he was becoming increasingly violent and erratic,
and that he left a note in his dorm in which he railed against “rich
kids,’ “debauchery’ and “deceitful charlatans’ on campus.He was on psychiatric drugs, just like every other shooter was going back to 1966. Mess with your brain chemistry and this is what you get.
I just spent two months in Costa Rica and I shopped at the feria every week. The prices listed above are pretty close to what I paid, although hearts of palm were 500 colones and i often bought watermelon 2 x 500 colones. otherwise,, the rest of the prices are pretty close to what we paid in San Ramon.
I got eggs from my neighbor who charged me 800 colones for a kilo, and two litres of raw milk cost 400 colones (I pay $3.50 a half gallon in Colorado).
For two people, I was spending about $50 a week on food, but that included everything except the wine. I bought as much as I could from the feria, including chicken and cheese, and only went into the supermarkets to get things such as olive oil and soap products.
I’m in the mountains outside Denver where today it is snowing and the high is 22. UGH! I wish I’d stayed in Costa Rica. Don’t know anything about bringing cats to CR, but I assume the procedure is the same as for dogs (except that our dog traveled in the cabin with us) but there is no quarantine for pets in CR. Personally, I would never live on the beach because it is just too damn hot. I live in the mountains outside San Ramon where the temps are much cooler — around 75 – 80 degrees, and the nights are cool enough to sleep under a down comforter. There is also very little crime where I live there. Don’t have school-age kids so can’t give you any advice there, but I have observed one important difference between the US and Costa Rica schools and that is that they are not drugging the children with all kinds of mind-altering drugs for bogus disorders that are so prevalent in the States. If I had school-age kids, I’d be getting them out of this country toute de suite, just for that reason.
Gringo — thank you for your suggestions. I know they are good ones and I should probably be more vigilant, uh, er, paranoid, but if I have to work up that kind of fear, I don’t think I would enjoy living in Costa Rica. IF I leave my door unlocked, I am at least close by. There is only one road in and out of our community. Not a car or a person could come there without someone seeing, and everyone of us watches out for our neighbors. We have a guard, at night only, but during the day there are always people around — neighbors, my work crew, my trusted gardener. Almost everyone on the construction crew is related to my contractor. He does not hire people off the street. Therefore, I know this person’s entire family — cousins, brothers, primos, uncles, and their kids, etc. And when we attend parties, we meet their wives, novias, other friends and relatives. There is a certain safety in that, at least that’s been my experience when living in a third world country. Before I moved into the house, for a year I left bins and bins full of “stuff” there — household items, small appliances, clothes, etc. Not one thing was touched or missing. also my husband and I are not typical “gringos” — we both speak Spanish, we’ve both lived in third world countries, and we have a real affinity for Latin culture. Most of the Ticos always remark that my husband and I are more like them than any of the other gringos who live there. No way in hell am I putting up concertina wire or iron bars on my windows. I’ll take my chances. And I do NOT consider myself naive about any of this. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see if I do become a target. Until then, I’ll continue doing what I’ve been doing because it has made my life so very much richer.
Revenge crimes are common in Latin America. It’s just the way it is. I didn’t read the article about Robyn Wright, but according to others in the know, there were a lot of misrepresentations in the article. In my neighborhood in CR there were a few robberies that were committed against just one person, who, it turns out, has 4 complaints against him for child molestation, and then on top of that, he was working as a maestro de obra and treated theTicos he employed with complete disrespect, even firing many of them illegally. This person was robbed three times. I was the only one who pointed out that these were revenge robberies, and I would bet that I am right. When I talk about integrating into the community, I mean accepting the Ticos for who they are as people, regardless of what they do or where they live. My gardener has had dinner and breakfast with us and regularly comes by for a glass of wine at the end of his workday. I treat him and my other workers as though they were my best friends, and in some ways, they are. We make no distinction between “them” and “us” because they are all “us” as far as I’m concerned. When I threw a “thank you” party for the crew who built my house, my contractor told me I had just made 24 friends for life by that gesture. It is really important to gain the respect of the locals, otherwise they will be telling someone who tells someone else who tells someone else what a creep that gringo or gringa is who thinks they are better than the person who earns $1.50 a hour, et voila, somewhere down the line you will be vulnerable to a robbery, or worse. Tis better that they tell someone how nice you are and how respectful you are of them. This takes some work if you are not used to dealing with other cultures, but the rewards I’ve gotten from accepting my neighbors as people cannot be measured in any currency. My gardener has keys to my house and he is free to come and go as he pleases. He takes care of my home in my absence as though it were his own. Turns out his cousin is the mayor of San Ramon, so there you go . . . you never know who is related to who in Costa Rica, and I like that! Sure Costa Rica has its flaws, and it’s by no means perfect, but where in the world can you go where the bank guard carrying a weapon says, after inspecting my backpack, “gracias, mi amor!” That makes up for a lot of other inconveniences in my book.
I was shocked to read that many of the developments along the pacific coast are neither properly permitted, and some are not permitted at all. in fact, the recent article i read said that 1 in 4 development projects is inadequately permitted (or not at all) and that the builders would prefer to pay the hefty fines than go through all the bureaucratic hassle of getting the permits in the first place. If I were King, I’d bulldoze those projects and forbid those people from doing business in Costa Rica for a millenium. I also spoke to some folks who recently left Playa Coco becuase of the overbuilding, which they claim is being done by the Italian mob, and those people claim that many of those projects are unpermitted. it is a rape and pillage mentality — go into a developing country, buy up cheap property from the locals, develop the hell out of it, with or without permits, and take the money and run. i foresee Costa Rica becoming like the Yucatan — totally destroyed by overdevelopment, with the ultimate reality of forcing the Ticos out of their own area/country/province because it has become too expensive to live there at all for teh average person. How many places has that happened to on the planet? Look at Cabo San Lucas. it was once a sleepy fishing village where the locals enjoyed a nice life near the water. Now they’ve turned it into a riviera where the locals have sold out to the developers (as if they had a choice) and moved inland. I don’t know what the answer is, but I can honestly say that the massive gringo-style mansions going up along the coast appall me. It is really setting up the barriers between the have and the have-nots. I wonder who really benefits from this kind of growth in the long run.
When I am not in Costa Rica, I live in Colorado, where I always keep my doors locked when I am home alone, even though we live in a remote area. When I was recently in Costa Rica, I did not lock my doors during the day, and often went to a neighbor’s or for a walk and left the doors unlocked. Of course, I live in a rural area, amongst the Ticos, whom I have befriended so they watch out for me and my house. I feel much safer in Costa Rica than I ever did in the US. Keeping a low profile is important down there. I don’t wear any jewelry, except my wedding ring and a watch, and a simple pair of gold earrings, I dress down always, and most importantly, I have befriended all the Ticos in my neighborhood who now consider me to be part of their families. I cannot overstress the importance of integrating into the local community. if you are viewed as the outsider, the rich gringa, the one who doesn’t befriend the locals, you will surely be a target because they will have no vested interest in protecting you. And keep your dogs inside at night. That is the surest way to keep them safe. if they are outside roaming around, and there is a lardone who has his sites on your house, it is possible they could be poisoned, but if they are inside, you are less likely to get robbed because they won’t break in if your dogs are alert and barking.
OMG! I’ve got to see a picture of your dog! I can’t stop laughing thinking about what he must look like with that shepherd/bassett hound mix! He must look like a cartoon character. I know there is a place on this site to post photos, but I can’t remember where it is.
Your dogs must look as comical as mine — a Scottie and Dachschund mix! He was the best passenger on the plane — they even gave him his own seat and asked me if he wanted an in-flight meal. He’s so funny looking that even the US Customs agents laughed when they saw him!
You don’t have to look very far to find “them” — they’re everywhere and this bloke just happened to be sitting in the same row on the airplane and babbling at 120db so the whole plane heard his tales of woe. Frankly, I’m glad he won’t be going back to Costa Rica.
When I saw the news about this on AOL, I gave it to everyone I knew down there because they carry the same brands in Costa Rica. one of my neighbor lost a dog to very mysterious circumstances, which, when we read the article,realized that it could’ve been the dog food that caused the death. I only feed my dog people food and a high-end organic brand called Timberwolf.
