Intermigration
When I first decided to go to Costa Rica, the main reason was that I just needed to get away from Nicaragua. I didn't realize until later that visiting the former would make such a difference in my perspective on the latter--I feel like I have more context now.
To make a rather simplistic analogy, Costa Rica is to Nicaragua as the U.S. is to Mexico: it's a much more prosperous nation right next door, and consequently a lot of people have crossed the border (dominated in this case, as in the more northerly one, by a fordable river) seeking higher-paying jobs--or the prospect of jobs, period--and sending money to help support family back home.
A young music teacher I met in a bar in San José mentioned that these remittances are a source of great controversy in the Rich Coast. Despite my initial surprise at this assertion, I quickly figured out why: Nicaragua's population is over 5 million, while Costa Rica's is less than 4 million. The money sent out of the country by hundreds of thousands of immigrants must represent a considerable drain on CR's economy, which relies largely on tourism and agriculture.*
There are other obvious differences from the U.S.-Mexico case: here, there's no language barrier and less of a cultural one, so Nicas can be more easily assimilated. (As I was browsing in a souvenir shop my first day walking around San José, the proprietress peppered me with polite questions about my travels. When she heard I was working in Granada for the summer, she delightedly exclaimed,¨"Oh! I'm from Masaya!" I haven't quite nailed down the irony in having to leave one's economically-depressed home in order to make a living selling trinkets commemorating one's new place of residents to tourists who can afford to vacation in the land of opportunity, but I'm sure it's there somewhere.)
CR is, unlike Nicaragua, a tourist magnet because of its relative prosperity and relatively civil history. The politics are more moderate here--no revolutions on one hand, recognition of civil liberties on the other--but religion is still important.** It is still a Central American nation (and there are all apparently proud of their shared identity), despite attempts to label it a European pretender, like Chile.
Discussing the differences between the two makes me feel like I should choose sides in the international rivalry, but in Central America the real division remains between capital cities and the rest of each country. I have barely set foot in Managua, while on the other side I hardly left SJ. I suppose I can say that I am more of a city person, although the countryside will always have its charms.
* Considering the size of the U.S. economy and the fact that its population is nearly three times Mexico's, the remittances sent by Mexican workers are a relative pittance. Entire countries have adopted the U.S. dollar as their official currency and no one in the States seems to mind--or, for that matter, even to really know about it.
** I arrived in time for the festival of the Virgin of the Angels--CR's national patron saint--and went to Cartago to see that national pilgrimage site, a basilica with fantastic woodwork housing the remains of another indigenous-looking apparition of Mary. Thousands of people had walked from San José (nearly an hour away by bus) and other places farther away, arriving at the basilica in Cartago, where many of them dropped to their knees and shuffled in prostrate ranks from the rear doors to the alter. (Two sets of rear doors, by the way, were marked with signs saying "Entrance Only on Knees" and "Entrance for Walkers," respectively. The latter group seemed slightly larger and seemed to be comprised mostly of ticos content to mill about and watch their more dedicated compatriots shuffle by.
To make a rather simplistic analogy, Costa Rica is to Nicaragua as the U.S. is to Mexico: it's a much more prosperous nation right next door, and consequently a lot of people have crossed the border (dominated in this case, as in the more northerly one, by a fordable river) seeking higher-paying jobs--or the prospect of jobs, period--and sending money to help support family back home.
A young music teacher I met in a bar in San José mentioned that these remittances are a source of great controversy in the Rich Coast. Despite my initial surprise at this assertion, I quickly figured out why: Nicaragua's population is over 5 million, while Costa Rica's is less than 4 million. The money sent out of the country by hundreds of thousands of immigrants must represent a considerable drain on CR's economy, which relies largely on tourism and agriculture.*
There are other obvious differences from the U.S.-Mexico case: here, there's no language barrier and less of a cultural one, so Nicas can be more easily assimilated. (As I was browsing in a souvenir shop my first day walking around San José, the proprietress peppered me with polite questions about my travels. When she heard I was working in Granada for the summer, she delightedly exclaimed,¨"Oh! I'm from Masaya!" I haven't quite nailed down the irony in having to leave one's economically-depressed home in order to make a living selling trinkets commemorating one's new place of residents to tourists who can afford to vacation in the land of opportunity, but I'm sure it's there somewhere.)
CR is, unlike Nicaragua, a tourist magnet because of its relative prosperity and relatively civil history. The politics are more moderate here--no revolutions on one hand, recognition of civil liberties on the other--but religion is still important.** It is still a Central American nation (and there are all apparently proud of their shared identity), despite attempts to label it a European pretender, like Chile.
Discussing the differences between the two makes me feel like I should choose sides in the international rivalry, but in Central America the real division remains between capital cities and the rest of each country. I have barely set foot in Managua, while on the other side I hardly left SJ. I suppose I can say that I am more of a city person, although the countryside will always have its charms.
* Considering the size of the U.S. economy and the fact that its population is nearly three times Mexico's, the remittances sent by Mexican workers are a relative pittance. Entire countries have adopted the U.S. dollar as their official currency and no one in the States seems to mind--or, for that matter, even to really know about it.
** I arrived in time for the festival of the Virgin of the Angels--CR's national patron saint--and went to Cartago to see that national pilgrimage site, a basilica with fantastic woodwork housing the remains of another indigenous-looking apparition of Mary. Thousands of people had walked from San José (nearly an hour away by bus) and other places farther away, arriving at the basilica in Cartago, where many of them dropped to their knees and shuffled in prostrate ranks from the rear doors to the alter. (Two sets of rear doors, by the way, were marked with signs saying "Entrance Only on Knees" and "Entrance for Walkers," respectively. The latter group seemed slightly larger and seemed to be comprised mostly of ticos content to mill about and watch their more dedicated compatriots shuffle by.
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