SANTA CRUZ, COSTA RICA
1 Dream Getaway NEVER wants to deceive anyone, and so we publish this page, which is obviously detrimental to our business, with a dual-purpose: The first is to warn our readers what can happen, and the second is to develop an understanding ourselves, possibly with more feedback. We welcome you to contact us if you have anything to add...
It seems at this point that the problem is racism. There are strange beliefs in Costa Rica, which go beyond rumor and folklore. The most glaring came to me as I sat with my pregnant wife and twenty other pregnant women to attend a government-sponsored lecture. The doctor, who was the Government-paid Pediatrician for all of us in the room at one pointed declared: ALL DOGS CARRY A VIRUS THAT WILL KILL YOUR CHILDREN UNDER TWO YEARS OF AGE. My years of educating Dinorah and her family that it is NEVER OK to mistreat an animal, and that dogs have feelings just as we do and there has never been a canine virus transmitted to a human---all went irreversibly out the window. How could I claim to know more than their own government about this subject?
In like manner, I have heard stereotypes about Gringos---most of which emanated from residents of Santa Cruz. As the family dog, loyal and defensive of his family, is suddenly blocked from his home (and sometimes even stoned when he tries to come home) when someone in the household becomes pregnant, so a Gringo can be so-treated when he becomes something other-than an ATM---and also often when his wife becomes pregnant. I have heard from many girls that "My child is my child, and no-one else's." Gringos and dogs are often loved and coddled before this transition occurs.
To give you an example of how firmly these beliefs can be ingrained, I'll relate this true story (and EVERY Tica I've related it to believes it is perfectly normal and correct):
I had rented a house while building this one. On the front porch was a neatly-stacked pile of teak for our new home. One evening I went out the front door to find a rattle snake coiled and ready to strike. Dinorah was 7 month's pregnant. I walked across the yard to where I kept a machete, and as I headed back to the porch Dinorah ran up, grabbed the machete from my hand, and quickly ran up to the snake and beheaded it. Then she warned me: Don't ever do that again! That snake is dangerous and can kill you, but a snake will never bite a pregnant woman.
Santa Cruz is Guanacaste's County Seat. Its government is as corrupt as any that has been portrayed in the movies, and has full authority with absolutely no responsibility. When a new Mayor took office, he tried to shake down the Flamingo Marina and when they said they had already given a huge under-the-table payment, Santa Cruz arrived with 42 armed cops and the Coast Guard (photo in our Archives). The marina and all the businesses associated with it have been closed for years now, and with today's economy it is likely to never open.
Tamarindo comes under Santa Cruz' jurisdiction, and businesses there are raided regularly. As customers speak English and there are no English-speaking Ticos to work, the businesses hire people who do speak English---until Santa Cruz gets them deported and shuts down the businesses. They also raid businesses to check paperwork, and have no manners when they do so. Best Western Vista Villas is among the oldest, largest, and most popular resorts in Tamarindo. Santa Cruz recently raided their restaurant, manhandled the men and women eating there, and them shipped them off on a bus refusing to allow them to go to their rooms and produce their passports.
Their practices have now backfired on them, as there are few businesses left. In short, Santa Cruz and the people who live and work there represent every reason for a person to pick another country to vacation or work.
Ticos also speak constantly about God, but it is the God from their public education. As the Costa Rica version of Catholicism instills their beliefs as a fact---like arithmetic (but taught more often)---the concept of a dog having a soul or feelings is simply not true. That belief system is often applied to Gringos or anyone who was not born in Costa Rica. Certainly anyone who is not Catholic does not know God---and dogs are not Catholic.
We are serious about matching people who really care for each other. We have had some wonderful successes, and even work with clients seeking the "GFE" because those clients are often not sure of what they want. Most are coming from nasty American divorces, and have already learned that their "soulmate" can turn on them and become something else. Couples with problems often talk and work them out. That process NEVER works when there are lawyers involved, and I believe the experience is similar when a Gringo and a Tica hit it off, then her family steps into the role of lawyer. This is most likely to happen when a man loves and provides for his mate, but does not do so for her family. We have clients who are quite happy and provide regular welfare checks to their wife's family, so maybe if you can afford it that is the way to go. We're offering information and experiences here, not advice.
We at 1 Dream Getaway will continue to relate some negative experiences here hoping that it provides an understanding and some direction for our clients.
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Santa Cruz, Costa Rica, is referred to by locals as "The City of the Indians", which is not at all accurate, as the Costa Rica Indians (the few remaining) live far up the mountains and have no contact with the rest of Costa Rica. However, a Gringo in Santa Cruz sticks out like a sore thumb. We met Xiamara at the local gas station, where she works mornings during the first half of the month, and afternoons the second half. She is always with a smile, friendly and outgoing. Over time, we shared the 1 Dream Getaway Companion program with her. It was from Xiamara that we first heard the common Santa Cruz term: GRINGO CON PLATA, which we have since heard many times from Santa Cruz girls, and rarely elsewhere. As there is little interaction, a Gringo stereotype has emerged in Santa Cruz as someone with a money tree in his back yard, and befriending a Gringo allows one access to that tree.
Not understanding the above, I often asked Xiamara for help finding items we needed in Santa Cruz stores (this before the explosion of stores and plazas in our area). Santa Cruz has long been the place to do serious shopping and with the best prices, however it seemed anything we bought with Xiamara's help was the most expensive around. Even with a firm understanding of Gringo Prices and Tico Prices, it never occurred to us that a true "friend" would have under-the-counter deals with local merchants to rip me off and pay her a commission---just as it never occurred to us that Isa (below) would arrange to have the jack and tools stolen from a disabled man's rental car. Xiamara has the beautiful, youthful face and bubbling personality of the 25-year-old that she is. However she has the body of a 50-year-old.
In getting to know her, we came to know her family, I ate many-a-lunch at her house and tried to help her two boys with their education. Sometimes Xiamara would be at work when the kids came home, and I would ask them what they learned in school that day---and it was always a Catholic teaching from the Bible and never math or anything constructive. I invited them for a day at the beach, and we went to one of our resorts to eat lunch and use the pool. "Lunch" consisted of a huge portion of French fries washed down with a quart of Coke. Then we had fun playing in the pool, and the kids relished their first "father experience". Then I suggested we go across the street to play on the beach, and the fighting started as they wanted more orders of fries and Coke, which I refused to give them saying they could have pizza or anything they wanted, but I would not poison them with more fat and sugar. Reluctantly they went, but I was later to discover that they punished me by sticking gun everywhere in my car---which took about a year to get out.
At the beach, I tried to teach them Frisbee, but in short order the Frisbee was gone and they demanded to return to the restaurant for more fries and Coke. When I announced that we weren't going anywhere until they produced the Frisbee, the 9-year-old flipped me the bird, and I responded that if I saw that finger again he would lose it. After a failed attempt to find my Frisbee, I loaded them in the car to take them home. In Santa Cruz, I stopped at a stop sign, and Xiamara jumped out of the car and ran into a restaurant, returning with huge quantities of fries and a couple quarts of Coke.
It was for Xiamara that 1 Dream Getaway started its BE A TICO PACKAGE, and it was for Xiamara that we quickly removed it. As Xiamara wanted to be a Companion, but refused to go outside of Santa Cruz, I got the idea of inviting our clients to live with a Tico family. The idea went over well with Xiamara, her family, and with our clients. However, after twice advancing Xiamara's mother for food and expenses, two clients arrived only to be told that "there was no bed available" and went to a local hotel (where Xiamara also got a commission). We had one very caring client who was interested in moving to Costa Rica, and I spent a day taking him and Xiamara to available properties. However Xiamara, who claimed to be interested in spending her life with him and having him raise her children, was not interested enough to walk the property and talk about what kind of home to build. She just stood by the car waiting for us to return.
Our clients' experiences with Xiamara turned out to be staying at the same hotel, inviting her boys to eat Coke and fries at the local restaurant, and take tours of the stores owned by Xiamara's friends where she grabbed things from the shelves and took them to the counter for our clients to pay. One client happily bought nice balls to play with the kids in the hotel pool, but by the second day the balls (like my Frisbee) were gone and Xiamara was happy to take our client to the store and show him where he could buy more.
All of this is done without devious purpose or shame. It is just the racist attitude that a Gringo has come to hand over fruit from his money tree, and as long as he does so things are as they should be and everyone is happy. It was not until after the mechanic at the Santa Cruz garage Xiamara recommended stole the carpets from my car; and after the garage Isabel Campos recommended stole the locking hubs from my car that I came to the realization of what is going on in Santa Cruz.
Following the worst, by far, experience we have ever had with a client. We look for a common denominator in hopes of preventing a recurrence. The best common denominators we can come up with relate to Santa Cruz and the Dominican Republic. Having expressed our feelings about DR girls, we relate here recent experiences with Ticas from Santa Cruz. Isabel Campos provided the worst, which will haunt my conscience for the rest of my days:
HE has ALS, which inflicted him at age 38. After HIS initial contact, I joined (online) ALS and ALS SUPPORT GROUPS to learn all about this terrible disease, whose most famous victim is Steven Hawking. Knowing what is in store for him, our client wanted to come to Costa Rica, find a property where he could design a home for his special needs, and find someone who would like to be with him for the rest of his life. We spoke with many of our 1 Dream getaway companions, and many were ready to jump at the offer. During the process, we shared info and photos with HIM. Finally we decided on Isabel Campos as his companion.
From Santa Cruz, Isa had been in a car accident and lost her husband 17 years ago. Since then, she had devoted her life to raising and educating her 4 sons. Isa had been with a long-time client and friend for our May BD Party, and that client disappeared afterward. Now we have an idea as to why. Since our client's experience, Isa has told us first that she just graduated as a hair stylist, and then as a lawyer. Neither is true.
HE came to LIR, and all could not have gone better. I accompanied them to our Dry Forest Volcano and to Samara. We rode horses, went into the hot springs, and saw a shaman. Then they headed off to find a location for their new home. HE was so happy in the belief he had found a person/place that could bring him happiness for the rest of his life. HE extended his stay four days, and we neither charged him nor thought about the money. Our payment was simply that things went so well, and they were both so happy. They met her sons, and one accompanied us to Samara. Everyone got along so very well.
The day after HE left, I took the 1 Dream Getaway limousine to a garage in Santa Cruz for repairs on the four wheel drive, and Isa came over. I was anxious to hear about the rest of their trip and their plans for the future. But Isa arrived with fire in her eyes, demanding that I pay her for the extra days she spent with HIM. I explained that I never charged him for those days, and what was important was their future. She went into a tirade, threatening to take us to court for the money. I offered to contact HIM for the additional payment, and asked what was in her heart. I later discovered that the garage owner was a friend of Isa's, and they stole the locking hubs from my car, which cost $400 to replace.
Isa's answer to my inquiry about her true feeling for our client was that: She did a good job, and treated him very well and expected to be paid for the extra time. If we did not pay immediately, she was going to court. In other words, there is nothing in her heart. We normally do not discuss our business with anyone, but felt an obligation to share this with HIM. When we did, he responded with this:
I thought things where fine.
The last day and night she was crying and sad I was leaving, I tried to talk to
her about my self and us being together, and it seemed she was misinterpreting
what I was saying, and the more I tried to correct it, the worse it got, till I
just stopped and changed the topic. Is she upset with something I said and was
misinterpret? My translator didn't always translate the meanings right, and now
she is trying to get even or something.
Because I was wanting us to be together, meeting her son's and her family they
were all very nice, acting like they liked me, and was all that some kind a sick
ploy in a game.
She fully acted like she was wanting us to be together, and I was willing. Was
she acting the hole time?
This all sounds so crazy, I can’t believe this is going on and happening, why
she would do this, I don’t know what to believe now, there has to be more to the
story that’s not being told here.
I guess my only choice in life now is a fucking bullet to the brain. This has become such a sick world any more I don't want to be part of it.
How do you think we feel now? I am at a loss as to what to do, yet with hindsight I would still want him to know. Our recourse is to continue to share with you some horror stories, and many, for some reason, relate to girls from Santa Cruz, Costa Rica.
BETWEEN the times that the client above left the Dry Forest Volcano to tour the rest of Costa Rica, and when he left for the States, Yorsini called and asked to work with us again. Yorsini works at a fast food chicken place in Santa Cruz, and can only be a 1 Dream Getaway Companion the first two weeks in September, when she has her vacation. In September, 2007 she was with a 1 Dream Getaway client who is writing a book about Costa Rica, and wanted the Tico Experience. He rented one of our Private Villas, and invited Yorsini, her mother, son, aunt and uncle. A great time was had by all, and our client received just what he wanted. I invited Yorsini to the beach with our dogs so we could take some new photos.
When I picked her up in Santa Cruz, there she was with her sister, son and mother. The fat sister told me to get rid of the dog, and I informed her that the dog belonged in the car, but she did not have to come if she did not want to. She decided Gomer was OK, and off we went to Brasilito. As the only photos we had of Yorsini were in the same brown T-shirt, we were glad to see she brought a swim suit. It was the first I'd seen Yorsini's body, and like Xiamara's, it is that of a 50-year-old. Her sister and mother are the same height standing or laying down.
We brought a cooler with drinks and fresh fruit, but all they did was complain how hungry they were and they did not eat fruit. During the photo shoot, Yorsini advised me that she deserved twice the pay of our other companions, and would only be with a client who rented one of our Private Villas, and that had to be in the first two weeks of September. I had brought Frisbees, and planned on some photos of the family playing on the beach and having fun. But Yorsini posed, and the family sat---never moving from the same log, while complaining about how hungry they were. I finally gave up, and took them to a "typico" restaurant, where they proceeded to eat $50 worth of rice---and then take-out. This is not the Costa Rica experience 1 Dream Getaway clients can expect, and I told Yorsini she would become an old lady while we searched for someone who meets her demands.