Nica!

         Well this week’s blog was most definitely an interesting one, as expected.  When I first asked my Tica Mom about Nicaraguans, she immediately became interested.  My mom does not elaborate as much on these questions as many others do, but she still had a few things to say.  When I asked her what they were like, she said “Es como” and then proceeded to stomp the ground like she was killing a bug.  However, from there she rebounded and said that most Costa Ricans do not like them for many different reasons.  One of the main reasons she discussed was the obvious issue of illegal Nicaraguans, which she says are many of them.  She says that this causes a problem because not only does it make their country crowded, but it also means that they have to share resources.  It was also an issue to her that because many of them come over illegally it is hard to know how many people are living in the country, and that can cause further problems.  Another issue she addressed was that many of the Nicaraguans that she knows of are very poor, which is one of the reasons that they came here, but that because they are poor they are more likely to commit crimes like stealing.  She said that she has heard so many stories about crimes committed by Nicaraguans, so that is a factor as to why Costa Ricans do not like them as well.  In addition to these things she also addressed Nicaraguans on an academic side.  She said that many of them come here without and education, and some cannot even read.  This is a problem because many times they are not able to receive education, and remain uneducated for their entire lives.  She found this as a problem because she feels that it can affect the knowledge of Costa Rica on a countrywide level.

         When I asked my mom if their presence changed Costa Rica, she did not have a ton to say.  She reiterated that it upsets the majority of the country, so that of course there is a bias towards them with a pretty good amount of hostility.  Other than that she did say that them being here effects Costa Rica’s job market.  She said that because the Nicaraguans are often uneducated, and illegal, they usually take the low paying jobs that many Ticans do not want.  She said that this can be interesting because many of the jobs that they have, such as being a maid, involves them being very involved in Tican’s lives, which is definitely a change.

         However, after telling me all of this my Tica Mom explained that she does not have a huge personal problem.  She says that she does have the bad mindset, but that is mostly just because of society.  She says that she thinks there are good people and bad people everywhere, and of all kinds.  She also knows that so many of them are truly hard workers, and that some jobs would not get done with out them.  She respects them and their hardships; she just wishes that they would try to come here legally.  Therefore, she believes that a Nicaraguan can be a good person, but unfortunately those that she hears about in Costa Rica are usually bad.

As for my impression of Nicaragua, it was not what I expected at all.  I was expecting to see poverty in many more ways.  I know that the area that we stayed in hugely influenced this, but even there I was expecting extreme poverty.  I most certainly noticed poverty in many different ways that are not present in Costa Rica.  For instance, it was very interesting to see the children on the street, the obvious, and plentiful, prostitutes at night, and the homeless people.  I know that these things exist in Costa Rica, but I have not personally experienced it myself.  I also thought that it was very interesting to see the areas outside of Granada.  It was cool to attend the cultural event, the market, and the ceramic factories.  I thought that these were very different from anything that I have been to so far in Nicaragua.  I wish that we could have seen a little bit more of the country so that I could make a more accurate comparison, but based off of what I saw it was clear that Costa Rica is much more developed than Nicaragua.

         While I was not able to get a picture of fruit in Nicaragua, I did notice a few stands as we were driving one day.  What I saw was very different than what is here in Costa Rica.  I think that firstly it is important to note that the lack of fruit stands in Nicaragua says something in itself.  Fresh and local fruits must not be as available or popular there, or maybe we were not in the right area to see this.  However, I only noticed a couple of small stands along the roads.  The stands that I saw weren’t even solely dedicated to fruit, it just happened to be there.  There were smaller amounts of fruit, and it did not look as vibrant or fresh as the fruit that we see everywhere in Costa Rica.  It was very interesting to me that only one country away the fruit situation could be so different that it is practically non-existent.