Nicos vs. Ticos

Since I've been in Costa Rica, I have heard negative comments about Nicaragua. This is definitely interesting, particularly considering that before I came here, the two were identical in my ways of thinking. Now, I can't think about Nicaragua without having the same kind of thoughts that accompany that of the relationship of Mexico to the United States. Before we went to Nicaragua, we got warned about the children begging in the streets. This was no exaggeration, there were boys, and some adults, too, everywhere asking for food or money. Still, while the poverty was much more evident than here in San Jose, Granada was a much nicer town than San Jose. This was surprising, but when driving away from the city, the houses were barely shacks the size of my bedroom here in my Tico house. 

While I've heard general negative comments about Nicaraguans since I've been in Costa Rica, my Tico parents have never really expressed their opinions before, so I was very interested to ask them the questions tonight. The first response I got about how Costa Ricans view Nicaraguans was as workers. My Tico mom says they come here and they work a lot. Then she went into explaining that they come over very poor and with no education. When I asked how their presence affected Costa Rica, she went into explaining how they have to rely on the government for education and healthcare, which of course means less money for Costa Ricans. One interesting thing she said was that Nicaragua was very dirty. Thinking back to Granada, to me, it felt much cleaner than San Jose does. However, my mom said that Nicaraguans come to San Jose and make it dirty. This is definitely an interesting stereotype that Costa Ricans must have on Nicaraguans. 

The conversation was interesting and showed that obviously, Costa Ricans have some negative feelings towards Nicaraguans. It seems very similar to how the U.S. feels towards Mexico. Even though Costa Ricans and Nicaraguans seem identical to our Gringo minds, they feel the differences in Costa Rica, and of course are biased towards wanting the best for Costa Ricans. I feel like having an outsider's perspective on this matter will make me more understanding towards Mexicans coming to the U.S. Obviously, they come wanting a better life, and even though they may take jobs and money from the government, they are generally hard workers who simply want to be able to provide for their family. This seems identical to Nicaraguans' situation.