| Sunday vote
an anticlimax By the A.M. Costa Rica staff Sunday is runoff election day in Costa Rica, and grandfatherly Abel Pacheco seems to be the likely winner. The opposition, Partido Liberación Nacional, already is starting its internal discussion on what went wrong with its campaign message. Some party insiders suggest that the whole campaign of Rolando Araya Monge lacked focus because it failed to capture the imagination of the citizenry. The expected outpouring of partisan fervor between Easter and the end of the campaign
The lackluster Araya campaign also would seem to be a blow to Jhonny Araya, former San José mayor, who managed his brother’s efforts. The only people along Paseo Colon Thursday caught up in the election fever were visiting students from Georgia who managed to commandeer a blue and red Partido Unidad Social Cristiana flag. They waved it for about 10 minutes to the approval of passing motorists even though they had heard little of Pacheco. They just liked the horns blowing. Araya is not giving up without a fight. He was on a radio call-in show for 12 hours straight while Pacheco, already acting like a winner, said he would spend Sunday in Cartago giving thanks at the shrine of the Black Virgin. The last poll made public shows Pacheco with a 17-point lead with about 59 percent of the expected vote. Political parties have their own poll data. One factor that might change the anticipated outcome are the absentees. About 40 percent of those who can vote probably will not, the same polls show. Liberación is mounting a military-style car pool and bus drive to get the faithful to the polls. Excessive absenteeism could change dramatically the outcome predicted by the polls. The absentee voters will not be drinking alcohol in bars. Election law bans sales by the drink or package sales Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Police will be visiting bars and supermarkets late evening Friday to place seals on places where alcohol is stored. Tourists might be affected less than they might think. During Semana Santa, a similar ban on the sale of alcohol was widely ignored at popular tourist locations. From Sarchí to the Arenal Volcano area, any tourist who wanted to drink could do so although the alcohol might be served in coffee cups instead of traditional drinking glasses. During the Feb. 3 election period tourists also could find drinks being served illegally and police generally looking the other way. On the Pacific coast and in San José casino and restaurant owners described their gatherings as "private parties" where drinks could be served. As long as the crowds were obviously tourists who were not going to vote, police did not enforce the law strictly. U.S. checks reach town By the A.M. Costa Rica staff Those delayed U.S. Social Security checks are in Costa Rica and are probably by now in the hands of the national postal system. That was the word from the U.S. Embassy Wednesday after a pouch of checks was delivered here. The embassy plays post office for retired U.S. citizens who ask for the help. The checks come to Costa Rica and then are mailed certified here for security and speed. Two pouches were misplaced in the United States, the embassy employees said earlier. It was unclear if the checks that arrived were the missing checks or replacement checks the government had promised to prepare. |
A visit with Mavis As beautiful as this country is, for me, living in Costa Rica is more about friends than it is about places. I no longer have a need to visit the beaches and rain forests again. But when it comes to friends, well, I can see them over and over again. I knew who Mavis Biesanz was long before we met. Her first book on Costa Rica, "The Costa Ricans," was my reference for learning about the culture and people. When we finally met, I felt a bit intimidated, but we seemed to have a lot of things in common. To begin with, we both grew up in the snowbelt of the United States (and I loved her book, "A Finnish-American Girlhood"). We both had more than a passing interest in anthropology. It was my major in college, and much of "The Costa Ricans" and later "The Ticos," another of her books, written with her son and daughter-in-law, Richard and Karen Biesanz, is anthropology. We both were sort of goody-two-shoes academic achievers. Mavis outdid me here. She graduated from college magna cum laude while working at four jobs. And we both love to play Scrabble. So when she invited me to spend the week before Easter at her home in Ciudad Colon, I said yes. Normally, Easter Week is a very quiet, solitary time for me. The world seems to have gone to the beaches, and I am left with a peaceful San José but little else. This would be different. It was different. Peaceful, totally relaxing, with little to do but enjoy ourselves (which meant we read, talked a lot and played a lot of Scrabble). I didn’t even have to cook. Mavis’ son’s Thai cook Som Kid sent us meals for the week. You can imagine my confusion and thoughts when first she said, "Som Kid will be bringing our meals." One day Bill White, our special and mutual friend, who has the Julia and David White Artists’ Colony in Ciudad Colon, invited us to lunch at his new house. He built it above the tennis court, and it is a joy of country living. His assistant, Ron, and I are trying to convince him to replace the virtually unused tennis court with a bocce ball lane and perhaps a racquet ball court. Another day, after a short walk, as we were about to enter the house, a tall pretty woman with auburn hair suddenly appeared and began speaking to us in Spanish. She explained that she had been watching a family of iguanas and felt as if she were living in a prehistoric park. Christina turned out to be German (we soon switched to English) and Mavis’ new neighbor. In the middle of their moving in she invited us for a visit. (I could never have done that), and we had a glass of wine with her, her husband Martin and their son, Douglas. Martin is the new rector of the University for Peace. I am thrilled that finally the University for Peace is actually functioning as a university and is in the hands of someone who is both a visionary and pragmatic. (I know that sounds like an oxymoron.) On my last day, Mavis and I went out to Grecia where many more friends had gathered at Ruth’s to say farewell to Bonnie and Arnold. Ruth no longer is in the pineapple growing business, but when she was, she and Norma produced the sweetest, most delicious pineapples I have ever tasted. Bonnie and Arnold came to Costa Rica as Peace Corps workers and stayed on for the next 10 years to spend part of the year in the village where they volunteered. They are going back to California more or less permanently. They are good friends I am going to miss. However, it was one good farewell party. And that was the week that was. I discovered something that doesn’t take a philosopher to learn: spending time with friends really beats spending a week alone. More of Jo's columns HERE!
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