The Costa Rican Times has decided to add a column where both our readers as well as our staff can share stories about living in Costa Rica. If you go outside your house, apartment, or condo in Costa Rica, things will happen to you each and everyday that will both annoy you and have you say in your mind “Are you kidding me?”. This happens in your day to day activities each day if you are living in Costa Rica. Read and share your stories today! (Submission info is at the bottom of each article in this section)
Living in Costa Rica Stories: Disregarding the 10 Commandments
Just to let you know these next 3 days and these articles are going to piss some people off, but I am not much of one to care what people think. Again this does not apply to everyone but does apply.
I remember when in college I was in a sociology class and we were studying religion and its relation to behaviors in society. While going around the classroom people were talking about their beliefs. Being at a very conservative school almost every person started off their statements with “I am a Christian but I think…..” As more and more people stated this I actually started laughing out loud. The teacher turned to me and asked me what was so funny. I said with every one saying this it seemed very hypocritical to me, why do they have to say they belong to a certain belief system before stating their opinions? Seemed ironic that in Christianity acceptance is taught, but yet many of the Christian people are the most judging and unaccepting people I have met.
Costa Rica is a country that does not really have much separation between church and state. The Catholic Church has a huge influence on governmental decisions and a majority of the population goes to mass each and every week. Most of the time when you great someone with a “Como Esta?”, they will return a “Bien, Gracias a Dios”. The culture in Costa Rica is based around the church and this means that people are expected to follow the laws of God, otherwise known as the 10 commandments.
I was watching the movie “The Boondock Saints” a few days ago and they could have had a field day in Costa Rica. If you have not seen the movie, it is a definite must watch. I could go through each and every one of the commandments but I will only go through 3 of them over the next few days that I feel are the most ignored in Costa Rica, almost to a point where not following them is accepted. This goes for both for Costa Ricans and a lot of gringo expat living in Costa Rica.
Commandment 7 – Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery
With Costa Rica being pretty much the capital of sex tourism, finding a guy that is being faithful to his wife, girlfriend, or
significant other is few and far between. Most men that come to CR for specifically this are doing so with their wife at home taking care of the kids. They will send an email to their wife talking about how great the sport fishing trip is going or make a call to them from the hotel room all the time telling the hooker sitting next to them to please do not say anything. The best part is these losers make it so if you are a gringo guy in Costa Rica and are not into this you will be perceived as a sex tourist anyway and it is an uphill battle to change a good girl’s mind that you are not like these guys.
That covers gringos, but we might as well cover Tico guys as well. Most Tico guys turn 15 and from the time they turn this age until they turn about 50 they have a perpetual boner. Most will say or do whatever it takes to get in a girl’s pants and being faithful is almost never the case. Their biggest score is impregnating a gringa. Most of the guys I knew had a wife, a girlfriend, and a lover…..usually with a child with 2 of them, both of which he does not take care of as he is out looking to score. But the good news is at about age 50 after having 3 to 4 children with 2 to 3 women, they usually decide to settle down and be faithful.
This happens so much that most women are willing to forgive the guy, saying well it only happened once, or they just ignore it instead of confronting the guy and he then thinks he got away with it.
Tomorrow……Commandment 8 – Thou Shalt Not Steal
Share Your living in Costa Rica Stories by submitting them to [email protected]. Stories should be no more than a page and a half in Microsoft Word. You can submit your name if you want, if not that is fine as well. Some people come to CR and experience culture shock and leave, lets tell the truth about day to day life in Costa Rica.
