www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I ask this not to offend anyone, but I have seen some pretty harsh attitudes in CR towards the afro Ticos from Limon as well as the Nicaraguans.

I have a business associate from Israel - or maybe the Palestine occupied territory who is hounding me to take him to CR but he is concerned about how he might be treated in CR. I realize that greenbacks make chicas in CR color and culture blind, but I am wondering about the average tico/tica.

Do they have negative attitudes towards people of this cultural background? I live near Dearborn, Michigan which is probably the Muslim capital of the U.S., and nearly every ignorant person I know lumps anyone from the mideast into the "Muslim," category - or worse yet, a terrorist.

Thanks for your opinions.

CCR

He won't have any problem. I've met guys from the mid-east who were down here and had the time of there life. One darker guy from Isreal stands out in that he scored one of the hottest Ticas I'd seen, and I know he didn't pay cien.

Regarding afro-ticos and dark skinned Nicos. Yeah, they often get treated like shit. HOWEVER, for darker skinned Americans, these folks tend to think of you as American before your skin color. In other words, they see green before they see brown.

Day to day in CR, I get some stares (I tend to stand out), but people are always very friendly and accomadating. He won't have any problems. That sad truth is, your friend will probably get more harsh stares at the airport in Detroit and on the plane than during his whole time in Costa Rica. But I'm sure he is already prepared for that.

Thanks for your insight.

I'm Asian and before I'd embarkd on my first ever trip to CR, I was pretty apprenhensive on what I might encounter. During my stay in SJ, I'd never experienced any difficulties. In fact, my being non-Caucasian actually generated me into a novelty among some chicas...and dare I say this helped me bag a couple of hot ticas at DR. One really wanted me to take her so much that she'd asked for $80 instead of the usual cien. Later she'd revealed she would have agreed on $60 if I had bothered to negotiate! But she'd gave me such a good time I didn't care!

However, remember the most important color to these chicas is GREEN!

I don't think an Israeli would have much issue, but the chicas are definitely aware, in CR and Brazil for sure. More often than not, first impressions will lead ticos to assume he is Italian or a European traveler as usually happens to me. I always hear "voce pareces Arabe" (you appear Arab, very loosely translated) in Brazil. The non-verbal communication behind it is usually indifference, but at times there is a bit more to it. My mother's family is Israeli but my father's family is Danish. At the end of the day, I grew up in New Jersey and live in New York and do my best to speak their language. The previous commenter who said they look at many folks as American first is pretty spot on in my experiences.