www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I took my first trip to Costa Rica in early June. In order to practice my Spanish and to learn a bit about the country, I really wanted to speak with a few native Costa Ricans. I wanted to get to know what they thought of their country and of North America, among other things.

Towards that end, I was strolling along the busy part of the walking mall on a Friday afternoon when I met a 57 year old Tico named Giorgio. He was happy to strike up a conversation. He works for the local phone company and was more than happy to take an extended break to speak with me. Because my conversation with him was the most significant one I had with any Tico, I must admit that it left the greatest impression. He was frank, and seemed credible. Here are some of the impressions I took away from my discussion with Georgio.

1. Ticos are affable and generous with their time. Georgio was delighted to be my tour guide around town. We discussed history, politics, economics, girls, life, family, etc. He wanted nothing from me, although he did accept my offer to buy him a beer. He offered to take me to a dance hall that evening to meet some local ticas and later on to a bar to meet beautiful non pro ticas, who he told me, cost $50, TLN. Georgio did not think I was a monger (I don’t think), but rather a business man. He derided the gringo bars and said that they were way way overpriced.

2. Ticos are more politically astute than North Americans (and by North American, I mean those of us from the USA). This was hardly surprising to me, as most countries are more politically, historically and geographically educated than we are. This is due, in part, to the fact that we have a much greater impact on countries than they have on us. The 300 pound gorilla does pretty much what it wants to do (no value judgment here, just an observation), whereas the gorilla’s neighbors must be more concerned.

3. Ticos are racist. This surprised me and this observation is wholly based on my conversation with Giorgio. Georgio told me that Ticos dislike Indians, blacks and Jews. He believes that the CR government implements programs so that the indigenous peoples remain sectored off and do not get to the cities. Costa Ricans prefer to look at themselves as white and do not like mixing of the races. As an example, he has me look at the population of San Jose and asks me to compare it to other regional countries. He says that Costa Rica, because of its race consciousness, has been more successful in keeping a European look. He dislikes the Jews because he claims that they control the money in CR. I learned elsewhere, however, that there are large numbers of Jews in CR because many Jews fled there during the Mexican inquisition.
I think the most fascinating observation Georgio made along these lines is that Ticos love the USA but hate Mexico. They see Mexico as an arrogant, bullying neighor, attempting to impose its will on the region.

4. Ticos are lazy. Again, this is Georgio’s take on things. He says that Ticos (not Ticas) do the very least they can at work and at home and are not at all ambitious. He gave various examples of why “Tico Time” exists and how being late is expected. It is bad form, he says, to show up earlier or to work harder than your colleagues. He pointed to massive inefficiencies in business and government. As such, he does not expect great things for the Costa Rican economy.

5. Ticos are chauvinistic. Giorgio told me that a Tico’s goal is to marry early, have K*ds and a home and then go out and find at least two novias. He said that without the extramarital affairs, a Tico is not considered a “man.” Further, he told me that the general rule at home between husband and spouse is “My way or the highway.” The typical Tica wife and mother is pretty much relegated to the home to keep house and raise the K*ds. This is supported by the CR legal system where the wife does not gain an interest in the property of her spouse. He was in disbelief when I told him of my divorce and that my wife of 8 years got many many dollars. Many Ticas I spoke with told me that they don’t like Ticos, citing some of these very reasons.

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Do you think that I got an accurate impression, in a general sense, of the Tico mindset? I realize of course, that much of my information is from one man, even though some of it is corroborated. Let me know your impressions. BTW, I do not mean to insult anyone by posting this. I simply am trying to become more informed.
BTW, I am very much tempted to call Giorgio in September if I can find his phone number.

I met Giorgio during my MD trip at the News Cafe. At the time he was entertaining another friend of mine and showing him the Tico/Tica lifestyle outside the gulch. Seemed like a nice fellow, offered to show me the same stuff after my friend had left a few days earlier but I declined as I had other plans. If I remember he also has a wife and 5 K*ds, but will take you on the tour if you buy him beer. He took my friend to the same dance hall but he's a gringo and can't dance worth a shit.

I think you learned the mindset of an individual Tico.

For instance, say you were in Florida and bumped into Circus, (he's affable), and spent an afternoon walking about and sharing some conversation and a drink or two.

Imagine trying to understand the mindset of the US population from his viewpoint. Horrors.

Nevertheless, I did enjoy your post. Please write more of your encounters and experiences in CR.

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Wonder what they would charge if they were pro's

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Alex Levine

True, we don't look at time like everyone else, we kind of just roll with the flow, no real set game plan.


Very true, there isn't that many costa ricans in the country so just a little group of them all having the same political opinions, can cause a significant result or results in the political way of things in the my country. Here in the United States, a lot of people think, "why vote, what is one vote going to do?" with all the 100's of millions of people in the US, why will one or two votes change things? (just some opinions of people in US)



Yes, it is true, but not all of us are racist, of course there are exceptions to every rule. I mean i will admit that most of us believe that a pure tico/tica is white. But i have aunts and uncles that are very dark, not black but very brown. I know we can't stand Nicaraguans, they infest my country like the illegal immigrants do in this country. Of course i've met some very likeable ones.


Very true, they love america and want to come to this country and see what all the hype is all about. It's a way better life for a tico here than in CR. Don't paticularly "hate" mexico though. Just some of the losers that come out of that country, like any country.


Well i'd just say we are procrastinators, i dunno about "lazy"?



Yes hence the reason i am not married to this day!

Thanks for your post Ciaociao32001. It was undoubtedly one of the best posts I've ever seen on this board regarding the Tico mentality. I experienced much the same thing on my visit last year.

Georgio is of course just one guy with opinions, but I think he shares those views with a number of his countrymen.

Again thanks for passing along the information. It gives all of us a good insight into their behaviors.

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I have visiting CR for over 6 yrs and have mainly lived there for the last 2 years and I must say that is a pretty accurate take on Tico culture.

What is the name of the dance hall he was going to take you to. And what is the name of the place with the 50 TLN non pro price??

Always looking for new places.

I agree with black and indian dislike, but jews, I better close the factories and add to the homeless population.

Barry Cohen

Whenever someone offers opinions as to so many issues as I did in this post, there are bound to be some misunderstandings and disagreements. My first thought in reading the responses to my post here was that my impressions were somewhat accurate. The second impression I had was that, unlike many boards, you guys really are decent and not a bunch of assholes. Even when you disagree, you are pretty cool about it. Many internet boards tend to bring out the the dickhead in us, as if this were a freeway in bad traffic.

Californicationdude- Thanks for the welcome and for your comments. I assume (without knowing for certain), that Circus has some, well, "unique" attributes and opinions. I hear what you are saying. Drawing from my wealth of human knowledge, which. admittedly. is not considerable, I deemed Giorgio to be credible. Some of the opinions he shared were corroborated by others or by observation. The only one that I was able to contradict was his depiction of Ticos as lazy. My impression of Costa Rican men was that they seemed fairly hard working. Of course, I was limited to observing a few professionals (hard working) and service workers who depend on tips (also hard working). Not a broad spectrum.

Superman- Your post reminded me that Giorgio spoke quite a bit about Nicos. He blames many of Costa Rica's ills on the influx of the Nico. Crime, miscegenation, and other problems are a result of Nicos. Because I have seen the same sort of blame cast on recent immigrants in the US, I took those comments with a grain of salt. Additionally, I noted that Nicos undertake some of the physically demanding jobs in Costa Rica, which Ticos are not willing to perform (I saw the Nicos working their asses off at a banana plantation and the only Ticos were the bosses).

Zman- I don't know. I didn't go with him to the dance hall or the bar. Maybe that will be something I learn in September.

Barry Cohen- I was particularly interested in Giorgio's anti semitic comments and I tried to elicit more information from him. When he told me that Ticos don't like Jews, I asked him why. The only response I got was that the Jews had the $$$. Upon reflection, people don't need valid reasons to be anti semitic. Anti semitism, IMO, lacks a rational basis. Therefore, blaming non specific ills on the Jews is all one needs to be anti semitic. If he perceives Jews as having all the money, and Giorgio has very little (he told me he makes $400/month), then perhaps jealousy gives him an anti semitic motive. However, I am not a social scientist. What the hell do I know?

When I just visited Costa Rica 1999- 2004 I was convinced Ticos really liked and respected americans.

But after living here for over 2 years I now think the Ticos really don,t like us much especially the younger ones.

In a way I can,t blame them . I think all the gringos living and visisting here for so many many years have resulted in higher prices . The Ticos can´t even go to the beach and stay at a decent hotel. They are too expensive for them. How would we like it if the shoe was on the other foot. Why else are the prices so high in CR? Nicarauga, panama, ecuador and argentina(countries I have recently visited) are at least 50% cheaper.

Talking with my ex novia,s sons, getting some dirty looks walking down the street etc all convince me that Ticos do longer love americans.


The TLC issue also breeds alot of hate and resentment against the USA also.

I don't think Ticos are lazy. Think on this: Costa Rica Exports more than all the rest of the central american countries together, they have the highest GDP, and many more economic and social metrics. You don't get that if you are a lazy country.

Capn_Solo

You might be correct. My personal observation of Ticos is limited and as I said above, the Ticos I saw were hard working. Hard work is a relative thing. People tell me that Americans are hard workers. I think that I am a lazy slob.

When I read your post, I did a little research on Costa Rican exports. Here are some interesting facts about Costa Rica, much of which I didn't know.
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2019.htm

Hola amigos,
I spend most of jan and feb in SJ and got to know George fairly well. George is a long distance operator in the big telephone building with all the sat dishes beside the bank in front of the teatro national. He is actually italian and came with his parents as a Ch*ld to CR but considers himself completely costa rican. He works various shifts a month at the time and when he works the 6-12 shift has has off all afternoons and hangs out in the plaza cultura because he doesnt want to go home that early. He is proud of his country and seems to genuinely enjoy talking to gringo visitors. He speaks perfect english and italian and fair portugese and lived for several years in Boston. I even met his wife once. He is well groomed and wears nice clothes, usually dress pants and flowery shirt, and looks like you would assume a member of the professional class to look.
I concur with all said by Cianncoo?? , the original poster. He also tells me that he makes 400 a month and that the FTA if and when ratified will eliminate his job so he is very anti the aggrement. He hates blacks and feels that they are lazy worthless criminals and wishes that they had not been let in in 1948. He also hates nicos but is pragmatic in that he admits that "the ticos no longer are willing to pick their own coffee" meaning in other words the country needs the nicos for the low end jobs. I never discussed the jewish issue with him. He considers the "real" ticos to be white. But he is a decent guy. These racial comments were but a small part of many things we have discussed and he is no nazi type of guy. He also is a family man, devoted to his wife and 5 K*ds yet always has women on the side. He says that CR wives just accept this as long as you dont flaunt it.
I first met him in jan as I was sitting on the benches in front of mcdonalds on ave central. At first I thought he was just another english speaking hustler trying to extort money from the gringos. How many times have freindly conversations with ticos turned out to be hustles like eduardo the tour gude or the guy from california that never seems to remember that he just hustled me the day before. Anyway, it took a while before I came to trust George. One day he took me for the grand walking tour into areas I never knew existed. We walked past the prison where Russel Winstead was held at the time and on to colonia kennedy neiborhood where then pres Kennedy granted the money for the neiborhood in his 1963 visit. Then we got on a bus and to this day I couldnt find it again and went to some area and got off the bus and into a taxi up the mountain on a tiny narrow steep road with goats and cows running free to a large open air tico restuarant overlooking SJ with the most beautiful veiw of the city I have ever seen and I have been in a lot of places and resturants in CR. I sat there in amazment thinking that if some gringo could buy this run down place and remodel it he could make a fortune with this place if he could figure out how to get the gringos up there. All I know is that he said it was the same mountain as escazu but a diiferent side of the mountain where land prices were but a fraction of escazu. Near the resturant is a gringo owned mansion with the same veiw but otherwise this is complete tico territory. I bought Georges meal and beer and paid for the rides but I never gave him any more money. The dance hall he spoke of is Tobbagon sp? Tobbagon is a very nice large upscale place sort of behind el pueblo but very different. It is a place you wear good clothes to and has a big band venue like Ricky Ricardos band on the Lucy show. Its not much of a place for mongers as its a slightly older professional looking crowd. It would be a great place to take a date to or to meet nice 30- 45yo girls but I have never seen a hooker in there and wouldnt expect to. I actually like something different and the times I have been there I appeared to be the only gringo. The first time I went George invited me to meet him there but never showed up.
As said by the original poster it is very nice to meet a tico that is not in the gutter so to speak. When you think of it most of the ticos ticas we meet as mongers are pretty low on the pole. His racial veiws to me are not offensive as I think that we in america are overly politically correct, heck I have a few opinions myself that many would find offensive, I am even still a fan of GWB, perhaps his last cheerleader!!!
Adios amigos,,, Junkyard dog,,,, grande barco pero pequeno biteo

Junkyard Dog writes:



Not sure if it's the same one, but my taxista friend took me up a long hill to a Restuarant called "Pico Blanco." You can see all of San Jose (on a clear day) and the place has credible food at decent prices.

The mansion is now called the "White House" and possibly the most expensive meal in town. I was informed that the mansion once belonged to a gringo and he lost it in a Vegas casino.

As I said, don't know whether this is the same place, but it is a wonderful mirador of the city.

El Lamero

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