www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I came across this little item that might be of interest to some of you on my yahoo news service. The full text can be found at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060712/lf_afp/afplifestyleenvironment_060712150855
Hmmm, Colombia #2? Could be all that coca or it could be simple relief now that Uriba seems to have broken the backs of the rebels. I don't know but it makes me wonder how they came up withthese rankings. BTW, the US came out at 150 out of the 178 countries that were ranked.

Pro - good story, and I think a fair encapsulation of what one may achieve living in Costa Rica if they go there with the right attitude and expectations. I especially liked these quotes from Marke Lowen of Vanuatu - the #1 finisher in the poll - who works for Vanuatu Online, the republic's online newspaper:

"People are generally happy here because they are very satisfied with very little," he told The Guardian.

"This is not a consumer-driven society. Life here is about community and family and goodwill to other people. It's a place where you don't worry too much."

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Check out http://weluvlatinas.com/ for the web's best info on the latin american monger lifestyle...

It's exactly those statistics that refute what most Americans think when they hear about girls from Colombia marrying American guys "just to get a green card".

I try to explain to them (usually to no avail) that most girls in Colombia don't WANT to leave they just want a better situation with a man that will love, respect and take care of them. Basically not that much different from a gringa, just with less opportunity.

People from Colombia are very nationalistic and think it's the best country in the world even with a 40 year civil war. They know it's got it's problems but they still love it.

I spent 3 hours talking to a gringa co-worker yesterday about dating in the US versus why I travel. You would think I would know better by now.
It would have been easier to try to teach a pig to sing.

Before anyone gets to carried away using the "facts" presented in this article I would suggest they read what appeared in this morning AM Costa Rica. I have trouble giving much credence to a survey that ranks Hatti in the top ten happiest places to live and ranks the US at 150.

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Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

Well I know I am incredably happy when I'm in CR...

BUT HAITI!!!!!!!!

That's got to be one of the worst places on the planet to live..... People are willing to take an increadibly high risk of dying just to get out of there...


Madhatter

Same with Cuba and they are ranked 6th and the USA where the Cubans are fleeing to is ranked 150

I live in Costa Rica and am incredibly happy with having made that move but those numbers are just wacky

Have no idea what the authors of that survey were smoking or drinking when they printed it but sure would like to get my hands on some of it

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Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

How about this for an explanation... Those fleeing were the dissatisfied ones, leaving the happy ones?

I'm more than a little serious here, though I wouldn't limit it to Cuba. If you believe that genetics have any role in happiness, and I do, then you can imagine that a country populated by people who emigrated from their own countries would tend to have a lower trigger of dissatisfaction than average.

I admit to being a 'greener pasture' fan, and my moving to Costa Rica is proof of it. I didn't move here because I was thrilled living in the USA, I can tell you. Even beyond that, I have met at least 2 guys who moved away from HERE in search of greener pastures, one to Colombia, one to Nicaragua. Both seemed to be 'glass is half empty' in their outlook on life. I wouldn't argue that Costa Rica is the ONLY place to live, but I have heard some incredible rants about how much better life WILL BE in Nicaragua. Give me a break.

The good witch of the North told Dorothy something like this: If you can't find happiness in your own back yard, maybe you never lost it.

Or maybe you'll never find it even by moving to Nicaragua...

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"The only normal people are those you don't know very well." Joe Ancis

If that were true then at some point there would be no more rafters.

I lived in Miami in the 1980 when over one hundred thousand Mariel refugees fled Cuba and landed in Miami. Twenty six years later Cubans are still risking their lives to escape that tropical paradise that ranks sixth in the world on the happiness scale.

When do you think Cuba will run out of unhappy people?

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Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

Canada at 111....must be the harse weather and Quebec style poutine

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GO Winnipeg JETS!

I alluded to the questionability of the ranking methodology myself in my original post. However, before anyone disparages the study too much because of Haiti's admittedly surprisingly high rank, allow me to tell you about my own Haitian experience. First, I should qualify the following statements with the admission that my experience in Haiti goes back over 20 years ago. I understand things are much worse in Haiti now then when I was there but it was never really that great to begin with. When I was there I was always struck with omnipresent smiling faces and the good-nature of the people and I asked one of the Haitians I was working with why they seemed to be so happy while they had so little. I'll never forget what he told me, which is very similar to what the Vanuatuan said in that article. He said the people there were not struggling to save up for a caribbean vacation with the sand, sun and surf. They were already there. They weren't worried about how they were going to save for their K*D's college education or how they were going to pay the mortgage on their 3000 sq. ft. home or the monthly payment on their SUV's (actually back then I think it was something more like Ford *******). The reason was their K*ds didn't go to school, they lived rent free in some squatter's camp and they didn't own any cars. They had much less than us but instead of focusing on what they didn't have, they were thnkful for what they did.

All those things that we have in the US, like big homes and fancy cars, that are supposed to make us happier also make us all stressed out worrying about how we're going to pay for it all. We have the most advanced health care system in the world and yet we're not healthy. We don't exercise enough because we don't have the time. We don't have the time because we're rushing around all the time to earn the money to because we have to keep up with the lives we've created for ouselves. Many of the worst ailments we have are stress-related such as smoking, excessive eating, high blood pressure, heart disease, etc. Do you think that the ticos worry as much as we do about getting robbed by muggers when they walk around SJ. I'm sure it's a concern but not as much as it is for us because they don't have the money which make them such a prime target. If I didn't have all these "things", such as all the crap I've accumulated over my lifetime, the larger than necessary house to keep it all in, the fancy car and all the various monthly payments that keep me working overtime and unable to take a break, maybe I'd be able to travel to CR more regularly or at least could apply myself more to pursuits that really sustain me. As Henry Thoreau put it we are the slave-driver of ourselves.I'm not sure if I agree with all this asceticism myself. I do like my toys. But is that just because I've been brainwashed like everyone else by Madison Avenue. Here is another article that might get you thinking: http://www.infowest.com/business/g/gentle/ownsyou.html

This thread reminded me of a posted story from 2005 on this forum. Many of you probably missed it...




Now I have to add...that happiness is on many different levels...and these surveys are certainly worth about a grain of salt. But it is always good for us to analyze what makes us happy, or get even deeper to think is happiness "a choice"? Sure, I could be happy with what I have, but maybe I choose to want more. SOme of the unhappiest people I know are the wealthiest...and some of the happiest the poorest. Most of us live somewhere in between...riding the teeter totter of happiness to unhappiness and back.

It relates well to mongering...because...you have the pain of the hunt...sometimes going days, weeks, months...even YEARS hunting for what you want. Then, one fateful night you have the connection you have been looking for. You have a whole night of blissful or even maniacal sex...your whole body and soul are spent and limp as a wet rag. No thoughts, no feelings, just sheer exhausted joy and triumph. THe next day, she leaves, and the hunt starts all over again...or she or you have to go to work to pay the bills and take care of the Babi*s. Now, are we happy, or unhappy?

Life is so confusing sometimes...

Tman, I'd say that "we're unappy" , and that whatever sexual experiences one has are simply temporary reliefs from a deeper and more profound sense of unfulillment, absolutely speaking. All experiences, and sex is one of the best, if not the best, have one thing in common: they always end. And once they end, the search for fulfllment goes on, ad infinitum.

Happiness is not associated with form, and therefore cannot be found in form. Comfort yes, temporary relief yes, various emotional states yes, invulnerabilty or relative security yes, but happiness no. It has to come from a place much deeper.

One of the great problems regarding happiness is our own minds and the never-ending search for ultimate happiness, safety and seecurity that a mind generates, which never can be uiltimately, completely and eternally met.

I've been to Bhutan, ranked #13 or so, and the king there said that their #1 Gross National Product is happiness. Also been to India several times and I've often seen happier and joyful people living in what we'd consider squalor than your usual mall shopper. OTOH, I've seen some very unhappy poor people also - those are the ones who get on boats from Cuba to the US. there's nothing wrong to want more for oneself if one is a bad situation, but once that search for something better gets triggered, it requires a significant effort to counteract that momentum of one''s mind - that's where spirituality omes in.

So I'm not surprised at the disconnect between relative wealth and the happiness factor in this study. It's also a very subjective thing to measure and thus a somewhat unscientific study - one can only measure what they believe are certain 'indications' associated with happiness.

I'm not putting down mongering in any way, just saying it isn't the royal road to ultimate happiness. And if one keeps that in mind, it can save one a helluva lot of anguish, especially when one starts feeling 'a whole lotta love' for a chica. But damn it's a lot of fun, even though the ride is bumpy at times.

YO Prolijo:
I'm sort of surprised at your anti -capitalilsm post. Somewhat a contridictin in it's assertions while directing blame for ills that are also inclusive in other countries... not just our own. You erroneously paint with a broad brush that we are the most advanced health care system in the world and yet we are not healthy. That is a blanket statement and one that I would invite seeing the comparison arguments. Yes, people get spoiled and neclect proper nutrician and exercise BUT in this country they have a choice and affordable ability to make the right choices.....a lot of 3rd and 4th world countries do not have that choice or chance. Pick a better country if you will for over all health affordability considering the free health care if poor or ILLEGAL status. Also, pick a better country that has the enormous opportunities for a person to better themselves from poverty if they choose to work hard in order to achieve that dream.

As for Hati, I'm glad you found someone who was enriched with the conditions there. I'v been there on several trips and did not have the fortune to meet anyone expressing that view......they were alive but the squander they were living in was appauling and the ones I met personally were not joyful except for the fact that their family was coping with things in general.....I suppose it gets down to what type of environment one has been raised in and is accustomed to. Regardless, it's sad to see that type of conditions. Unfortunately governments of certain countries have no mercy on the suffering of their people.....only what they can add to their coffers.

Brainwashed by Madison Ave? No, I think not. You were just fortunate to have had the opportunities this country affords to better yourself through your own hard work. Some do and some don't. Do we in this country belong on the happy list.....you're damn right we do but that is a matter of just how an individual accepts their own responsibilities for their destiny and not blame everyone for their failure. It's called self reliance....something that seems to be disappearing in this american culture. Okay, That's my opinion. Damn, I live in a condemned trailer next to the city dump but at least I'm doing good.....go figure.

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Damn if I'm going to repeat this shit again. I need a drink.
I've been drinking vodka every day for 45 years and I have certainly never found it to be habit forming.

Well, Lots of interesting posints here. One thing I notice the survey indicates is that materialistic things don't bring happiness alone as more ecomomically advanced countries didn't to that well. Lots of poorer countries fared quite well. I found it interesting Domincal ranked high as I have been there and it is a very neat little Caribean island but also very poor. It is however one of the most beautiful places in the world I have had a chance to see. I am very happy and feel very much at peace when in Costa Rica as well.rbc100

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In Search of Fine Kittens,
Please... Bring back the Muff

Oh, about the same time as the USA runs out of unhappy men when they've all moved to Costa Rica.

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"The only normal people are those you don't know very well." Joe Ancis