Snippets

Costa Rica has no military. It was disbanded back in the day (I´m so not great w/ dates) when the President lost the election and didn´t want to give the reigns to the new guy and used the army to support his resistance. He lost, and the military was disbanded, so something like that could never happen again. The funds that were once upon a time for the military are now used for education.

Costa Rica´s main sources of income include tourism (I´m not doing my part in that!), coffee (took a tour today), bananas (I always do my part with bananas!), and plastic surgery (I´m saying nothing.).

There´s a statue here that was made from broken guns. People turn in their guns to churches and other organizations, and the police dismantle them.

There´s a driving restriction in parts of San Jose. Everyday, a portion of the registered vehicles are not allowed to be on the road. That´s determined by the last digit of the license plate (they have no letters here like they do in the States). For example, if your license plate ends in 1 or 2, you´re not allowed to drive on Mondays, 3 and 4 aren´t allowed to drive on Tuesdays, 5 and 6 on Wednesday, etc. I could have the numbers and days wrong, but that´s the gist of it. The restriction is an effort to manage the traffic (presa) and pollution. It´s a $60.00 fine per violation, and the money goes to health service, I think.

There´s a national social security program here that provides medical care for everyone. If you´re working, as 89% of people are in Costa Rica, you pay nothing. If you´re not working, you have the opportunity to pay $10.00 per month for the same services. This program also provides retirement pensions for workers.

There´s a national lottery, too. Winners have 60 days (I think; I´m so very bad with numbers!) to claim their prizes. If they don´t, that money goes into a fund that is distributed through grants to programs that benefit the people (education, arts, sports, social services, community development, etc.).

I´ve walked in places that look really quite desolate and have been informed that the government is providing housing to move people out of shacks made from whatever scrap material was available at the time into homes that have electricity and indoor plumbing. I have photos that illustrate the difference, and when I´m able, I will add those.

I may add more snippets to this as they occur to me. I also want to blog about the work of the Episcopal Church. I just need to know where to start, and I want to do that story justice.

Stay tuned.