Costa Rica, also known as the land of Pura Vida, is supposed to be kicked back, take your time, relax a little and allow the all too consuming life of stress pass you.
But is that reality?
As former resident of the United States and Germany with a limited life in Spain, this has to be the most complicated non-directional country I have ever traveled. What appears to be something of simplicity seems to always to turn out to be something complicated and almost, if not unintelligible.
I am talking about driving laws, even drivers license, the all powerful impotent legislature, the president who does not stand a chance against the “Game of Thrones”, attitude of the never ending list of self serving unions, the public at large who are easily influenced by “whamo” news, established drug cartels, official corruption as in police and just plane incompetency on every level.
We do have laws and regulations that fit almost every possible scenario. A judge can justify release or prevention at will, depending on how she/he hears a case and who within the court room are cousins.
Passive laws include pay-offs to hustle along what seems like never ending permits and government approvals. Then we have the more serious infractions of the government officials who, “see no evil – hear no evil and speak no-evil.”
Next in line is the most dangerous!
They smuggle, they sell girls on the street, they traffic drugs and in the end kill each other and those who happen to be in the way. But walk free based on “law”.
The most senseless are the criminals who will murder just to steal a cell phone or even a pair of tennis shoes. (My cousin, Phillip was stabbed to death, in downtown San Jose on his lunch hour only for his cell phone; which is now obsolete.)
But these people walk! “Ooops, prosecutor Gonzalez forgot to dot the letter “i”. You who have raped, pilfered and plundered but get to go home with the courts apology.
“Oh, by the way, our prisons are overflowing like a high tide with people both guilty as well as innocent. We need to let hem go or prosecute. Especially those who can pay”
I cannot think of a law or regulation this side of being a disciple of Christ that is either in the constitution or in some arcane archive that does not favor the guilty.
I understand this fifty, perhaps 100 years ago when domination and elitism were the rule of the day. But not now! This degenerate mentality makes no sense in Costa Rica and endangers each and everyone of us.
What should be uncomplicated, does require a lawyer.
How hard is it in this little piece of land to obtain residency? The regulation says 1, 2, 3 and that is it.
To buy a piece of poverty (I mean property): Again, 1,2,3 and that’s it.
Open a business: 1,2,3 and that’s it.
Even paying taxes is a complicated affair and requires an attorney. Just tell us the bill and we will either pay or dispute it. I do not need an attorney and less, an accountant, to know what is owed and what is not.
From swimming with sharks, to purchasing a cup of coffee in a foreign currency, the rules and regulations prevail and they are way too much for what has been advertised as a free society.
They are what you want them to be!
