Living in Costa Rica as an American

When I tell people that I spent three months studying abroad in Costa Rica they almost always ask me if I want to move down there now. My reaction is generally to recoil and shout “no!” It only occurred to me recently that to people who don’t know me well that this reaction may make me seem like a snooty American who couldn’t stand a “third world” style of living. This actually has nothing to do with it. The truth is I couldn’t stand to be associated with the type of American that lives down there.

Costa Rica has the largest number of Americans residents of any foreign country. Many Americans who move down there end up living in American-style gated communities with other expatriates. There are seriously at least 25 of these subdivisions up and down the coastline of a country the size of West Virginia. They associate only with other Americans. They send their children to English language schools. Many of them drive SUVs, wear designer clothes, and generally live an extravagant American lifestyle at a much more affordable cost than in the states. Many expats see no reason to learn Spanish even though it is the native language. I had the misfortune of contracting a kidney infection while there and had to go to the “private” hospital where rich Ticos and Americans go. While I was waiting several very well dressed American women came in with their children. They didn’t speak a word of Spanish although I overheard one of them telling another American that they have lived there for five years.

In some countries such as Mexico there are restrictions on foreigners buying land. This is not the case in Costa Rica. When you drive up the Pan American highway there is a real estate office about every five miles. Their signs are in English and it is my understanding that basically 100% of the people utilizing these offices are Americans. In addition to the omnipresent realtors, just about every empty piece of land in the country has a sign on it stating that it is for sale (in English). I am not exaggerating. It’s like the whole country is for sale to the highest bidder.

Costa Rica also doesn’t enforce any environmental restrictions on the (largely foreign) developers that build these communities. There are technically laws that state that developers must show that there is adequate water and sewage for the number of residences built but a quick grease of the palm will generally get an inspector to sign off on this. As a result there are way too many people for the available water supply in most areas where Americans live. Most residents remain blissfully unaware of this although they can’t figure out why the water goes out every few days. There is usually sewage treatment for “black water” (what comes out of the toilet) but often none for “grey water” (the dirty soapy water from your sink or shower). The grey water often just comes out of a pipe straight onto the ground and right into local streams. Waste disposal is another issue. Up until recently across the country pretty much all garbage ended up either being burned, buried, or thrown in a river somewhere. Even now, only a few areas in Costa Rica have actually started using lined landfills. Considering not just the existing subdivisions but all the ones I saw in the process of construction it seems unlikely that current waste disposal facilities could handle this growth in population.

Costa Rica is constantly encouraging more people to move south creating the illusion that the country has the resources to handle it. They are often promising something they can’t deliver. These developers, aided by the Costa Rican government, make it seem in their advertising like you’re buying an American house just not in America. However it is common for an American to move into one of these houses and have to endure constant interruptions in the supply of water and electricity. This doesn’t even include other typical developing world problems such as hurricanes washing the roads out or crime such as petty theft. The developers are trying to trick people into believing they aren’t in the developing world but occasionally reality intrudes on them.

These problems caused by the onslaught of Americans are well publicized but with a few exceptions little is done about them. The truth of the matter is that all these Americans bring a lot of money into a poor country. Ask any Tico (as Costa Rican nationals are called) and they will tell you they want more American development in their area because it means more jobs. This is hardly surprising considering the lack of industry outside the capital of San Jose. It is the developing world, and catering to Americans is the number one staple of the economy.

What disturbed me about it though was that the Ticos didn’t seem to care about the cultural influence this had on their country. I was frankly appalled at how much American culture seemed to be steamrolling local customs. The Ticos did not seem too concerned about this. The first time I asked a Tico how he felt about all the signs and billboards in English, the huge American style houses, etc. he shrugged and informed me (in Spanish) that his grandfather was from Italy and explained how everyone in Costa Rica has relatives that are foreigners. I thought this opinion was an anomaly so I took to asking just about every Tico I met and every single one of them gave me a similar answer except for one. His response was “Once the land in my village gets sold to an American that is land that won’t ever return to my hands.” Good point, however we are talking about one out of around sixty people that I asked this question. The rest of them were quite content to see the Americanization of their country continue.

It disturbed me to my core. I feel that in most countries people have a strong sense of culture. It is one of the main things that connect people to one another. If that culture is trampled upon by an outside culture then what do you have left? I, for one, would fight for the preservation of my culture. The fact that Ticos as whole seem uninterested in doing so left me somewhat depressed. Some students in my study group put a positive spin on it, stating that their culture is much more malleable than ours. I think if this were an exchange between two economic equals I could agree with that, but when one considers how much more economic clout an American has than a Tico then it seems more like we are annexing Costa Rica without giving its citizens the benefits of being Americans such as decent wages and worker protection laws.

I wish this information was readily distributed to people considering purchasing a home in Costa Rica. I don’t think most people want to do things that they know harm another country. After all, you wouldn’t consider buying a home somewhere unless you loved how it is now. I do worry that if development there continues at its current rate that in fifteen years or so the country will be trashed by development and have lost the natural beauty that lures people down there to begin with. The key is for these individual buyers to think of themselves as part of the greater picture, not the one person who’s found the key to paradise.