Tica Upside-Down Cake

[pablito]

Well, I'm going to Costa Rica in January, for the week of the 15th, there seems to be a couple of fiestas going on that week so it looks like the best week in January.  Now the main reason why it's Costa Rica is simple, I am a full-time single dad, and the only person who can take care of my kids for any length of time is my mom.  If I were to go to Colombia or most LAM countries, she would be taking care of my kids and staying up late at night worrying for my safety, but she's cool with Costa Rica.


I have found a few references to Ticas here and there in some posts, but not much, so if anybody has any knowledge about Ticas, the culture and what to see and do there, I'd love to hear it, let's make up Planet Love's definitive Costa Rican thread. 


Another plus about CR is I've already got a date.  I've dropped out of Latin American Cupid, as per the good advice I received following my post on my (not so) cunning plan, but I was still corresponding with a woman from CR who responded quite positively when I asked if she wanted to meet me, and after she said yes I told her I would be there in January.  It remains to be seen if she's still interested or available by January, of course.  Hmm, any advice on how to manage that, I wouldn't mind keeping her interest, she seems a pretty good match on paper, best of the ones I corresponded with.

[michaelb]

I was married to one of their vice-president's granddaughters for 16 years......but I've never been there myself, isn't that ironic? My kids have been there two or three times. Anyway, according to what I know, the people are mostly white, of Spanish descent, also of a lot of Italian descent, hardly any Indians (Spaniards killed them all via war and disease in the 1500's). Around Limon there is a large English speaking black population, descendants not of slaves, but of Jamaicans who came voluntarily to work the banana crops in the late 1800's, early 1900's. On the whole, their Spanish is pretty easy to understand, even if they can't pronounce the name of their own country . Also, a lot of them (not just the Jamaican descendants) speak pretty good English.  Lots of eco-tourism stuff to do, volcanoes, jungles, stuff like that, in fact I think that's one of their major industries. According to the ex, it's a great place, marred only by all of those thieves from Nicaragua and all of those prostitutes from Panama....take that last sentence with a grain of salt, if you want to.       

[JimD]

Mich very nice info. Thanks for the in put. I would only add that getting around outside San Jose requires patience (ie to the beaches and volcanos) because on the mountainous two lane roads on the outskirts there will always be a slow moving diesel truck in front of you.

[pablito]

Hi Michael, thanks for the feedback.  Yes, it does look like quite the nice place, although being nice comes with a cost, it looks like things will be somewhat more expensive there than many countries in the region, although still more than reasonable.  It's also easy to get to, I can get flights with only one connection and be there in under 10 hours, which I couldn't do when I experimented with flights to other countries.  And the flights themselves are generally less expensive given the vast amount of tourist traffic that goes there, which makes up for the slightly higher cost of living during a visit.  Seems to me that a lot of making the long-distance stuff work seems to come from practical realities.


I was actually surprised when I recently read about the amount of prostitution in CR, and that it is legal there.  Based on the year I spent living in Thailand though, I would think that in reality there's probably not any more prostitution going on in CR than anywhere else, but that the 10% of the industry that's geared to foreign tourists is just much more visible there than in other countries. 


Hi JimD, yes it's interesting to read about how long it can take to get around, low speed limits, curvy roads and I have heard that especially in the mountains it's dangerous to drive in the rain or fog, that people will not drive in that weather.  I've no doubt it can be dangerous, I just always kind of find it funny to hear people complaining about rainy conditions when I spend four months of the year driving on ice and snow, and not only that, we willingly drive on small, curving, hilly roads to go to ski hills.  I'm sure that they must think we're nuts.

[dennislevy]

Pablito

If your are going to Costa Rica on Janaury 15h.......you might not want put all your eggs in one basket....In other words, even assuming that the current tica lasts until then...

You might contact a dating and marriage agency in Sam Jose called Spanish Eyes, I think they are still open for business. See if you can negotiate a price per date aggreement.....

Or if you go back on cupido...write only to ticas and tell them you ll be there for that week.

Good luck
Dennis

[fathertime]

Another plus about CR is I've already got a date.  I've dropped out of Latin American Cupid, as per the good advice I received following my post on my (not so) cunning plan, but I was still corresponding with a woman from CR who responded quite positively when I asked if she wanted to meet me, and after she said yes I told her I would be there in January.  It remains to be seen if she's still interested or available by January, of course.  Hmm, any advice on how to manage that, I wouldn't mind keeping her interest, she seems a pretty good match on paper, best of the ones I corresponded with.

Well Pablito I think you should remain in touch with your lady friend.  If you guys can continue to capture each others imagination until January than you can see her and see how it goes.  It may not be easy.    IF you can see the interest is fading out, then you can always start developing new contacts a few weeks before actually travelling. 

Good luck,
Fathertime!   

[pablito]

Thanks Dennis, FT.  I've read plenty of posts here and understand that Internet dating, internationally or otherwise is really a numbers game. 


It's funny, the tica in question and I started off really quite slowly, but once I pretty much knew it was going to be Costa Rica, I basically said to her what do you need to know about me before you want to meet, and I told her what I wanted to know.  It's amazing the response I got in the ensuing e-mails/chats, it's like some folks here have observed, you can tell when a Latina is into you. 


To me, it illustrates the value of the forum, because I took a lot from the advice written here, both given directly to me or that I've read in other threads.  It really shows the value of manning up, initiating and taking the lead and stating clearly (yet politely) what you want and expect and what commitments you are prepared to make. And obviously it makes all the difference when you say I will be there in your country, even if it is a few months away.  And, I've now got the tickets, so I will be there in January.


There'll be a trip report, assuming I come back that is.