For American travelers, Costa Rica has become THE place to visit in central America, if not the most sought after place for exapatriates in all of the Americas. Costa Rica is everywhere in contemporary American culture, and has come to represent tropical beach paradises, free of giant Sandals type resorts (although there are some there), in the American mind. I think for many Americans, Costa Rica is the destination that allures people who want to travel while staying free of the most touristy destinations. (Of course, if everyone is thinking that way, then guess what: it's touristy.)
It's a major destination for two groups of travelers that want to adopt a new semi-permanent lifestyle: retirees and young english teachers. I have heard of maybe a dozen Americans in there early to mid twenties who want to get TEFL, ESL, and whatever other alphabet soup acronym certification, to teach English, specifically in Costa Rica.
While on a recent flight from Miami to Philadelphia, I struck up a conversation with the guy sitting next to me, who was a chiropractor in the states, and was trying to get enough money together to retire to Costa Rica, where he had opened up a beachside back-cracking clinic a few years before. He was maybe 30. As we were talking a retired Marine (a little older) in the row in front of us heard us talking and insisted that I visit the small resort he was building by hand with his wife on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica.
Even in the popular culture, Costa Rica stands as a symbol of rat race rejection. In the American version of the Office, mopey and broken-spirited HR guy Toby always dreams of going to Costa Rica. (Eventually he does, only to return after a surfing accident.)
But recently I saw my favorite example of how Costa Rica is always on the periphery of the American consciousness, and how sometimes it gets shoved right into the center of it. I was at a bar watching football, (go Eagles!) and devouring buffalo wings (could there be anything more American?) when I made my way to the bathroom. There is a new feature in the never ending quest to cover every physical space in the world with advertising, and that is the eye-level, over the urinal, framed advertisement.
Usually at a bar, they tell you about some promotional event in the near future. But this one was a very amateurish looking poster of a tropical waterfall, with "Costa Rica House for Rent! " amateurishly photoshopped in. I read more (I had drank alot, I had time) and it turned out a local family was renting out their Costa Rican house for a month at a time. I just laughed, wondering if these people had heard of the internet, and also realizing that even among football, beer, and chicken wings, dreams of Costa Rica keep bubbling to the surface.
When I got home I googled Costa Rica Vacation Rentals.Turns out there's more than just one available.
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Wonderful post!
Thanks Diane