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Muddled Priorities

This morning’s news in Costa Rica are a little disappointing given the current state of world affairs. While the government’s ombudsman flatly rejected the concession (Spanish) to conduct a feasibility study on a metropolitan electric light rail system, plans are underway to build overpasses, underpasses (Spanish) and highways for petroleum-guzzling vehicles from one coast to the other.

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Exhibit A: The Growing Problem

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m no fan of traffic congestion, but adding highways, lanes and overpasses to solve a traffic problem is akin to buying a bigger belt to solve an obesity problem. With fuel prices going through the roof at a frantic pace, and this country producing exactly zero barrels of oil per year, you’d think the highest possible priority would be to alleviate that immense burden on the economy.

Exhibit B: The Admittedly Old-School, Yet Unabashedly Practical Solution

Reviving the coast-to-coast cargo/passenger train, plus adding a light rail urban network on existing tracks (or at least the free land that they’re on), would go light-years towards both alleviating traffic congestion and the yearly petroleum bill. And that’s just on the transportation end of things — don’t get me started on the electricity generation hoopla going on down here.

Jeff :: Apr.30.2008 :: Livin' in Costa Rica :: No Comments »

What You’ll Learn About Costa Rica From Hollywood

Here’s a quick summary of what Costa Rica is like, from a few Hollywood movies:

Costa Rica is a republic in Central America, covered in jungle and forest, and sparsely populated. Its capital, San Jose, is a sleepy beach town on the Pacific coast. The nation is ruled by a military junta, whose leader is dictator General Sanchez. The local currency is the Costa Rican peso. Because of its lawlessness and remote location, Costa Rica is known as a hideout for reformed mafia members as well as a source of cheap prostitutes, who charge five pesos for full service. Dinosaurs and even alien predator species have been sighted within its jungle and coastal islands.