The Way You See the World

Since being here, many of my previous assumptions and preconceived notions have been changed drastically. Primarily, I always felt as if Costa Ricans were very on par and supportive of US policies. This week however, I have seen a very different set of opinions come out. A few months ago, Costa Rica granted the US full access to the country in order to combat Central American drug trafficking. Also, for the last few weeks a warship has been docked in the Costa Rican province of Limon, there to perform hundreds of surgeries for the poor and fix up local schools. As a humanitarian mission most Americans and some Costa Ricans think this has been a wonderful and very needed few weeks of help for one of the poorer areas of the country. However, I was shocked to see the amount of Anti-American sentiment this brought out among Costa Ricans. Graffiti on walls around the city, you will encounter many phrases such as Fuera Gringos! meaning go home gringos, as well as other obscenities aimed at the US. One of the other students even walked by an anti-American protest going on at the campus of the University of Costa Rica. As an American here it can be pretty unsettling seeing these things. After a couple of nervous days, our brilliant Spanish teachers Ronulfo came to the rescue! Having worked with many foreigners, he did wonderfully at explaining to us common sentiments towards the US. He explained that the biggest problem stemmed from the fact that many Costa Ricans are against military ships on Costa Rican territory because of the fact that there is no military here. It can tend to be seen as an intimidation, and even a threatening act, seeing as they truly have no way of defending them selves. As far as the rallies and graffiti, Ronulfo explained to us that these things were aimed entirely at certain policies that can be seen as manipulative and exploitive in Latin America, and in no way did everyone here hate us. Like in all societies, I m sure there are a few people that may actually dislike Americans here, but for the most part, I have been treated with nothing less than utmost kindness! Besides being cat called on the streets and warned of muggings, I really have not felt threatened purely based on the fact that I am American. I mean, with dark curly hair, medium height and tanned skin, I don t exactly stick out here like some of my fellow students do. Actually, most people never notice until I start speaking Spanish and my American accent comes out when I try to say a word that may still be a bit to fancy for me. This is to my advantage when it comes to walking around the streets! It has been shocking and interesting hearing others opinions of the USA. Having never been out of the country, my eyes now have been opened to an entirely new perspective. I have met Ticos, Austrians, Germans, Colombians, Australians and many other people from varying nationalities thus far in my travels, and their opinions have varied greatly. I have heard things from, why can t you Americans mind your own damn business? to You Americans are always the nicest people I meet while traveling. While I hate hearing the negative, it drives me to work harder here, and be kind to every person I meet. Within the hands of my generation lies the possibility to change these at times negatives opinions, and what better time to start then now while I m abroad? (Week of 09/05/10)