Jaco

You know, Jaco has a certain charm, a touch of je ne sais quois, and I'll bet nobody else really does either. It could be the strange mixture of frontier village and Florida High Rise buildings, or the busy, hectic badly paved roads that give way suddenly to fields or rainforest canopy.

I will give you some examples, but unless you come here, I don't think you could understand. I am here, and I know I don't, but here goes...

The Driving. I know driving is not really considered anything that anyone needs to really do well in Costa Rica. Managing to get a vehicle from one place to another with no more than a few bumps or scrapes is considered a success, and traffic lights are just pretty roadside decorations. Geoff and I, for example, saw a young couple drive down one of the side roads that lead to the beach, with the idea, we figured of driving out and along the ocean. Someone had put some large rocks, just over knee-high, to make a barrier. We watched as the man continued to drive towards the rocks, then in to the rocks, seemingly trying to go through. We turned into the parking lot we were looking for, and a couple of minutes later were followed in by that vehicle. And discovered that after smashing the front of his SUV, he had then backed into a palm tree and smashed his rear window. He and his date seemed quite unconcerned, continued into the restaurant, and even LOCKED THE CAR!

The Food. It is all delicious, but you can buy a full meal at a soda for $3 including a drink, or the same meal at a Gringo restaurant a few doors down and the drink would cost you $2.50

The Cleaners. I can either pay a laundromat $9 to do my laundry, or pay a Nica to clean my three bedroom house and do my laundry for $8.

Jaco is a town of opposites. Having grown up as a happy-go-lucky, anything goes sort of town, it is now being built up by large corporations, like DayStar, and Sonesta - some of whom are trying to "clean it up" and make it a Family place. As for the Gringos, everyone has an angle and you never really know if they are sincere.

And Business! It is enough to drive any North American totally mad. If my few remaining hairs are not grey by the time I get home I will be very surprised.