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 Post subject: Poverty in CR
PostPosted: Sun Apr 09, 2006 3:41 pm 
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Following is part of an article from the latest Tico Times

Quote:
A Look at Poverty

Walking in San José 's Triángulo de Solidaridad shantytown, one is hard pressed to see this improvement. Homes are patched together with scraps of wood and tin; wooden planks provide bridges over streams of trash; the stench of sewage wafts up from time to time; Ch*ldren wait anxiously at the doorway of a home where free plates of lunch are handed out by volunteers serving donated food.

Like so many of Costa Rica's slums, Triángulo de Solidaridad is in the middle of the city, with wealth a stone's throw away. It is bordered to the east by the highway to the Caribbean-port of Limón; to the west by well-known Motel Eden; and 400 meters to the south is a Mercedez Benz dealership.

A tangled network of wires overhead indicate that electricity does arrive at these makeshift houses. Walking along the narrow, dirt paths that weave through the maze, televisions and stereos can be heard announcing the lunchtime news or blasting Salsa music. And some homes do have refrigerators, although whether they work or not is questionable. Water is even kind-of available through a series of faucets that residents use to fill buckets and then carry to their homes, although pressure is sometimes reduced to a trickle.

But despite these “advancements,” resident Teresa Chavarría said her life has hardly improved in the six years she has lived in the precario with her Ch*ldren and mother, Germania Chavarría.

“Poverty continues as it always does,” she said. “Is my life better with a television? No. How am I going to feel better just because I have a television if I don't have anything to eat.”

Chavarría said she was given the television, but added that other furniture and appliances she acquired by finding extra work when she had a job. She has since lost her job and whatever work she can find is used to buy beans for her Ch*ldren.



Anyone have any first hand experience visiting this neighborhood?

I thought maybe some of the more adventerous members may have visited.

The Motel Eden (mentioned in the3 article) is the 'no-tell' drive in hotel, right? and is next door to this area?

anyway, I did see some hard conditions near the Cartago Bus Teminal last trip, but honestly have no time spent in neighborhoods like this in CR.

maybe this article helps explain (not excuses) the sometimes little darling's acts of desperation

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PostPosted: Sun Apr 09, 2006 4:02 pm 
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Californicationdude,

I have seen all this & this is a very good description this writer has given. We need to appreciate what we have it could always be worse & lets keep this in mind when these little darlings are trying to scam us I believe it is to be expected so I don't get too upset by anything as I expect these acts. They aren't screwing all of our fat ugly asses because we are wonderful like we would like to believe! :wink:

Amazing how they can keep going & keep that smile on their face but the human spirit is resilient.

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PostPosted: Sun Apr 09, 2006 4:17 pm 
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I forgot to add the following paragraph describing monthy household income levels

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In the poorest 20% of Costa Rica households, average household monthly income decreased from ¢85,159 ($195) in 1988 to ¢73,352 ($168) in 2004. (Values are adjusted for inflation to be comparable and given in 2004 colones. Dollar equivalents are based on the average 2004 exchange rate of ¢437/$1). In the most wealthy 20% of households, the average monthly income nearly doubled from ¢579,804 ($1,327) in 1988 to ¢973,265 ($2,227). In the middle quintile, the average increased from ¢216,625 ($496) to ¢235,226 ($538).


it seems household income is DECREASING for the poorest of the poor.

How does one survive on $168 a month? even in CR?

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PostPosted: Sun Apr 09, 2006 6:48 pm 
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A chica took me to her house in Desamparados last February. It was a shantytown of hundreds of run down shacks. Her house would compare to a deluxe chicken coop in the U.S., but still, she seemed proud of it and asked me what I thought of it. I told her it was "nice".....not wanting to hurt her feelings.

I feel sorry for these people living in these conditions, and can't help thinking the government could do much better for the people. We all know of the corruption in the government and of all the former presidents that went to prison........maybe someone really needs to be made an example of.

Zebra


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PostPosted: Sun Apr 09, 2006 7:38 pm 
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Zippy wrote:

Amazing how they can keep going & keep that smile on their face but the human spirit is resilient.


Exactly!!!

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PostPosted: Thu May 04, 2006 2:53 pm 
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here is a link to a blog about a visitor's experience/opinion about poverty in CR


http://www.travelblogs.com/dougdo/cost_ ... ca_usa.htm

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PostPosted: Fri May 05, 2006 10:50 am 
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The part about $20 to buy a replacement cartridge for a Mach 3 razor has me laughing. Last time I was in CR a chica stole my Mach 3 razor when she was in the bathroom. I never saw that one coming but I should have.

Between the batteries and the cost of the replacement blades she might need to turn a trick every 2 months at the Blue Marlin just to afford the damn thing.

Next time one of guys nails a chica with an unshaven mound make sure all your stuff is locked up because you probably found the chica who stole my razor but cant afford the replacement blades.


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PostPosted: Fri May 05, 2006 11:00 am 
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Look to the opposite side from the terminal at the airport and you will see a restaurant with an airplane under the roof. Just behind that place is a 10 acre shantytown that has 1400 familes and 3000 K*ds. Very few of us realize how good we have it.


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PostPosted: Fri May 05, 2006 5:14 pm 
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Versatile wrote:
Look to the opposite side from the terminal at the airport and you will see a restaurant with an airplane under the roof. Just behind that place is a 10 acre shantytown that has 1400 familes and 3000 K*ds. Very few of us realize how good we have it.


That is the land that the government is in the process of evicting those residents. Most of them are illegal Nicaraguan immigrants so the problem is not going to be solved but simply replicated in another place.

The Costa Rican government simply lacks the funds to address the problem of poor Ticos and immigrants setting up shantytowns on vacant land.

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PostPosted: Fri May 05, 2006 5:22 pm 
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Hey ID, there was a picture in yesterday's Online CR showing a young Nica girl looking back at her half razed shanty.

Do you have any idea where these now homeless families will go?

Will they sort of blend into the existing urban environment of the metro San Jose area or move to/enlarge other squatter areas?

How many other large squatter areas are there in the San Jose metro area?

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PostPosted: Fri May 05, 2006 5:53 pm 
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Californicationdude wrote:




Quote:
Do you have any idea where these now homeless families will go?


I do not think anyone has the answer to that question. The government is supposedly trying to find housing for those who have legal status but many landlords are prejudice against Nicas and will not rent to them. Those without legal status do not get any assistance as far as I have heard.

Quote:
How many other large squatter areas are there in the San Jose metro area?


I have heard of a few others but do not have a firm count on the exact number.

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PostPosted: Sun May 07, 2006 11:15 pm 
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Oh yeah, shoot my grandma lives in a no bedroom shack, and uses a cold bucket of water for a fridge! Most of my aunts aren't living that well either, some of them have dirt floors and sweep it like it's a marble floor in a million dollar mansion. My uncle in buenes aries, is worst off. he lives in a plywood type shack, with nothing but a tin roof and a blanket covering the front "door". So yeah i've seen it, slept in it, shoot was even living it when i was young. I help them as much as i can, and don't take for grantied (spelling), what i have here in junited state!
Lou


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PostPosted: Mon May 08, 2006 3:48 pm 
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Californicationdude wrote:




Quote:
How many other large squatter areas are there in the San Jose metro area?


Since this was posted I ran across an article in the Friday April 28, 2006 edition of the Tico Times:

"Jose Gabriel Roman - advisor to the Vice-Minister of housing, Ramiro Fonseca-said the ministry's latest statistics show that in Costa Rica, 35,000 families live in 402 shantytowns, classified as groupings of approximately five families and up where housing conditions do not meet basic health requirements. Of those, 70% are in the greater San Jose area."

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PostPosted: Mon May 08, 2006 6:43 pm 
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Good Statistics.

I'm going to go out on a limb and estimate then that approx 25,000 families live in the greater San Jose area in approx 280 of these shanty towns.

If just one in ten families has a female working in/near the gulch, then approx 2,500 little darlings come from such difficult backgrounds, ie..dirt floors, no running water, abject poverty.

Frankly, I'm surprised that they don't steal my drawers, skid marks and all.

Ah well, maybe all this will help me understand the little darlings better and make for a better, more rewarding time for us both.

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(export version only, some restrictions may apply, some assembly required, not valid where the sun don't shine...

if you live in the states of Poverty, Darkness or anywhere outside of The Blessings of Civilization Trust, Inc...other rules may apply)


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PostPosted: Mon May 08, 2006 8:29 pm 
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Quote:
Frankly, I'm surprised that they don't steal my drawers, skid marks and all.


Does put a little more perspective on why chicas do some of the, to us, incomprehensible things they do. :cry:

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