Gringos Unite!

As I travel in Costa Rica, and other parts of Central America, I hear about the glut of ¨gringos¨.

For those of you that don´t know, ´gringos´ refers to those from the USA (can´t say ¨American¨as those from the counties of Central America consider themselves ¨Americans¨, too).

A Dutch guy staying in the same hostel as I wrote in his blog

Welcome to the USA, hmm, oops, I meant Costa Rica. It really is so easy to get confused, since there are more Americans around then Costa Ricans.. But, well, in the USA there are no Toucans, so this must be Costa Rica..A bit of Sarcasm from my side, but it practically feels like that. A touristy place, primarily oriented in the American tourist that is here for a few days.

Many ´travelers´, as the backpackers are called these days, comment about the US people in Central America, but, you know, I am sure if I can find plenty of places in Europe that are overrun by people not from that area. If the Europeans could get to a place like Costa Rica with a 5 hour/$400 roundtrip flight, they´d be there in droves.

I left the beach town of Tamarindo because it was too American (i.e., USA), and I feel okay about being here in Monteverde. Sure there are 5 gringos vs the one Dutch in the dorm room but I do not have to spend time with them. Sometimes you have to work to find the locals or the local culture but it can be done.

BTW - I had the best milk shake of my 3 month tour, today, at a cheese factory on the road to Monteverde cloud forest. At 1,100 Colones (about $2.20), I think it was a good deal. I could get a shake in Xela for $1.30 but this was worht the extra 0.90

bjm