This from today’s A.M. Costa Rica:
Our readers’ opinions
Airport security glitch makes this visitor angry
"Dear A.M. Costa Rica:My wife and I currently live in Florida, and we are considering moving to Costa Rica. As such I have been to Costa Rica several times a year in the past couple of years looking at real estate and learning about the country. I am going back in October to look at some property in Escazú.
However, my most recent trip to Costa Rica in June left me scratching my head when it came to airport security at Juan Santamaría. After checking in for our departure flight back to the U.S., we had to get in the only line available to go though security to get to the departure gates.
As we got to the metal detector we had to place carry on bags on the conveyor belt to the left of the metal detector so they could be scanned. What astounded us was that people were placing digital cameras, cell phones, I pods, and other small electronic devices into a wooden box as they passed through the metal detector.
The wooden box was then passed around the metal detector so people could get their devices back. We watched this happen over and over as the line moved forward.
I was shocked. Small electronic devices were not being scanned, and were being allowed to be passed around the metal detector. These devices were large enough to conceal a small gun, knives, mace, explosives, etc.When we got to Atlanta, I notified a Delta pilot of what we saw. I also e-mailed the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on the matter. I am not sure if anything was done.
In the U.S. you can not pass electronic items around the security screening process, and I have no idea why this was being done over and over in front of security in Juan Santamaría. I found it extremely illogical and without any consideration to safety. On the other side of the security sit large jet aircraft that carry 1,000s of people a day to the U.S. and elsewhere.
I will be checking this out again when I return in October. If the same process is in place, I will be making quite a vocal stink about it at the airport and I will demand to see the head of security.
John Brier
Pensacola, Florida"
And here’s my response which I just emailed off… probably prematurely… sigh:
"Please, John Brier, DON’T move to Costa Rica. Don’t come here to change things. Stay in the U.S. with your beloved Homeland Security and make a stink with them. Maybe you can get them to instigate strip searches… ‘Cause, ya know, you can hide a plastic knife in your sock."
Hal wrote an excellent article on the subject here: The Goo Bombers. Pretty funny. Pretty sad.
AMEN, Sally!
Did he actually think there is perfect “Security”? Here or there. If he only knew…
“If you really love Costa Rica,
DON’T TELL ANYONE”.
It’s our secret paradise.
This guy sounds like a terrorist to me. He threatens my way of life here so to me he is a terrorist. We should all start blogging about how awful things are here so idiots would quit coming here and encouraging other idiots to do the same.
This is my paradise, perfect in it’s imperfection.
EXACTLY. Why is he coming here, pray tell?
If Homeland Security works so well in the USA how is it that MILLIONS of people can literally walk across the Mexican border into the USA ever year?
Like Jennifer, I have been tempted to start bad-mouthing CR so that the timid or the ‘I’ve-gotta-havit-just-like-at-home’ wannabees would just stay at home in their own comfort zones. Actually, when I posted something to that effect on CRL one time I got some backlash from posters there about it. (I don’t think they got what I was saying.)
Now -if anyone has noticed- we have a newbie of about a year who has recently begun blogging for all the yuppies to come to CR, buy up all the land ‘bargains’ and settle in. That also should be discouraged IMO, lest CR be further transmogrified from what it is that to some sort of USAsouth, for lack of a better term.
Maybe we should start calling those who want to come here and change everything to the way it is back home “Tour-orists”!
Solamente mis doce colones…
Paul
==
“If the same process is in place, I will be making quite a vocal stink about it at the airport and I will demand to see the head of security.”
Just what Costa Rica needs… another mouthy Gringo who simply cannot control himself. I hope they do a low tech cavity search on that idiot.
It is no wonder that people from the US are hated just about everywhere in the world. Hint: It ain’t because of George Bush! This stuff has been going on for years.
Sadly, this probably won’t keep him from coming though. He’ll buy a home or condo in some gated Gringo enclave, learn the word cerveza and tell his friends back home he is fluent in español… then wonder why he can’t adjust to the Latin culture.
UGH
Hi Tim – It is stunning to me that he has no idea what a caricature he is… like a Dilbert tourist! Too bad.
Hi Paul – Re: the yuppie website… I admire his initiative, and the product is certainly in demand. But he’s like a careless developer: flash and sizzle, give ‘em what they want, to hell with the consequences… that perpetuates exactly what could go wrong (is going wrong?) with Costa Rica! He doesn’t see it like this and in truth he’s no different than many (not all) of the other tours and real estate brokers around. I watched this happen in the keys… it’s very sad, but the market will fix it. Painfully.
And I LOVE “Tour-orists”!!! I’m using it as soon as I can. Perfect!
“Tour-orists”
That’s about the most clever thing I’ve seen lately.
Good goin’s! You nailed it!
Wow, while this guy is freaking out about security in CR and whining to Homeland Security, I had the pleasure of listening to three U.S. Customs officers discuss the best way for me to smuggle my kid’s python into CR under my t-shirt. There were very creative.