Polemic from Paradise before the US eats it up (or so some say)

Our last few days in San Jose were busy seeing people, saying goodbye. We went with to a huge tex-mex restaurant called Lone Star - what else? Javier and Lupe (picture below) have been great to us and we owe them many thanks.

Javier and Lupe

Javier says that you can tell a Spaniard from others by the fact that he puts his bread beside his plate instead of on the side of the plate. Well we are staying with a family in Callao whose name is Ancieta, Basque to the core, and sure enough Beto puts his bread beside his plate!

Of course we talked (and argued) about the free-trade agreement between the US and all Central American countries (only Costa Rica hasn't signed on yet). Costa Ricans have the view that they will be dominated by the US and so it is a poor deal for them. What they fail (or choose not) to see is that it opens opportunities for them to dominate their neighbours (using the same logic they use in reasoning about the US; specifically that a bigger, better developed country can benefit more than a smaller, weaker country).

Costa Rica is the most advanced, most secure country in Central America. Of course they are going to benefit from better access to local, neighbouring markets.