On the plane back, I'm writing up the factoids and trying to bring it all together. First, an amusing announcement over the speaker: "For passengers wishing to get off, contact the flight attendant and the appropriate forms will be provided". Sheesh, I knew they were regulating a lot of things these days, but that's a little too much!

The constant rain (resulting in mudslides and some flooding) which I experienced is apparently not the result of its being the rainy season, but rather it being specifically the end of the rainy season. Its like this for a month, not 2/3 of the year, which is good.

One of the poker players was an american expatriate. He said that CR was pretty mellow on recreational possession of drugs, but very serious on distribution. Supporting this was an anecdote from one of the LFC folks about a friend who was caught by the police with a gun, cocaine, and marijuana. They kept the coke, gave back the rod and weed, and sent him on his way. He also said that many Costa Rican girls are bisexual because the guys are so lame. This may be macho exaggeration, but it is clearly true that ticas like american guys, because they are rich and treat their women better. The rate of domestic abuse is apparently quite high in Costa Rica, I spoke to someone whose friend had worked for an abuse service. Presumably this is a byproduct of the macho culture.

The macho culture, while not pervasive, was certainly noticeable. Its the sort of attitude I associate in the states with young white males with baseball caps and red faces. Taxi drivers, for example, seem extremely reluctant to downshift, as if its somehow an admission of defeat.

I heard a story about an american who bought an expensive condiminium. His costa rican lawyer made up the deed transfer with the lawyer's name on it, so once it was signed, the property was now the lawyer's. It would have been a long and expensive legal battle to attempt to recover it. This is not a typical case, but bilking rich yanks is clearly a thriving local industry.

The LFC folks told a story about driving the wrong way down a one-way street and through a police barricade. Their car was impounded because it was not registered (which I think might mean that they hadn't paid the huge import duties), but other than that there were no consequences.

Americans seemed to be fairly well liked and tolerated, in a very greedy self-interested sort of way. I heard a story about an american couple who were kidnapped in the Nicoya Peninsula, which is extremely unusual. The story behind this is that they were zealous environmentalists, and had been bribing local officials to prevent them from issuing building and development permits. The local populace, who were poor, wanted further development so they could have more jobs and bring more money into the local economy. The american couple refused to compromise, and the kidnapping was the eventual result.

Cellular phone numbers are issued by a government monopoly, with the result that new ones take years to get and they go for hundreds of dollars on the black market. I was told that its OK if you carry a gun, although killing someone in self defense would get you in trouble. There was a decent police presence in San Jose, but apparently the police, like the population, are spread much more thinly elsewhere.

The stories I heard confirmed an impression of CR as a place with a typical latin american government that is large, inefficient, and corrupt, resulting in practice in a society that is fairly laissez-faire if you are willing to pay occasional bribes and not stop the locals from making money. Basically, stay out of the way of the government beauracracy and they won't mess with you. If you want to run an above-ground business, there are a lot of hurdles, but if you operate in cash, or run a web-based business and don't use local bank accounts, you'll be left alone. Not exactly a libertarian Zion, but a definite step in the right direction. Contrast this with the US, which not only has a large and somewhat inefficient government (although more efficient than CR), but has many agencies which actively work to suppress the black market and the freedoms of its citizens.

This fact made me wonder if I've been too narrow in my search for countries. Freedom can be had under a somewhat socialist government as long as it is willing to leave you alone (which includes not taxing residents on offshore income). If non-citizen residents have full rights and the state is fairly respectful of those rights, and if governmental interference mostly consists of tax-n-spend (welfare, subsidized education, subsidized housing) as opposed to the confiscation of private property and the murder of citizens, then the existence of a large government does not preclude the country being a good libertarian home base. Perhaps I should be looking at Europe more, at countries like Switzerland.

In many ways, I confirmed what I was looking for. Costa Rica is a relatively free country, a good compromise for libertarians. However, I just did not fall in love with the country or its people. They were nice enough, but I had no feeling of philosophical connection with the locals I interacted with, only with other expatriates (although I did not get in touch with the local libertarians). Is it foolish to live someplace one does not love, merely to be left alone, or to move somewhere expecting to interact mostly with people from back home? I await further travels to further countries to broaden my perspective about the tradeoffs involved. Until then I remain

Your friend in search of liberty,
patri

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