Fifth Time In Costa Rica, 22

Gentle Reader, I am going to mention something right now that probably isn´t going to make me terribly popular with some of you, but it still needs to be said. This has to do with the kind of racism that I sometimes encounter in Latin Americans. Hello? Still with me? It certainly reared it´s head yesterday, and that was the particular situation that got me really annoyed. I refused to write about it while I was still upset, but now that I´m over it and have some perspective about what was going on, I feel more comfortable writing about it today. I was in the soda for a bite to eat. It is called La Cuchara de la Abuela, or Grandmother´s Spoon, though after yesterday I have renamed the place La Cuchilla de la Abuela, or Grandmother´s Knife. Here´s what happened. A very self-important looking young man who seemed to have connections with the establishment, maybe one of their investors, came in and acted like he owned the place. I suspect that he´s a bigshot from San José. I basically ignored him. Then his lady friend came in. Now both of them were young, around thirty or so, so young enough to be my kids (and I thank heaven they are not!). Anyway, she had that same bigshot swagger, and just as I was paying my bill, she butts in to make her order, and the stupid woman who worked there decided to interrupt our transaction in order to accommodate the little princess. So I said to the young woman, ¨Ya estoy pagando. Paciencia, por favor, chamaca.¨ Which is not a particularly tactful way of saying, hey, kiddo, I´m still paying, so be patient, eh? So, the stupid waitresss, instead of finishing with me, calls in her co-worker to take care of my transaction, since the princess from San José was obviously more important. As I was leaving, I said to the little princess, ¨Que aprendas buenas modales,¨ or may you learn good manners, and she smiled and retorted, ¨tu debes aprender buenas modeles por llamarme chamaca.¨ Or, you need to learn good manners for calling me chamaca. I replied quite sharply to her, ¨Soy tu mayor.¨ or basically, I´m old enough to be your father. Anyway, I might not go back there. But it also reminded me of this warning I have received from various reliable sources. In Latin American countries, and notably in Costa Rica, foreigners will be always made to feel like outsiders. I have found this in other Latin American countries, and sadly, even among some of my Latino friends. Being white and Canadian will always make me a second-class citizen as far as they are concerned, I will always have to make like I´m comfortable staying in the back of the bus if I want to be their friend, and their Latino friends are always going to get preferential treatment. I apologize to any Latinos reading this for taking offence, but this has been my experience. I have also noticed that a lot of Latinos are less than accepting towards other races and nationalities as well, and I have encountred downright hostility in some of them towards Asians. This I especially noticed coming from a Salvadoran Anglican priest that I know (of dubious credentials), but I have seen other examples as well. It seems that white middle class Canadians appear to assume that they are the only people in the world guilty of and aware of being racist (and at least we´re doing something about it!), but racism knows no colour, nationality or creed, I´m afraid. It´s everywhere, and I only hope that more people of other ethnicities come to take a similar hard stand against it because, we´re all in this together, eh? And just in case any of you are wondering if I m simply trying to ride on my fictitious white privilege while I´m here in Costa Rica, I´ll have you know that I treat people here exactly the way I treat Canadians, which is to say, very well, but I also don´t suffer fools gladly, neither in Canada, nor here. In fact, I don´t suffer them at all! In other news, I did eat in another establishment this afternoon, and spent almost four hours in there with my artwork and enjoying the marvelous views of the Nicoya Peninsula. The waiter is also an artist, who showed me some of his work. He´s very talented and once again I have met an artist here in Monteverde, who also inspires me. A big hug from Monteverde, especially to my Latino friends! If you still want me around, that is.