The Departure: A Conservative Exodus to Costa Rica?

[une]

For my part I get really uncomfortable being the gringo with-cash-in-pocket while I'm working and living in a poverty-ridden, messed-up and poorly run country (to me that's Mexico, but YMMV) to the point that I don't take projects outside the USA any more unless they are somewhere 'first-worldish.'

It's possible that I'm just not wealthy enough to feel comfortable with it, I guess.

I have often wondered what it takes to sit there like royalty, being waited on hand and foot by poor black people, and not feel that anything is at all disturbing about this situation. But then I realize that this is informally the case all throughout the southern United States already: how many households employ illegal Mexican immigrants as servants? After a while, people just become accustomed to the idea that there's a second-class type of person underfoot all the time, who need not be treated like a regular person.

I don't think these people have to come from families that have minorities doing menial labor for them. I've known a lot of people from poor or lower middle class families, who have gone abroad and developed a huge superiority complex when it came to with the natives.

I think this has more to do with inherent racism in western culture than anything else.

[Alphawolf55]

I honestly don't think they see it that way even. I think honestly their attitude is merely "I made my money, I can spend it the way I want" and their argument for being waited on and pay horrible rates is merely 'Hey that's the price they're willing to do it for, Capitalism has spoken". I honestly think they'd be willing to exploit a white western european family just as much as any third world country native.

[Kanastrous]

I've also heard Well, if we didn't come and spend our tourist $$$ to underwrite their low-paying menial jobs, they'd have no work at all and be even poorer.

Somehow I don't buy that myself - at least, as any kind of salve for my conscience - but I suspect it's also a common rationalization.

[Alphawolf55]

That's pretty much true and hell to be fair there's a certain amount of truth and untruth to it. On one hand yes if they didn't come for the most part they'd be even poorer, but on the other hand it doesn't change the fact that they are heavily exploited and comparatively underpaid and that the tourist could easily pay more fair rates and still not see a noticable dent in their income.

[Kanastrous]

I'd submit that their local employers could and should be paying fairer rates. Tourists spend plenty of $$$ in places like Cabo etc; I suspect that it's the distribution of those tourist dollars that's got the low-level-staff employees so screwed.

[Master of Ossus]

I'd submit that their local employers could and should be paying fairer rates. Tourists spend plenty of $$$ in places like Cabo etc; I suspect that it's the distribution of those tourist dollars that's got the low-level-staff employees so screwed.

We're not talking about places like Cabo San Lucas. And, really, the margins on tourism in these parts of the world aren't that high. They have to compete for tourists with every other place in the world that offers nice views and fun things to do at good prices. You wouldn't happen to know of any of those, would you?