by Rod Hughes

This reporter once wrote in an opinion piece in The Tico Times that the invention of plastic may have been the worst disaster to happen to this tropical paradise. The pesky material litters the streets, clogs landfills and stormdrains and poisons animals, as well as the very ground itself. Apparently two major supermarket chains in the country not only agree but are doing something about it.

In an exclusive, detailed story in the English-language weekly The Tico Times, reporter Leland Baxter-Neal recently wrote that Auto Mercado and Mas X Menos chains have begun treating the problem, the former by offering biodegradable plastic sacks and both by rewarding customers for carrying their purchases away in reuseable cloth bags.

The problem, like that of rising fuel prices, is worldwide and Baxter-Neal reported that the governments of China, Ireland, Rwanda and Bangladesh have banned use of plastic bags while Australia has a pending bill in parliament to do so. While it is unlikely that Costa Rica’s unbiquitous pulperias (neighborhood stores) will heed the call, it is a step in the right direction.

It would seem that Costa Ricans, although notorious litterbugs themselves, are taking to the new strategy. An Auto Mercado spokesman told the reporter that the various market outlets have sold 10,000 cloth bags and they have been used 19,000 times. Wal-Mart did a trial of the bags meant to last three months and, priced at less than 2,000 colones (about $3.70), they sold out within a month. Both companies are selling them at cost and they are made in Costa Rica.

A La Nacion news story once reported that a standard plastic bag lasts 130 years before decomposing completely. The Tico Times reported that even when it does, many of the chemicals of which it is made are toxic. The country lacks a true recycling plant for them, but Auto Mercado does receive them to donate the plastic to a company here that makes souvenirs and trinkets.

by Rod Hughes

The Ministry of Transport is studying the possibility of extending the one-day-per-week downtown San Jose driving ban to all day instead of just during peak hours. So reported the daily Al Dia today, quoting Deputy Minister Viviana Martin.

The driving ban is aimed at reducing the consumption of gasoline and is levied by the final license plate number during weekdays. The measure is intended to reduce the use of imported petrolum, which is resulting in a negative balance of trade as petrolum prices climb and exports decline. Although the consumption of gas is down marginally over June 2007, the use of super actually increased in the first half of the year.

The Ministry instituted so-called “smart” traffic lights in order to reduce time spent idling at intersections and keep traffic flowing. Another plan, to construct a network of bicycling routes in such comparitively flat provincial cities as Limon, Puntarenas and in parts of Guanacaste is stalled because the ministry does not have the needed $8 million in its budget. A proposed express train from Heredia into downtown San Jose was found to cost beyond the government’s ability to even get started.

Meanwhile, those who must be on the road to earn their living are suffering from recent fuel price increases. “In eight hours of work, I was only able to make 3,000 colones,” mourned taxi driver Manuel Benevides to an Al Dia reporter. Others told the paper that they have to save fuel by staying parked, no longer patroling the streets to seek passengers. One driver told the weekly Tico Times that he has to work extra hours to make the same amount as he did last year.

July 2, 2008

Happy Birthday to all the North Americans out there. Yesterday for Canada, Friday for the U.S.
Brown put the rear main seal in, and a valve cover gasket, and a timing belt. The car ran well until I was almost home. The car in front of me stopped, so I hit the brakes. The pedal wouldn’t go down, and my car wasn’t stopping. I used the hand brake, and have been gearing down to stop ever since, and not driving very far. I’m going to take it back to Maciel in Malinche if I can find him. The phone no longer works, but he works for the local hardware on their trucks, and I should be able to track him down.
The dog, Beast is doing well. He seems happy, and unintimidated by Peaches. Peaches is being friendlier by the day. I have been giving her a few extra treats, like chicken broth in her kibble, a hard boiled egg on occasion, and a bowl of delactated milk to drink. All of these ideas came from Kathy as part of Beast’s diet. Now that I have Beast house trained, I will soon have to put him outside. I have the pen built, but no roof, yet. I am looking forward to one or two nights of puppy crying when I finally tell him he’s an outside dog.

by Rod Hughes

Ministry of Culture engineers have discovered structural defects in one of the country’s most historical landmarks and the Ministry of Education has closed it, giving 1,300 schoolkids an unexpected vacation. The building is the Edificio Metalico, or “metal building,” constructed in the center of San Jose in 1896.

The edifice is a relic of an era when cast iron was the “wonder material” from which everything from monuments to toys were fabricated. The building was shipped from Europe in the form of sheets and girders and assembled, rather than erected, on the site not far from the National Theater (which is built in the more traditional stone.) In non-tropical climates, cast iron is considered nearly indestructible but here the irresistible force met the seemingly immovable object and the former has won, at least temporarily.

The building has housed many activities. It was the original home of the English-language Country Day School established in the late 1960s by the legendary educator Marian Baker. Later, Baker moved the school to a spacious campus in Escazu and sold it. (Despite fierce competition by a proliferation of private schools, Country Day is planning a larger campus farther west in the Central Vally. Baker herself went on to establish the school bearing her name in the eastern suburbs of San Jose.) After Country Day vacated the building, the Ministry of Education moved in with the Buenaventura Corrales School.

According to Education Deputy Minister Sylvia Viquez, portions of the building still could be used but other sections are too dangerous to children and their teachers. Engineers inspecting the structure found serious corrosion and, in some cases, plastic cable holding components together, reported the daily paper Al Dia. The building is largely riveted together like an early ironclad ship hull.

Only one other building in the country using similar construction exists, a provincial iron church dating from the same era. Both have been declared part of the national historic patrimony of Costa Rica. The Ministry of Culture is now studying what can be done to save the venerable structure.