Costa Rica

A Costa Rican Morning After

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This is last week’s cartoon for The Costa Rican Star. I have since drawn another, which was published on Friday. You’ll see that one here next week. Until then, go visit the Star’s site.

Health authorities are talking about allowing the Morning-After Pill to be used in Costa Rica. Say what now? Currently, you can’t get the pill in that nation?

Heads up, vacationers. Leave your smart phone at home as I don’t care to see your vacation slides all over Facebook, and take birth control with you. We all know you’re going to be doing more than sight seeing sloths and toucans.

If you go to a pharmacy in the nation for birth control, you will be denied and may get a snotty lecture that’s not going to be helpful in any way toward your situation. You can buy birth control pills on the black market, but how are you to know it’s actually what they claim it is, and not a Flinstones? Psst. If it’s pink and in the shape of Bam-Bam, you’re gonna have your own little Pebbles.

They do allow condoms to be sold in Costa Rica, but I’ve been told that you will want to bring your own. You don’t go cheap with condoms, and you may not find the kind you want in Costa Rica. Again, Bam-Bam.

While birth control for women is illegal, it’s a good thing they do allow condoms because prostitution is legal. How does that make any sense? They defend themselves as being a Catholic country, so their morals don’t allow YOU to practice safe sex…but their morals do allow you to sell your ass and be victimized by a sex industry.

Costa Rica is leading the world in environmental initiatives, if you don’t look at their rivers. They can at least catch up to the present-day world when it comes to sex.

I want to thank everyone who has donated in the past. Your support helps me continue creating cartoons and columns with a little less stress in my life. Between competing syndicates with much larger resources, timid editors, and Trump supporters who attempt to intimidate the editors who do publish anything that criticizes their idol, it’s a challenge to make a career out of this. So your support (if you can) is appreciated. Want to help me continue to create cartoons and keep doing what I’m doing (pissing off conservatives)? Look to the right of this page and make a donation through PayPal. Every $40 donation will receive a signed print. All donations will receive my eternal gratitude.

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Coke Shark

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I drew this cartoon last week for The Costa Rica Star.

Police in Costa Rica have seized over nine tons of cocaine in 2017. I have never done cocaine in my life, but that sounds like a lot of cocaine.

Their coast guard recently found over a ton floating in the sea off the southern Pacific coastal town of Punta Burica. Smugglers tie them floating to buoys for other smugglers to pick up.

I have a lot of fun with some of these issues Costa Rica gives me, especially when I can throw in some of their wildlife. The U.S. doesn’t give me a lot of issues with monkeys, sloths, jaguars, crocodiles or sharks. I was able to draw this one during Shark Week. Who doesn’t love Shark Week?

I want to thank everyone who has donated in the past. Your support helps me continue creating cartoons and columns with a little less stress in my life. Between competing syndicates with much larger resources, timid editors, and Trump supporters who attempt to intimidate the editors who do publish anything that criticizes their idol, it’s a challenge to make a career out of this. So your support (if you can) is appreciated. Want to help me continue to create cartoons and keep doing what I’m doing (pissing off conservatives)? Look to the right of this page and make a donation through PayPal. Every $40 donation will receive a signed print. All donations will receive my eternal gratitude.

Gold Cup Crocodiles

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For this week’s cartoon for The Costa Rica Star, I took on the issue of “too many crocodiles” in that nation.

One agency in that nation is suing two others to conduct a study to determine if there is over-population of crocodiles in that country. Lawsuits must work different in Costa Rica than in the U.S. Is there a crocodile return policy? But that’s not the only croc-related lawsuit going on down there. A mayor is in hot water over the safety of people who gather to view crocodiles.

For sheer Costa Rican croc-related entertainment, watch this guy eat a stingray.

There weren’t any crocs playing goal tender for the Costa Rican team in the Gold Cup semi-finals on Saturday, but maybe they could have used one. The CR team was on a roll after defeating Panama to advance to meet the United States in Dallas. The home of the Dallas Cowboys is where a lot of bad things happen, and this time it was for the Costa Ricans as the U.S. defeated them 2-0.

Better luck next time, Costa Rica. But hey, I got to draw a crocodile.

There will be a new cartoon from me for the Star next weekend.

I want to thank everyone who has donated in the past. Your support helps me continue creating cartoons and columns with a little less stress in my life. Between competing syndicates with much larger resources, timid editors, and Trump supporters who attempt to intimidate the editors who do publish anything that criticizes their idol, it’s a challenge to make a career out of this. So your support (if you can) is appreciated. Want to help me continue to create cartoons and keep doing what I’m doing (pissing off conservatives)? Look to the right of this page and make a donation through PayPal. Every $40 donation will receive a signed print. All donations will receive my eternal gratitude.

Double, Triple, Quadruple Jeopardy In Costa Rica

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I’m sure you’re aware that one can’t be tried for a crime in the United States after a jury fails to convict them. This is the Double Jeopardy Clause. Though, as in the case of O.J. Simpson, one can be sued for committing a crime after a jury fails to convict.

They don’t have that in Costa Rica. Ann Patton, a super-wealthy person, was tried once, twice, three times, for the murder of her husband and now the nation may try her for the fourth time. She is in the United States and it’ll be interesting if our nation extradites her for something that would be unconstitutional here.

Costa Rica and Japan have both been after Paul Watson, the Sea Shepherd guy for years. Other nations have ignored their requests.

I drew a couple other ideas for this subject, but we settled on the volcanoes. Costa Rica currently has three erupting. The small nation has five active volcanoes. Experts say they’re not synchronized.

This cartoon ran on June 30. I meant to post it earlier, but I was doing things.

I want to thank everyone who has donated in the past. Your support helps me continue creating cartoons and columns with a little less stress in my life. Between competing syndicates with much larger resources, timid editors, and Trump supporters who attempt to intimidate the editors who do publish anything that criticizes their idol, it’s a challenge to make a career out of this. So your support (if you can) is appreciated. Want to help me continue to create cartoons and keep doing what I’m doing (pissing off conservatives)? Look to the right of this page and make a donation through PayPal. Every $40 donation will receive a signed print. All donations will receive my eternal gratitude.

Clean Water In Costa Rica

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This is the cartoon I drew last for The Costa Rica Star. We published a new one there yesterday (Friday) which I’ll blog in a couple days.

While Costa Rica is winning awards and platitudes for having such clean oceans, locals and tourists will point out just how dirty their rivers are. It’s a huge contradiction.

Creative Notes: This cartoon became a huge pain in the butt. Why? I’ll tell you why. My editor didn’t like the color in the original version and said it didn’t “pop” like my cartoons usually do. It didn’t “pop” and I wondered why. And then I noticed that I forgot to add a new layer for the color.

So, to change the color I needed to erase, which meant I had to erase a lot of the inking I had done also. That being a pain and a lot of work was totally my fault. This wasn’t a Photoshop thing. It was made in Corel, which is a pretty cool program more and more cartoonists are using (though it still has a few bugs, most of which I’ve figured out how to get around).

Want to help me continue to create cartoons and keep doing what I’m doing? Look to the right of this page and make a donation through Paypal. Your support contributes to my work and continued existence. The starving cartoonist appreciates it. If you’ve donated in the past, THANK YOU!!!

Want a signed copy of this cartoon? Donate at least $50 and I’ll ship it to you. Make sure to mention in the note with your donation which cartoon you want along with the mailing address you need it shipped to. If it’s a gift, make sure to mention the recipient’s name so I can make it out to them.

Getting Jaggy In Costa Rica

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I’ve held a strong belief throughout my entire life that if a jaguar wants to camp out on a beach, then that beach belongs to that jaguar.

Jaguars are beautiful, dignified, and kinda scary unless we’re talking about football teams in Jacksonville. Costa Rica is home to many species that I would find amazing to view in the wild. If and when I visit that nation I want to see a toucan. I want to see a sloth. You know the monkey in Outbreak that delivers a virus that nearly eliminates mankind? Yup. The white-headed capuchin monkey is also native to Costa Rica (and the acting monkey in Outbreak was the same monkey in Friends until he was fired. Friends fired a monkey). And Costa Rica has jaguars.

Apparently, wildlife officers in Costa Rica share my opinion about jags on the beach. Jaguars usually occupy forests but last week one decided he needed to go beach bumming. Authorities closed down Tortuguero Beach from the public and gave it to the jag. Good call. Let that cat have all the litter box he needs.

Another bum visiting Costa Rica last week (and not an endangered species at all) was Khloe Kardashian. Khloe was spotted smoking what appeared to be a reefer. A joint. Marijuana. Pot. Cannabis. Weed. The Devil’s lettuce. She was getting high.

The sort of media that actually cares about such things and provides ample coverage to it made much of the fact that Khloe is an anti-drug advocate. One can argue that “pot” is not a drug (I don’t think it is), and that holding what is referred as a “spliff” may not be marijuana. Her spokesperson said it was a hookah stick that is tobacco and marijuana free. It’s called a “Phantom Stick.” You can join me in shrugging your shoulders now.

I learned three things working on this project: I learned the term “spliff,” I learned about hookah sticks, and I learned there is a Khloe Kardashian. I also learned how to spell “Khloe” Kardashian (which my editor pointed out after I misspelled it in the rough, though he misspelled “Tortuguero.”

For the record, marijuana is decriminalized in Costa Rica and it should be in the United States too. I don’t give a rat’s ass if a Kardashian fires one up in Costa Rica, the U.S., Mars, etc. But as I approached this week’s subject for The Costa Rica Star I thought it would be a funny subject. Plus, I got to draw a jaguar. Reowr!

I did have to learn some about the Kardashians as I can’t tell a Kardashian from a Miley Cyrus, or insert another famous person who’s famous for being famous despite the lack of any talent or unique ability. When it comes to the Kardashians, I have not been keeping up.

But I got to draw a jaguar…and a really big butt.

Creative Note: This was one of the cartoons from last Friday’s cartoon marathon. I drew four cartoons that day and this was number two. It was pretty easy and a lot of fun.

Want to help me continue to create cartoons and keep doing what I’m doing? Look to the right of this page and make a donation through Paypal. Your support contributes to my work and continued existence. The starving cartoonist appreciates it. If you’ve donated in the past, THANK YOU!!!

Want a signed copy of this cartoon? Donate at least $50 and I’ll ship it to you. Make sure to mention in the note with your donation which cartoon you want along with the mailing address you need it shipped to. If it’s a gift, make sure to mention the recipient’s name so I can make it out to them.

La Platina Detour

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I drew this cartoon last week for The Costa Rica Star and I totally forgot to post it here. I like to let The Star have it on their site for a day or two before I publish it on my page.

From the Star’s article: The La Platina Bridge in Costa Rica is the main artery that connects San Jose with the Juan Santa Maria International airport. The bridge widening was supposed to be completed in 6 weeks which started January 21st. The delays have been endless which has crippled traffic in and around the greater San Jose area causing 5 km drives to take hours on end. This weekend the bridge will be closed for one last time according to MOPT and will reopen Monday May 1st all lanes in both directions.

This cartoon ruined my weekend last week. I usually draw a cartoon on Friday night, take Saturday off, and start all over again Sunday evening. This should have been completed on Thursday evening but I had difficulty creating ideas the editor liked. To be fair, they weren’t awesome ideas. The issue for me was that I couldn’t find a rich enough issue. I figured we’d just blow the week off and try again the next week, but early Saturday morning he threw out the subject of the bridge. That wiped out my Saturday but I would rather come through than slack off. It was a good issue.

Whenever I draw a local cartoon for a publication in a place where I don’t live I’m always open to suggestions and changes since I don’t know the topics as well as they do, or have to live with them. The Star’s editor suggested I throw in the Waze logo since it’s widely used in Costa Rica. I had to Google the logo so I could see what it looked like.

On my own, I wanted to throw in the beer so I Googled beer in Costa Rica. What I found was Imperial beer which is very popular in Costa Rica. The logo looks really cool to me so I played with it here. Since I often get distracted and end up going down internet wormholes, I learned a little about the beer. Thanks to the logo Costa Ricans refer to the beer as “Aguila” or “Aguilita”, which translates into English as “Eagle” or “Little Eagle” in reference to its logo.

The beer is also the world’s first water positive beer. What the heck does that mean? I’ll tell you what it means though I still don’t fully understand it. It means it’s a product that returns to the ecosystem more water than it takes from the environment during its elaboration process, from the extraction of raw material to the consumption of the final product. Huh? It gives back more than it receives. Let’s just hope it’s better than Budweiser and doesn’t taste like water.

I have never been much of a beer snob. I do have standards in that I don’t like Bud or Miller but I’m also not crazy about thick dark beer, like Guinness, and I can barely work with the German beer, Bitburger. The one thing I hate with a passion is flavored beer. Apple beer, spice beer, pumpkin beer, etc. Get that swill the hell out of here. I’m the same way with coffee in that I like coffee-flavored coffee. My favorite foreign beer is Boddingtons which isn’t heavy and it’s kinda creamy. If you purchase Boddingtons in a can you’ll find that it contains a widget which gives the beer a creamy draught-style head. In the past I would occasionally drink a Grolsch because it comes with red, rubber ring which I would later use for an awesome guitar strap lock. They work. When my little sister was a bartender she would bring me home Grolsch strap locks.

See what happened here? This cartoon and blog is about the bridge in Costa Rica and I wormholed it from the bridge, to the Waze logo, to the beer logo, to the beer, to other beers, to guitar strap locks. Wormhole!

Want to help me continue to create cartoons and keep doing what I’m doing? Look to the right of this page and make a donation through Paypal. Your support contributes to my work and continued existence. The starving cartoonist appreciates it. If you’ve donated in the past, THANK YOU!!!

Want a signed copy of this cartoon? Donate at least $50 and I’ll ship it to you. Make sure to mention in the note with your donation which cartoon you want along with the mailing address you need it shipped to. If it’s a gift, make sure to mention the recipient’s name so I can make it out to them.