Costa Rica

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.

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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).

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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.

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!

Discovering Water In Costa Rica

Here’s this week’s cartoon for The Costa Rica Star.

The Discovery channel is bringing a huge theme park to Costa Rica. It’s going to land in the city of Liberia in the Guanacaste province.

One big issue is water. There is a water shortage in Guanacaste. The theme park is going to use a LOT of water. It’s a 2000 acre water park full of hotels and restaurants. The business and government says not to worry as the park will be self-sustainable and they have their own wells. So, if all this water is available for a theme park then why hasn’t it been available for the public? Also, what happens when the wells run dry? Will they then ask to borrow from their neighbors?

Other than that, theme parks just piss me off. Sure they’re tourist traps and they’ll bring in a lot of money for the community. The park promises to employ close to 2000 jobs during the construction and hopefully those jobs will go to locals. All of the investors are foreigners. Discovery isn’t actually building the park. They’re leasing their name.

But why go to Costa Rica and visit a theme park? If you go to Costa Rica, then see Costa Rica. Not a water park. Go to the ocean and jump in the water. Take a tour through the jungle and see crocodiles, monkeys, sloths. Not a fat American in a Speedo. You don’t have to leave the United States to see that.

The people who will visit a water park in Costa Rica are the same uncultured nitwits who’ll go to Tijuana and eat at Taco Bell. When you visit Beijing, don’t go to Panda Express. When you’re in New York City you’re not going to eat at Sbarro, are you? My mother would have and then she would hit the Walmart.

When I lived in Hawaii I was constantly trying to get my mom to visit. My mom loved to travel and see new places but she was intimidated about going to Hawaii. I think it was the idea of flying over an ocean. But one thing she asked every time we talked on the phone was “have you found the Walmart yet?” Mom had to go to Walmart no matter where she was. Even if she didn’t need anything she had to go to Walmart. She was a Walmart junkie.

She visited me in Virginia. During her visit she saw an ad for an outside garbage can at Walmart. She told me and my wife (I was married at the time) about the sale. I said “but we have a garbage can. It’s new.” She was adamant. “But this one’s on sale.” I told her again “we already have a garbage can. Buying another one is just a waste of money.” She continued “but this one’s on sale.” We went back and forth and I put my foot down and laid down the law. “I don’t need a new garbage can, Mom!!!! Don’t waste money and buy that garbage can today. When I got home that night, there was the same garbage can from the ad sitting outside, right next to the old garbage can. The new one wasn’t even an improvement. It was just a big freaking rubber can.

Anyway, my mom would totally go to the theme park in Costa Rica and never see a sloth and she’d drive me nuts while doing it. I told her there was one Walmart in Honolulu and she really wanted me to find it, even though she wasn’t going to visit. I never did find that Walmart because I never looked for it. You can go a year without visiting Walmart.

It seems everyone I know is going to Costa Rica. When you go, don’t go to the theme park. When you’re a tourist, try not to be so much of a tourist.

Getting Cheesy In Costa Rica

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I’m a little late with this but here’s last week’s cartoon drawn for The Costa Rica Star. I draw so many cartoons that sometimes I forget I did something the day before. It’s Saturday morning now and I can’t remember what I drew Thursday.

I was having fun with the story that Chuck E. Cheese will be coming to the nation. I was inspired by reader comments on the Star’s Facebook page. It seemed a lot of people were aghast at the news. Some hated that U.S. culture was putting its stamp further upon Costa Rica. Others really just hate crappy pizza.

We have a Chuck E. Cheese here. I think it’s still here. I haven’t been since my son grew out of the desire of wanting to go. For one summer it seemed we were there every week as every time one of his friends had a birthday party it was at Chuck E. Cheese. I collected a lot of skeeball tickets. I probably have enough for one of their pencils.

I never minded the place too much because I realized it wasn’t there for me. It was for the kids. But yeah, that place is loud and the pizza is terrible. And is it really a good idea to have a rat as the mascot for a restaurant? Most people don’t like rats around stuff they plan to eat.

Make Nicaragua Pay For It

This ran last Friday in The Costa Rica Star.

Costa Rica’s president Luis Guillermo Solís visited Washington last week and had a meeting with U.S. vice president Mike Pence. Since Silos is a male, Pence’s wife didn’t have to attend the meeting (What is that about? Pence won’t meet or have a meal in a restaurant with a woman unless his wife is present). And why couldn’t Solis meet the big guy, Trump?

Costa Rica has immigration issues that are quite different from the United States. It’s not that Costa Ricans are fleeing their nation. It’s that people are going to Costa Rica illegally. Not you, you filthy, American. They like you. If you’re from the U.S. you don’t even need a Visa to stay in that nation. Just leave every 90 days, get that passport stamped in another country, and return.

A lot of immigrants are from Africa who are carted to Central America with the United States being their eventual destination. The idea is, they’re sold a bill of goods to land in Central America and then “easily” venture north to the U.S. Not so easy. What happens is they get stuck in Central America in a refugee camp. Some of those become Costa Rica’s problem. The people who were paid to bring them in from Africa? Not their problem anymore.

Another issue is Nicaragua. Costa Rica has a very stable government and economy. They don’t even have an army. Nicaragua doesn’t have a violence problem, but they do have serious issues with their economy, electricity, drinking water, etc. They don’t look north for the American dream. They look south for the Costa Rican dream. The border is loosely guarded and they speak the same language. It’s also a short trip.

On top of all this the U.S. wants Costa Rica to host migrants from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, before they enter the U.S.

So if Costa Rica wants to build a wall, which I don’t think anyone is seriously proposing, they want it to only stop people from coming in. Maybe they can do tire spikes on one side.

claytoonz

Nationally Syndicated Editorial Cartoonist