08.31 Musings Part #2: Unattended Babies and the Ubiquitous Portón

When it comes to security, Costa Rica is a country of extremes. I was at the gym the other day to swim laps. As I got into the pool, I noticed a baby sitting in a car seat/carrier — wide awake, just looking around. No bottle or pacifier. Just chill-axin’ by the pool — with no parent in sight. I swam a few laps and then looked up. Still there. Still chill-axin’ and still no parent. I swam a few more laps and then, finally (well…I swim at the speed of light so I’m sure it wasn’t THAT long) the mom shows up. She plopped her baby down while she swam for a while, then left the kiddo there while she went to the locker room to shower. And that’s not the first time I’ve seen something like that. There is just this assumption of PERSONAL safety.

But when it comes to assumptions about petty theft? Napoleonic “guilty until proven innocent” rules the day (“lock the world out from your house because you never know!”). EVERYONE has a “portón” (a gate around their house…sometimes with barbed wire) and many neighborhoods (like ours) have larger walls around the entire neighborhood and a shared guard house with a 24/7 armed guard. Yet when you ask about quiet areas like ours (“has there ever been a robbery up here?”) everyone says “well…not in a long time but that’s probably because of the gates.” Might be true but I think back to Milton and it seems kinda crazy. We had break-ins on our street, someone once stole an iPhone from a car in the driveway. And yet Audrey still had to bug me to remember to lock the door. I can't even fathom saying "that's it...no more petty crime for me" and building a giant wall around the property!

Continuing along with the "portón" theme --- it’s amazing how much of the beauty and quaintness of these small towns is missed at first and equally amazing how quickly ones eyes adjust. When a “gringo” first shows up in Costa Rica, you focus on: (i) the postcard beauty of the tourist and/or more rural areas; and (ii) the ugliness of the gates, etc. in and around the city and small towns. I feel like I noticed the latter much more this time around because of the kids. Seeing things through their eyes it IS a bit jarring.

Store fronts are sometimes half-hidden behind their portónes (gates), houses are often barely visible from the street because of their walls and gates. Etc. But after you spend some time here you start to realize “wow…once you go past the gate, that is really an amazing restaurant // cool coffee chop // nice house.” And while some people DO try to dress-up their portón with decorative stone work, flowers, etc….in MOST cases, there is very little focus on this “face to the outside world.” A butt-ugly wall and gate could house beautiful gardens and an amazing home but it takes a while before you start to look PAST the “Portón” world and see the beauty that exists even in these areas so close to the city.