In Which We Magnetize Mangoes

Translating can be great work. It's straightforward, pays well, and people love to see their stuff in English, which gives them an affinity for you.

On the other hand, the material is often so tedious it makes my brain seep out of my skull and down my back. Plus, in April I had full days at home, we were one of the few houses in town with a grassy lawn, and I could count on a fork's tines the number of clouds I saw that month.

Nevertheless, in my last month in San José, I'd had my hours cut and taken a trip to the Corn Islands, and so I (happily, I'll add) took the work and so managed to come back both financially solvent and with a decent tan.

For this job, I translated a series of podcast scripts from Spanish to English on the Multiple Intelligences and other recycled mediocre teaching methods that were probably translated from English to Spanish 10 to 15 years ago. (How do I know this? Because they used this Multiple Intelligences schtick on us when I was in 6th grade because we were one of the district's "experimental" classes! And they were trying to be really avant-garde! With a suburban elementary school curriculum! I digress.)

Oh come on, you say. It can't be that bad, can it? Watch and weep:

Nos enfrentan a nuevos tipos de texto a nuevas formas de leer, nos hacen aprender de una forma distinta y nos plantean un reto mucho más interesante, y es cómo relacionarnos con los demás en ese proceso educativo. Entre estas tecnologías no cabe el rechazo, la indifrenecia, pero tampoco la aceptación ingenua, tenemos que aprender a usarlas.

Sin embargo otras personas que consideran que estas tecnologías más bien disminuirán dicha brecha. La utilización de las TIC en los centros escolares por aquellos que no tienen acceso a ellas en el ambiente familiar, es un elemento de justicia social.

We are faced with new forms of text and new ways to read. We are required to learn in a distinct way, and this poses a much more interesting challenge for us: how do we relate with others in this educational process? Among these technologies, there is no end of rejection, indifference, but neither of acceptance, ingenuity, and we just learn how to use them.

However, others say these technologies will breach this gap. The use of [information and communication technologies] in learning centers for those who do not usually have access to such technologies in their usual routine is an element of social justice.

Yes! Watch the pedagogy and social justice fuse! (I'm sorry, I'm doing the exclamation point injustice here by condemning it strictly to sarcasm. What I really need is this mark. Or this one.)

The problem is that, as I've had it explained to me by professional Ticos and Bolivians alike, is that in Latino government, NGO, and professional writing the idea is somehow that the more you write, the more intelligent you are. And so they reiterate everything. Several times. The same sentence, with its subject, verb and dependent clauses flipped around and rotated a few different times. Those 50-page USAID quarterly reports I used to translate in La Paz? Probably could have been written in ten. And that is not hyperbole. It violated every holy precept of editing and writing I know. (It does not help that I mostly learned writing from those who were of the New England writing persuasion. And New England inevitably is used in the example sentence for what SAT word? Taciturn.)

Usually, I just tried to plow through the gelatinous blather as quickly as possible. But there was one bit that actually presented a challenge that I found amusing, almost fun. Demonstrating the musical intelligence, the student needs to remember a list of elements in a specific order and makes up a mnemonic chant to help himself do so.

I'm looking at the list of elements (line 23) and the rhyme he comes up with (line 27), and I cannot figure out where he's getting "Mango Sin Fe" from "Manganese Zinc and Hierro (Iron)". And then it hits me: They're using the chemical symbols. Of course. But this was fun. Nothin' like being subversive with ridiculous, but structurally correct, parades of elements:

And thus "Magnetizó Al Mango Sin Fé Ni Estaño, Pobre Hidrógeno Cuando Haga Ache Ge Pe Te Au" became "Magnetized All the Mangoes Singing Faith – Nigh, Sin – Public Hydrogen Cures Aging, Hugs Paint Auras".

I also gave all the people in the scripts American names from characters in The Wire.

And that is how we do translating.

Shameless

You know a copy editor's job by what you don't see: misspellings, misplaced commas, or – heaven forbid – an incorrect style reference to the Public Works and Transport Ministry and things of that sort. Mostly it's a thankless job, but on the other hand, we're also the ones who get to help write the quippy headlines, teasers, kickers and photo captions that entice all of you to buy the actual substantive articles, thereby saving profitable journalism.

We don't have to write 700 words of concise, objective text, just a couple dozen witty ones within set character limits. The most readily available bits involve some pun and/or pop culture reference. I've also finagled nods to Keats and Coleridge, Boyz II Men and Salt-N-Pepa. Of course, as happens in 92% of my day, something that strikes me doesn't quite strike everybody else the same way, and I have to go around and poll the editorial staff to support my claim that "The Windmills Cry Mary" is not too obscure a reference. (That one passed. Many others did not.) These are some of my favorite flourishes I've snuck in there in the last year.

For the Daily News subscribers' email, which gets two photos, when I edit it, I try to get the two photo kickers (the word/s in bold before the caption) play off each other. It may seem like an added layer of difficulty, but it actually helps to direct and pin down the creative possibilities swirling overhead. I know that maybe only a pair of readers actually notice the tandem wit – on a good day – but, hey, nerds have to entertain themselves somehow:

Who loves themselves some Velvet Underground? Moi:





But this was, and will always be, my all-time favorite:

The Proof Is in the Picture

What does a copy editor do all day? you ask. This:

This page reminds me of getting a Prob & Stat test back fom the Major, "This was just not your guys' test, huh? Don't get me wrong: I had a great time. My favorite color pen is red, man! I went through a whole BOX of them this time!"

I think this is my record number of proofs for one page. You can click the image to peruse all the minutiae, or don't and be glad that's exactly what you don't get paid to do. But copy editing does suit me in its own way. Granted, about 80% of these never should have even made it on the page, which is lame because it means it will take that many more revisions until the page is all good, but so it goes. So, I just put my head down, turn my music up, and keep sharpening and resharpening my pencil.

As tedious as proofing can be, I'm really glad I'm not editing the content here, because most of the letters this week are so opaquely asinine they make me want to eat tacks.

Dug sez

Dug, you sure you don't want to get in on one of those drug tests, too? Or at least one that tests your ability to construct prose in coherent English before submitting letters to the editor. Laugh out loud.

----- Original Message -----

From: Doug

Subject: China town

The Chineez probably heard about the crime and wanted to build with an exact amount of material instead of 3 times as much due to theft...........then you have the Semana´Santa adventure coming up. Arias ought to cut a deal. Drug test the Ticos and hire ALL Ticos and if caught stealing give them 5 years GUARANTEED behind bars. They probably couldnt find enough under 50 years old and willing to take the tests and sign the agreement to fill the openings LOL.

As Precious As a Fisherman Gets

... i’m sorry about my grammer and vocabulary. I’m just a retired fisherman, but i had to say somethng. this place is to cool to me to not make a comment. i doubt if if this gets printed, i suck at writting. but, by chance, could you make it look like i don’t write so badly. the spirit is there, but that’s always not enough i guess. ps. keep up up the good work you all.!

We got you covered, dude. And nice job in using "badly" where 93% of people would have used "bad."

A superlative example sentence at the end, there.

Palabra del día:

mamarrachada f fam
1 (comportamiento) bad behaviour
2 (dicho absurdo) stupid story: déjate de mamarrachadas y ponte a estudiar, stop being so stupid and get down to your studies
3 (cosa mal hecha) botch up: esa obra de teatro era una mamarrachada, they really botched up that theatre play

mamarracho mf buffoon, clown: no sé cómo pudiste enamorarte de semejante mamarracho, how could you fall in love with such an idiot?

1 Ulysses = 260,000 words

I like this one better: No sweet slides, but all the same enthusiasm, some of the same analogies, and less performance.



Erin McKean speaking to Google in 2006, "Verbatim."

"Some of my best friends are books."

"There will still be paper dictionaries. When cars became the dominant mode of transportation, we didn't round up all the horses and shoot them."

My one comment: Spanish long ago beat English to the whole let's-just-make-everything-a-word game. While such a (happy! non-judgmental! progressive!) fluid relation with words can at times be useful (permanecerse), inventive (mariposear), or sometimes cute (cuchear), it can also be an amorphous mess, and you end up with words like "fotorrejuvenecimiento" and "futbolisticamente." And that's just a little too close to German, folks.

Best of, Round II

A continued tribute to the strangest things people have bothered to send to the paper over the last few months:

(You are seeing the entirety of this facsimile transmission.)

George sends us many, many letters, all of them faxed, most hand-written. Often they're letters to the editor (and actually, more well written and relevant than most), but this time, he sent us a poem. He called me the next day to say that he'd reconsidered and didn't want us to run the poem because "it might be libelous in some way."

Irene also writes frequently, usually to say she likes the articles of one particular freelancer, who also happens to be her friend. She also mentions every time that she's 105, and once sent us a newspaper article the local paper recently did on her. Then, this time, she sent us a letter on this stationery, which her son had made her. I think I'm just tickled that a 105 year old can take as much delight in herself and her birthday as a five year old does.

First Name: Janez, Slovenia, Europe
Day Phone: 00386 00386
City: Slovenia
Country: Slovenia

Comments: I am Janez P., from Slovenia, Europe and I am interested in
buying classic cars. Can you please tell me the title of a magazin or a
website, where you can buy classic cars.
Thank you for your help.
Yours sincerely,
Janez

What possesses a person in Georgia read about a canceled arts festival in a tiny town on the Caribbean, sense the "extreme danger" such a move represents, write a postcard in which you equate the "cowering officials" with Marxists and then mail it? Lighten up, Francis.

I hope she took the lace umbrella to the Roller Derby.

Miss Peggy, was many will remember, was always armed with a lace umbrella at the ready for the blazing tropical sun or the unfortunate soul who vexed her. ... She chose Costa Rica because of the rich Tico pura vida Central American fermentation she loved so well. ... Many of Peggy's friends here may not realize she was quite famous in her other lives. She was known for a time as "Peggy, Queen of the Roller Derby" during the war years.

Remember the obsessive, fasting filmmaker from last time? IT'S COMING TO FRUITION.

This is why it's ok to use a smile sometimes to get information from Latin American bureaucracies:

In a recent study by free-press experts, state ministries and agencies were quizzed on what they do to provide public information – such as budgets, salaries, contract details, administrative procedures, etc. – to the press and the public. "We had to pursue them and call and ask if they received it and resend the questionnaire. Even then we got a response of less than 50 percent of the institutions," said Carolina Carazo, who headed the study.

This was from a Perspective column on ways to "greenify" your life:
#7 This list can go on for miles. You get the idea. Almost nothing is exempt. How big if your list of what you can do? Mine is pleasingly large, pro-active and enjoyable.

They learn so young:

It's not like you need to go to Africa and stare deeply into the eyes of suffering children to know that something's wrong with this world.

Annelise, in her Young Writer's column urging people to shop with reusable bags

We need to expand our readership:

Nobody at Lake Arenal has done anything that I can report on this week - not that a few people haven't been doing things they haven't seen fit to tell me about - but the animals have been interesting. A thrashing of branches in an avocado tree proved to be the wild attempts of a frenzied squirrel trying to avoid the attacks of a clay-colored robin. Several times the squirrel came to the ends of branches as it tried to evade the swift assaults of the robin. Finally, it darted past the bird toward the trunk of the tree and fled through a series of interconnected trees. The attacker may have been the robin who has a nest in a bougainvillea bush beside our porch.

These next two are courtesy of the Public Security Ministry.

Best Shirt by Any Arrested Person

Thankfully, through the seizure of these 121 crack pellets and 16 bills worth not more than $42, the ministry was able to recoup the money they wasted in wages used to pay someone to arrange this:

Bravo to the local animal shelter, which found a way to make cute animals positively terrifying:

INANE LETTER OF THE QUARTER

On Fri, Jan 16, 2009 at 11:31 AM, Letters wrote:

Dear Gene,

Thank you for the below letter, however it exceeds our 500-word limit. Would you be interested in trimming it to that length and then resubmitting it for consideration?

Best,

Holly

On Fri, Jan 16, 2009 at 1:14 PM, GENE wrote:

Thanks Holly but I do not know what constitutes a "word" on your end of the line. Spaces? Punctuation? numbers? or simply words? Let me know and I'll see what I can do.

Gene

Know Hope for the Future Generation's Grammar

Chatting:

Emily: i get angry at people when they use abbreviations like lol, u, rofl, wtf, gtg, etc SAY WHAT YOU WANT TO SAY I'M SURE YOU'LL FIND ANOTHER WAY TO GET THOSE TWO SECONDS THAT YOU JUST SAVED BY NOT TYPING THE FULL FREAKING WORD

*although it might be a bit ironic that i used etc.
Emily: ...OH and when people use 2 instead of to because it really is so tedious to spell it out

I think it's cute she thinks 'etc.' is an abbreviation invented by the text message generation. I also think she understands irony better than I do.

Copy Editor Porn

Now if only there were a similar "tribute" to all the misspellings of 'definitely.' (definite + ly = definitely)

"It goes on."

Costa Rico Suave

Costa Rican Spanish is smooth. This is not the Aymara- or Quechua-derived Spanish with its hard palatal clacking I initially learned. It's a fluid, soft accent, without the jarring lisps or pronunciations you hear other places.

And it's not just the accent itself, but the delivery and Tico-style speak is almost (U.S.) Southern with this hyper gentility. They don't use the personal you tú form at all. Everyone (friends, little kids, couples) addresses each other with formal usted form, or what would represent Sir and Ma'am in most other Latino countries. "You're welcome" isn't "de nada" (it's nothing) here, but "con gusto" (with pleasure). When people get off the bus, they thank the bus driver with "Thank you, God bless." Where we use "if there's anything else you need" or "any way I can help," Ticos use literal translations of "at your orders/service."

And, they're big on terms of endearment, regardless of whether there is any actual relational endearment between the two speakers. When I go buy milk from the little shop next door, I get a "How are you my love," from the owner. I thank the IT guy for fixing changes on the Daily Page, and he'll reply with a "With pleasure, honey." When I went to buy a phone card, the middle aged phone company guy asked me, "How can I serve you today, queen?" These types of things are said all day every day among a married and unmarried person, two people of the same gender, whomever, and it has no suggestive connotation; they just really dig being polite. Of course, that can be the problem sometimes, too.

While it's a general trend in Latin America that people don't like to let you down by saying 'no,' this doesn't mean they will get you what you need, just that they have a softer way of letting you down. In La Paz, you could bet on hearing "Es que no hay" (it's just that there isn't any) on a daily basis. In Costa Rica, it's "No sabría decirle" (I wouldn't know what to tell you) from every other "customer serivce rep" you talk to. People will tell you an interview is cancelled or that their cab meter is broken and your fare is twice as high as it should be while smiling. Frankly, it makes you want to pop a left hook in that smile.

My interview with a 17-year-old convicted felon has been my easiest by far for one reason: It was straightforward. He was perfectly affable and talked easily while gnawing on a piece of raw spaghetti, and I got more out of my five-minute interview with him (you can rent a gun for four hours for $18 in his neighborhood, one of the city's most notorious) than I did in the 45-minute interview with the legal expert ("You could say there's been a light increase in youth violence in recent years").

Even knowing it's all just cultural adaptation, all the over-formality makes it hard sometimes for this Pacifc Northwest Yankee to not want to sit down and have a DTR talk with the Judicial Investigation Police spokesman, which would essentially go, "I give you the question (have you made any arrests in the case yet?), you give me the answer (yes/no). End of transaction. We don't need to bring terms of endearment/submission into this."

Gillian, one of our reporters, could probably have one of those talks with this legislative aide. (And yes, this is a particularly egregious example.)

-----Mensaje original-----
De: Gillian
Para: Herman
Asunto: consulta de Tico Times

Estimado don Hermán,
Un cordial saludo departe de Gillian de The Tico Times. Le escribo para pedir el proyecto de ley de la capitalización de bancos. ¿Me lo podría enviar de una vez?
¡Gracias!
Gillian

Dear Hermán,
Best regards from Gillian of The Tico Times. I'm writing you to ask for the plan for the law on bank capitalizations. Could you send it to me one (more) time?
Thanks!
Gillian

----- Original Message -----
From: Herman
To: Gillian
Subject: RE: consulta de Tico Times

Distinguida Señorita, adjunto le envío la Ley de Banca de Desarrollo que considero Usted necesita, un gusto poder servirle y que Dios bendiga su trabajo en la información del periódico la cual Usted es funcionaria, para mi ha sido un privilegio servirle, estoy a su orden para cualquier información que requiera. Un abrazo y un gusto es bendecirle a Usted en esta mañana..

Distinguished Miss (Gillers),
I'm sending you the attached Law of Development Banking which I believe you need. It's a pleasure to be able to serve you and may God bless your work in the reporting for the newspaper of which you are a member. It has been a privilege for me to serve you, I'm at your orders for whatever information you may need. A hug and it is a pleasure to bless you this morning ...

He sent her the wrong bill twice.

Word.

Glorious words, which must sound even better when Brits are excitedly extrapolating upon them. I've been trying for the last five minutes to pronounce that one and still can't.

*

. She laughed. "It won't last. Nothing lasts. But I'm happy now."
. "Happy," I muttered, trying to pin the word down. But it is one of those words, like Love that I have never quite understood. Most people who deal in words don't have much faith in them and I am no exception – especially the big ones like Happy and Love and Honest and Strong. They are too elusive and far too relative when you compare them to sharp, mean little words like Punk and Cheap and Phony. I feel at home with these, because they're scrawny and easy to pin, but the big ones are tough and it takes either a priest or a fool to use them with any confidence.
-trd, 55

Best of

Some of the better nuggets from the paper over the last few weeks, i.e. the things I keep laughing about, but know everyone will get really annoyed if I interrupt them again with these:

A Florida filmmaker on the phone with me, telling me why we should do a story on his film project that obviously was so inspired:
"I was fasting for 30 days in the jungle. … I'm very obsessive. … When I do something, it's on a grand scale. I was seeking a grand story, and I found this."

It gets better. This was the ad he eventually placed:
"Husband and wife are actors, writers, directors, and also compose all musical score. The film is 2 people, one sailboat, 2 person production crew. We have a complete marketing plan and promotional strategy for this very controversial film with experienced filmmaking background. This is not a vanity project we have devoted our lives to creating a film that will transform the soul and spirit of mankind."

A related testimonial from a restaurant ad:
'We felt transported to Thailand and India ... the sounds, the sights, the smells, the tastes. The food was heavenly, the waiters divine. And we were uplifted, sensually and spiritually."
-a customer from San Francisco, claro.

First there was a workshop on masculinity. Then, there was one on the "Empowerment of Our Sensual Feminity." Then, we got this:
Workshop ACERCÀNDONOS AL CUERPO con esencias florales
Or, a workshop on approaching/familiarizing ourselves with the body with floral essences, emphasis theirs.

There was also a quarter-page color ad ($400) placed this week advertising under the banner of "Arriving September 12!" a self-professed handsome middle age guy who's just looking for some nice marriage-minded lady. I would've called, but you know, I've never been one for long walks on the beach.

One sports bar boasts every week in their ad of their "Pool and Foolball Table," and once for their "Foolsball" table.
And every week I, sadly, have to correct them.

So do the gastronomic security Luddites exist, too?
"With this initiative, Costa Rica puts itself with the avant-garde in Latin America in efforts toward food safety in the gastronomic industry," states a press release.

The humans are included! From a classified real estate ad:
Includes caretakers' cottage with caretaker couple.

Just because it's Liechtenstein
The cooperative hopes to receive funding for the $250,000 project through loans from partners in Liechtenstein.

Be SO THANKFUL FOR COPYEDITORS who are there to put in that critical comma in sentences like this one:
Frank, a Costa Rican visitor for 30 years, built the church, which he then dedicated to his late wife Mary, who passed away four years ago in honor of their mutual love for this country.

Other good lines from various articles:
“He’s delightful and impressive,” Jill says. “He has deep, deep values. You don’t often see that in a good capitalist.”

"A golf course is a sin. No matter what it is, it doesn't make sense. It's not sustainable development," Amit said.

The company said it was the work of the zealous, anti-pineapple protestors.

Piropéame, porfa.

What would Latin America be if you couldn't get catcalls every 100 yards? Not Latin America, that's for sure.


I knew one girl who did a research project on catcalls, or piropos, in Cuba, and the women there told her that they were disappointed on days they didn't get catcalls and usually resolved to put more effort into their public presentation the next time they went out. It's a shame catcalls have mostly negative connotations in the states, because it's a cute game for the most part. Not anything to put a lot of stake in, but some good fun all the same.

Pretty much any gringa gets attention here simply because the fair skin is the rarer foreign trait, and I smile thinking how Norwegian qualities are thus turned into something exotic. That being said, I felt the most uncomfortable in La Paz when it was clear they were hitting on me because I was white, the whiteness being the desirable beauty trait, especially in a country so painfully aware of its skin colors and races and the vestigal colonial value of white over dark. To get a lecherous, even if ultimately benign, sucking-in of a hiss calling attention to your skin's lack of pigment every afternoon on the street was not flattering.

Thankfully, the skin color gradient is more varied here in Costa Rica, so I don't stand out as much, and even less so if I keep my sunglasses on. Whereas I honestly can't think of a memorable line I got in La Paz (or at least memorable in the good way) – although the Cochabamba buses did have these funny loud catcall whistle-replicating horn they would frequently let wail – it's a much more amusing game here.

By far, the most common pickup lines you get are lots of awkward Spanglish sayings, "Hi, beautiful lady. Goodbye." Sometimes they directly translate favorite Tico terms, and you get a "Hello, my queen." But others have stood out, for the simple fact that these are the ones that got me to turn around:

Least Sleazy, Somehow
One afternoon, I had a lanky middle-aged guy with one of those perpetually concave torsos in a button-down shirt, grin, cock his hand in pistol fashion to point at me, then pull it up to his ear in a telephone gesture, and follow with a wink.

Most Confusing
One morning as I was walking downtown on the main pedestrian thoroughfare, as I passed this one guy, he leaned in ever-so-slightly, and gave this completely asexual "meow," as if he were really trying to accurately imitate a feline.

Most Terrifying
It was the same type of lean-in move as above, except this time there were two guys walking together, and right when they were a couple feet in front of me, they suddenly split to either side of me, leaned in and gave low, throaty "ojos" in unison.

Most Unnecessary Double Standard
OK, so this wasn't a piropo, per se, but one time when I was wearing one of my better sundresses, I passed an elderly lady who had a very concerned look as she surveyed my legs. Once we passed each other and I guessed we were about five yards apart, I turned around and found her still looking at my lower half as she walked away with a HUGE SCOWL ACROSS HER FACE, one that involved all her eyebrow, forehead, and mouth muscles. And I just thought, really, amid all the other flesh that's shoved and smashed into tops four sizes too small, you're going to bother to judge me? At least my dress fits ...

Best Attention to an Editorial Assistant's Sensibilities
On my way to work, a guy resting up against a car hood a few meters away says, in stilted English, "I really enjoy looking at you this morning," and the only thing I could think was, "Wow, I just got hit on in a complete sentence!"

Beers would dribble.

English menu translations are consistently good fodder to the average traveler. But the below, from a restaurant out in Cartago, are quite possibly the best/worst ever. Apparently the Negrita's blessings do not extend to trials in gastronomic elections.

(gallo pinto = typical tico dish of black beans and rice)

(papas a la francesa = french fries)

(izar = to hoist;
babear = to dribble
but we're pretty sure the menu says "cervezas bavaras," or bavarian beers.)

(gaseosas = carbonated beverages)

This is also a week when everything must converge – online in addition to copy editing duties, plus some reporting on the side – so you might not hear much from me. Luckily, there are things like this in the interim. Some of the vids aren't available – and would still easily be available on youtube somewhere, obvio – but YOU MUST AT LEAST CHECK OUT THE HASSELHOFF VIDEO.

YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.

Absolut mentiroso.

NEW SECTION ALERT: the n'importe quoi.

I'll explain the category later (and let me bait you by saying that that explanation will involve Alicia Silverstone), but for starters, here's an email someone sent one of our reporters for a story he was doing. This guy is from Germany originally, has lived in Costa Rica for a while, but decided to write the letter in English, resulting in the most horrific linguistic amalgam I've ever seen. And I mean 'horrific' in the best way.

Here are some terms (but, as you'll see, comprehension is going to be relative):

denuncia = legal claim, police report
extranjero = foreigner
embajada = embassy
esposas = handcuffs (also, wives!)
inculpado = accused
abogado = lawyer
infarto de corazón = heart attack
mofarse and golpes = making fun of and beatings
cruz roja = Red Cross
sala de operación = operating room
sin ayuda = with no help
culpable = guilty
reportaje = report
Absolut mentiroso = Pinocchio with a screwdriver in hand.

(And do know you must read this out loud to appreciate it fully, preferably to someone else so as to up the ante and therefore investment in the performance.)

I present you with Spanglideutsch:

*************

Subject: Re: denuncia

Hi Nick,
The problem ist not only my denuncia. The problem ist, how man respect have the police from Costa Rica for the rieght (fundamentals derecho) from the extranjeros.
Not onley I have this problem. The police give the extranceros not the right

phone direct the embajade, when he police take your with "esposas". The police gibe the extranjeos not the right, the "inculpado" can phone his advocate, when ever hi will.
The police say not, why they take your.
And she lie
The police have many times a structur from xenofobo.

Secundo: In my casus: I hadded in the car from the police a infarto de corazon. I was say this many time to the police, I was say, I hadded two infarts time ago and now my thirt infart, please help mi, give mi a medicus.

Many hours I was aks for help. In this time I was tumbado on the flor with esposas duro. Many time I was favor for un cop de water. First tree houers later hi was give me a little bit water.
They was mofarse mi.
Six hours later a civilest was phone the cruz roja and they was bringen mi in the hospital. Hoers later I was in the sale de operacion. Six hours in esposas with a infarto de corazon sin ajude, with mofarse and golpes.

From the hospital I was phone my advocado. He was make the denuncia. His number: [...]
He have a copie from the denuncia.

But behind of this stand the question: How many right hafe in Costa Ria the extranjeros when zthey have problems with the police?

For this I was tinking, write a eportaje.

Secund: My friend bob was go death in the novimbre 2007. One day later un tico was steled all from him: Pasport, Creditcard, pension. And now hi stand into the

house from bob and sa, he was "the best friend" from Bob. Absolut mentiroso,

I know Bob 10 years, never he hadded a friend from ticos, never he hadded like conecion with ticos.
Bob was a Soldier in the second War.
My interesse is an investigacion, where is all the probiedad from bob, the
papers, and so on. It is un citicen from the Unidet Staates,now he is deaed,

but the respeto nececitar un investigacion in the name of humanright.

And to finish: Nicke, I was working in germany 15 yaers as journalist for newspaper (Berliner Zeitung, Die Zeit), revistas (STERN) and for the Radio (RIAS Berlin). I know how you can work.

I hope the Tico Times have real interesse write a investigacion-storry, were

give the fingers into the problem from Costa Rica. Democracia? 50 Procent from Citicen from Costa Rica are discriminacion. All mens is here automatc a killer, all mens is her automatic monsters, when one women say this. Costa Rica and Cuba are the unico pais in the world, were discriminacion mens because only they are culpaple be a men. When you look a little bit inside into the justicia, than you can have a shock.

You give mi answer? Thanks.