Nadia and I are visiting our eldest son Owen in Costa Rica. He is a United States Government Peace Corps volunteer posted to Zarcero, Costa Rica. We last were with Owen on July 12, 2025 when we dropped him off at the Rhinelander, Wisconsin airport to have him start his Peace Corps training in Miami. It is such a joy to see him again and spend time with our son! He is such a wonderful young man. We talk to him via WhatApp daily, but it is special to see him in person again.
Zarcero sits at roughly 1,736 meters (about 5,700 feet) above sea level, up in the mountains of Alajuela Province, about a 90-minute drive from the capital San Jose. It is a gorgeous little town and the valleys are dotted with dairy farms and strawberry fields. It has a cool, misty climate with clouds rapidly moving up the ridges from below in the afternoon.
We had a great first day with him. It started with breakfast at the home of Owen’s host mother. Peace Corps volunteers can either live alone or with a host family. Owen wanted to have a family environment and meet more locals so he chose to stay with a family. Lorena is a retired resturant employee whose three children left.
I enjoy reading the local papers, and I picked up the Wednesday, July 15, 2026, edition of La Nación. It is the paper of record in Costa Rica with a long history of outstanding investigative journalism. I read of the US State Department revoking the tourist visas of the La Nación’s Board of Directors because they reported sexual harassment allegations against the current outgoing Costa Rican President, Rodrigo Chaves. The editorial staff of the paper also is against Chaves’ cooperation with the US government regarding illegal immigration. La Nacion board feels the visas were revoked in retaliation for this.
- A motorcyclist swerved into the lane of Costa Rican media personality Carlos Álvarez and was severly injured. Alvarez was innocent of any wrongdoing but was dealing with trauma of accident. The roads are narrow and not well marked in Costa Rica, especially where we are in the mountains, so I would guess there are a not of traffic accidents.
- Ian Martinez is the first “Tico” to play in the NBA Summer League. In his debut with the Cleveland Cavaliers he played 1 minute and 44 seconds, scored 2 points, had 1 assist, and 1 rebound. No Costa Rican has played in the National Basketball Association yet.
- There were a couple of articles about players in the professional soccer league. It is the most popular sport in the country.
- In the letters to the editor section, readers complained about the lack of sidewalks in San Jose that makes it dangerous for pedestrians and complaints about trash collection. I was impressed with the lack of litter and garbage in the village of Zarcero. Costa Rica is a more tidy than other Latin American countries I’ve visited.
- The crime section of the paper was quite extensive. I sense the country has a bigger crime problem than when I was here 30 years ago. The drug traffic police arrested 5 members of Los Gery Gang. Two men were arrested for the murder of Yustin Pérez who was killed in plain daylight on May 7 on the Paseo Colon, a busy street in San Jose. A 23 year old gang member was arrested for violent robberies.
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